PS365 Syllabus - Spring 2009
OIS sites:  Forum; Gradebook; Drop Box; UTest

Examination No. 3 – Essay (optional)
PS365 – Legislative Process
Professor Russell Renka
May 3, 2009

    As usual, here’s a choice of one among three items on which you’re to write an essay of approximately 3 pages.  The essay is due in print on or before midnight on Friday, May 8 at the Drop Box under "Essay 3" heading.
    This essay is optional.  I recommend it only for those who have done a lot better on essays than on the in-class part of the exams, and for those who are close to a letter division (just above or just below the cutoff line for an A, a B, or a C).  If you submit it, I grade it "blind" and post it on Grade A without looking at its effect on your grade.  If you don't submit it, then the grade average won't include this item.

1.  Standing committees vary in power and prestige, in their size of membership, and in how attractive they are to careerist Members.  What distinguishes the House Ways and Means Committee from the House Transportation Committee?  Why is the Transportation Committee one of its subcommittees so high in membership?  Finally, what importance does either committee have for the parent chamber in terms of informational expertise?

2.  How much obstruction has existed in the postwar Senate on judicial nominations?  What factors contributed to that?  And what would have happened if the Senate's majority party should invoke the so-called "nuclear option" on the filibuster with respect to judicial nominations on the Senate floor?

3.  Rudder, and Howell and Kriner, both address differences in thinking and practice between congressional Democrats and the congressional Republicans.  What are the principal differences in policy preferences of the two congressional parties?  How do liberals and conservatives differ with respect to fiscal issues of taxation and spending, and national defense issues during the Bush Administration?