Surviving Inside Congress

Surviving Inside Congress is a guide for prospective, new and not-so-new Congressional staff--and a guided tour for those who just want to learn how it all works. It explains who's who in Congress, how the legislative process works, how Members of Congress relate with the media, and many other topics.

The sixth edition of Surviving Inside Congress includes all you need to know to succeed as a congressional staffer or stay informed as a private citizen. Understanding how Congress really works-or doesn't, as the case may be-is the difference between being a valuable contributor to the nation's work and being an outsider who never really knows what's happening.Surviving Inside Congress has been revised and expanded to reflect important developments during the 116th, 117th and 118th Congresses. Updates include:? A new chapter on the relationship between the Legislative and Judicial Branches ? Information on the House's Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress? Explanations on how the parliamentary procedure in both Chambers has changed dramatically, especially during the coronavirus pandemic? And a floor procedures manual and congressional glossary for the 118th Congress.

Required reading for anyone who wants to understand how to work within Congress. The House and Senate have unique rules and procedures to determine how legislation moves from a policy idea to law. Evolved over the last 200 years, the rules of both chambers are designed to act as the engine for that process. Each legislative body has its own leadership positions to oversee this legislative process. To the novice, whether a newly elected representative, a lawmaker's staff on her first day at work, or a constituent visiting Washington, the entire process can seem incomprehensible. What is an open rule for a House Appropriations bill and how does it affect consideration? Why are unanimous consent agreements needed in the Senate? The authors of Inside Congress, all congressional veterans, have written the definitive guide to how Congress really works. It is the accessible and necessary resource to understanding and interpreting procedural tools, arcane precedents, and the role of party politics in the making of legislation in Congress.

“When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen.” —The New York Times “A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact.” —Interview As seen on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and heard on NPR’s All Things Considered: the bestselling, National Book Award–winning journalist offers an essential guide to understanding, resisting, and recovering from the ravages of our tumultuous times. This incisive book provides an essential guide to understanding and recovering from the calamitous corrosion of American democracy over the past few years. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen has a sixth sense for the manifestations of autocracy—and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate their emergence to Americans. Gessen not only anatomizes the corrosion of the institutions and cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years changed us from a people who saw ourselves as a nation of immigrants to a populace haggling over a border wall, heirs to a degraded sense of truth, meaning, and possibility. Surviving Autocracy is an inventory of ravages and a call to account but also a beacon to recovery—and to the hope of what comes next.

November, 1978. Speier joined Congressman Leo Ryan's delegation to rescue defectors from cult leader Jim Jones's Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. Ryan was killed on the airstrip tarmac. Jackie was shot five times at point-blank range. While recovering, Jackie had to choose: Would she become a victim or a fighter? She chose to become a vocal proponent for human rights. Here she reveals her story of resilience as a widow, a mother, a congresswoman, and a fighter, to inspire other women to draw strength from adversity in order to do what is right. -- adapted from jacket

"This is a gripping and heartrending recollection of the harrowing brink-of-death experience that propelled survivor Roberto Canessa to become one of the world's leading pediatric cardiologists. Canessa played a key role in safeguarding his fellow survivors, eventually trekking with a companion across the hostile mountain range for help. This fine line between life and death became the catalyst for the rest of his life. This uplifting tale of hope and determination, solidarity and ingenuity gives vivid insight into a world famous story. Canessa also draws a unique and fascinating parallel between his work as a doctor performing arduous heart surgeries on infants and unborn babies and the difficult life-changing decisions he was forced to make in the Andes."--Provided by publisher.

Surviving in Two Worlds brings together the voices of twenty-six Native American leaders. The interviewees come from a variety of tribal backgrounds and include such national figures as Oren Lyons, Arvol Looking Horse, John Echohawk, William Demmert, Clifford Trafzer, Greg Sarris, and Roxanne Swentzell. Their interviews are divided into five sections, grouped around the themes of tradition, history and politics, healing, education, and culture. They take readers into their lives, their dreams and fears, their philosophies and experiences, and show what they are doing to assure the survival of their peoples and cultures, as well as the earth as a whole. Their analyses of the past and present, and especially their counsels for the future, are timely and urgent.