Incorporating the crucial updates and new research you expect, the thirteenth edition of Congress and Its Members remains a trusted resource for introducing students to the legislative branch. As thousands of undergraduates have learned, focusing on Congress as not only a legislative body, but also as a group of reelection-minded politicians, is an extraordinarily effective way to understand the institution and the law-making process.

In addition to featuring new examples and cases drawn from recent congressional politics-including the battles over health care reform, financial regulations, economic stimulus, fiscal management, and tax policy-the authors also integrate new scholarship on representation, congressional elections, lobbying influence, and the relationship between Congress and the Court.

The thirteenth edition also features analysis of:

" the 2010 congressional campaigns and elections;
" party and leadership changes for the 112th Congress;
" executive-legislative relations under President Obama;
" new procedures in the House and Senate;
" budgeting in an era of huge de#x1;cits;
" the heightened importance of lobbyists in legislative policymaking;
" public attitudes about Congress as dysfunctional, even corrupt; and
" the courts and their impact on the interpretation of congressional statutes, the scope of congressional power, and the reach of statutory campaign #x1;nance regulations.