Niels Lesniewski
Bio:
Niels Lesniewski covers the Senate for Roll Call. He joined what is now CQ Roll Call in September 2007, hired by Roll Call for the GalleryWatch legislative tracking service that was integrated into CQ in 2009. He is known for his expertise on the peculiarities of Senate procedure.
Niels began covering the Senate for CQ in January 2010, taking the title of CQ SenateWatch editor in the summer of 2011. He has contributed to coverage of all the biggest policy stories on Capitol Hill in recent years, including the response to the 2008 financial collapse, the health care overhaul and several budget standoffs.
A Connecticut native, Niels graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a dual degree in theatre and government. Before joining CQ Roll Call, he worked for theater productions in D.C. and New England. While in college, he interned for ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Outside of work, Niels is an avid sports fan. He started attending Nationals games back when the team was among the worst in the National League and still playing at RFK Stadium.
Stories by Niels Lesniewski:
May 21, 2013
Even as emergency personnel continued to search through the debris of Monday’s tornado in Oklahoma, talk on Capitol Hill had turned to the question of paying for the recovery.
May 21, 2013
Senate Democrats picked up some GOP reinforcements in their bid to get to a conference on a House-Senate budget agreement.
May 21, 2013
Oklahoma’s two Republican senators are pledging any assistance needed for areas devastated by the tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., on Monday, but they’re maintaining their conservative views on federal spending.
May 21, 2013
One of the Senate’s leading voices on Myanmar, or Burma, says he will not pursue a renewal of economic sanctions against the country.
May 20, 2013
With the Senate Judiciary Committee working into the night on a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws, here’s a look at the markup so far.
May 20, 2013
With more chatter that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., may move forward with changing the Senate’s rules regarding nominations, there’s quite a conversation among Senate process experts about the “nuclear option.”
May 20, 2013
The Senate’s candy desk sits in the back row of the Republican side of the chamber, and it is filled with all sorts of sugary confections from Illinois, the home state of its occupant, Republican Mark S. Kirk.
May 20, 2013
In advance of a hearing Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee’s leaders have fired off a letter to the IRS seeking answers to 41 questions and requesting documents about the criteria used for targeting tea party and other groups.
May 17, 2013
Get ready for the Senate floor battle over … catfish.
May 17, 2013
Continuing #WGDB’s coverage of the beer business, craft brewers from across the country met with 11 Senate Democrats this week, including Mark Begich of Alaska and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
May 17, 2013
The Senate Judiciary Committee is gearing up for the grand finale in marking up a rewrite of immigration laws, with indications that work can be completed before the Senate departs for the Memorial Day break.
May 17, 2013
Senators and their staffs must pay attention to local issues, even in the midst of big national debates. That’s what led the Senate Judiciary Committee to back a Medicaid eligibility expansion Thursday, albeit a very narrow one.
May 16, 2013
Tea party conservatives may never fully trust Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the Kentucky Republican was talking about the dangers of limiting political speech long before the tea party movement existed.
May 16, 2013
Another federal appeals court is siding with the District of Columbia Circuit, saying that the president may only make recess appointments between sessions of Congress.
May 15, 2013
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch wants to vote for comprehensive immigration legislation, but he has a few conditions first.
May 15, 2013
Senate appropriators are moving forward with spending bills for the next fiscal year, even without a House-Senate agreement on the budget.
May 15, 2013
If history repeats itself, the opening salvo by Senate Democratic leaders in the debate over federal student loan rates hikes will go nowhere.
May 15, 2013
Sen. Claire McCaskill is among the female senators on the Armed Services Committee leading the push against sexual assault in the military, and the Missouri Democrat is now mobilizing her campaign supporters behind the effort.
May 14, 2013
Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma on Tuesday circulated a letter where he and five GOP colleagues explains circumstances in which he won’t allow legislation through the Senate quickly by unanimous consent using the chamber’s “hotline” system.
May 14, 2013
With the IRS embroiled in a scandal about undue scrutiny of conservative groups, the agency lacks a Senate-confirmed commissioner.
May 14, 2013
Updated 5:44 p.m. | On a day in which blossoming scandals dominated the headlines, some senators worked in relative anonymity on a bill that probably means more to many Americans than anything else going on today.
May 14, 2013
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., may not agree on much, but they do adore Bryce Harper.
May 14, 2013
Don Wolfensberger, a scholar at the Wilson Center and Bipartisan Policy Center, a Roll Call columnist and a former staff director of the House Rules Committee, follows up on our May 7 post, “Could Democrats Work Around ‘Budget Bullies’?” Here’s his analysis:
May 14, 2013
Sen. Al Franken could get national media attention whenever he wants it, but he seeks it so infrequently that when he does, his interests get a bigger megaphone, and Senate observers do a double-take at their TV screens.
