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  2. Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress

Committees and the Decline of Lawmaking in Congress

Jonathan Lewallen 2020
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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.

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Series
  • Legislative Politics and Policy Making
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-13206-5 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-472-12699-6 (ebook)
Subject
  • Political Science:American Politics
  • Political Science:Governance
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  • Table of Contents

  • Resources

  • Stats

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Contents
  • Preface and Acknowledgments
  • One. Committees and Congress in the Policy Process
  • Two. Myths and Realities of Congressional Lawmaking
  • Three. The Effects of Centralized Agenda Setting
  • Four. Partisanship and Committee Activity
  • Five. Demand for Committee Oversight
  • Six. The Stratified Congress
  • Seven. The Costs of Doing (Legislative) Business
  • Appendix
  • Notes
  • References
  • Index

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The left panel displays the average legislative hearing ratio within each Policy Agendas Project major topic code in the House. The right panel displays the same data for the Senate.

Figure 6-1. Average Legislative Hearing Ratios by Policy Area

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.1. Average Legislative Hearing Ratios by Policy Area. (Source: Policy Agendas Project Congressional Hearings dataset, compiled by the author.)

The left panel displays the average reported bills ratio within each Policy Agendas Project major topic code in the House. The right panel displays the same data for the Senate.

Figure 6-2. Average Reported Bills by Policy Area

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.2. Average Reported Bill Ratios by Policy Area. (Source: Congressional Bills Project, compiled by the author.)

Each policy area’s trend in the legislative hearing ratio from 1981 to 2012.

Figure 6-3. Trends in Legislative Hearings by Policy Area. Panel A: House of Representatives

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.3. Trends in Legislative Hearings by Policy Area. Panel A: House Committees. (Source: Policy Agendas Project Congressional Hearings dataset, compiled by the author.)

Each policy area’s trend in the legislative hearing ratio from 1981 to 2012.

Figure 6-3. Trends in Legislative Hearings by Policy Area. Panel B: Senate

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.3 (cont.), panel B: Senate committees.

Each policy area’s trend in the reported bills ratio from 1981 to 2012.

Figure 6-4. Trends in Reported Bills by Policy Area. Panel A: House of Representatives

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.4. Trends in Reported Bills by Policy Area. Panel A: House committees. (Source: Congressional Bills Project, compiled by the author.)

Each policy area’s trend in the reported bills ratio from 1981 to 2012.

Figure 6-4. Trends in Reported Bills by Policy Area. Panel B: Senate

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.4 (cont.), panel B: Senate committees.

The left panel displays the slope coefficients for a time trend counter from a bivariate regression on House legislative hearing ratios in each policy area. The right panel displays the same data for Senate legislative hearing ratios.

Figure 6-5. Linear Trends in Legislative Hearings by Policy Area

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.5. Linear Trends in Legislative Hearings by Policy Area. (Source: Policy Agendas Project Congressional Hearings dataset, compiled by the author.)

The left panel displays the slope coefficients for a time trend counter from a bivariate regression on House reported bill ratios in each policy area. The right panel displays the same data for Senate reported bill ratios.

Figure 6-6. Linear Trends in Reported Bills by Policy Area

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.6. Linear Trends in Reported Bills by Policy Area. (Source: Congressional Bills Project, compiled by the author.)

The left panel displays the slope coefficients for a time trend counter from a bivariate regression on House reported bill ratios in each policy area. The right panel displays the same data for Senate reported bill ratios.

Figure 6-7. Categories of Committee vs. Chamber Floor Legislating

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.7. Categories of Committee vs. Chamber Floor Legislating.

The x-axis represents linear trends in House roll-call votes for each policy area from 1981 to 2012. The y-axis of the top panel represents the linear trend in House legislative hearing ratios by policy area. The y-axis of the bottom panel represents the linear trend in House reported bill ratios by policy area.

Figure 6-8. Trends in House Committee Lawmaking vs. the Floor

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.8. Trends in House Committee Lawmaking vs. the Floor. (Source: Policy Agendas Project, calculated by the author.)

The x-axis represents linear trends in Senate roll-call votes for each policy area from 1981 to 2012. The y-axis of the top panel represents the linear trend in House legislative hearing ratios by policy area. The y-axis of the bottom panel represents the linear trend in Senate reported bill ratios by policy area.

Figure 6-9. Trends in Senate Committee Lawmaking vs. the Floor

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.9. Trends in Senate Committee Lawmaking vs. the Floor. (Source: Policy Agendas Project, calculated by the author.)

The x-axis represents the change in reported bills (slope over time), from -1.0 to 2.0 in 0.5 increments. The y-axis represents the subtopics, with 18 different subtopics listed.

Figure 6-11. Trends in Reported Bills on Government Operations Topics

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.11. Trends in Reported Senate Bills on Government Operations Topics. (Source: Congressional Bills Project, calculated by the author.)

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