Laura Blessing

I’ve been reading @davidgreenberg.bsky.social ‘s excellent book on John Lewis and while the constitutional observer training has some differences I can’t help but think of the similarities to earlier organizing. I’d like to think Lewis and the people like Jim Lawson who trained him would be proud.

American Scientific Leadership Depends on Congress - The Government Affairs Institute Guest Post by Dr. Adriana Bankston, 2024-2025 AAAS-ASGCT Congressional Policy Fellow*This has not been a typical year for science in America. Going beyond the headlines is important to understand what...

GAI’s December “On the Hill” newsletter, “American Scientific Research Depends on Congress” by @abankston.bsky.social , has important insights on how instrumental federal support has been to building American scientific dominance, as well as current challenges. gai.georgetown.edu/american-sci...

Absolute pleasure being on @c-span.bsky.social Washington Journal this morning to talk about the (likely) government shutdown, what’s happened before, what shutdowns look like, and the ways this time is different

Hugo Black Sabbath

It is symbolic that the House has passed this as HR 4: the majority party gets HR (bill) numbers 1-10 to designate for their party’s policy priorities. Assisting in the executive branch’s unconstitutional undermining of congressional power is quite literally a House Republican conference priority.

What is far more significant is that Congress is codifying DOGE cuts that wrested away the congressional power of the purse, most prominently in shutting down USAID.

The last time a rescissions package initiated by a President was approved by Congress was for President Clinton; Trump tried and failed in his first term.

Passing the $9.4 B rescissions package requested by the White House, the extent of the cuts approved, and the individual cuts themselves, is a telling action for the House. Congress decides to rescind money regularly, but approving Presidential requests is far more rare.

Trump Live Updates: Key House Panel Approves Trump’s Megabill After Conservatives Relent

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...

The fractured House GOP that denied their Speakers a procedural majority last Congress is getting in line. Still plenty of hurdles ahead…

JFC. So far, Trump has caused markets to lose about 14%.
Here's how the same period to date looks under other recent presidential terms

An extensive section praising tariffs on the very day that introduced tariffs caused markets to drop significantly (& as the US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index had just risen higher than both the pandemic and Great Recession) is remarkable & commits to pursue policy irrespective of economic effect

First mention of asking Congress for legislation in the joint session to Congress is a) revealing: comes an hour in, in a speech showing an executive shedding boundaries and b) asks for tax cuts, the Republican policy über alles

Trump Administration Pushes to Slash I.R.S. Work Force in Half Losing half of its employees would severely strap the I.R.S., meaning Americans may have to wait longer to receive tax refunds.

The NYT is reporting that the Trump Administration is planning to cut the IRS workforce in half. To do so would cripple the revenue service and therefore the functioning of the U.S. government.

Just gave a talk on floor procedure, am too depressed to add this as an example in future talks. Would love more ridiculous but harmless behavior, a Traficant hairdo and a “beam me up” (ok, bad example given the corruption charges; still)

@stephencolbert.bsky.social Please do a “better know a federal agency” series. So much material; maybe start with @altusaid.altgov.info

Our visual examination of what DOGE has been mostly targeting and mostly leaving alone. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Congressional Primaries with J.D. Rackey Podcast Episode · Congress, Two Beers In · 01/17/2025 · 54m

I had a blast joining the GAI folks on Congress, Two Beers In to discuss my recent report on congressional primaries and their impacts on member behavior! Fun to be a guest on a pod I’ve long listened to! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

New GAI “On The Hill” newsletter piece: my two cents on Jimmy Carter. Carter is both more nuanced & more relevant to today than is usually emphasized: in many ways he presages & hurries the turn towards Reaganism

gai.georgetown.edu/signaling-th...

lol. Just imagine what havoc I’d wreak on Fed 10. Which is too bad; this crowd should recognize that factions can also be no bueno.

Giving Congress AI tools without increasing capacity for staff (lots of missed opportunities in the Rules package under consideration), is, as James Madison said, no bueno.

Continuing to enjoy the regular @mattngreen.bsky.social Speaker election/opening a new Congress commentary. Never change, CSPAN.

Agreed. Wonder if Norman and Self got anything for flipping votes. This whole episode has been pretty publicly silent on any such negotiations. Not that Chip Roy won’t spout off about his reservations regardless of what happens.

Absolutely. Looking forward to what he’ll do as an advocate from outside Congress but admittedly bummed to see him go.

This is nicely written. Lots of different ideas in here, but institutionalizing ModCom as a permanent committee and the possibility of having its recommendations have assured consideration on the floor are ones I’m most drawn to. I think the leadership of the committee matters- sad to see Kilmer go

New GAI On The Hill Newsletter piece out: @loreleikelly.bsky.social writes on the mission and successes of the Modernization Committee—and promising potential next steps. gai.georgetown.edu/modernizatio...
This was a pleasure to edit & inspiring to watch my friend Lorelei work on these issues.

The fact that they’re indistinguishable is what’s so dangerous for democracy & democratic accountability

Obviously other things are going on but discussing the win of an authoritarian and his likely policies is not how I’d like to spend my evening.

I both think her (and Dem) policies would clearly help these folks more—but that is not getting through or convincing anyone. She made an unusually strong push on this specifically, but the idea that she was going to fix this in a 107 campaign was never possible.

(Honestly she made such a concerted push that I would critique the more populist parts of her policies-most of which I considered to be serious-to friends: no taxes on tips, the unspecified price gouging ban, calling a tariff a sales tax.) I wish we were well informed & serious enough to not do that

Democrats have been losing working class voters for a long time, and Harris made a genuine attempt to go after various cost of living (housing, groceries, medication, CTC, home health aids) policies to respond to those voters and those concerns in a shortened campaign.