Congresses, Senates, & Legislative Bodies Books - Page 4

Dance of Legislation

Eric Redman

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Best Look At The Goings On Inside The U.S. Congress 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

The year was 1970, President Nixon was still in office, however, an intern by the name of Eric Redman was on hand in the halls of Congress to witness the fascinating dance of legislation as The National Health Service Corps was attempting to be born. This book provides a personal account of the birth and struggles of the attempt to pass a piece of legislation from within the private confines of who was then the second most powerful United States Senator, Warren Magnuson from the State of Washington. While the names have changed, the struggle for a balance between power, influence, and social consciousness and survival remains the same. This book is as fantastic look behind the scenes of the most influential body of power on earth contains the essential ingredients today as a quarter of a century ago. It is a must read for anyone with an interest in political legislation and stands alone in its own right as a factual story that is as fascinating and compelling as any! fictional novel you will ever read.

Editorial Review:

"The Dance of Legislation" has long been considered a classic description of the legislative process. In it, Eric Redman draws on his two years as a member of Senator Warren Magnuson's staff to trace the drafting and passing of a piece of legislation - S.4106, the National Health Service Bill - with all the maneuvers, plots, counter plots, frustrations, triumphs, and sheer work and dedication involved. He provides a vivid picture of the bureaucratic infighting, political prerogatives, and Congressional courtesies necessary to make something happen on Capitol Hill. In a Postscript to the 2000 edition, Redman reflects on how that process has, and has not, changed in the thirty years since the book was first published.

Barack Obama: What He Believes In - From His Own Works

Barack Obama, U.S. Senate

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

We are all familiar with the phenomenon known as Barack Obama. However, many of us don't know what he has worked for while in the Senate-what sort of legislation has he, himself, sponsored or co-sponsored. This book provides an invaluable glimpse of what the Senator feels passionately about, listing and detailing all of the Senate Bills and Resolutions that Senator Barack Obama sponsored or co-sponsored during 2007, the first term of the 110th Congress.*****It also lists all the co-sponsors of these bills so you can see who he has worked with-which Democratic and Republican Senators he has reached out to for these legislative initiatives.*****Because of the complexity of some of the Bills and Resolutions, each of the pieces (with the exception of two) are accompanied by highlighted, official summaries of the legislation that clearly, in simple language, outlines the intent and impact of that Bill or Resolution.*****The legislation covered here encompasses a wide variety of subjects, including Iran and Iraq, US energy policy and health care.*****Take a look for yourself at what Senator Obama has done during the 110th Congress of the United States during 2007.

Congress and Its Members (Congress and Its Members)

Roger H. Davidson; Walter J. Oleszek; and Frances E. Lee

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The tension between Congress as a lawmaking institution and Congress as a collection of re-election-minded politicians has proven to be a powerful and effective way to understand Congress and the legislative process. Over nine editions, thousands of students have benefited from Davidson and Oleszek's tightly organized framework, as well as from their engaging and vivid narrative. Helping students understand the institution's evolution, Congress and Its Members paints broad brush strokes, while effectively showing enough color and detail to ground students in important concepts.

Each chapter of the tenth edition will feature new analysis of the most recent and important scholarship. While the authors discuss the overall position and prospects for congressional government, they will include up-to-the-minute details on:

• the 2004 congressional elections and ongoing party realignment indicating Republican dominance for the foreseeable future;
• the state of campaign finance, including performance under the McCain-Feingold legislation;
• the majority leader's efforts to strengthen his powers and the role of the new Democratic leaders in challenging the GOP's agenda;
• party realignment from the standpoint of floor voting, including the decline of the middle;
• the consequences of war for the legislative branch and for the separation of powers, as well as reorganization due to homeland security and intelligence reform;
• the new rules for the 109th Congress, with the possibility of changes in the Senate's filibuster rule and unusual procedures to pass legislation;
• the outlook for a second term president and the role of the minority party in challenging an assertive White House;
• big government conservatism, new regulatory trends, the rules and tools for effective oversight, and the shadow government of contractors;
• legislative-judicial conflicts, including controversies in naming judges to the federal bench;
• the return of deficits, the growing use of earmarks, congressional budget reforms, and the conflict between discretionary versus entitlement spending.

