When the Senate worked for us
Subtitle: the invisible role of staffers in countering corporate lobbies
By: Michael Pertschuk
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9780826521668
Subjects: Politics and government; United States; Lawyers; Consumer protection; Officials and employees; Law and legislation; Legislation; United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce; Biography; History
Description: Every politically sentient American knows that Congress has been dominated by special interests, and many people do not remember a time when Congress legislated in the public interest. In the 1960s and '70s, however, lobbyists were aggressive but were countered by progressive senators and representatives, as several books have documented. What has remained untold is the major behind-the-scenes contribution of entrepreneurial Congressional staff, who planted the seeds of public interest bills in their bosses' minds and maneuvered to counteract the influence of lobbyists to pass laws in consumer protection, public health, and other policy arenas crying out for effective government regulation. They infuriated Nixon's advisor, John Ehrlichman, who called them "bumblebees," a name they wore as a badge of honor. For his insider account, Pertschuk draws on many interviews, as well as his fifteen years serving on the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee that Senator Warren Magnuson chaired and as the committee's Democratic Staff Director. That committee became, in Ralph Nader's words, "the Grand Central Station for consumer protection advocates."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-210) and index.