ARCHIVE
Capitol Hill Workshop
The 96th Congress - Archive Edition
May 9-11, 1979
Held at The Capitol Hill Club.
The 96th Congress is barely four months old, but it is already active and involved with the broad spectrum of foreign and domestic policies – and, like its immediate predecessors, it is aggressive, assertive and wide-ranging. While President Carter now has over two years of valuable experience in dealing with Capitol Hill, these past four months have proven that relations between President and congress are not yet smooth and predictable.
A good part of the explanation for the continuing conflicts between the White House and the Capitol lies in the changes that have occurred in Congress itself over the past decade - changes in membership, rules, power, leadership, resources, policy making and congressional attitudes. Congress is stronger overall, yet more diffused than it was in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been decentralized and democratized, while at the same time its membership has changed to a striking degree. Much, then, is new on Capitol Hill - yet many more of the characteristics, norms, and ways of doing business have remained unchanged since the 19th century.
All in all, the Hill is a confusing and fluid place these days, for presidents, bureaucrats, journalists, and congressional leaders alike. Capitol Hill Workshop is designed to try to sort out some of the confusion, to examine more closely what has changed and what has not, and what the changes mean for policy-makers and policy decisions. We will be aided in that task by a select group of savvy and experienced "insiders" who will share their insights into the political process with the workshop participants.
Schedule
MAY 9, 1979
MORNING
Leadership in Congress: Rep. Jim Wright (D-Texas), Majority Leader of the House
Leadership in the Senate: Senator Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Majority Whip of the Senate or a representative of the Senate leadership.
Minority Party in Congress: Rep. John Anderson (R-Ill.), Chairman, House Republican Conference.
LUNCHEON
Congress and Reform: Continuity and Change in the 70's: Norm Ornstein, Program Facilitator
AFTERNOON
Congress and Its Rules: Walter Kravitz, Senior Specialist, Congressional Research Service, First Staff Director of House Budget Committee, Veteran expert on Congressional rules.
Congress and the Civil Service: Rep. Morris Udall (D-Ariz.)
Congress and Its Staffs
Janet Breslin, Legislative Director, Senator Donald Stewart, leading authority on Congressional staffs.
Congress and the Policy Process
Professor Michael Robinson, Catholic University, expert on Policy Processes and the Media.
Congress and Economic Policy: Rep. Al Ullman (D-Oregon), Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee.
Congress and the Budget: The View from the House: Rep. Robert Giaiamo (D-Conn.), Chairman, House Budget Committee.
Congress and Foreign Policy
Charles Whalen, President of New Directions, former Congressman and veteran member of the House International Relations Committee.
AFTERNOON
Congress and the Budget: The View from the Senate: Senator Henry Bellmon (R-Okla.), Ranking Minority Member, Senate Budget Committee.
Congress and Oversight
Peter Barash, Staff Director, House Government Operations Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer, and Monetary Affairs.
MAY 11, 1979
MORNING
Congress and the White House
Bill Cable, Chief House Congressional Liaison, The White House.
Congress and Congressional Elections: Tom Mann, Asst. Dir., American Political Science Association, and author of Unsafe At Any Margin: Interpreting Congressional Elections.
Congress and the Agencies: Dick Warden, Asst. Sec. for Legislation, HEW.
Congress and the Press: Henry Hubbard, Congressional Correspondent, Newsweek Magazine, former award-winning White House Correspondent.
AFTERNOON
Congress and the Political Process: Ralph Nader, Head, Center for the Study of Responsive Law.
Congress and the Lobbyist: Charles Walker, Charles Walker Associates, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and noted lobbyist.
