News from the John W. Kluge Center: IN ONE HOUR: Alex Smith on the Negotiation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010

TODAY, Thursday, November 16 at 4pm, Join the John W. Kluge Center for an event titled A Big Deal: The Role of Heresthetic in Negotiating the Affordable Care Act of 2010, looking at the history and strategy surrounding the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Kluge Center Director Kevin Butterfield will interview Kluge Fellow in Congressional Policymaking Alex P. Smith, who has extensively studied the negotiation strategies lawmakers used to overcome stalemate in the US Congress and pass a major overhaul of the health care system.

Free registration is available here.

This event will take place in person in the Montpelier Room of the Madison Building at the Library of Congress, as well as being broadcast live virtually. Please register on Zoom to watch in-person or virtually.

Smith will discuss the ways that Democratic Party leaders used the heresthetic strategies of strategic voting and dimension manipulation to secure votes in the House and Senate and gain support from key stakeholders in the health care industry. As unexpected events like Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter switching his party affiliation, the death of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate special election shaped the course of negotiations, policy options became more and less viable in each legislative chamber, and policymaking strategies shifted frequently. With this example of overcoming stalemate in Congress, Smith argues the methods used prioritized legislative action over policy efficacy.

And on December 11 at 4pm, join the John W. Kluge Center and the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division for "Confluence of Cultures: Lithographed Book Design in 19th Century Iran, India, and Central Asia," with Kluge Fellow Ali Boozari, who is in residence studying Iranian and Indian lithographed books in the Library's collections. Boozari will lead a panel discussion on the topic in conjunction with a display of materials from the collections.

Free registration is available here.

This event is viewable live on December 13 at 4pm EST, virtually or in-person in room LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Register here whether you intend to watch in-person or virtually. A recording of the event will be available.

Boozari is Associate Professor at Tehran University of Art. His main research interest is the Persian arts in the 19th century. His PhD dissertation (2017) is A Study of the Portraits of Nāser-al-din Shāh in the Thousand and One Nights Manuscript. Over the years, he devoted most of his time and energy to exploring the history of illustration in Iran, the history of the printing industry in Iran, the Persian illustrated lithographed books, and the Persian versions of the Thousand and One Nights.