The presidential election isn’t the only nightmare awaiting us in November. Welcome to Congressional Cacophony, a new feature on The Slot about House and Senate races that really, really matter. Suggestions? Pitches? Email us.
Poll after humorously pathetic poll this year has suggested that Congress is about as popular as a temporary but debilitating illness (it sucks, but it's fun to wake up in a hospital room full of flowers!). So why don't Americans just do the sensible thing and vote out incumbents? Because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, that's why.
This is Chuck Grassley, a Republican United States Senator from Iowa. (Everyone say "Hi Chuck!") On Monday, he turned the Internet from a temporary repository for people to freak out about teenagers who work in retail to a den of speculation and—dare I say—wonder.
A truly motley crew of Senators has introduced a bill that would crack down on schools that fail to address campus sexual assault. But unlike window dress-y efforts that amount to little more than campaign ads for politicians uninterested in effecting actual change, this bill actually sounds like it's got some teeth.
Faced with accusations that their opposition to renewal of the Violence Against Women Act is a sign that they've taken a very unpopular "pro-woman beating" stance, Congressional Republicans are hurriedly drafting their own version of the bill to prove that they don't hate all women. Their version will be sort of like…
This week, the US Senate will begin debating provisions of the Violence Against Women Act that extend protection to undocumented immigrants and same-sex couples, because Republicans are so opposed to extending protection to undocumented immigrants and same-sex couples that they're willing to contest something called…
Just when you think the relationship between Republicans in Congress and President Obama can't get any more strained, one of those supposed "gentlemen" from the Hill goes and does something even more ridiculous than all of the other ridiculous things they've already done. This time the culprit is Senator Chuck…
In Monday's Republican Presidential debate, Newt Gingrich doubled down on his fabulous idea that the best way to wean families off of government assistance is to let poor kids work as janitors. At a recent town hall meeting, a Republican Senator suggested that letting kids handle pesticides and operate farm equipment…
The Senate Judiciary Committee just voted 13-6 to confirm Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. Lindsey Graham was her only Republican supporter, and many others were worried she was a liberal "activist" who hated marriage and the military.
