This chapter discusses relevant literature about political negotiation, Congress, and policy change while describing the conditions that allow political leaders to change legislative inertialegislative inertia. The process of writing legislation and simultaneously building a voting coalition is important because it shapes what language is included the bill (and what language is not included). Literature on policy change often lacks detailed descriptions of the strategies used in negotiations to build voting coalitions. Policy change research recognizes the need for a policy window to open, and in cases of legislative inertia this happens through a legitimacy crisislegitimacy crisis that threatens the stability of the government and incumbent politician’s political ambitions. The presence of a legitimacy crisis related to major policy problems creates opportunities for dimension manipulation and strategic votingstrategic voting to be used by political entrepreneurs to build winning coalitions and change legislative inertia.