Combat:

the long version

Millions of Americans distrust Congress and its members. In Combat: Twelve Years in the U.S. Senate, one of the most respected and popular senators of recent times shows from the inside how the Senate works - and why it often doesn't work. Admired by his colleagues for his bluntness, decency, and courage, Warren B. Rudman gives a candid account of the legislative process as it really is. Rudman focuses on four historic Senate actions in which he played a central role: the Gramm-Rudman act - the audacious 1985 attempt to force a balanced budget on an unwilling Congress and president; the Keating Five ethics committee hearings, which revealed the thin line between campaign finance and corruption; the Iran-Contra investigation, Rudman's no-holds-barred account of the Reagan administration's biggest scandal; and the appointment of his colleague and close friend David Souter to the Supreme Court. Rudman offers vivid portraits of the men he worked with: Dole, Packwood, Baker, Helms, Gramm, and the two presidents he served under - Reagan and Bush. He writes unflinchingly about his colleagues and about the legislative process. Here is the inner world of the Senate club, revealed by the man who was often called "the conscience of the Senate. " Combat is one of the most important books on American politics to be published in years.