Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress

This enlightening book takes a detailed look at the legislative process as it really is today, including the various detours and shortcuts a major bill is likely to encounter.

The contemporary legislative process is illustrated with real-life examples through a series of case studies on national service legislation, the Omnibus Drug Bill, and Clinton's economic program. Two other case studies focus on managed care regulation (new in this edition) and an updated look at the budget process from 1993 to 1999 (including the balanced budget deal between the President and Congress in 1997 and subsequent budget politics).

Barbara Sinclair is Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics at the University of California at Los Angeles. She served as chair of the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association from 1993 to 1995. She is the author of several books, including Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking: The U.S. House of Representatives in the Postreform Era, (1995) and Transformation of the U.S. Senate (1989), which won the Richard F. Fenno Prize and the D. B. Hardeman Prize.