Persuading Congress: How to Spend Less and Get More from Congress, Candid Advice for Executives

What happens in Congress affects all of our lives and extends into every corner of the economy. Because so much is at stake there, businesses and other interest groups spend billions of dollars each year trying to influence it. Yet, most of these efforts are doomed to futility from the outset. Only a small percentage of the bills introduced in Congress actually become law, and most interested parties do not fully understand why those few bills succeed. More importantly, how to get Congress to do what they want remains a mystery to them. It is as if everyone in the place is speaking in the ancient Greek of the first democracy. This book will help you understand Congress. Written from the perspective of one who has helped put a lot of bills on the President's desk and helped stop a lot more, this book explains in everyday terms why Congress behaves as it does. Then it shows you how you can best deploy whatever resources you have to move Congress in your direction. You need no longer wonder what goes on in Congress. The book will allow you to read the news every day and understand what drives congressional actions. More importantly, you will no longer waste your time and money on lobbying and advocacy strategies that do not help your cause or, worse yet, actually hurt it. You will also learn when congressional actions can and cannot happen allowing you to spend your resources elsewhere if necessary. Because you have limited time, this book sticks to the basics and its chapters are short so that it can be digested rapidly in smaller chunks. Its advice applies to anyone who wants to affect the outcomes in Congress.

Joseph Gibson has worked in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government, including serving as chief antitrust counsel and chief minority counsel to the House Judiciary Committee.