Stevenson’s army, September 25

While the Senate decides how to handle almost any given measure by a Unanimous Consent agreement [UC], the House votes on special rules from the Rules Committee. To pass 4 appropriations bills in one package, Rules has reported this 63-page rule. But as Politico points out, Speaker McCarthy faces a huge dilemma.  I don’t see how we can avoid at least a short shutdown.

One of the reasons for party polarization and leadership dominance of House and Senate is the competition for control. As this chart shows, party control in House, Senate, or White House has changed in at least one of the three every two years since 2013. In fact, the same is true since 2006. The fear of losing, or the prospect of gaining, the majority has led the congressional leadership to control floor action tightly, often blocking any amendments from the minority.

A new political science study says it’s impossible to pick which campaign ads work.

NYT says China is creating a very military Coast Guard.

Admit it, Trump is advocating violence.

I agree with Peggy Noonan on the Senate dress code.
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My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).