10% off all books and free delivery over £40
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

Exceptions to the Rule

View All Editions

The selected edition of this book is not available to buy right now.
Add To Wishlist
Write A Review

About

Exceptions to the Rule Synopsis

Special rules enable the Senate to act despite the filibuster. Sometimes.Most people believe that, in today's partisan environment, the filibuster prevents the Senate from acting on all but the least controversial matters. But this is not exactly correct. In fact, the Senate since the 1970s has created a series of special rulesdescribed by Molly Reynolds as majoritarian exceptionsthat limit debate on a wide range of measures on the Senate floor.The details of these exemptions might sound arcane and technical, but in practice they have enabled the Senate to act even when it otherwise seemed paralyzed. Important examples include procedures used to pass the annual congressional budget resolution, enact budget reconciliation bills, review proposals to close military bases, attempt to prevent arms sales, ratify trade agreements, and reconsider regulations promulgated by the executive branch.Reynolds argues that these procedures represent a key instrument of majority party power in the Senate. They allow the majorityeven if it does not have the sixty votes needed to block a filibusterto produce policies that will improve its future electoral prospects, and thus increase the chances it remains the majority party.As a case study, Exceptions to the Rule examines the Senate's role in the budget reconciliation process, in which particular congressional committees are charged with developing procedurally protected proposals to alter certain federal programs in their jurisdictions. Created as a way of helping Congress work through tricky budget issues, the reconciliation process has become a powerful tool for the majority party to bypass the minority and adopt policy changes in hopes that it will benefit in the next election cycle.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9780815729976
Publication date: 18th July 2017
Author: Molly E. Reynolds
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Format: Ebook (Epub)