Making Government Work

Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, Fritz Hollings

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Performance is better than promise" has long been the motto of Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, a former Governor of South Carolina and six-term U.S. Senator who has distinguished himself as a stalwart advocate of fiscally responsible progressive programs. In this political memoir, Hollings takes aim at our increasingly flawed political system and a government that has gone "into the ditch." As remedy he pulls antidotes from anecdotes about his personal experiences in making government work in spite of itself for the past half century.

Hollings's long political career speaks volumes about the untapped potential of the elected and the electorate to use government for the good of all. As South Carolina's Governor in the early 1960s, Hollings oversaw the social transition of the state into the civil rights era and from an agriculture-based economy to an industry-based system with international partnerships. In the U.S. Senate from 1966 to 2005, he took point on shepherding new policies to address hunger, environmental conservation, energy consumption, communications, international trade, campaign finance, the federal budget, space exploration, and national defense. Hollings's instructive recollections of these efforts form a user's manual for our representative democracy as he shares compelling--and often candidly colorful--accounts of the smart stewardship of resources and authority needed to enact policies that make positive differences in the lives of Americans.

Confrontational at times toward those issues and institutions he cites as responsible for knocking government off course, Hollings lays out clearly his deep commitment to improving our system of government, strengthening regulations on free trade, countering dependence on campaign contributions, and enhancing our communications and education programs to compete better in an information-driven global marketplace. This prescriptive compendium of sound thinking from an experienced agent of change serves as a call to action for those who would lead well and those who would be well led to reinvigorate a floundering system and call good people and good ideas back into the service of America's bright future.

Showdown at Gucci Gulch

Alan Murray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

awesome 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

the best book I was ever required to read for a class

Umm, did I read the same book? 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I'm having a hard time believing the reviews I see here. Gucci Gulch is by far one of the most boring books I've read this year. Perhaps, it's because it was required literature for Intro to Poli Sci, but that's beside the point. This book is too detailed. I agree with the comment where it should have been condensed, but I want to stress that this information cannot be found elsewhere without intense research. I commend the author for his diligent work, but this book just wasn't for me. It's 291 pages on the Tax Reform of 1986. If that's your cup of joe, I would highly suggest it. Avoid it if you are a casual reader.

Editorial Review:

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was the single most sweeping change in the history of America's income tax. It was also the best political and economic story of its time. Here, in the anecdotal style of The Making of the President, two Wall Street Journal reporters provide the first complete picture of how this tax revolution went from an improbable dream to a widely hailed reality.

The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation

Steven M. Gillon

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Most Americans saw President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich as staunch foes--"the polar extremes of Pennsylvania Avenue." But as Steven Gillon reveals in The Pact, these powerful adversaries formed a secret alliance in 1997, a pact that would have rocked the political landscape, had it not foundered in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal.
A fascinating look at politics American-style, The Pact offers a riveting account of two of America's most charismatic and influential leaders, detailing both their differences and their striking similarities, and highlighting the profound and lasting impact the tumultuous 1960s had on both their personal and political lives. With the cooperation of both President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich, interviews with key players who have never before spoken about their experiences, along with unprecedented access to Gingrich's private papers, Gillon not only offers a behind-the-scenes look at the budget impasse and the government shutdown in 1995--the famous face-off between Clinton and Gingrich--but he also reveals how the two moved closer together after 1996--closer than anyone knew. In particular, the book illuminates their secret efforts to abandon the liberal and conservative wings of their own parties and strike a bi-partisan deal to reform the "third rail of American politics"--Social Security and Medicare. That potentially groundbreaking effort was swept away by the highly charged reaction to the Lewinsky affair, ending an initiative that might have transformed millions of American lives.
Packed with compelling new revelations about two of the most powerful and intriguing figures of our time, this book will be must reading for everyone interested in politics or current events.

Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress, 3rd Edition

Barbara Sinclair

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Open a textbook on American politics and you're likely to find the process by which a bill becomes a law described much as it was in texts of decades ago. But, lawmaking has changed dramatically in recent years, and the traditional how-a-bill-becomes-a-law diagram describes few of the major measures considered in the contemporary Congress.

