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Reorganization and Reform in Congress—Legislative Responses to Political and Social Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

John D. Lees
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Extract

ANY ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE AND VIABILITY OF THE contemporary Congress presents formidable problems. This is because criticism of Congress has been an almost constant feature of American political discussion, long before current political tensions produced wider comment on the institutional structure as a whole, and also because such an assessment must consider not only the existing capacity and will in Congress to respond to contemporary demands but also the nature of the relationship of Congress to other branches of government, and in particular to the executive. One further difficulty is that there has been, and remains, wide disagreement among observers as to the virtues and defects of Congress.

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Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , 01 April 1973 , pp. 195 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1973

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References

1 See Galloway, George B., Congress at the Crossroads, Crowell, New York, 1946 Google Scholar, and Burns, James M., Congress on Trial, Harper & Row, New York, 1949 Google Scholar.

2 See Clark, Joseph S., Congress: The Sapless Branch, Harper & Row, New York, 1964,Google Scholar and Bolling, Richard, House Out of Order, Dutton, New York, 1965 Google Scholar.

3 See Davidson, Roger H. et al., Congress in Crisis: Politics and Congressional Reform, Wadsworth Publishing Co., Belmont, California, 1966 Google Scholar.

4 See Truman, David B. (ed.), The Congress and America's Future, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1965 Google Scholar.

5 For detailed comment of studies on Congress since the 1940s, see Huitt, Ralph K. and Peabody, Robert L., Congress: Two Decades of Analysis, Harper & Row, New York, 1969 Google Scholar. Note in particular the American Political Science Association's Study of Congress project begun in 1964.

6 See Saloma III, John S., Congress and the New Politics, Little Brown, Boston, 1969 Google Scholar, especially Chapter 1. On the public image of Congress, see Davidson et al., op. cit., pp. 47–66.

7 See, for example, Burns, James M., The Deadlock of Democracy, Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963 Google Scholar.

8 For discussion and explanation of these models, see Saloma, op cit., Chapter z, also Davidson et al., op. cit., pp. 15–37 and Goodwin, G., Jr., The Little Legislatures, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1970 Google Scholar. For an example of the congressional supremacy approach, see De Grazia, A. (ed.), Congress: The First Branch of Government, American Enterprise Institute, Washington D.C., 1966 Google Scholar.

9 Truman (ed.), op. cit., p. 4.

10 Bailey, Stephen K., Congress in the Seventies, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1970, p. Vii Google Scholar.

11 Lockard, Duane , The Perverted Priorities of American Politics, Macmillan, New York, 1971, p. 123 Google Scholar.

12 The following analysis was greatly helped by the opportunity, in the spring of 1971, to interview a representative sample of some 100 members of Congress. Thanks are due to the SSRC for financial support.

13 Samuel P. Huntington, ‘Congressional Responses to the Twentieth Century’ in D. B. Truman (ed.), op. cit., p. 6.

14 See, for example, Hinckley, Barbara, The Seniority System in Congress, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1971 Google Scholar.

15 Ripley, Randall B., Power in the Senate, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1969. p. 53 Google Scholar.

16 Polsby, Nelson W., ‘Goodbye to the Inner Club’, in Polsby, Nelson W. (ed.), Congressional Behaviour, Random House, New York, 1971, p. 105 Google Scholar.

17 Ibid., p. 8.

18 Polsby, Nelson W. and Wildavsky, A., Presidential Elections, 3rd ed., Scribners, New York, 1971, p. 89 Google Scholar.

19 See, for example, the personal testimony of Riegle, Donald, O Congress, Doubleday, New York, 1972 Google Scholar.

20 For a study outlining the influence of this committee, see Robinson, James A., The House Rules Committee, Bobbs‐Merrill, Indianapolis, 1963 Google Scholar.

21 See, for example, McInnis, Mary (ed.), We Propose: A Modern Congress, McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1966 Google Scholar.

22 Bailey, op. cit., p. 45.

23 For additional detail see Congressional Quarterly, Weekly Report, 25 September 1971.

24 See Kirst, Michael W., Government without Passing Laws, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1969 Google Scholar.

25 Saloma, op. cit., Chapter 7.

26 Orr, Douglas M., Jr., Congressional Redistricting: The North Carolina Experience, University of North Carolina, Studies in Geography No. 2, p. 121 Google Scholar.

27 See Hilsman, Roger, The Politics of Policy Making in Defence and Foreign Affairs, Harper & Row, New York, 1971 Google Scholar.

28 Wilcox, Francis O., Congress, the Executive and Foreign Policy, Harper & Row, New York, 1971, p. 166 Google Scholar.

29 For a similar recommendation, see Thayer, F. C., ‘Presidential Policy Processes and “New Administration”: A Search for Revised Paradigms,’ Public Administration Review, 09–10 1971, pp. 552–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 See Schlesinger, A., Jr., ‘Congress and the Making of American Foreign Policy’, Foreign Affairs, 10 1972, pp. 78–113 Google Scholar.

31 See, for example, Manley, John F., ‘The Rise of Congress in Foreign Policy‐Making’, The Annals, 09 1971, pp. 60–70 Google Scholar, and Lowi, Theodore, The Politics of Disorder, Basic Books, New York, 1971 Google Scholar, Chapter 4.

32 Moe, R. C. and Teel, S. F., ‘Congress as Policy–Maker: A Necessary Reappraisal,’ Political Science Quarterly, 09 1970, pp. 443–70Google Scholar.

33 See Westerfield, H. B., ‘Congress and Closed Politics in National Security Affairs,’ in D. T. Fox (ed.), The Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy Making, Goodyear Publishing Co., Pacific Palisades, 1971, pp. 161–74Google Scholar.

34 Schneier, Edward V., Jr., Party and Constituency: Pressures on Congress, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1970, p. xi Google Scholar

35 For discussion of these functions, see Davidson, Roger H., ‘Congress in the American Political System’, in Kornberg, Allan and Musolf, Lloyd D., Legislatures in Developmental Perspective, Duke University Press, Durham, N.C., 1970, pp. 129–78 Google Scholar.

36 See Manley, John F., The Politics of Finance, Little, Brown, Boston, 1970 Google Scholar, and Pierce, L. C., The Politics of Fiscal Policy Formation, Goodyear Publishing Co., Pacific Palisades, 1971 Google Scholar.