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

There is the textbook "how-a-bill-becomes-a-law" diagram, and then there is the way that most major measures really wind their way through the contemporary Congress. Sinclair aptly calls this "unorthodox lawmaking," and gives students a much more realistic take on today’s legislative process.

Bills can follow a number of routes through Congress: they might be considered by several committees, or none; they could be subjected to non-germane amendments or filibustered on the Senate floor; or they may be governed by special rules individually tailored to facilitate or slow a bill’s progress. Whatever the unorthodox route, Sinclair describes the legislative process as it really operates, exploring the range of special procedures, practices, and the factors that have contributed to their emergence.

In this timely revision, she focuses especially on how partisan polarization has shaped the legislative process in recent years, with new case studies on the Bush tax cuts, the 2005 energy bill, and the 2003 Medicare/prescription drug bill. Always written with the narrative in mind and providing a unique perspective, Unorthodox Lawmaking introduces novice students to the intricacies of Congress. Sinclair also tackles the larger questions: Does the use of new procedures and practices enhance or inhibit the likelihood of a bill becoming law? What other effects does unorthodox lawmaking have on how Congress functions? This important supplemental reading gives students the tools to assess the relative successes and limitations of the legislative process.

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, Transformation of the U.S. Senate, which won the Richard F. Fenno Prize and the D. B. Hardeman Prize, and Party Wars: Polarization and the Politics of National Policy Making.