Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process

Oleszek’s new edition of his definitive work focuses on the significant procedural changes on Capitol Hill that are shaping policymaking in this new era of unified government. With dozens of lively illustrations, charts, and documents, Oleszek examines the use of innovative procedural devices by both the majority and minority parties to achieve their political goals and offers a reassessment of the role of conference committees in reconciling bicameral differences.

Updates to this new eighth edition include examinations of:

• new congressional earmark reforms;
• the disappearance of "open rules" in the House;
• the surge in use of suspension of the rules in the House;
• the 60-vote threshold for enactment of amendments and bills in the Senate;
• the increase in "filling the amendment tree" in the Senate; and
• the heightened use of old and new oversight mechanisms to "check and balance" executive actions and activities.

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).