I. | Congress at Nadir | 1 |
| The Congress Looks Inward | 4 |
| Some Persistent Questions | 7 |
| A Semantic Digression | 11 |
Part 1 | Decline | |
II. | Two Centuries of Ups and Downs | 15 |
| The Constitutional Ambiguities | 16 |
| Strong and Weak Presidents | 19 |
| Competition in the Early Decades | 21 |
| The Golden Age of Congressional Ascendancy | 25 |
| The Modern Era of the Strong President | 30 |
| Congressional Acquiescence in Decline | 35 |
III. | The President as General Manager | 37 |
| A New Executive Responsibility: Fiscal Leadership | 39 |
| The General Manager Role Develops | 45 |
| The General Manager as Constitutional Intent | 47 |
| Reorganization: "Congress Cannot Do It" | 51 |
| The Unification of Military Management | 55 |
| Command and Control | 57 |
IV. | The President as Economic Stabilizer | 61 |
| The Employment Act of 1946: The President Shall Propose | 63 |
| But the Congress Shall Dispose | 66 |
| President Truman and Congressional Dominance | 69 |
| President Eisenhower and Executive Dominance | 75 |
| President Kennedy and Congressional Deliberateness | 79 |
| President Johnson and Congressional "Blackmail" | 81 |
| President Nixon and Congressional "Abdication" | 86 |
| The Mismatch of Authority and Accountability | 88 |
V. | The President as Foreign Policy Leader | 91 |
| The Failure of Congressional Foreign Policy: Neutrality | 94 |
| The Delegation of Tariff-Making Power | 99 |
| Collaboration in the Postwar World | 103 |
| Presidential War-Making in Korea | 107 |
| Delegation of the War-Making Power | 110 |
| Congressional Acquiescence in Presidential War | 123 |
VI. | The President as Chief Legislator | 127 |
| Before the Hundred Days | 129 |
| During the Hundred Days | 133 |
| Institutionalizing the President as Legislative Leader | 136 |
| The President as Legislative Policy Planner | 143 |
| The President as "a Sort of Prime Minister" | 148 |
VII. | Endemic Weaknesses of the Congress | 155 |
| The Incapacity to Act Quickly | 156 |
| The Incapacity to Plan | 158 |
| The Void in Centralizing Institutions | 160 |
| Power in the Leadership: The Era of the Czars | 162 |
| Power in the Majority Caucus: The Sixty-third Congress | 168 |
| Decentralized Power: The Era of the Barons | 176 |
| The Demand for Responsible Party Government | 179 |
| Power in Policy Committees: A Senate Experiment | 187 |
Part 2 | Resurgence | |
VIII. | To Regain the Power of the Purse | 199 |
| Nixon and the Impoundment Issue | 201 |
| The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 | 209 |
| Resolution of the Impoundment Issue | 214 |
| Establishment of the Budget Process | 215 |
| A "Bad" Year--and a "Good" One | 223 |
| The "Balanced" Budget of 1980-81 | 227 |
| The New Congressional Capacity | 231 |
IX. | To Recapture the War Power | 238 |
| The Deepening Distrust of Presidential Power | 241 |
| The National Commitments Resolution of 1969 | 245 |
| The Beginnings of Congressional Control | 247 |
| Deadlock on the Constitutional Issue | 252 |
| The War Powers Resolution of 1973 | 254 |
| The First Tests | 261 |
| Symbol or Substance? | 265 |
X. | To Take Command of Foreign Policy | 273 |
| The New Congressional Ascendancy | 275 |
| "Impermissible Shackles" on the President | 289 |
| The Pendulum Swings Back--Partway | 294 |
| Groping toward Collaboration | 300 |
| Searching for a Structural Solution | 308 |
XI. | To Tighten Control over Administration: Oversight | 315 |
| Difficulties of Before-the-Fact Control | 318 |
| Limitations in After-the-Fact Control | 321 |
| The Intensification of Congressional Oversight | 324 |
| Lifting the Shrouds of Secrecy | 330 |
| The Uses and Pathology of Oversight | 332 |
| Sunrise Legislation and Other Remedies | 340 |
XII. | To Tighten Control over Administration: The Legislative Veto | 344 |
| A Half-Century Constitutional Tug-of-War | 345 |
| Never, or Always, or Sometimes? | 354 |
| The Executive Would Regret "Never" | 356 |
| The Congress Would Regret "Always" | 360 |
| If Sometimes, When and How? | 364 |
XIII. | To Strengthen Congressional Capacity | 367 |
| From Party Regularity to Political Individualism | 369 |
| Remolding the Power Structure in the House | 373 |
| Redistributing Power in the Senate | 390 |
| Leadership in the Age of Individualism | 395 |
| Expanding Staff Resources | 402 |
Part 3 | Prospect | |
XIV. | Missing Capabilities: Political Leadership and Policy Integration | 417 |
| Turning Away from Presidential Leadership | 419 |
| The Congress as Political Leader | 423 |
| The Congress as Policy Integrator | 427 |
XV. | Representation and the Will to Govern | 440 |
| Distraction | 442 |
| Parochialism | 447 |
| Irresponsibility | 454 |
| From Representation to Decline--and Resurgence | 456 |
XVI. | The Unending Conflict | 460 |
| The Issue of Constitutional Reform | 464 |
| Reform without Constitutional Amendment | 467 |
| The Responsible Party Model | 471 |
| Comity within the System | 478 |
| The New Equilibrium | 482 |
| Index | 485 |