A look at the US legislative process, including the various detours or shortcuts a major bill is likely to encounter. The process is illustrated with real-life examples through a series of case studies on national service legislation, regulatory overhaul, the omnibus drug bill, and more.

In this accessible and popular book, veteran Hill observer Walter J. Oleszek explains how the contemporary Congress makes laws and how its rules and procedures shape domestic and foreign policy. A wealth of real-life examples brings the book to life and help readers make sense of the complicated business of lawmaking.Among the topics that receive new or expanded coverage in this thoroughly revised edition are: the shift from the politics of deficit to the politics of surplus; innovations in Senate floor procedures and the use of new rules in the House; new developments in the ways that chambers resolve their differences; and new trends in legislative oversight.

The American Congress provides the most current treatment of congressional politics available in an undergraduate text. Informed by the authors' Capitol Hill experience and scholarship, this book presents a crisp introduction to major features of Congress: parties and committee systems, leadership, voting, and floor activity. This text contains discussions of the importance of presidents, courts, and interest groups in congressional policy making. Recent developments are also discussed within the context of congressional political history. The seventh edition includes complete coverage of the first Congress of the Obama presidency, the 2010 midterm elections, healthcare reform, and an early perspective on the 112th Congress with a Republican majority.

Book by Mikva, Abner J., Lane, Eric

<p> In <b>Legislative Process, Third Edition</b>, two outstanding authors explore American legislative institutions and the processes by which they consider and enact legislation. Using a rich variety of primary source materials, and placing consistent emphasis on the processes and practice of law, <b>Mikva</b> and <b>Lane</b> consider contemporary legislative topics in the context of historical events. </p> <ul> <li> <b>extraordinary authorship</b> by <b>Abner J. Mikva</b>, Former Chief Judge to the United States Court of Appeals, Congressman for five terms, and Counsel to the President during the Clinton Administration; <b>Eric Lane</b> has extensive legislative experience at the state level </li> <li> <b>extensive use of primary materials, </b>such as <ul> <li> bills and statutes </li> <li> committee reports and debates </li> <li> legislative rules </li> <li> constitutional provisions and other legislative authorities </li> <li> case decisions </li> </ul> </li> <li> <b>a practical and process-oriented approach</b> </li> <li> <b>a historical focus </b>that gives context to topics and sheds light on current legislative enactments </li> <li> <b>detailed Teacher’s Manual</b> </li> </ul> <p> <b>Updated throughout, the Third Edition includes:</b> </p> <ul> <li> additional focus on <b>legislative oversight</b> and <b>executive privilege</b> </li> <li> recent developments on <b>census, sampling, and statistical tools for redistricting</b> through addition of <i><b>Wisconsin v. City of New York</b></i> </li> <li> a fresh look at campaign finance reform through the<b> Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002</b> and <b><i>McConnell v. F.E.C</i></b>. </li> <li> new materials on legislative ethics in the post-Abramoff world, <b>The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007</b> </li> <li> <b><i>Davis v. Bandemer</i></b> is replaced with <b><i>Vieth v. Jubelirer</i></b> as the Court continues to evince uncertainty about the justiciability of gerrymandering </li> <li> <b>updated Teacher’s Manual </b>with <b>Transition Guide</b> and <b> sample syllabi</b> </li> </ul> <p> Balancing theory and practice, authors Mikva and Lane offer current coverage of the great American legislative institutions, the process of lawmaking, and the historical context in which these institutions and processes have evolved. New professors can have confidence in teaching this course for the first time with the new updated <b>Teacher’s Manual </b>that includes sample syllabi and the authors’ significant insights and guidance. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

Product Description: Seeks to explain the causes of ambiguously worded state legislation. The level of detail in a given law can have dramatic consequences for how that law is interpreted and applied. In The Devil Is in the Details, Rachel VanSickle-Ward focuses on the dynamics of social policy construction in the United States in order to better understand why the wording of legislation can range from the specific to the ambiguous...read more

Lawmaking is crucial to American democracy because it completely defines and regulates the public life of the nation. Yet despite its importance, political scientists spend very little time studying the direct impact that the politics surrounding a particular issue has on lawmaking. The Substance of Representation draws on a vast range of historical and empirical data to better understand how lawmaking works across different policy areas. Specifically, John Lapinski introduces a theoretically grounded method for parsing policy issues into categories, and he shows how policymaking varies in predictable ways based on the specific issue area being addressed. Lapinski examines the ways in which key factors that influence policymaking matter for certain types of policy issues, and he includes an exhaustive look at how elite political polarization shifts across these areas. He considers how Congress behaves according to the policy issue at hand, and how particular areas--such as war, sovereignty issues, and immigration reform--change legislative performance. Relying on records of all Congressional votes since Reconstruction and analyzing voting patterns across policy areas from the late nineteenth to late twentieth centuries, Lapinski provides a comprehensive historical perspective on lawmaking in order to shed light on current practices. Giving a clear picture of Congressional behavior in the policymaking process over time, The Substance of Representation provides insights into the critical role of American lawmaking.

Product Description: Year after year, Congressional Roll Call remains the definitive reference source of congressional voting information. Its objective and authoritative approach presents a member-by-member survey and analysis of every roll call vote taken in the House and Senate during 2011...read more

Product Description: Understanding how Congressional political parties utilize floor procedure to advance a legislative agenda is fundamental to understanding how Congress operates. This book offers students and researchers an in-depth understanding of the procedural tools available to congressional leaders and committee chairs and how those tools are implemented in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and during negotiations between the chambers...read more