GW Graduate Student Is a Noted Expert on Congressional Rules

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When Kacper Surdy describes himself as an "armchair parliamentarian," he's downplaying his reputation as an authority on U.S. congressional procedure. He's a social media star, with accounts both on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky, where influential followers such as historian Heather Cox Richardson and blogger Chris Geidner of Law Dork trust him-his handle is ringwiss-to help them understand congressional rules and their history.

Before his identity was revealed in a Politico article a couple of years ago, more than one follower assumed he was a retired congressional staffer. But when he came to the George Washington University as a master's degree student in political science last fall, it was the first time Surdy had set foot in the U.S. capital. He was born in Poland and grew up in England, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Durham University. He is also deeply versed in the legislative rules of Poland and the UK, but his fascination with parliamentary procedure started when he read about the procedural motion of the "previous question" in the U.S. Congress.

"When I first started observing congressional proceedings, it was the 'previous question' that caught my eye," Surdy said. "I was totally lost as to what that meant and so I started digging, and I was really interested by what I found."

Originally, Surdy said, the previous question motion was used to set aside a topic that was thought to be inconvenient to the body. But now, in the House of Representatives, saying "I move the previous question" is a way to end debate.

How does someone born in Poland and raised in England become so interested in the U.S. Congress?

"That is unusual, I guess," Surdy said. "But in Woodrow Wilson's book, 'Congressional Government,' he talks about how Americans prefer to watch British legislative proceedings instead of their own. That was over a century ago. Whereas in Congress at the time, partisan disputes were less consequential, in Parliament, the fate of the government turned on partisan battles. So Americans found British proceedings much more exciting."

Now that the American Congress is so much more polarized, Surdy said, Wilson's claim is less persuasive. "Everything is much more partisan now than it was then. And over time, congressional procedure has become much more technical, much more complicated, whereas procedure in Parliament has tended to be simplified over time. That's another reason why I find congressional procedure more interesting."

As he approached graduation from Durham University, Surdy knew he wanted to be in Washington, D.C., and he chose GW because the political science program could flexibly accommodate his specific interests.

"I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into by coming here," he said, "and everything is just as I imagined it. I try to visit the Capitol and watch proceedings in person when I can. I've learned a lot of theoretical things in my classes that really go to explain what I see in practice in Congress-the importance of agenda-setting as a form of power in itself, the reasons why members prefer to defer to the leadership, things like that."

People would be surprised, Surdy said, if they knew how much control the party leadership exercises over the legislative process. Ideally, committees would have the primary responsibility for writing legislation. There would be opportunities for discussion, amendments and compromise-for the participation of ordinary members-but that is not the way it actually works, with party leadership wielding arbitrary control over every part of the process.

"Members of Congress have an incredible amount of power, but they don't use it," Surdy said. "All of these procedures are still available to them. It's more of a cultural problem. They prefer to defer to the leadership. They have other things to be doing-campaigning, meeting with constituents-and so it's just more efficient to hand over the work of legislating to the leadership.

"But what's the point of being in Congress if you're not going to have an impact on the shape of legislation? If members have an opportunity to participate fully in the legislative process, then you end up with a better product, a bill that truly reflects the will of the members and the will of the people who elected them."

This summer, Surdy plans to spend time exploring Washington, D.C., before beginning the final year of his master's program. He isn't sure what comes after graduation.

"I have no idea where my life will take me. I know I want to be involved in parliamentary procedure in some way, and I'm hoping that over the next year I will be able to get a clearer idea of the pathways to being what I would call a practitioner in the field. I'd love to be in D.C. I could see myself being here forever."