Bills follow a number of routes through Congress today:

-- they may be considered by several committees -- or none
-- omnibus measures may be shaped by special task forces, or in formal executive-congressional summits
-- floor consideration in the House may be governed by rules tailored to facilitate or slow a bill's progress
-- bills are regularly subject to non-germane amendments or are filibustered on the Senate floor.

In a timely revision of her successful book, Unorthodox Lawmaking, noted political scientist Barbara Sinclair describes the contemporary legislative process as it really operates and treats this subject in a highly readable manner. Sinclair leads students step-by-step through the lawmaking process in each chamber, as she explores the range of special procedures and practices, the factors that have contributed to their emergence, and their consequences on both the lawmaking process and the legislation produced.

Sinclair provides five case studies to illustrate how the legislative process varies from bill to bill, and to show how procedure and politics are interrelated. Following a non-technical description of the current budget process in Chapter 5, case studies in Chapters 10 and 11 trace the budget process from 1993 to 1999, including the balanced budget deal between the President and Congress in 1997 and subsequent budget politics. Three other case studies -- focusing on managed care regulation (new in this edition), national service legislation, and the Omnibus Drug Bill -- offer concrete and interesting examples of the variety in the present-day lawmaking process.

Does the use of new procedures and practices enhance or inhibit the likelihood of a bill becoming law? What other effects does unorthodox lawmaking have on how Congress functions? The second edition of Unorthodox Lawmaking gives your students the tools to better assess the relative successes and limitations of the contemporary legislative process.

Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Jeff Gerth, Don Van Natta Jr.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

The book leaves out the old stuff and focuses more on her work as a Senator 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This is the book to read if you want some straight reporting on Hillary's life and career. It covers everything from her youth through 2006 without ever become an attack piece or hagiography. A bit more than a third of the book is devoted to her work as a candidate and then as the junior Senator from New York.

At first, I found the early portions of the book unsatisfactory because the authors seem to be giving her every benefit of the doubt. For example, on page 79 they try to say that Hillary's work at the notoriously leftist Legal Services Corporation doesn't mean Hillary holds leftist values. The evidence? A quote from the ultra-extreme leftist Mickey Kantor saying, "From my perspective, she was very moderate." OK. He admits he was a flamethrower, why does that necessarily make Hillary not a leftist? They also minimize the influence of Saul Alinsky on her career and manner of politics or even that Alinsky was much more than "a colorful Chicago community activist" (pg 33).

The book also avoids the well known scandals almost completely. Oh, the authors go over Whitewater, the options trading, and so on, but Hillary always gets a pass. For example, the problem with the options trading wasn't the fantastic series of trades, but that she was allowed to be under margin. They got a certificate from someone who said that options can payoff big, so Hillary gets a pass. Right. More believable would have been showing a similarly fantastic series of trades by anyone else. Ever. In the history of trading options.

But as I was getting worked up over the lack of discussion over the FBI files and so on, I finally realized what the I think the authors are doing. They don't want the book to get bogged down in the old muck. When they have solid and incontrovertible evidence about the Rose billing records, they present it. The case they slowly build is the fact that Hillary has a very poor track record in making good choices. Her instincts for secrecy and stonewalling, her willingness to misstate the facts, her tin ear for public relations, and sense of entitlement and arrogance all combine to demonstrate the kind of President she would be. In my mind, it adds up to a disqualification. However, the authors don't say that and others pre-disposed to praise her will likely conclude differently.

The authors are exquisite on displaying Hillary's maneuvering on 9/11, the Iraq war, and the way her political needs of the moment cause her to talk falsely about facts that are on the record and how hard she works to keep other facts from ever getting on the record or from being brought to public attention. This is the book's strongest material. It is this material that is most relevant to her run for President and I finally came to agree with the authors' choice to emphasize it and leave the old stuff out.

Whether you are for, against, or indifferent to Hillary, she is a major force in our present politics and you would do well to learn more about her. This book is among the best of the books written about her. I think it is the most relevant to her run for President.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Editorial Review:

HER WAY has already sent shockwaves through the election season, influencing the decisions of voters, providing pundits with tons of ammunition, and forcing Hillary Clinton's camp to answer some difficult question.

