Congress today

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Steven S. Smith

The American Congress provides the most insightful, up-to-date treatment of congressional politics available in an undergraduate text. Informed by the authors' Capitol Hill experience and nationally-recognized scholarship, The American Congress presents a crisp introduction to all major features of Congress: its party and committee systems, leadership, and voting and floor activity. The American Congress has the most in-depth discussions of the place of the president, the courts, and interest groups in congressional policy made available in a text. The text blends an emphasis on recent developments in congressional politics with a clear discussion of the rules of the game, the history of key features of Congress, and stories from recent Congresses that bring politics to life. No other text weaves into the discussion of the important ideas of recent political science research. The book includes the most comprehensive list of suggested readings and Internet resources on Congress.

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Edward V. Schneier, Bertram Gross

Legislative Strategy is a "how-to" book on the creation of public policy through legislative action. Written for scholars, policy makers, and activists, the book focuses on the kinds of strategic and tactical choices that policy advocates face in their attempts to influence Congress and the process of legislation. Legislative Strategy is distinctive in its discussion of the overall political environment in which public policy is crafted, as well as its analysis of how change and manipulation of rules is part of the process by which policy advocates are able to pass legislation. The authors include an extended treatment of subjects such as the flow of "legislative intelligence"; the strategic timing of bills; and the means by which Senate and House members use filibusters, delays, amendments, and protocol to manipulate legislative outcomes.

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William L. Smallwood

Smallwood presents a biography of Senator Jim McClure, covering his career as a Congressman in Idaho to his 18 years of service in the US Senate until 1991. The biography is based on interviews with McClure and those who worked with him. It begins with how the Republican candidate for Idaho's 1st Congressional District seat died in a plane crash, leaving the possibility open for McClure, and goes back to McClure's family history and childhood, followed by his education as a law student and the period when he was a practicing lawyer, and his work as a politician during the terms of six presidents. --Publisher.

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Stephen D. Van Beek

"Megabills" that package scores of legislative proposals into House and Senate bills are a phenomenon of the congressional reforms of the 1970s and the agenda changes of the 1980s. These bills generate unprecedented disagreements between the House and Senate, requiring congressional leaders, the president, committee chairs, and junior members to play new roles in this struggle for resolution. Van Beek uses a case-study approach that investigates the legislative histories of recent bills on the savings and loan bailout, the major trade bill of the late 1980s, and several budget reconciliation bills. His research is brought to life through personal experience as a legislative aide, direct observation of Congress at work, and interviews with members, staff, and lobbyists. Post-Passage Politics is a significant contribution to congressional studies. Readers will come to understand how important the resolution stage is for shaping behavior at the committee and floor stages in the House and Senate. The case studies and descriptions of the politics of bicameral resolution will interest students of Congress, the presidency, and public policy.