The Failure of Congress to Live Up to Its Constitutional Responsibility on the Nation’s Budget

Jim Thurber, who is founder and director of  American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, is a member of the board of directors of the Congressional Education Foundation which oversees the work of the Byrd Center for Legislative Studies.  Jim is an outstanding scholar of the American political system and serves as Distinguished Professor of Government at American University.  I highly recommend his article “Agony, Angst, and the Failure of the Supercommittee,” which appeared in the summer issue of the Carl Albert Center’sEXTENSIONS magazine.  Jim’s article explains with great clarity the complex issues surrounding the failure of the supercommittee appointed by Congress to address the issue of deficit reduction.  This tale of failure is instructive about the growing dysfunction of Congress and the hyper-partisanship that dominates American politics these days.

This summer issue of the Carl Albert magazine is filled with good articles about the devastating effects of hyper-partisanship and the abandonment of a reasonable and realistic approach to the annual budget process.  You can see the entire issue on the Carl Albert website. Be sure to read the introduction to this issue by Ron Peters, the director of the Carl Albert Center and editor of EXTENTIONS. Ron is one of the most thoughtful scholars of Congress you will ever find.  His introduction sets the context of the current crisis in historical perspective and he has some very interesting things to say about the earmark process, which is much maligned at present.

-Ray Smock