Insider’s Legs and Regs

**This course is now full. Please email registrar@brookings.edu to be added to the wait list.**

This course is designed to provide a deeper understanding of both the policy formulation process (legislation) and the policy implementation (regulation) for those already familiar with Congress and the legislative process; this is an intensive advanced seminar. Speakers will highlight various pivotal points in the policy process, e.g., markup sessions, Rules Committee action, Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information, and Regulatory Affairs review. At the completion of the course, participants will become “insiders” in this essential immersion course that provides perspective and understanding of the complex legislative and regulatory processes.

This course, along with Inside Congress, will provide you with the strategic knowledge you need to advance your organization’s legislative agenda. This course is designed for senior agency or corporate officers interested in a deeper comprehension of the legislative process in Washington, D.C., corporate managers federal relations or congressional liaison officers, and government officials GS-13 to GS-15.

This course is required for the Certificate in Policy Strategy. 

“I wanted to say thanks for an amazing three day course this week. I wish that the courses I took for my Ivy League Masters of Public Administration degree were half as good as the past few days.” – BEE Course Participant

Speakers for previous iterations of The Insider’s Legs and Regs include, but are not limited to:

• Carl Biersack, Director, Biersack Government Relations Team; Legislative Director to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS)
• Michael Fitzpatrick, Head of Regulatory Advocacy, General Electric; Former Associate Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Executive Office of the President
• Blanche Lincoln, Principal, Lincoln Policy Group; former Senator (D-AR), Chair of Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, United States Senate
• Congressman Thomas Davis, (R-VA), Director, Federal Government Services, Deloitte LLP; former Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives
• Jim Dyer, Principal, Podesta Group; Former Clerk/ Republican Staff Director, Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives
• Scott Lilly, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Former Clerk/Democratic Staff Director, Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives
• Jim Manley, Quinn Gillespie Public Affairs; Former Senior Advisor to SenatorHarry Reid (D-NV), Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
• Congressman Jim McGovern, (D-MA); Member Rules;  and Agriculture Committees,  House of Representatives
• Michelle Mrdeza, Former Clerk/Republican Staff Director, Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security; House of Representatives; Director, MXM Consulting
• Robert Weismann, President, Public Citizen

Topics presented in this course vary, but typically include:

• Helping Your Organization Design a Legislative Strategy
• Understanding Constituent Interest Politics, and Playing a Weak Hand Successfully
• Effective Lobbying: Perspectives from the Business Community
• Committee Mark-Up Sessions
• House Rules Committee: How to Get Past the Gatekeeper to the House Floor
• Committee Chairs: How Much Power do They Really Have, and How to Get on Their Winning Side
• Evolving Congressional Rules and Procedures: Key Recent Changes
• Managing Floor Action in the House and Senate
• Congressional Insight Simulation
• Conference Committees
• Lobbying Congress: the View from K Street
• Managing Your Organization’s Relations with Congress: Key Steps to Become More Effective

Program Benefits:

• Understand advanced congressional processes
• Decipher the interrelationship between policy formulation and implementation
• Work more effectively with agencies via the Legislative Branch