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Article: Lobbying unorthodox lawmaking.
- Article from:
- International Social Science Review
- Article date:
- September 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Pi Gamma Mu. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Introduction
When the 107th Congress (2001-02) passed the largest tax cut in American history, no hearings were held to consider the proposed bill. Observers of the legislative process might have expected an outcry over the failure of the committees to exercise due consideration of such costly provisions. Interest-group scholars might have expected protest from lobbyists accustomed to being heard on such bills. Instead, the silence was deafening.
Congressional scholars point to this and many similar cases as exemplifying unorthodox lawmaking. While deviations from the regular legislative process have always been possible and were sometimes used by ...