ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the validity of the critics' charges and notes the changes Congress has instituted to try to respond to the critiques of its performance. It treats these topics—Congress' personnel; its basic organizational features; its members' relations with those off Capitol Hill; and its policymaking, oversight, and representational activities—in detail, tracing recent changes in congressional activity and behavior and leading to an overall assessment of the legislature's present performance and future possibilities. Most significant, after making many concessions to congressional combatants, he eked out a narrow—by two votes in the House and the vice-president's tie-breaking ballot in the Senate—victory for his budget. In other words, to achieve whatever they seek from congressional service, individual members of Congress must act within an institutional setting that will facilitate some and hinder other activities. Committees and subcommittees constitute the repositories of legislative expertise; their members are the congressional specialists on the subject matters that fall within their jurisdictions.
