Congressional Politics Polic

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor

Congress is defined by Article One of the Constitution for a reason: it was intended to be the primary policy-maker in the federal government of the United States, but thepublic rarely gets to see what actually goes into getting things done on Capitol Hill. From the scribbles on the final piece of the tax reform package the Senate passed in the middle of the night to Committee deliberations, leadership fights and elaborate negotiations, Congressional success and failures are determined not just by good policy or smart politics but by so much more. This course builds on the work of the Public Policy Process course to focuses on the nuts and bolts of passing legislation into law -- from running for Congress, to staffing an office, writing a bill, the Congressional Leadership and Committees, the Budget and Appropriations processes, Whip operations, the mechanics of the Floor, Conference Committees, and dealing with the White House. With more two decades of bipartisan, bicameral experience in some of the biggest Congressional battles of the Bush and Obama eras, we will take students inside “the room where it happens” – where the deals that set the course of our country’s history come together or fall apart. We will look at significant legislative achievements of the past century – including the National Recovery Act in the 1930s, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and ‘No Child Left Behind’ in the early 2000s – to see how the process has changed over time. But this isn’t a history course – it will be a real-time study of public policy as it develops. Students will not just analyze the methodology and solutions to make Congress work, they’ll be working to break down the legislative developments on the next big Congressional priority after tax reform that will be happening all spring - and developing potential strategies to help pass it.