Background Material and Data on Major Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic assistance, Domestic
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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Author: United States. Congress
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1324

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Author: Donald Kennon
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781477556733
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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0n July 24, 1989, the Committee on Ways and Means celebrates its bicentennial. The Committee on Ways and Means is the oldest committee of the Congress. Its history is a large part of our nation's history. The responsibilities vested in the committee have placed it at the center of some of the most critical legislative decisions faced by the Congress. The prestige accorded the committee is due in part, of course, to the breadth of its legislative jurisdiction: all revenues, the management of the public debt, tariff and trade laws, the Social Security and Medicare systems. These responsibilities alone would make it a committee of note. But just as important to its reputation has been the manner in which the members of the committee have exercised those responsibilities. One cannot read the history of the Committee on Ways and Means without recognizing the important role played by certain individuals at critical points in our nation's history. The history of the committee is replete with examples of legislators who, through the strength of their convictions, were able to lead the country in a direction it might not otherwise have gone. Examples include Gallatin, Randolph, Stevens, Underwood, Hull, Doughton, and Mills. Today we face enormous and seemingly permanent budget deficits the likes of which have never been seen in our history. This generation's unwillingness to pay for the government it demands means that future generations will be saddled with an intolerable debt burden. This situation did not begin in the 1980s, but it has increased dramatically during this period. What is disturbing is not so much the size of the debt; significant debts have accumulated in the past, especially in times of war. Much more troubling is our seeming inability to even debate, much less decide, on those changes necessary to reduce or eliminate the oppressive budget deficit. However, in the end it must be done or our nation will suffer the consequences. One can only wonder if this is not one of those critical periods when it is necessary to look beyond narrow parochial interest, a time when strong leadership is required. The future of our children and their children depends upon the leadership we exert today.

Author: John V. Sullivan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Author: Jonathan Lewallen
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472132067
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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The public, journalists, and legislators themselves have often lamented a decline in congressional lawmaking in recent years, often blaming party politics for the lack of legislative output. In Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress, Jonathan Lewallen examines the decline in lawmaking from a new, committee-centered perspective. Lewallen tests his theory against other explanations such as partisanship and an increased demand for oversight with multiple empirical tests and traces shifts in policy activity by policy area using the Policy Agendas Project coding scheme. He finds that because party leaders have more control over the legislative agenda, committees have spent more of their time conducting oversight instead. Partisanship alone does not explain this trend; changes in institutional rules and practices that empowered party leaders have created more uncertainty for committees and contributed to a shift in their policy activities. The shift toward oversight at the committee level combined with party leader control over the voting agenda means that many members of Congress are effectively cut out of many of the institution’s policy decisions. At a time when many, including Congress itself, are considering changes to modernize the institution and keep up with a stronger executive branch, the findings here suggest that strengthening Congress will require more than running different candidates or providing additional resources.

Author: Oregon. Office of the Secretary of State
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Oregon
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Author: Thomas E. Mann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195368711
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Two nationally renowned congressional scholars review the evolution of Congress from the early days of the republic to 2006, arguing that extreme partisanship and a disregard for institutional procedures are responsible for the institution's current state of dysfunction.

Author: Roger Lowenstein
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735223564
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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“Captivating . . . [Lowenstein] makes what subsequently occurred at Treasury and on Wall Street during the early 1860s seem as enthralling as what transpired on the battlefield or at the White House.” —Harold Holzer, Wall Street Journal “Ways and Means, an account of the Union’s financial policies, examines a subject long overshadowed by military narratives . . . Lowenstein is a lucid stylist, able to explain financial matters to readers who lack specialized knowledge.” —Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review From renowned journalist and master storyteller Roger Lowenstein, a revelatory financial investigation into how Lincoln and his administration used the funding of the Civil War as the catalyst to centralize the government and accomplish the most far-reaching reform in the country’s history Upon his election to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln inherited a country in crisis. Even before the Confederacy’s secession, the United States Treasury had run out of money. The government had no authority to raise taxes, no federal bank, no currency. But amid unprecedented troubles Lincoln saw opportunity—the chance to legislate in the centralizing spirit of the “more perfect union” that had first drawn him to politics. With Lincoln at the helm, the United States would now govern “for” its people: it would enact laws, establish a currency, raise armies, underwrite transportation and higher education, assist farmers, and impose taxes for them. Lincoln believed this agenda would foster the economic opportunity he had always sought for upwardly striving Americans, and which he would seek in particular for enslaved Black Americans. Salmon Chase, Lincoln’s vanquished rival and his new secretary of the Treasury, waged war on the financial front, levying taxes and marketing bonds while desperately battling to contain wartime inflation. And while the Union and Rebel armies fought increasingly savage battles, the Republican-led Congress enacted a blizzard of legislation that made the government, for the first time, a powerful presence in the lives of ordinary Americans. The impact was revolutionary. The activist 37th Congress legislated for homesteads and a transcontinental railroad and involved the federal government in education, agriculture, and eventually immigration policy. It established a progressive income tax and created the greenback—paper money. While the Union became self-sustaining, the South plunged into financial free fall, having failed to leverage its cotton wealth to finance the war. Founded in a crucible of anticentralism, the Confederacy was trapped in a static (and slave-based) agrarian economy without federal taxing power or other means of government financing, save for its overworked printing presses. This led to an epic collapse. Though Confederate troops continued to hold their own, the North’s financial advantage over the South, where citizens increasingly went hungry, proved decisive; the war was won as much (or more) in the respective treasuries as on the battlefields. Roger Lowenstein reveals the largely untold story of how Lincoln used the urgency of the Civil War to transform a union of states into a nation. Through a financial lens, he explores how this second American revolution, led by Lincoln, his cabinet, and a Congress studded with towering statesmen, changed the direction of the country and established a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Author: Thomas Brackett Reed
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Parliamentary practice
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Author: Henry M. Robert III
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 9781541736696
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 848

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The only current authorized edition of the classic work on parliamentary procedure--now in a new updated edition Robert's Rules of Order is the recognized guide to smooth, orderly, and fairly conducted meetings. This 12th edition is the only current manual to have been maintained and updated since 1876 under the continuing program established by General Henry M. Robert himself. As indispensable now as the original edition was more than a century ago, Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised is the acknowledged "gold standard" for meeting rules. New and enhanced features of this edition include: Section-based paragraph numbering to facilitate cross-references and e-book compatibility Expanded appendix of charts, tables, and lists Helpful summary explanations about postponing a motion, reconsidering a vote, making and enforcing points of order and appeals, and newly expanded procedures for filling blanks New provisions regarding debate on nominations, reopening nominations, and completing an election after its scheduled time Dozens more clarifications, additions, and refinements to improve the presentation of existing rules, incorporate new interpretations, and address common inquiries Coinciding with publication of the 12th edition, the authors of this manual have once again published an updated (3rd) edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief, a simple and concise introductory guide cross-referenced to it.