Following the controversy over the resignation of House chaplain Patrick Conroy, in this speed read, scholars explain when the tradition of legislative prayer was started and how it has sustained.
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson is Trump’s nominee to lead the VA.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Richard Lachmann, University at Albany, State University of New York
While the White House scrambles to fill the VA’s top post, the agency’s deep issues of inadequate funding and low access for veterans continue to fester.
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, has fought a battle with conservatives in his party for the speakership.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The speaker of the House is the most visible and authoritative spokesperson for the majority party in the House. But their role goes beyond politics to everything from accounting to procurement.
Cutouts depicting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing ‘Fix Fakebook’ displayed on Capitol Hill on April 10, 2018.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996, seven years before the debut of MySpace. It helped online publishing grow – and to escape consequences for the way users might be harmed.
On September 24, 2019, US President Donald Trump was at the United Nations to speak to the general assembly. His visit was overshadowed by the decision by the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against him based on revelations in the unfolding Ukraine scandal.
Saul Loeb/AFP
On September 24, 2019, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House had launched a formal impeachment inquiry against the president. But as history shows, the outcome is anything but assured.
Members of Congress debated a government spending bill into the early morning on March 20.
AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Pork-barrel spending – that often reviled custom otherwise known as ‘earmarks’ – may well help Congress pass bills on schedule. Banned since 2011, they may be making a comeback.
A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student speaks during a rally with Thurgood Marshall Academy students in advance of Saturday’s March for Our Lives event in Washington
REUTERS/Eric Thayer
Student activists marching Saturday want Congress to enact comprehensive gun control. Here is a selection of stories from our archive that will help you understand the issues raised by the students.
Immigration advocates hold a rally on Capitol Hill.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
Research shows they face greater obstacles to election than their male counterparts, thus work harder and represent constituents better.
Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, right, looking at a map in 1955 of highways to be built with federal funds that retired Gen. Lucius Clay, left, had outlined.
AP Photo/Byron Rollins
Banning relationships is likely to be ineffective and may result in disengagement, secrecy and resentment by employees of the encroachment of employment policies into genuinely private matters.
The new plan is supposed to boost the construction of new roads, bridges and other public works projects.
AP Photo/Seth Perlman
The $1.5 trillion plan he’s proposing would do the most for ventures that don’t really need the government’s help and ignores some major obstacles to private investment.
Protestors in front of the U.S. Capitol, May, 2017.
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Jan Leighley, American University School of Public Affairs and Jennifer Oser, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Citizen activists can influence the policy positions of their elected representatives. Their activism might well counter the advantages of the wealthy in America.
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Trump touted his administration’s economic successes and laid out his immigration plan in an 80-minute speech to Congress. Our experts weigh in.
Members of the Grand Rapids League of Women Voters organized a city get-out-the-vote parade in 1924.
Grand Rapids Herald, Sept. 9, 1924. Image courtesy of the Grand Rapids Public Library.
Research shows the ability to act strategically for the long term is a key component of successful leadership – and sorely lacking in Congress these days.
Senator Mitch McConnell walks to the chamber on the first morning of a government shutdown.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite