(print) xi, 183 p. ; 24 cm

Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Focusing attention on omnibus legislation. p.1 -- 2. The nature of congressional change: literature and theory. p.16 -- 3. The logic of omnibus legislation: an integrated theoretical framework. p.30 -- 4. Studying omnibus lawmaking systematically. p.44 -- 5. Hitching a ride on the omnibus. p.61 -- 6. Explaining the move to omnibus legislating. p.77 -- 7. The birth of omnibus legislating: why the 81st Congress bundled the budget. p.88 -- 8. Getting around gridlock I: making health care policy through omnibus bills. p.102 -- 9. Getting around gridlock II: the effect of omnibus utilization on legislative productivity. p.112 -- 10. The omnibus change and presidential-congressional relations. p.124 -- 11. Evaluating omnibus legislating. p.135 -- App. 1. Constructing a data set of bills per Congress. p.143 -- App. 2. The Policy Agendas Project topic and subtopic categories. p.145 -- Notes. p.159 -- Bibliography. p.167 -- Index. p.179