The Contemporary Presidency: Managing White House-Congressional Relations: Observations from Inside the Process

This article examines the relationship between the president and Congress. Using the authorss experience working for Congress and for the Bush and Clinton White House Offices of Legislative Affairs, the article suggests several additional factors that should be added to an explanation ofthe relations between the president and Congress. These include the importance of reciprocity between the president and members of Congress, the dynamic nature of political trade-offs between the two branches, and the impact ofthe kind of policy being considered in the strategy used by the White House and the Hill The article is critical of assessing presidential success by simply using roll call votes, vetoes sustained, or presidential support scores. It is suggested that the president's Office of Leg islative Affairs does not find these measures useful in keeping track of success and failure and often measures success by what is kept off the legislative agenda.