Government by Committee: Organizing for Congressional Business
Congress has twin organizational bases: committees where most of the substantive work on legislation occurs and the leadership provided by the party. Initially Congress tried to operate as a "committee of the whole" but the gridlock that resulted mo...
Government by Committee: Congress, Traditional Yet Changing
Many aspects of Congress are the same today as they were 100 years ago: the dominance of congressional committees, the importance of seniority, controlled access to the floor by the House Rules Committee, the threat of filibuster in the Senate. But ...
Government by Committee: Interest Groups and Professional Lobbyists
Every member of Congress is besieged by interest groups and professional lobbyists whose job it is to provide information about legislation that will support their causes. Members of Congress, legislators agree, need to listen to competing sides of ...
Global Politics: Players on the Foreign Policy Stage
The lack of a clear direction in foreign policy is complicated by the fact that so many people are getting into the act. The president, assisted by the Secretary of State, has a clear advantage when it comes to diplomacy, national security, or armed...
Rule of Nine: Creating the Judicial System
Article III of the U. S. Constitution provides that there shall be one Supreme Court and such inferior courts as Congress should permit. It was the Judiciary Act of 1789 and subsequent legislation that created the system of federal courts that exist...
Government by Committee: Forming Coalitions
Getting enough votes to pass legislation is challenging, particularly when the partisan margins in the two chambers are Members of Congress need to know how to craft coalitions to either pass or block legislation. They also learn to trade votes, sup...
Government by Committee: Decisions, Decisions!
In any given year an average of 2,000 bills will make it through the various committees to the House and Senate floors. Jim McDermott, Loretta Sanchez, and Mickey Edwards talk about the strategies they have employed to help them make intelligent dec...
Presidency, The: Challenges of Governing
Presidential advisor, political analyst and university professor David Gergen talks about some of the factors that have changed the fabric of political institutions in America and made governing more difficult than ever before. These factors include...
Presidency, The: A Delicate Balancing Act
Presidential advisor, political analyst and university professor David Gergen explains that the presidency is more than simply a relationship between the President and the people. If goals and objectives are to be reached, Mr. Gergen says, the Presi...
Leader for a Nation: Legislative Responses to Executive Abuses
Congress rarely uses its power to impeach. More often, it elects to respond legislatively to executive abuses. The War Power Act, for example, came into play when Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait in the early 1990s and President Bush moved to interve...