The Polarized Congress: The Post-Traditional Procedure of Its Current Struggles

The Polarized Congress: The Post-Traditional Procedure of Its Current Struggles argues that the rise of the polarized Congress means a totally different Congressional procedure, especially after 2007, compared to the accustomed traditional one. Polarized Congress explores a host of lesser-known, even sometimes below the radar, aspects of the post-traditional or polarized model. These range from ping-ponging of major measures between chambers (without conferencing), to the Senate Majority Leader’s new toolkit . They go from the now-crucial Hastert Rule in the House, to the astonishment of legislating the Affordable Care Act by singular procedures including budget reconciliation. The book challenges the easy assumption, especially by the non-specialist press, that Congressional procedure is descending into nothing more than chaotic brutishness or eternal stalemate. Instead, it explains the transformation of the traditional model about how a bill becomes a law before 2000, into the new current model in which Congress acts very differently.