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On the roster: Would bigger be better for the House? - Trump suggests bonuses for armed school teachers - Top DOJ lawyer says agency ‘tuning… out’ trump attacks - Pennsylvania GOP asks SupCo to block new map - No t’challa, but some delicious challah bread



WOULD BIGGER BE BETTER FOR THE HOUSE?

One of the reasons Congress can’t seem to address the most pressing concerns of Americans is because the body did something that the Framers would have never imagined: Made itself nearly irrelevant.



The legislative branch of our government is supposed to be the first among equals. The Framers imagined that Congress would keenly guard its powers to declare war, tax, regulate, make treaties and oversee the other two branches.



But for the past century, with increasing velocity in the past five decades, Congress has become the handmaiden to both of the other branches. As it turns out, the desire of individual members of Congress to remain in power has outstripped the healthy jealousies that are intended to keep our government in check and functioning properly.



There are many suggestions for how to get Congress back in the game, not the least of which is term limits intended to add clarity and urgency to the tenures of its members.



But what if the best way to make Congress better is to make it bigger?



For most of American history until 1920, the number of seats in the House of Representatives increased with each decennial census. The House started with 65 members and steadily grew to its current 435 seats.



When the House reached its current size, each member represented, on average, a little more than 200,000 citizens. Today, it’s almost 750,000.



This has turned members of the House away from their original purpose of representing the narrow interests of similarly situated citizens and into demi-senators. The failure to allow the House to expand in keeping with the population began at about the same time as another constitutional misadventure in the legislative branch: The amendment establishing direct election of senators.



It’s helpful here to understand what the purpose of these two chambers was supposed to be. The members of the House, elected directly every two years was supposed to be the populist part of government, in which the passions of the people could be heard and responded to. Senators, chosen by state legislators until the 17th Amendment was enacted, were supposed to be an American version of the British House of Lords that represented their states’ interests.



Think about it this way: The House was intended to be a boisterous place where new ideas and new energies could shape the government. The Senate was then intended to cool things down and make sure that the big ideas from the lower House fit the federal model.



Now, we do not need the 6,000 or so members in the House that we would have by now under the original proposal from the Bill of Rights that went unratified by the states. Better communication and transportation means that’s not necessary or practical.



But as we consider questions like gerrymandering, gridlock and hidebound career politicians, perhaps leave a thought for how things might be better by decreasing the power of individual lawmakers while simultaneously making them more accountable to the constituents closest to them.



It’s not a panacea by any means, but it would be easily accomplished simply by an act of Congress itself. No amendments needed.



The fact that Congress has failed to do so in almost 100 years should suggest the potency of the idea. The House stopped expanding as members decided their own power was more important than that of the body itself.



THE RULEBOOK: HARD TO HOLD

“It is but too obvious that in some instances the fundamental principle under consideration has been violated by too great a mixture, and even an actual consolidation, of the different [governmental] powers; and that in no instance has a competent provision been made for maintaining in practice the separation delineated on paper.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 47



TIME OUT: BASEBALL IS BACK

If your heart is a little happier today, it may be because we are now just one day away from the return of big league baseball. Teams have been warming up in Arizona and Florida for more than a week and on Friday will play their first scrimmages starting at about 1 p.m. ET. They’re repeating a ritual that stretches back more to the 1910s in and around Tampa. But before that, teams had made other forays into the Sunshine State. Back in 1903, for instance, the Philadelphia Athletics tried late winter warmups in Jacksonville. Manager Connie Mack was not impressed. Aside from the usual distractions for his madcap ace, Rube Wadell, Florida’s subtropical clime offered too many enticements. He is said to have once missed the start of a game because he was in a nearby lagoon wrestling an alligator. Whoever you’re rooting for this year, we wish you a great, alligator-free season.

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SCOREBOARD

Trump job performance

Average approval: 38.2 percent

Average disapproval: 56.8 percent

Net score: -18.6 points

Change from one week ago: down 2.2 points

[Average includes: Quinnipiac University: 37% approve - 58% disapprove; Gallup: 37% approve - 59% disapprove; Fox: 43% approve - 53% disapprove; Marist College: 39% approve - 56% disapprove; IBD: 35% approve - 58% disapprove.]



Control of House

Republican average: 40 percent

Democratic average: 47.8 percent

Advantage: Democrats plus 7.8 points

Change from one week ago: Democratic advantage up 1.2 points

[Average includes: Quinnipiac University: 53% Dems - 38% GOP; Marist College: 49% Dems - 38% GOP; IBD: 46% Dems - 41% GOP; Monmouth University: 47% Dems - 45% GOP; Fox News: 44% Dems - 38% GOP.]



