Using the book Act of Congress, by Robert G. Kaiser, write an essay following the prompt below. The essay should be a persuasive argument that supports a thesis.

The book, Act of Congress, is a case study in the making of public policy with an emphasis
on the role of Congress, presumably our most representative branch of government. Write an essay
analyzing how representative the Congress really is. The best way to do this is by focusing on the central
players in the process that impacted both the substance of the bill and the process (both advancing the bill
and/or halting the bill’s progress). Once you have identified the major players examine how
representative they were and of whom (Did they represent themselves, particular special interests, their
party, the larger country, etc.? Why do you think so? That is, lay out the evidence (from the book) that
this is what influenced them by using quotations and examples of the representatives’ actions). It could
be that some of the players represent some people well and others different people well. The critical part
is to support your claims about who and what gets represented with examples and passages from the text
(the Kaiser book). It could be that there are competing or conflicting examples: like one person seeming
to have his/her political party in mind when they make decisions and another having a particular interest
in their district in mind. Whatever the case is, lay it out. Then step back and try to say a few words about
the overall process and who/what gets represented. That could be a story about conflicting representation,
but could also be most do X but some do Y for these reasons, or that the environment a particular member
finds themselves in makes it more likely X will be what gets representation.
Again, be sure to support your claims with relevant details, examples, and/or quotations from the Kaiser
book.