Books about Congressional from Amazon.com

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann are outrage—and you should be, too!

• 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!
• The UN is a cover for massive corruption!
• Drug companies pay off doctors to write scrips—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!

Unaware of these abuses? It's not surprising since the mainstream media don't talk about them. Too many powerful people are working very hard to cover them up. But in Outrage, New York Times bestselling authors Dick Morris and Eileen McGann give you the cold, hard facts you won't read about anywhere else—and offer tough, common-sense proposals on how to fight the special interests of the left and right . . . so we can start making these outrageous inequities things of the past!

.
Price: $7.98 [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: $47.22 [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: $38.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praised for combining solid empirical research with real-world politics, Paul Herrnson provides a thorough and balanced assessment of congressional campaigns and elections. Arguing that successful candidates actually run two campaigns one for votes, the other for resources Congressional Elections shows how this dual strategy affects not only who wins individual races, but who impacts representation in Congress more broadly, and ultimately the entire electoral system. Using campaign data, original survey research, and hundreds of interviews with candidates and political insiders, Herrnson systematically analyzes candidate, party, and PAC strategies to give students a feel for how these crucial avenues of political influence converge. Case studies of individual campaigns are woven throughout to paint vivid portraits of real people raising money, giving speeches, serving constituents, and tackling important policy issues. New coverage and analysis include:

• the 2006 campaign and election results, including the impact the national parties had on the outcomes of individual races;
• the Democrats winning control over the House and Senate;
• the effects of the war in Iraq and political corruption on candidates' issue positioning;
• the role of the Internet in waging political campaigns;
• the use of outside campaigning, advocacy ads, and grassroots activities to influence election outcomes.

.
Price: $44.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Nearly five hundred times in the past century, American presidents have deployed the nation's military abroad, on missions ranging from embassy evacuations to full-scale wars. The question of whether Congress has effectively limited the president's power to do so has generally met with a resounding "no." In While Dangers Gather, William Howell and Jon Pevehouse reach a very different conclusion.

The authors--one an American politics scholar, the other an international relations scholar--provide the most comprehensive and compelling evidence to date on Congress's influence on presidential war powers. Their findings have profound implications for contemporary debates about war, presidential power, and Congress's constitutional obligations.

While devoting special attention to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, this book systematically analyzes the last half-century of U.S. military policy. Among its conclusions: Presidents are systematically less likely to exercise military force when their partisan opponents retain control of Congress. The partisan composition of Congress, however, matters most for proposed deployments that are larger in size and directed at less strategically important locales. Moreover, congressional influence is often achieved not through bold legislative action but through public posturing--engaging the media, raising public concerns, and stirring domestic and international doubt about the United States' resolve to see a fight through to the end.

.
Price: $20.10 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Congress is the first branch of government in the American system, write Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, but now it is a broken branch, damaged by partisan bickering and internal rancor. The Broken Branch offers both a brilliant diagnosis of the cause of Congressional decline and a much-needed blueprint for change, from two experts who understand politics and revere our institutions, but believe that Congress has become deeply dysfunctional.
Mann and Ornstein, two of the nations most renowned and judicious scholars of government and politics, bring to light the historical roots of Congress's current maladies, examining 40 years of uninterrupted Democratic control of the House and the stunning midterm election victory of 1994 that propelled Republicans into the majority in both House and Senate. The byproduct of that long and grueling but ultimately successful Republican campaign, the authors reveal, was a weakened institution bitterly divided between the parties. They highlight the dramatic shift in Congress from a highly decentralized, committee-based institution into a much more regimented one in which party increasingly trumps committee. The resultant changes in the policy process--the demise of regular order, the decline of deliberation, and the weakening of our system of checks and balances--have all compromised the role of Congress in the American Constitutional system. Indeed, Speaker Dennis Hastert has unabashedly stated that his primary responsibility is to pass the president's legislative program--identifying himself more as a lieutenant of the president than a steward of the house. From tax cuts to the war against Saddam Hussein to a Medicare prescription drug benefit, the legislative process has been bent to serve immediate presidential interests and have often resulted in poorly crafted and stealthily passed laws. Strong majority leadership in Congress, the authors conclude, led not to a vigorous exertion of congressional authority but to a general passivity in the face of executive power.
A vivid portrait of an institution that has fallen far from the aspirations of our Founding Fathers, The Broken Branch highlights the costs of a malfunctioning Congress to national policymaking, and outlines what must be done to repair the damage..
Price: $3.36 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Well-known scholars and practitioners of Congressional-Presidential relations come together to explore both branches of government and what unites as well as divides them. Highlights include chapters on budgetary politics in a time of deep deficit, the impacts of campaign message and election mandates, veto bargaining, and the making of U.S. foreign policy over four decades. Case studies of budget battles, trade wars, and the war in Iraq lend concrete detail to political theory. First-hand experience on the Hill and in the Oval Office--and everywhere in between--is reflected in each chapter. Visit our website for sample chapters!.
Price: $29.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Why has the integration of women into Congress been so slow? Is there a "political glass ceiling" for women? Although women use the same strategic calculations as men to decide when to run, the decision regarding where to run is something else. While redistricting has increasingly protected incumbents, it also has the unintended consequence of shaping the opportunities for female candidates. The political geography and socio-economic profile of districts that elect women differ substantially from districts that elect men. With data on over 10,000 elections and 30,000 candidates from 1916 to the present, Palmer and Simon explore how strategy and the power of incumbency affect women’s decisions to run for office.

Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling is the most comprehensive analysis of women in congressional elections available. The Second Edition is fully updated to reflect the pivotal 2006 mid-term elections, including Nancy Pelosi’s rise to Speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency, and a record number of women serving as committee chairs. Additionally, the authors have created a website, found at politicsandwomen.com, to highlight key features of the book and provide updates throughout the election cycle.

.
Price: $25.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $18.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]