Committees And The Decline Of Lawmaking In Congress

Author : Jonathan Lewallen
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472126997
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress written by Jonathan Lewallen and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-08-14 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The public, journalists, and legislators themselves have often lamented a decline in congressional lawmaking in recent years, often blaming party politics for the lack of legislative output. In Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress, Jonathan Lewallen examines the decline in lawmaking from a new, committee-centered perspective. Lewallen tests his theory against other explanations such as partisanship and an increased demand for oversight with multiple empirical tests and traces shifts in policy activity by policy area using the Policy Agendas Project coding scheme. He finds that because party leaders have more control over the legislative agenda, committees have spent more of their time conducting oversight instead. Partisanship alone does not explain this trend; changes in institutional rules and practices that empowered party leaders have created more uncertainty for committees and contributed to a shift in their policy activities. The shift toward oversight at the committee level combined with party leader control over the voting agenda means that many members of Congress are effectively cut out of many of the institution’s policy decisions. At a time when many, including Congress itself, are considering changes to modernize the institution and keep up with a stronger executive branch, the findings here suggest that strengthening Congress will require more than running different candidates or providing additional resources.

Author : Jonathan Lewallen
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 9780472126996
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress written by Jonathan Lewallen and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-08-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The public, journalists, and legislators themselves have often lamented a decline in congressional lawmaking in recent years, often blaming party politics for the lack of legislative output. In Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress, Jonathan Lewallen examines the decline in lawmaking from a new, committee-centered perspective. Lewallen tests his theory against other explanations such as partisanship and an increased demand for oversight with multiple empirical tests and traces shifts in policy activity by policy area using the Policy Agendas Project coding scheme. He finds that because party leaders have more control over the legislative agenda, committees have spent more of their time conducting oversight instead. Partisanship alone does not explain this trend; changes in institutional rules and practices that empowered party leaders have created more uncertainty for committees and contributed to a shift in their policy activities. The shift toward oversight at the committee level combined with party leader control over the voting agenda means that many members of Congress are effectively cut out of many of the institution’s policy decisions. At a time when many, including Congress itself, are considering changes to modernize the institution and keep up with a stronger executive branch, the findings here suggest that strengthening Congress will require more than running different candidates or providing additional resources.

Author : Timothy M. LaPira
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022670260X
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Congress Overwhelmed written by Timothy M. LaPira and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congress today is falling short. Fewer bills, worse oversight, and more dysfunction. But why? In a new volume of essays, the contributors investigate an underappreciated reason Congress is struggling: it doesn’t have the internal capacity to do what our constitutional system requires of it. Leading scholars chronicle the institutional decline of Congress and the decades-long neglect of its own internal investments in the knowledge and expertise necessary to perform as a first-rate legislature. Today’s legislators and congressional committees have fewer—and less expert and experienced—staff than the executive branch or K Street. This leaves them at the mercy of lobbyists and the administrative bureaucracy. The essays in Congress Overwhelmed assess Congress’s declining capacity and explore ways to upgrade it. Some provide broad historical scope. Others evaluate the current decay and investigate how Congress manages despite the obstacles. Collectively, they undertake the most comprehensive, sophisticated appraisal of congressional capacity to date, and they offer a new analytical frame for thinking about—and improving—our underperforming first branch of government.

Author : Lauros Grant McConachie
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Congressional Committees written by Lauros Grant McConachie and published by . This book was released on 1898 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Steven S. Smith
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Committees in Congress written by Steven S. Smith and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : David C. King
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226436234
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Turf Wars written by David C. King and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1997-09-02 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most bills in American legislatures, the issue of turf—or which committee has jurisdiction over a bill—can make all the difference. Turf governs the flow and fate of all legislation. In this innovative study, David C. King explains how jurisdictional areas for committees are created and changed in Congress. Political scientists have long maintained that jurisdictions are relatively static, changing only at times of dramatic reforms. Not so, says King. Combining quantitative evidence with interviews and case studies, he shows how on-going turf wars make jurisdictions fluid. According to King, jurisdictional change stems both from legislators seeking electoral advantage and from nonpartisan House parliamentarians referring ambiguous bills to committees with the expertise to handle the issues. King brilliantly dissects the politics of turf grabbing and at the same time shows how parliamentarians have become institutional guardians of the legislative process. Original and insightful, Turf Wars will be valuable to those interested in congressional studies and American politics more generally.

Author : Gary W. Cox
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520072206
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Legislative Leviathan written by Gary W. Cox and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1993-04-05 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an incisive new look at the inner workings of the House of Representatives in the post-World War II era. Reevaluating the role of parties and committees, Gary Cox and Mathew McCubbins view parties in the House—especially majority parties—as a species of "legislative cartel." These cartels usurp the power, theoretically resident in the House, to make rules governing the structure and process of legislation. Possession of this rule-making power leads to two main consequences. First, the legislative process in general, and the committee system in particular, is stacked in favor of majority party interests. Second, because the majority party has all the structural advantages, the key players in most legislative deals are members of that party and the majority party's central agreements are facilitated by cartel rules and policed by the cartel's leadership. Debunking prevailing arguments about the weakening of congressional parties, Cox and McCubbins powerfully illuminate the ways in which parties exercise considerable discretion in organizing the House to carry out its work. This work will have an important impact on the study of American politics, and will greatly interest students of Congress, the presidency, and the political party system.

Author : John V. Sullivan
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 72 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book How Our Laws are Made written by John V. Sullivan and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Maya Kornberg
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231554281
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Inside Congressional Committees written by Maya Kornberg and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2023-02-07 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is widely believed that Congress has broken down. Media accounts present the storied legislature as thoroughly gridlocked, paralyzed by partisan rancor. Political scientists find that Congress is passing fewer laws and spending less time on legislative work. Which parts of a supposedly dysfunctional legislature continue to function? Maya L. Kornberg examines the legislative process beyond voting patterns, emphasizing the crucial role of congressional committee hearings. In committees, lawmakers hear from expert witnesses, legislators revise and discuss bills before bringing them to a vote, and the public has an opportunity to engage with Congress. Kornberg scrutinizes the inner workings of committees—the different types of witnesses who testify, the varied hearings Congress holds, and the distinct effects that committee work has on congresspeople. She deploys original mixed-methods datasets that span from insider interviews to sentiment analysis examining the language used in hearings. Kornberg evaluates how committees operate and the conditions affecting their performance, finding that committee work can be more deliberative and productive than the politics of the Congress floor. Through a comprehensive exploration of who committees hear from and how they listen, this book demonstrates that Congress is not as dysfunctional as is often claimed. Inside Congressional Committees also suggests timely reforms based on these findings that can strengthen Congress.

Author : Thomas E. Mann
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195368711
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Broken Branch written by Thomas E. Mann and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two nationally renowned congressional scholars review the evolution of Congress from the early days of the republic to 2006, arguing that extreme partisanship and a disregard for institutional procedures are responsible for the institution's current state