TRUMP SUGGESTS BONUSES FOR ARMED SCHOOL TEACHERS

Bloomberg: “President Donald Trump called for paying bonuses to teachers who carry guns in the classroom, embracing a controversial proposal to curb school shootings hours after offering a full-throated endorsement of the National Rifle Association. Trump told state and local officials gathered at the White House on Thursday to discuss school safety that ‘you can’t hire enough security guards’ and teachers could carry concealed weapons and ‘nobody would know who they are.’ He said that teachers would go through ‘rigorous training’ and could get ‘a little bit of a bonus.’ … It was a jarring contrast for Trump just a day after his emotional meeting with students and parents affected by recent school massacres. Earlier Thursday morning, before a tweet praising the NRA, Trump went the furthest he’s ever gone on gun control, saying he’d push for tougher background checks that screen for mental health, raising the minimum age of buyers to 21, and ending the sale of bump stocks.”



LaPierre says ‘opportunists’ exploiting Florida tragedy for ‘political gain’ - Fox News: “The leader of the National Rifle Association on Thursday pushed back hard against the latest efforts to enact new gun control measures in the wake of last week’s school shooting rampage in Florida, accusing liberals of exploiting the massacre ‘for political gain.’ ‘As usual, the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain,’ Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, said here in a fiery speech to conservative activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference. LaPierre railed against ‘the elites’ renewing calls for restricting gun ownership in the United States since the Parkland, Fla. shooting. ‘Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and our firearms freedoms so they can eradicate all individual freedoms,’ he said.”

GOP congresswoman ties mass murderers to Dems - The Hill: “Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday that many mass shooters ‘end up being Democrats.’ Tenney made the claim in an interview with radio host Fred Dicker, exactly one week after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. ‘Obviously there’s a lot of politics in it,’ Tenney said. ‘And it’s interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats, but the media doesn’t talk about that either.’ … Tenney said she was concerned that the response to the Florida shooting would result in legal gun owners being ‘targeted.’ … Tenney later defended her remarks as standing up ‘for law-abiding citizens who are smeared by anti-gun liberal elitists.’ … Tenney’s Democratic challenger, Anthony Brindisi, criticized her radio comments on Twitter, calling on Tenney to apologize for the comments.”



Dems ready assault weapons ban - The Hill: “Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) on Wednesday said he intends to introduce legislation next week to ban assault weapons. Ryan Schachter, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School whose brother was killed in last week’s shooting there, asked Deutch during a CNN town hall event what he would do to ensure he will be safe at school. ‘We’re going to introduce legislation to make sure that assault weapons are illegal in every part of this country,’ Deutch said, prompting applause from the audience. He said he supports local law enforcement and school staff to provide as much security and comfort as needed to make sure students feel safe.”



TOP DOJ LAWYER SAYS AGENCY ‘TUNING… OUT’ TRUMP ATTACKS

Fox News: “Former top Justice Department official Rachel Brand, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, pushed back strongly at speculation she left the Trump administration over concerns she could have been tapped to oversee the Robert Mueller Russia probe. ‘Anyone who actually knows me knows that had nothing to do with my departure,’ Brand told Fox News on Tuesday. Brand spoke with Fox News during her last afternoon as associate attorney general, the No. 3 DOJ post. She recently made the surprise announcement that she’s stepping down to take a position as Walmart’s executive vice president of global governance and corporate secretary. The move spurred anonymous-source speculation that she’s leaving in order to avoid the possibility of getting caught up in the internal politics of the Russia investigation – namely, being thrust into the role of Mueller’s keeper if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were to be pushed out.”



Former Trump campaign adviser will meet with Mueller - Politico: “Sam Nunberg, one of President Donald Trump’s earliest campaign advisers, is scheduled to meet Thursday with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators in Washington, according to a person with knowledge of the interview. Nunberg was an outspoken Trump aide who got fired in August 2015 over racially charged Facebook posts. Trump later sued Nunberg for $10 million for breaching a confidentiality agreement. They settled the case a month later. Nunberg, who will be accompanied for the Mueller interview by defense attorney Patrick Brackley, got an invitation to meet with the special counsel in mid-January soon after the publication of Michael Wolff's tell-all ‘Fire and Fury.’ The book quotes the former Trump aide describing everything from his allegiance with ex-strategist Steve Bannon to Trump’s decision to run for president and attempts to explain the Constitution to the rookie political candidate.