Summary
Contents
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Inside Congress
Inside Congress
Introduction
Ronald Reagan faced an increasingly independent Congress in his final term of office. In contrast to his remarkably successful first four years in office, Reagan was confronted by a Congress that demanded — and often got — substantial changes on key domestic and foreign policy questions.
The altered relationship between the White House and Capitol Hill was the result of several factors.
Reagan's legislative agenda was thin compared with his early years in office, and he had become a lame duck to many members of Congress. Reagan no longer had to worry about re-election, but congressional Republicans did, which meant occasionally bucking the president. Moreover, Senate Republicans had a new leader — Robert Dole of Kansas — who was more willing to fight the White ...