“Is Congress Broken?” — that is the topic of this episode. My guest is Dr. Jack Pitney, the coeditor of the book, Is Congress Broken? The Virtues and Defects of Partisanship and Gridlock. Jack is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Politics at Claremont McKenna College, where he teaches American politics and government.

This book, which was coedited by William Connelley and Gary Schmitt, is a marvelous collection of essays written by top scholars. All of the chapters, I should note, are accessible to the lay reader. One need not be a political scientist or academic to enjoy this book, and come away with a  greater understanding of the First Branch.

The topic of today's episode is, “How does the budget process work and not work?” My guest is Tori Gorman, the Policy Director for The Concord Coalition. It is a non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to educating the public about federal budget issues, and their consequences for the future. Tori spent 16 years on Capitol Hill where she held director level positions, advising senior members of the budget, appropriations, and tax writing committees in both the House and the Senate. Prior to her career in the federal legislative branch, she was the economist for the Maryland General Assembly.

The topic of today's episode is “What is the filibuster?” And does it have a future? My guest is Dr. Molly Reynolds, who is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. She studies Congress, with a focus on how congressional rules and procedures affect domestic policy outcomes. She also supervises the maintenance of the “Vital Statistics on Congress,” Brookings’ long running resource on the first branch of government. Importantly, for our episode today, Molly is the author of the book Exceptions to the Rule: the Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the US Senate.

The topic of today's episode is, “How Does the House of Representatives Organize Itself for a New Congress?” My guest is Dr. Matthew Green, an extraordinarily accomplished scholar of the U.S. Congress. He has been a professor of politics at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. since 2005, and he received his doctorate from Yale. Matt has authored or coauthored six books, the most recent of which is Legislative Hardball. The first book-length examination of the tactics and effectiveness of the House Freedom Caucus. Matt is also a regular contributor to “Mischiefs of Factions,” a blog about political parties. And he has written about Congress elections and other topics in the Washington Post, Roll Call, and The Hill.

The topic of today's episode is “Reforming Congress for the 21st Century.” My guest is Representative Derek Kilmer, Congressman of the 6th district of Washington State. He was first elected to Congress in 2012. Before that, Mr. Kilmer served in his home State's legislature, worked for the Economic Development Board for Tacoma Pierce County, and was a consultant for McKinsey & Company. He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford in England. Of particular relevance for our conversation today, Representative Kilmer has been the co-chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress for the past two years. In autumn 2020, this committee released 97 recommendations for updating the legislature, which you can see at modernizecongress.house.gov, and we'll hear more about those recommendations shortly.

The topic of today's episode is, "Do we need a Congress?" My guest is my friend and colleague, Dr. Philip Wallach. He is a resident scholar here at AEI where he studies America's separation of powers system. And he focuses on regulatory power issues and the relationship between Congress and the administrative state. Before joining AEI, Phil was a senior fellow in governance studies at both the R Street Institute and the Brookings Institution. Phil also has served as a fellow with the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. He is the author of the book To The Edge: Legality, Legitimacy, and the Response to the 2008 Financial Crisis. I have him on this episode because he wrote a terrific article for National Affairs titled "Congress Indispensable."