Center for Effective Lawmaking

Five Lessons for Lawmakers from Trump I

Five Lessons for Lawmakers from Trump I Center for Effective Lawmaking Co-Directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman have published a commentary for the Niskanen Center that examines what lawmakers can expect with the new Trump administration and unified Republican control of government based on the lessons learned from the previous Trump term. This includes:both Republican and Democratic ideas will become law;members of each party can take the lead on their priority issues;the prioritization of lawmaking by Thune and Johnson offers new opportunities;congressional lawmaking is increasingly behind-the-scenes and via omnibus legislation;…

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Interpersonal Relationships, Bipartisanship, and January 6th

Interpersonal Relationships, Bipartisanship, and January 6th Collaboration among colleagues is a cornerstone of effective lawmaking in Congress. Building and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships between legislators is especially important for fostering bipartisan cooperation. However, in the aftermath of the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, many Democratic lawmakers expressed reluctance to work with Republican colleagues who opposed certifying the 2020 presidential election results, claiming these actions had irreparably damaged their working relationships. Have these damaged relationships impacted overall legislative effectiveness in Congress? In this forthcoming published paper in the…

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2024: A Year in Review

2024: A Year in Review As 2024 draws to a close, we at the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) wanted to take the time to reflect on our accomplishments this year. This included but was not limited to the following:Announcing the grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation for our State Legislative Effectiveness Initiative.Announcing the recipients of our 2024-2025 small grant awards.Introducing new members of our Center Affiliate teams, including Andrew Ballard, Jaclyn Kaslovsky, Michael Kistner, Emily Cottle Ommundsen, and Arjun Vishwanath.Introducing two new post-doctoral fellows for the 2024-2025 Academic Year: Amy Meli and Connor Halloran Phillips.Introducing new members…

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Deployed to the Hill: Military Experience and Legislative Behavior in Congress

Deployed to the Hill: Military Experience and Legislative Behavior in Congress Military service is often touted as an important benefit for legislating in Congress. With fewer military veterans serving in Congress, candidates with military experience, along with their supporters, argue that electing more veterans could help reduce dysfunction and gridlock. They claim that military values, such as duty and teamwork, translate into differences in legislative behavior. But are veteran lawmakers more effective than those without military experience? Are they more bipartisan?In this paper published in Political Research Quarterly and based on a…

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Discussing Effective Lawmaking with West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw

Discussing Effective Lawmaking with West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw Thursday, December 12, 2024West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw has served in the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2014, and as House Speaker since 2018. He represents his native Clay County, along with Calhoun and Gilmer Counties, as a Republican in the legislature. During his first term as a delegate, four of his ten sponsored bills became law, making him one of the most effective lawmakers in his freshman class. Since then, he rose to be a top-ten lawmaker…

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2024-2025 Small Grant Awards Announced

2024-2025 Small Grant Awards Announced Wednesday, December 4The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to present its 7th annual small grant awards and recipients. The awards are given to scholars who are researching topics that connect to the mission of the CEL to advance the generation, communication, and use of new knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and legislative institutions. This group of scholars will join previous grant recipients who have made insightful contributions to the study of lawmaking effectiveness. We are honored to support the awardees and…

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The Concentration of Legislative Effectiveness in the American States

The Concentration of Legislative Effectiveness in the American States Wednesday, November 13 In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Professor Todd Makse of Florida International University and Jacob Lollis of the University of Virginia examine how effective lawmaking is distributed among legislators within a chamber. While legislative effectiveness scores for individual lawmakers are often emphasized, this paper highlights the frequently overlooked importance of evaluating how effectiveness is spread across all members of a legislative body. Through analyzing legislative effectiveness data, the authors develop new measures to assess the…

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Where Bills Die in the U.S. Senate
(C)H.Dodge,L.Lamsa

Where Bills Die in the U.S. Senate

Where Bills Die in the U.S. Senate Friday, November 8, 2024To advance their policy goals in the second Trump administration, Republicans are considering how best to organize Congress. One natural obstacle is the Senate, commonly described as “where bills go to die.” The Senate floor, in particular, presents a significant hurdle – with the possibility of legislative holds and the need for either unanimous consent or a lengthy process of filibusters and securing 60 votes for cloture, barring budget reconciliation procedures.To determine how much of a challenge the Senate poses…

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CEL at POLE Project Conference

CEL at POLE Project Conference Last week, Vanderbilt University Professor and Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) co-director Alan Wiseman was a presenter and panelist at the conference of the Patterns of Legislative Effectiveness (POLE) Project, which took place on October 28 and 29, 2024 at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon in Lisbon, Portugal.POLE is a comparative study of legislators’ activities and performances in parliamentary systems. This research project sets as its main goal to unravel the complexities surrounding the behavior of MPs in parliamentary systems, shedding light on how…

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Center for Effective Lawmaking 2024 Annual Report

Center for Effective Lawmaking 2024 Annual Report The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is celebrating an extremely successful year with the release of its annual report. Founded in 2017 as a joint venture between the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University, the Center’s trusted methodology and analyses have been cited in hundreds of news articles across the U.S., and widely used by lawmakers and their staffs.The CEL’s top highlight from 2024 is the expansion of its mission to state-level lawmaking. The Center…

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