Abstract:
Much of the academic literature on Congress has concentrated on the growing
polarization in Congress and the significant changes in the organization of the legislative
process that have accompanied that polarization. This dissertation posits the theory that,
nevertheless, there is a substrata of legislation for which the process has not changed
substantially over the last forty years. The legislation is of relatively low saliency and
often deals primarily with the organizational structure of government agencies. The
process for this type of legislation is basically non-partisan and non-ideological. Two
comparative case studies will be used for the analysis: the legislative process leading to the enactment of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, and Congressional efforts to
further reorganize the Postal Service, which began in 1995 and concluded with the
passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.