The first truly balancaed investigation into her life and career, Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr.'s masterful biography takes readers from the dorm rooms at Wellesley to the courthouses of Arkansas and Washington; to the White House and role as First Lady like none nother; inside the back rooms of the Senate, where she expertly navigates the political and legislative shoals; to her multimillion-dollar mansion in Washington, where she presides over an unparalleled fundraising maching; and to her war room, from which she orchestrates ferocious attacks on her critics.

Now in paperback, HER WAY features an incisive and illuminating new afterword that sheds light on the aftermath of Senator Clinton's historic run.

The Citizen's Guide to Lobbying Congress

Donald E. deKieffer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Self Guided Text 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

while we used this book as a text for our class in lobbying at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to lobby congress. It gives a good basic understanding of the steps and tips on how to find a good lobbyist if you decide you need more help.

Editorial Review:

Individuals and grassroots organizations interested in becoming involved in petitioning their government will discover essential information on the techniques and laws to lobbying in this clear and enlightening guide. New lobbyists will learn how to best craft and direct their messages so that their concerns will be heard, make congressional contacts, get the most out of letter-writing campaigns, generate press, give campaign contributions, and even get invited to testify before congressional committees. This resource details the most recent lobbying laws, including the Federal Election Campaign Act amended in 2002, as well as a list of appropriate gifts to give to a member of Congress or their staff. This revised edition contains updated chapters and resources that will ensure that neophyte lobbyists will have the most up-to-date information when lobbying their government.

Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill With Novak

Thomas P. O'Neill

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"All politics is local." 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The man who coined this phrase, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, one of the most influential congressmen in history, never forgot his roots. Always looking out for "the little guys" who elected him, but always making them feel like "big guys," Tip O'Neill never lost an election following his elevation to the Massachusetts House in 1936 at age twenty-two. Sixteen years later, he received a private tip from John F. Kennedy, a year ahead of time, that JFK would be giving up his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952, and O'Neill prepared early and ran for and won that seat, soon becoming as savvy a backroom politician as old Joe Kennedy ever was, and considerably more honest. As Speaker of the House from 1977 until his retirement in 1987, O'Neill enjoyed his role as a power broker, while improving the lives of ordinary citizens instead of feathering his own nest.

With William Novak acting as writer/recorder, O'Neill reminisces like the consummate "Irish politician" that he was, telling lively stories about the country's most powerful leaders, often telling "tales out of school" in the interest of "honesty." Every reader will know exactly how O'Neill felt about each of the Presidents and politicians with whom he worked. He helped JFK try to buy off Edward McCormack (unsuccessfully) when McCormack was running for Senate against Teddy, but he disliked Bobby, considering him a "self-important upstart and a know-it-all." Though he disagreed with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution authorizing LBJ to "take all necessary measures" in Vietnam, he voted for it, then publicly changed his mind, a move that infuriated LBJ, who needed all the support he could muster.

His observations of Nixon suggest that Nixon, a master manipulator, completely lost touch with reality regarding Watergate, joking about issues that were not even slightly funny. He regarded Jimmy Carter as naïve and completely unable to get anything done, in part because he surrounded himself with people O'Neill considered arrogant, especially "Hannible Jerkin." And he never understood how Ronald Reagan could have managed two terms as President when his grasp of issues was so limited, citing an example in which Reagan confused President Grover Cleveland with the ballplayer Grover Cleveland Alexander. Reagan, he says, was often speechless at State Dinners, until the topic turned to movies and Hollywood.

Though Tip O'Neill's most memorable legacy may be that he brought The Big Dig to Boston and changed the face of the city, he never failed to sponsor legislation which would benefit poor "little guys." In this fascinating, sometimes gritty depiction of backroom political maneuvering, O'Neill elevates power broking to an art form with politicians as the artists, creating an unforgettable tale of old-time politics the likes of which we will probably never see again. n Mary Whipple

All Politics Is Local: And Other Rules of the Game
Memorial Addresses and Tributes in Honor Ofthomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr
Tip O' Neill and the Democratic Century: A Biography