Books about Congressional from Amazon.com

Half of all illegal immigrants came into this country legally--and we have no way of knowing they're still here!

Congressmen are putting their wives on their campaign payrolls--so that campaign contributions are really personal bribes!

The ACLU won't allow its own directors free speech.

Liberals want to strip us of the tools to stop terrorism.

The UN is a cover for massive corruption--and eighty countries, who pay 12 percent of the budget, are blocking reform.

Drug companies pay off doctors to write scripts--whether we need them or not.

Teachers unions block the firing of bad teachers--and battle against higher education standards!

Katrina victims are being stiffed by their insurance companies!

Special interests cost our consumers $45 billion--through trade quotas that save only a handful of jobs!

Never heard of these abuses? You won't in the mainstream media. That's why Dick Morris and Eileen McGann wrote Outrage. Their proposals:

• Ban immigration from terrorist countries
• Ban Congress putting spouses on their payroll
• Ban lobbyists who are related to senators or congressmen
• Ban nicotine additives to cigarettes
• Ban trade quotas that drive up prices and save few jobs
• Ban drug company bribes to doctors
• Ban teachers unions' work rules that stop education reform
• Ban insurance companies from backing out on Katrina coverage

In Outrage, you'll get the facts--and learn what we can do about them. You won't read about these outrages anyplace else; too many people are working hard to cover them up. Get them here instead--and learn how to fight the special interests of the left and right..
Price: $8.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This collection of moving black-and-white photographs of recipients of the Medal of Honour shows not the glory of war, but the underlying spirit and humanity of true heroism Forty-eight portraits are combined with comments, observations, and statements from the recipients of America's highest military honour. This compilation of words and pictures of men who served in the US Navy, Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps is both humbling and poignant. Their actions and lives vary as much as the conflicts (World War II, Korea, and Vietnam) and include a conscientious objector who never wielded a weapon and a man known as the 'Last Eagle', as he was the last World War II pilot to retire. Each recipient's full official citation is included in the appendix..
Price: $3.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The definitive work on how congressional rules, procedures, and traditions affect the course and content of legislation, this seventh edition reflects both thorough updating and further refinement. In the House and the Senate, and from committee room to the floor, the fundamentals of lawmaking are made clear in Walter Oleszek's straight talking, informative book on Congress. With dozens of lively illustrations, charts, and extracts from real documents, Oleszek spotlights both "regular order" and unconventional procedures while explaining the role of congressional leadership, the use of strategic tactics, and complicated parliamentary processes. Readers will appreciate Oleszek's insight on the ever-sophisticated use of procedures--such as "filling the tree"--to achieve party and policy objectives in a time of sharper partisanship.

Updates include:

• changes in congressional budgeting, such as the return of fiscal deficits, the clash between discretionary spending and entitlements, and the drive to curb the explosion in earmarks
• the "nuclear option" controversy over filibusters
• the wider use of technology in the lawmaking process

.
Price: $36.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Brought completely up-to-date with the latest data from the National Election Study and the Federal Election Commission, and including coverage and analysis of the dramatic 2006 midterm elections, this seminal work continues to offer a systematic account of what goes on in congressional elections and demonstrates how electoral politics reflect and shape other components of the political system, with profound consequences for representative government.

 

 

.
Price: $43.51 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Congressional Deskbook is the comprehensive guide to Congress, now in its Fifth Edition This 15 chapter publication explains the legislative and congressional budget processes along with all aspects of Congress.

This comprehensive and practical guide to Congress is ideal for anyone who wants to know how Congress really works, including federal executives, attorneys, lobbyists, media and public affairs staff, government affairs, policy and budget analysts, congressional office staff and students..
Price: $51.30 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this book, the author offers a theory that explains not only why special interest frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. The author's theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators' actions and their constituents' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens' existing policy preferences have on legislators' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill.
Price: $15.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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.

.
Price: $3.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]