Acts of Congress: How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't

by Robert G. Kaiser,
The Boston Globe, May 23, 2013

Americans’ dissatisfaction with Congress, alas, is matched by ignorance about how the legislative branch of the government actually works. Constituents are grateful when their representative intervenes to help them solve a problem they’re having with, say, the Social Security Administration. They are likely to notice as well when a legislator “brings home the bacon” to his home district. They know precious little, however, about how a bill is conceived, revised, and passed.