Contributors to this remarkable volume on the development and current status of the United States Congress use perspec­tives from history and comparative politics to study congres­sional law making, congressional debate, public support, the absence of leaders in congress, congressional oversight of ad­ministration, congress and public finance, and corruption. The Essays are based on the Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., Symposium on the U.S. Congress held at Boston College in 1981. The United States Congress gives us a portrait of the national legislature at a critical moment in its history, and seeks to pro­vide timely answers to fundamental questions: What is deliber­ation and how can Congress become a more deliberative in­stitution? How have congressional elections changed? Has the relationship between voters and congressmen gone sour? Can Congress write a budget, direct the federal bureaucracy, or de­vise a sensible foreign policy? How has the nature of leadership within the Congress changed in recent years? And, above all, what is the Congress of the United States supposed to be and to do?