Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wp2c8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-01T16:20:53.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Meeting the Challenges of Senate Leadership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

Brendan J. Doherty
Brendan J. Doherty
Affiliation:
2006–2007 APSA Congressional Fellow
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Political scientists have long acknowledged the substantial challenges of and obstacles to effective majority leadership in the Senate. As each individual senator, regardless of rank or party affiliation, has the right to object to unanimous consent agreements that govern much of the Senate's business, to offer non-germane amendments to pending legislation, and to engage in extended debate that can only be halted by mustering 60 votes to invoke cloture, the agenda of the Senate leadership can be easily derailed. The tendency of senators to obstruct and delay has been exacerbated over the past half century by the rise of individualism and partisanship in the Senate, which has resulted in commensurate increased challenges for Senate leaders (see, for example, Polsby 1971; Sinclair 2005; Davidson and Oleszek 2006).

Type
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 422 - 424
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Caro, Robert A. 2002. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Daschle, Tom, and Michael D'Orso. 2003. Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever. New York: Crown.Google Scholar
Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek. 2006. Congress and Its Members. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Democratic Policy Committee. 2007. “A History of the Democratic Policy Committee, 1947–2007.” Prepared by the Democratic Policy Committee with the assistance of the U.S. Senate Historical Office. http://dpc.senate.gov/pdf/dpchistory.pdf.Google Scholar
Lott, Trent. 2005. Herding Cats: A Life in Politics. New York: Regan Books.Google Scholar
Polsby, Nelson W. 1971. “Goodbye to the Inner Club.” In Congressional Behavior, ed. Nelson W. Polsby. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Ritchie, Donald A. 1997. “A History of the United States Senate Republican Policy Committee, 1947–1997.” Prepared by the U.S. Senate Historical Office with the concurrence of the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee. Printed by authority of S. Res. 67, 105th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document 105-5, United States Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. www.gpo.gov/congress/senate/repub_policy/.Google Scholar
Sinclair, Barbara. 2005. “The New World of U.S. Senators.” In Congress Reconsidered, eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.Google Scholar