The Quayle Council on Competitiveness is best understood as the latest
executive branch weapon in the interbranch institutional combat that
prevails during periods of divided government. This exploration of the
Council's impact begins with an overview of the divided government de
bate, explores its battles with congressional Democrats over regulatio
ns implementing the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, and ends with a
brief discussion of how the contours of partisan struggle over regulat
ion were altered by the advent of unified party control in 1993 and th
e return to divided government in 1995.