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Act of Congress : how America's essential institution works, and how it doesn't / Robert G. Kaiser.
Author
Kaiser, Robert G., 1943-
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
First edition.
Published/Created
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
Description
xxvi, 417 pages ; 25 cm
Availability
Available Online
Ebook Central Perpetual, DDA and Subscription Titles
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(Access restricted to 1 concurrent user)
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Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
HG181 .K35 2013
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Forrestal Annex - Reserve
HG181 .K35 2013
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Details
Subject(s)
Financial services industry
—
Law and legislation
—
United States
[Browse]
Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009
[Browse]
United States Congress
[Browse]
United States
—
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
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Summary note
This is an account of how Congress today really works, and doesn't, that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008. The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken, as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest, so is our democracy. Here, the author, whose career at The Washington Post has made him a keen and knowledgeable observer of Congress, takes us behind the sound bites to expose the protocols, players, and politics of the House and Senate, revealing both the triumphs of the system and (more often) its fundamental flaws. This book tells the story of the Dodd-Frank Act, named for the two men who made it possible: Congressman Barney Frank, brilliant and sometimes abrasive, who mastered the details of financial reform, and Senator Chris Dodd, who worked patiently for months to fulfill his vision of a Senate that could still work on a bipartisan basis. Both Frank and Dodd collaborated with the author throughout their legislative efforts and allowed their staffs to share every step of the drafting and deal making that produced the 1,500-page law that transformed America's financial sector. The author explains how lobbying affects a bill, or fails to. We follow staff members more influential than most senators and congressmen. We see how Congress members protect their own turf, often without regard for what might best serve the country, more eager to court television cameras than legislate on complicated issues about which many of them remain ignorant. In this book the author shows how ferocious partisanship regularly overwhelms all other considerations, though occasionally individual integrity prevails.
Notes
"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-400) and index.
Contents
Principal organizations and institutions
"I could hear everyone gulp"
The man who wasn't gray
What is to be done?
An orgy of outrage
A politician for life
Back in the game
"Downtown" takes the lead
A rich variety of humanity
Politics first
An impotent minority
Peddling influence
"We've got an opportunity here"
In the legislative weeds
Making sausage
Looking for a path
The House acts
Searching for consensus
More tactical maneuvers
On the Senate floor at last
Staff warfare
The Senate acts
Conference committee
Endgame
Still broken.
Show 22 more Contents items
ISBN
9780307700162
030770016X
LCCN
2012038245
OCLC
793579064
Other standard number
40022242242
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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Act of Congress : how America's essential institution works, and how it doesn't / Robert G. Kaiser. [electronic resource]
id
99125352821806421
Act of Congress : how America's essential institution works, and how it doesn't / Robert G. Kaiser.
id
99123298843506421