Brian Jencunas

During Joe Biden’s long-shot 1972 campaign for Senate against two-term incumbent Cale Boggs, Biden's sister and campaign manager Valerie had the motto “to know him is to love him.” No venue was too small for Biden; he campaigned at public beaches,…

During the 1988 presidential election, a Saturday Night Live sketch featured a debate where Michael Dukakis rebutted one of George H.W. Bush's points by simply saying, "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!" Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican, must be…

With each passing day, Congress looks more like a sad imitation of government than an actual legislative body. According to the bill that ended the government shutdown and debt ceiling fight, Democrats and Republicans need to reach a long-term…

If you haven’t been living as a hermit for the last week, you know the United States is getting close to reaching the debt limit and there’s a fight in Congress about raising it. But you aren’t sure what the debt limit actually is, what happens if…

Congress has failed to pass an appropriations bill or continuing resolution before the midnight deadline, so the government has officially shut down. Nonessential federal workers have been furloughed, the EPA and IRS have sent home 90% of their…

With a government shutdown only four days away, the American public’s reaction is a collective shoulder shrug. According to recent polling, only 18% of Americans believe the government will actually shut down. At first glance, it seems like they’re…

If it’s fall, it’s time for our politicians to fight over shutting down the government. Then, just a month later, they’ll fight over raising the debt ceiling. It’s the latest crisis in Washington, the town that never fails to disappoint. Nobody is…

On Thursday, fast food workers will hold a one-day strike in support of raising their minimum hourly wage from $7.50 to $15. The strikers’ argument has tremendous emotional appeal. A minimum-wage job has yearly pay below the federal poverty level…

The Republican National Committee (RNC) thinks they have a cure for their party’s debate problem. In their Boston meeting earlier this week, they called for fewer primary debates and asked for moderators who openly support the Republican Party. The…

A federal judge has ruled that Ben Bernanke will be deposed in a class-action lawsuit involving the Federal Reserve’s 2008 bailout of AIG. The lawsuit in question, led by former AIG executive Maurice Greenberg, alleges that AIG’s bailout illegally…

Can pundits please stop talking about 2016? The election is more than three years away, and there’s nothing meaningful to report about who will be the next president.  Lack of newsworthiness hasn’t stopped almost every major news source from…

Let residents decide how their city allocates money. After all, everyday citizens know what a neighborhood needs better than City Hall bureaucrats. What could go wrong? That’s the idea behind participatory budgeting, a policy common in South America…

States are increasingly competing with one another for jobs and capital. America’s federalism has always allowed for high degrees of regional competition compared to more centrally governed nations, but declining regional specialization and more…

If Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has her way, banks will have to party like it’s 1999. Warren, along with three other senators, has filed the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, a bill that would prevent deposit-holding banks from also being…

On Thursday I wrote a piece criticizing Texas Representative Wendy Davis' (D) filibuster, arguing that it was unable to stop Texas from imposing strict abortion regulations and, contrary to conventional wisdom, was actually detrimental to the future…

Wendy Davis made headlines this week with her filibuster against SB 5, a Texas bill that bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and enacts stricter regulations for abortion providers, which would cause many of them to close. During the…

Republican elites have been learning to stop worrying and love the carbon tax. Last week, former Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina announced his support for a revenue-neutral carbon tax. Inglis joins notable economists like Greg Mankiw and…

Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez met for the last debate in the special election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat. Gomez turned in his best debate performance of the election cycle, while Markey sounded every bit as out-of-touch as his…

Eight heads of state will meet starting Monday in Northern Ireland, officially beginning this year’s G8 Summit – an annual meeting between America, Japan, Germany, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. The high-profile setting does not…