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‘What the hell just happened?’ Congress reaches deep into the failure well

Political Theater, Episode 314

Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., speaks about Republicans abandoning the bipartisan border deal during the Senate Democrats’ press conference in the Capitol on Tuesday.
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., speaks about Republicans abandoning the bipartisan border deal during the Senate Democrats’ press conference in the Capitol on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
By Jason Dick
Posted February 8, 2024 at 3:00pm

The current Congress started off last year with a historic show of dysfunction, taking 15 rounds of voting to elect a speaker. Things did not get better. And then this week we saw the House and the Senate devolve into what some observers dubbed “failure theater.” One senator, Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, asked simply, “What the hell just happened?” Helping us answer that question is Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.

Show Notes:

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