The Contemporary Congress

THE CONTEMPORARY CONGRESS offers concise coverage of all the foundations of a course on Congress. From the underlying theory of representative democracy and the process of elections to committee dynamics and the legislative process on the House and Senate floor to the relationship between Congress and the Presidency under unified and divided party government, THE CONTEMPORARY CONGRESS includes a view into the rules, politics, and party strategy that determine the policy decisions made every day in the U.S. Congress, especially important in the contemporary era of strong Republican Party government.

Loomis (political science, U. of Kansas) and Schiller (political science, Brown U.) concentrate on the Congress elected November 2004, including its trends toward leadership by party rather than by committee and increasing control by party leadership over campaign funding. They cover the general purposes and mission of the Congress, its history and its relationship with the other branches of US government, the changing environment of congressional politics, elections, negotiation, processes, individual enterprise, and the workings of the Congress in a partisan era. Along with case studies and specific examples the authors give a list of useful web sites to see who you voted in and what they are doing. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Loomis (political science, U. of Kansas) sees the contemporary US Congress as reflecting tensions between centralizing forces, such as the House leadership, and decentralizing forces, such as the individualistic Senate. He discusses changes that have occurred since the Republicans took control in 1994, including a new legislative ascendancy in setting the national policy agenda; and he also addresses the possibility that the US is entering a less settled stage of congressional development. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Burdett A. Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. form the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1974, served as an American Political Science Congressional Fellow in 1975-1976, and has taught at the University of Kansas since 1979. He has written on a variety of topics, including Congress, interest groups, state legislatures, and public policy. In 1984, Loomis directed the Congressional Management Project, which produced the first of many editions of SETTING COURSE: A CONGRESSIONAL MANAGEMENT GUIDE. Aside from teaching courses on congressional politics, interest groups, and policy making, since 1983 Loomis has directed public internship programs in Washington and Topeka. He currently serves as chair of the political science department and Interim Director of the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at the University of Kansas.

Wendy J. Schiller is an associate professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Brown University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1994. Prior to that she served as a staff member to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (D-NY). Professor Schiller was a Brookings Research Fellow from 1992-1993, and returned to the Brookings Institution as a guest scholar in 1997-1998. She has published work on the U.S. Senate, including her book ENTITLED PARTNERS AND RIVALS: REPRESENTATION IN U.S. SENATE DELEGATIONS, (Princeton 2000) as well as interest group coalition formation and political geography. She currently teaches courses on Congress, parties and interest groups, and political geography.