The Senate is becoming more like the House of Representatives in its increasing levels of partisanship and ideology. A transformation of the institution appears to be underfoot, posing questions about the Senate's role as the chamber in which cool judgement prevails. This book discusses and analyzes the changes in Senate life including rules and procedures, leadership and party organization, executive and Senate relations, debate and deliberation, and media spotlight. Then there is a re-examination of Senate efficacy, legitamacy and appropriateness as an aristocratic chamber in an increasingly democratic system of government.

“[A] tour de force. Building upon her argument in Beyond Ideology, she adds an important wrinkle into the current divide between the parties in Congress.” —Perspectives on Politics As Democrats and Republicans continue to vie for political advantage, Congress remains paralyzed by partisan conflict. That the last two decades have seen some of the least productive Congresses in recent history is usually explained by the growing ideological gulf between the parties, but this explanation misses another fundamental factor influencing the dynamic. In contrast to politics through most of the twentieth century, the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties compete for control of Congress at relative parity, and this has dramatically changed the parties’ incentives and strategies in ways that have driven the contentious partisanship characteristic of contemporary American politics. With Insecure Majorities, Frances E. Lee offers a controversial new perspective on the rise of congressional party conflict, showing how the shift in competitive circumstances has had a profound impact on how Democrats and Republicans interact. Beginning in the 1980s, most elections since have offered the prospect of a change of party control. Lee shows, through an impressive range of interviews and analysis, how competition for control of the government drives members of both parties to participate in actions that promote their own party’s image and undercut that of the opposition, including the perpetual hunt for issues that can score political points by putting the opposing party on the wrong side of public opinion. More often than not, this strategy stands in the way of productive bipartisan cooperation—and it is also unlikely to change as long as control of the government remains within reach for both parties.

Describes the statesmen who participated in the last glory days of the Senate, describing their leadership through the crisis years of the 1970s before the 1980 election signaled the start of a period of diminished effectiveness.

Now in paperback with a foreword by President Donald J. Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's memoir shows how one of the most successful public figures of our time has worked to advance conservative values in Washington. Under Mitch McConnell’s famously quiet and strategic leadership, Republicans in the Senate have seen win after win—from tax cuts and deregulation to major improvements for veterans, farmers, and our national defense. In 2018, President Donald Trump dubbed McConnell “the greatest leader in history”—and even his harshest critics on the Left acknowledge his skill. Now with a new foreword by President Trump and an afterword that details McConnell’s friendship with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, this paperback edition of McConnell’s memoir reveals the backdrop of his decision not to fill Scalia’s vacant seat until after the 2016 presidential election. Of this decision, New York Times chief Washington correspondent Carl Hulse wrote that “McConnell not only preserved a Supreme Court seat, he elected Donald Trump president.” The years of the McConnell-led Senate have proved that lasting change can only be won by playing the long game. Leading up to the 2020 election, when the system of government our Founding Fathers created will again be threatened by the Left, this book is necessary reading for anyone who wants to avoid repeating the mistakes of our recent past.

The first edition of The Death of Deliberation revealed how the Senate legislates in a contentious environment. Yet it has been unable to legislate in recent years. Since 2013, the Senate has become more dysfunctional and gridlock has increased. The 115th Congress was one of the least productive two-year stretches in the Senate’s history. This second edition of The Death of Deliberation accounts for this dramatic turn of events.

President Andrew Jackson fought many battles, but equally important, in the 1830s he campaigned passionately to limit the power of the federal government and that of the central bank. He argued vehemently that the Bank gave privilege and unfair advantage to the elite few at the expense of the public. The events retold in this book foreshadowed some of the conflicts dividing the U.S. today. Questions about how much power the President ought to have and how much the central bank could exercise in controlling the economy riled the nation. The Senate session of the 23rd Congress (often called the “Panic Session”) served as the main arena for two battles: what form the American presidency would take and the economic direction the country would follow. This became the most crucial political debate during the antebellum period, outside of the slavery issue. Offering a deep analysis of the arguments put forth by Jackson’s Senate allies and their opponents, this book fills an important void. These debates are crucial to understanding the formation of the second party system, the evolution of the presidency under Jackson, and the economic direction the country took as it spiraled uncontrollably towards the Civil War. The debates of the session are often condensed down to the words of Senate giants such as Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, but this book argues that others’ contributions to the session were equally significant. The Bank War altered the economic course the country had followed since its birth, but further, the manner in which Jackson waged the war forever changed the nature and power of the American president, as well as its relationship to the people.

Congress is a bicameral legislature in which both the House and Senate must pass a bill before it can be enacted into law. The US bicameral system also differs from most democracies in that the two chambers have relatively equal power to legislate and must find ways to resolve their disputes. In the current landscape of party polarization, this contentious process has become far more chaotic, leading to the public perception that the House and Senate are unwilling or unable to compromise and calling into question the effectiveness of the bicameral system itself. With The Congressional Endgame, Josh M. Ryan offers a coherent explanation of how the bicameral legislative process works in Congress and shows that the types of policy outcomes it produces are in line with those intended by the framers of the Constitution. Although each bargaining outcome may seem idiosyncratic, the product of strong leadership and personality politics, interchamber bargaining outcomes in Congress are actually structured by observable institutional factors. Ryan finds that the characteristics of the winning coalition are critically important to which chamber “wins” after bargaining, with both conference committees and an alternative resolution venue, amendment trading, creating policy that approximates the preferences of the more moderate chamber. Although slow and incremental, interchamber negotiations serve their intended purpose well, The Congressional Endgame shows; they increase the odds of compromise while at the same time offering a powerful constraint on dramatic policy changes.