Overview

The Polarized Congress: The Post-Traditional Procedure of Its Current Struggles argues that the rise of the polarized Congress means a totally different Congressional procedure, especially after 2007, compared to the accustomed ""traditional"" one. Polarized Congress explores a host of lesser-known, even sometimes below the radar, aspects of the post-traditional or polarized model. These range from ""ping-ponging"" of major measures between chambers (without conferencing), to the Senate Majority Leader's new ""toolkit"". They go from the now-crucial ""Hastert Rule"" in the House, to the astonishment of legislating the Affordable Care Act by singular procedures including budget reconciliation. The book challenges the easy assumption, especially by the non-specialist press, that Congressional procedure is descending into nothing more than chaotic brutishness or eternal stalemate. Instead, it explains the transformation of the traditional model about ""how a bill becomes a law"" before 2000, into the new current model in which Congress acts very differently.

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9780761867470

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Reviews

Charles Tiefer knows congressional procedure and modern history like few others. In The Polarized Congress: The Post-Traditional Procedure of Its Current Struggles, he masterfully examines and analyzes how rules and procedures have changed in their use and form as Congress has moved more and more toward partisan polarization. He finds the ways in which artful leaders have found or adapted their toolkits to make sure that gridlock has enough flexibility to pass essential measures. Examining separately and together the House and Senate, and using multiple real-life examples to illuminate the process and the change, Tiefer has made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary, dysfunctional Congress. -- Norman J. Ornstein, political scientist and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of It's Even Worse Than It Looks (2012) Using a panoply of concrete examples, Tiefer vividly illuminates just how dramatically Congress has changed in recent years due to increasing partisan polarization. Drawing on two decades of Hill experience as a template, he highlights the ways in which standard lawmaking procedures have morphed into contorted mutations to accommodate leadership-driven imperatives. -- Donald R. Wolfensberger, congressional scholar at the Woodrow Wilson and Bipartisan Policy centers, and former staff director of the House Rules Committee. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Jimmy Stewart's character brought the art of the filibuster to the big screen. In The Polarized Congress, Charles Tiefer masterfully shows how congressional procedure still matters. From his discussion of the passage of the Affordable Care Act to the fiscal cliff vote, he describes how it shapes our laws and, ultimately, our lives. This book is a must-read for lawmakers, Capitol Hill staffers, or anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes mechanics of American politics. If Mr. Smith went to Washington today, you'd see him carrying around The Polarized Congress-an indispensable guide for reform that not only explains the filibuster, but cloture and reconciliation votes, appropriations and supplementals, and a dizzying array of little-known procedural tools like unanimous consent and filling the tree. -- John Bessler, PhD, author of The Birth of American Law: An Italian Philosopher and the American Revolution

Author Information

Charles Tiefer is professor of legislation at the University of Baltimore Law School, and the author of five books including the only treatise on Congressional procedure, Congressional Practice and Procedure (1989). As General Counsel (Acting) of the U.S. House of Representatives during 1984 to 1995, he represented Congress in court and led numerous Congressional investigations. In 2008-2011 he served on the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is a regular contributor to Forbes.com. He often discusses Congressional procedure in print and broadcast media.

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