Moderators

WALTER J. OLESZEK has been a Senior Specialist in American national government at the Congressional Research Service since 1968. He is known as "Congress' expert on Congress" and as such he is considered one of America's leading experts on legislative and parliamentary government.

Dr. Oleszek has assisted both Chambers of Congress in numerous Congressional reform efforts. He was a consultant to the Commission and Operation of the Senate, the House Commission on Administration Review, as well as serving on several committees dealing with reform of the House and Senate Committee system.

Dr. Oleszek has also served as Policy Director of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress and was directly involved in the development and passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.

He is the author of several books, including Congress Against Itself; Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process; Congress and Its Members; and Congress Under Fire: Reform Politics and the Republican Majority. He is also a long-time adjunct faculty member at The American University in Washington, DC.