Seven discharge petitions have hit the 218-signature threshold since 2023, as many as the previous four decades combined. Here's how the maneuver works.

A pocket rescission works by running out a clock. Here's the clock itself, and why the Supreme Court's answer on the shortcut is still incomplete.

A pocket veto sounds like a president's ultimate weapon, but Congress figured out how to close the loophole decades ago -- and the housing bill saga just proved it.

It's one of the oldest tricks in a legislature's toolbox: attach something so toxic to a bill that its own supporters end up voting it down.

An unwritten rule that lets a Speaker block bills his own party doesn't fully back is the reason this Congress has set a modern record for forcing floor votes without him.

One senator's private objection can freeze a Senate nomination indefinitely. Thom Tillis is using that leverage in the open against Todd Blanche, which is the unusual part.

One Senate procedure lets any senator force a vote on almost anything, as long as they're willing to stay past 3 a.m.

One procedural rule, named for a West Virginia senator, decides which provisions survive a reconciliation bill — and it shaped how the 2025 tax law was written.

The House minority's last-ditch procedural motion used to force real amendment votes. A 2021 rules change quietly stripped that power.

No member of Congress has ever been prosecuted for insider trading under the STOCK Act. A bill to close the gap has 93 co-sponsors and no floor vote.

A discharge petition lets a House majority bypass its own leadership and force a floor vote, but it takes 218 signatures to even try. The tool sat mostly unused for two decades until 2025.

For the first time, both chambers of Congress have passed a war powers resolution, telling President Trump to halt the Iran war he launched unless lawmakers authorise it.