Details

Subject(s)

• Legislators—United States [Browse]
• United States Congress [Browse]

Author

• Oleszek, Walter J. [Browse]
• Lee, Frances E. [Browse]
• Schickler, Eric, 1969- [Browse]

Notes

Previous edition: 2012.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• pt. I. In search of the two congresses
• 1. The two congresses
• Dual nature of Congress
• Legislators' tasks
• Constitutional basis
• Back to Burke
• 2. Evolution of the modern Congress
• Antecedents of Congress
• The English heritage
• Colonial experience
• Congress in the Constitution
• Powers of Congress
• Limits of legislative power
• Separate branches, shared powers
• Judicial review
• Bicameralism
• Institutional evolution
• Workload
• Size of Congress
• Conflict with the Executive branch
• Partisan interests
• The Congressional career
• Professionalization
• Constituency demands
• pt. II. A congress of ambassadors
• 3. Going for it : recruitment and candidacy
• Formal rules
• Senate apportionment
• House apportionment
• Districting in the House
• Malapportionment
• Gerrymandering
• Majority-minority districts
• Becoming a candidate
• Amateurs and professionals
• Nominating politics
• Parties and nominations
• Sizing up the primary system
• 4. Making it : the electoral game
• Campaign strategies
• Campaign resources
• Campaign finance regulations
• Campaign techniques
• The air war : media and other mass appeals
• The ground war : pressing the flesh and other forms of close contact
• The parallel campaigns
• Who votes?
• Reasons for not voting
• Biases of voting
• How voters decide
• Party loyalties
• Appeal of candidates
• Issue voting
• Election outcomes
• Party balance
• Party alignment and realignment
• Turnover and representation
• 5. Being there : Hill styles and home styles
• Who are the legislators?
• Congressional roles
• How do legislators spend their time?
• The Washington career
• Looking homeward
• Independent judgment or constituency opinions?
• What are constituencies?
• Home styles
• Office of the member inc.
• road tripping
• Constituency casework
• Personal staff
• Members and the media
• Mail
• Feeding the local press
• Local press boosterism?
• pt. III. A deliberative assembly of one nation
• 6. Leaders and parties in Congress
• The Speaker of the House
• House floor leaders
• House whips
• Leaders of the Senator
• Presiding officers
• Floor leaders
• Leadership activities
• Institutional tasks
• Party tasks
• Party caucuses, committees, and informal groups
• Party continuity and change
• Intense party conflict
• The two-party system
• Coalition building
• 7. Committees : workshops of Congress
• Purposes of committees
• Evolution of the committee system
• Standing committees
• Select, or special, committees
• Joint committees
• Conference committees
• The assignment process
• The pecking order
• Preferences and politicking
• Approval by party caucuses and the Chamber
• Committee leadership
• Policy making in committee
• Overlapping jurisdictions
• Multiple referrals
• Where bills go
• The policy environment
• Committee staff
• Committee reform and change
• Homeland security committees
• Select intelligence oversight panel
• Constricting the authority of committee chairs
• Party task forces
• Bypassing committees
• 8. Congressional rules and procedures
• Introduction of bills
• Drafting
• Timing
• Referral of bills
• Scheduling in the House
• Strategic role of the Rules Committee
• House floor procedures
• Adoption of the Rule
• Committee of the whole
• General debate
• Amending phase
• Voting
• Final passage
• Scheduling in the Senate
• Unanimous consent agreements
• Senate floor procedures
• Normal routine
• Holds, filibusters, and cloture
• Resolving House-Senate differences
• Selection of conferees
• Openness and bargaining
• The conference report
• 9. Decision making in Congress
• Power to choose
• Types of decisions
• Specializing
• Offering amendments
• Casting votes
• Determinants of voting
• Party and voting
• Ideology and voting
• Constituency and voting
• The Presidency and voting
• Legislative bargaining
• Implicit and explicit bargaining
• Logrolling
• Bargaining strategy.
• pt. IV. Policy making and change in the two congresses
• 10. Congress and the President
• President as legislator
• Power to persuade
• The rhetorical president
• Administrative president
• The veto power
• Veto options
• Veto strategies
• Post-veto action
• Signing statements
• Pocket vetoes
• The line-item veto
• Sources of legislative-executive cooperation
• Party loyalties and public expectations
• Bargaining and compromise
• Informal links
• Legislative-executive conflict
• Constitutional ambiguities
• Different constituencies
• Different time perspectives
• The balance of power
• 11. Congress and the bureaucracy
• Congress organizes the Executive Branch
• Senate confirmation of Presidential appointees
• The personnel system
• The rulemaking process
• Congressional control of the bureaucracy
• Hearings and investigations
• Congressional vetoes
• Mandatory reports
• Nonstatutory controls
• Inspectors General
• Appropriations process
• Impeachment
• Oversight
• Micromanagement
• 12. Congress and the Courts
• The Federal Courts
• Court as referee and umpire
• Statutory interpretation
• Legislative checks on the Judiciary
• Advice and consent for judicial nominees
• Nomination battles
• Consent and dissent
• 13. Congress and organized interests
• American pluralism
• Capital of interests
• Nation of joiners
• Biases of interest representation
• Pressure group methods
• Direct lobbying
• Social lobbying
• Coalition lobbying
• Grassroots lobbying
• Electronic lobbying
• Groups and campaign fund raising
• Groups and advocacy campaigns
• rating legislators
• Groups, lobbying, and legislative politics
• Role of money
• Lobbying and legislation
• Subgovernments
• 1946 Lobbying Law
• The Lobby Disclosure Act of 1995
• The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007
• Foreign lobbying
• 14. Congress, budgets, and domestic policy making
• Stages of policy making
• Types of domestic policies
• Distributive policies
• Regulatory policies
• Redistributive policies
• Characteristics of Congressional policy making
• Localism
• Piecemeal policy making
• Symbolic policy making
• Reactive policy making
• Congressional budgeting
• Authorizations and appropriations
• Backdoor spending techniques
• Challenge of entitlements
• The 1974 Budget Act
• Concurrent budget resolution
• Reconciliation
• Revised budget process
• 15. Congress and National Security policies
• Constitutional powers
• Who speaks for Congress?
• Types of foreign and national security policies
• Structural policies
• Congressional-military-industrial complex
• Trade politics
• Strategic policies
• Power of the purse
• Treaties and executive agreements
• Crisis policies : the War Powers
• War Powers Resolution
• Afghanistan, Iraq, and changes in warfare
• pt. V. Conclusion
• 16. The two congresses and the American people
• Congress-as-politicians
• Members' bonds with constituents
• Ethics
• Congress-as-institution
• Policy success and stalemate
• Assessing the Congressional process
• Media coverage
• Citizens' attitudes toward Congress
• Twenty-first-century challenges
• Security
• Checks and imbalances?
• Appendix A. Party control : Presidency, Senate, House, 1901-2013
• Appendix B. Internships : getting experience on Capitol Hill.

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ISBN

• 9781452239958 ((pbk.))
• 1452239959 ((pbk.))

OCLC

852807834

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