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Congressional Odyssey: The Saga of a Senate Bill

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Washington Post reporter T.R. Reid takes a candid look at Washington personalities and politics, revealing the motives and strategies, the cooperation and rivalry, the honesty and the deceit behind a seemingly minor piece of legislation. He traces the course of S.790-the Inland Waterways Bill-from its inception to its eventual passage, a process with as many twists and subplots as a novel, and with characters just as vivid.

In congressional Odyssey: the Saga of a Senate bill you will discover:

-a cast of main characters including Jimmy Carer, Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Hamilton Jordan, Howard Baker, Tip O'Neill, Russell Long, and other key political figures

-a covert alliance between the railroad lobby and environmentalists, marked by a money-laundering scheme

-the White House in-fighting triggered by the bill, leading to the ouster of Brock Adams during President Cater's cabinet shakeup

-Carter's problems with the congressional leadership, exacerbated by his suppport of the Inland Waterways Bill authored by Republican Senator Pete Domenici

-"know-who" lawyers, who get things done through their connections rather than their legal abilities

-the Alton, Illinois, Lock and Dam 26 project that earned Senator Proxmire's first "Golden Fleece Award" for wasting tax dollars

-the thoughts and feelings of the dozens of central personalities who talked with suprising frankness to T.R. Reid..."

As Continental forces and Virginia militia units were engaged in winning independence, American quartermasters and provisioners struggled to provide these units with all the necessities of life, from meals and guns to meat, fodder for horses, the horses themselves, firewood, and every other type of material. Much of this was requisitioned from the civilian population and certificates were issued payable in either continental or state funds, depending on the units supplied, upon presentation to court authorities. Thousands of these certificates issued to Virginians were duly entered by the courts, and they provide a fascinating insight into the period of the Revolution. These "Publick" Claims booklets contain interesting and useful information about the contributions of ordinary people to the Revolutionary War. They provide some details of people's service in the militia or as guards for prisoners of war; they indicate where some bodies of troops were at particular times; and they identify providers of horses, wagons, cattle, grain, or other supplies. Much of the information in these booklets cannot be found anywhere else, which makes the surviving records particularly valuable. Also remarkable is the fact that records survived from virtually every county in the state at that time with the exception of the newly formed Kentucky counties. This makes the collection even more valuable in covering areas which heretofore in this time period have suffered from a lack of personal data. The "Virginia Publick Claims" are published by counties. In addition to a faithful transcription by Janice Luck Abercrombie and the late Richard Slatten, a complete index is provided for each county booklet. This series is an extremely important genealogical tool for searchers in Revolutionary-era materials.