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

Fifth Edition


September 2016 | 320 pages | CQ Press
“Barbara Sinclair does an excellent job of showing how contemporary lawmaking departs from the traditional legislative process. I can't imagine teaching a course on Congress without this text—it’s absolutely indispensable.”

—Philip Klinkner, Hamilton College

Most major measures wind their way through the contemporary Congress in what Barbara Sinclair has dubbed “unorthodox lawmaking.” In this much-anticipated Fifth Edition of Unorthodox Lawmaking, Sinclair explores the full range of special procedures and processes that make up Congress’s work, as well as the reasons these unconventional routes evolved. The author introduces students to the intricacies of Congress and provides the tools to assess the relative successes and limitations of the legislative process.

This dramatically revised Fifth Edition incorporates a wealth of new cases and examples to illustrate the changes occurring in congressional process. Two entirely new case study chapters highlight Sinclair’s fresh analysis and the book is now introduced by a new foreword from noted scholar and teacher, Bruce I. Oppenheimer, reflecting on this book and Barbara Sinclair’s significant mark on the study of Congress. 
 
Chapter 1: Clean Air: An Introduction to How the Legislative Process Has Changed
A Note on Data

 
 
Chapter 2: Multiple Paths: The Legislative Process in the House of Representatives
Bill Introduction

 
Bill Referral

 
Postcommittee Adjustments

 
Suspension of the Rules

 
Special Rules

 
On the Floor

 
Unorthodox Lawmaking in the House

 
 
Chapter 3: Routes and Obstacles: The Legislative Process in the Senate
Bill Introduction

 
Bill Referral

 
Postcommittee Adjustments

 
Scheduling Legislation for the Floor

 
The Senate Floor

 
Unorthodox Lawmaking in the Senate

 
 
Chapter 4: Getting One Bill: Reconciling House-Senate Differences
Traditional Nonconference Reconciliation Procedures

 
Conference Committees

 
The President in the Postpassage Legislative Process

 
The Final Step

 
Reconciling Differences: How Much Change?

 
 
Chapter 5: Omnibus Legislation, the Budget Process, and Summits
Omnibus Legislation

 
Authorizations, Appropriations, and Earmarks

 
The Budget Process

 
Congress, the President, and Summitry

 
What Is the Regular Process?

 
 
Chapter 6: Why and How the Legislative Process Changed
From Decentralization to Individualism in the Senate

 
Reform and Its Legacy in the House

 
Budget Reform

 
A Hostile Political Climate as a Force for Innovation: The 1980s and Early 1990s

 
How Internal Reform and a Hostile Climate Spawned Unorthodox Lawmaking

 
Unorthodox Lawmaking in a Hyperpartisan Era

 
 
Chapter 7: Making Nonincremental Policy Change through Hyperunorthodox Procedures: Health Care Reform in 2009-2010
The First Phase: Consultation and Drafting

 
Building Winning Coalitions to Pass Health Care: Postcommittee and Floor Action

 
A Long and Convoluted End Game

 
Making Nonincremental Policy Change in a Partisan Era

 
 
Chapter 8: High-Stakes Budget Politics: The 2013 Government Shutdown and the Ryan-Murray Deal
Act One: The FY2014 Budget Resolutions

 
Act Two: From Budget Resolution to the Ryan-Murray Deal

 
Unorthodox Budget Politics

 
 
Chapter 9: A Cross-Party Coalition Forces Policy Change: The USA Freedom Act
House Action in the 114th Congress

 
Senate Action in the 114th Congress

 
Unorthodox Lawmaking and Forms of Bipartisanship

 
 
Chapter 10: The Consequences of Unorthodox Lawmaking
Lawmaking in the Contemporary Congress

 
Unorthodox Lawmaking and Legislative Outcomes

 
Other Costs and Benefits

 
Assessing Unorthodox Lawmaking

 

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 6

Chapter 8


For instructors

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