Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process

"The book does an outstanding job in covering all the necessary details on congressional rules and procedures, most of which are not easy to understand. [...] It has been and will remain to be a must-read for all the congressional politics students and Washington insiders."

– Hong Min Park, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process examines the entire arc of the legislative process―from a bill’s introduction, to its signature into law, to congressional review of the law’s administrative implementation―and the many procedural pitfalls that exist along the way. Author Walter J. Oleszek and co-authors Mark Oleszek, Elizabeth Rybicki, and Bill Heniff, Jr. do not shy away from the complexity of the topic, yet they ensure that the operations of Congress are understandable to students and practitioners alike. Through an array of interesting examples, case studies, and the authors’ personal anecdotes, this definitive work delivers timely explanation and analysis of the nation’s premier lawmaking institution.

Walter J. Oleszek is a senior specialist in the legislative process at the Congressional

Research Service. He has served as either a full-time professional staff aide or consultant

to many major House and Senate congressional reorganization efforts beginning

with the passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. In 1993, he served as

policy director of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. A former

adjunct faculty member at American University, Oleszek is a frequent lecturer to various

academic, governmental, and business groups. He is the author or co-author of several

books, including Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process, 11th ed. (2020),

and Congress Under Fire: Reform Politics and the Republican Majority, with C. Lawrence

Evans (1997).