Mark Schmitt

The budget reconciliation process, Ezra Klein points out, “has been the key to getting anything done for at least 20 years.” He’s right, of course (and how I miss those long afternoons talking to Ezra about things like budget reconciliation!). But he’s not quite right to call it “a majority-rules process tucked inside the super-majority […]

There’s a certain kind of essay that can be infuriating even when its main argument is correct. One such was retiring Sen. Evan Bayh’s op-ed in The New York Times this weekend. Congress is broken. Needs filibuster reform. Public financing of campaigns. Senators should eat lunch together more often. In this case, the infuriating part […]

My friend Ed Luce at the Financial Times has written what seems to me the best and most succinct rundown of what’s gone wrong in the White House, with particular attention to the role of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. A concluding theme of the piece is that the White House, flush with the enthusiasm […]