Conversations with Lawmakers – Center for Effective Lawmaking

Success in the States: How Outstanding State Lawmakers Lead and Govern

Success in the States: How Outstanding State Lawmakers Lead and Govern On Monday, December 12, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), along with the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, Lyceum Labs, and the Millennial Action Project (MAP), cohosted the event "Success in the States: How Outstanding State Lawmakers Lead and Govern" in Washington, DC. The forum brought together a bipartisan group of state lawmakers and nonprofit leaders dedicated to supporting better political leadership in the U.S. to reflect on the issues at stake for our democracy. The participants spoke about their experiences and research, and provided valuable insights into how…

Comments Off

December 15, 2022

Conversations with Lawmakers

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Will Hurd

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Will Hurd Former Representative Will Hurd served as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 23rd congressional district from 2015 to 2021. Representative Hurd was identified by the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) as being one of the top 10 most effective Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House during his first term in Congress, as well as being the third most effective freshman lawmaker within his class. CEL Co-Directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman recently sat down with Representative Hurd to discuss his time in Congress. Among…

Comments Off

September 14, 2022

Blog / Conversations with Lawmakers / Events / Video

WATCH: Race & Political Representation Inside & Outside of Congress

WATCH: Race & Political Representation Inside & Outside of Congress On March 31, 2022, Alan Wiseman, Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) moderated a discussion at Vanderbilt University where a distinguished group of panelists explored how those advocating for underrepresented groups have made progress inside and outside of Congress. The panel included Michael Eric Dyson, Centennial Chair and University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University; Michael Minta, professor of political science at the University of…

Comments Off

April 13, 2022

Conversations with Lawmakers

A Conversation with Senator Bill Frist: The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Turbulent Times

A Conversation with Senator Bill Frist: The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Turbulent Times On December 7, 2021, the Center for Effective Lawmaking partnered with Vanderbilt University's Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy to host a conversation with former Senate majority leader Bill Frist. A panel of experts tackled the issue of effective lawmaking in today's landscape during a virtual discussion entitled, “The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Turbulent Times." In today’s polarized U.S. Congress, the lack of bipartisanship often prevents opportunities to enact meaningful legislation. What can lawmakers…

Comments Off

December 20, 2021

Conversations with Lawmakers

Representative Barney Frank & Journalist Robert Kaiser Discuss Legislative Effectiveness

Representative Barney Frank and Journalist Robert Kaiser Discuss Legislative Effectiveness For the next in our “Conversations with Effective Lawmakers” Series, we reach back into the vault of interviews conducted by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. In this case, we present an interview conducted by CEL Co-Directors Alan Wiseman and Craig Volden in spring of 2019.We had the pleasure of sitting down for a wide-ranging conversation with former member of Congress, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), and with Washington Post reporter and award-winning author Robert Kaiser. Kaiser’s book Act of Congress focuses…

Comments Off

September 29, 2021

Conversations with Lawmakers / Video

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Joe Neguse

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Joe Neguse Representative Joe Neguse (D, CO-2) was identified by the Center for Effective Lawmaking as one of the top-ten most effective Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House in the 116th Congress. His high Legislative Effectiveness Score (LES) also made him the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 116th Congress; and he was also identified as the most effective Democratic lawmaker on legislation that engaged with Public Lands policies in that Congress. Representative Neguse was elected to his first term in November 2018, becoming the…

Comments Off

June 17, 2021

Conversations with Lawmakers

Discussing Lawmaking with Former House Parliamentarian Tom Wickham

Discussing Lawmaking with Former House Parliamentarian Tom Wickham Watch as the Co-Directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking interview Tom Wickham on lawmaking effectiveness, what advice he would give to new members of Congress today, as well as trends and changes he's noticed over the years. Mr. Tom Wickham, former Parliamentarian of the U.S. House of Representatives, serves as senior vice president of State & Local Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Wickham leads the Chamber’s new initiative that monitors state and local policy developments and coordinates state…

Comments Off

June 2, 2021

Conversations with Lawmakers

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Senator Gary Peters

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Senator Gary Peters Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who has served Michigan in the House since 2009, and served in the Senate since 2015, was named the most effective Senator in the 116th Congress. We had the opportunity to interview the Senator about legislative effectiveness, bipartisanship, bridging House-Senate differences, and more. Watch the next interview in our Conversations with Lawmakers series as Professors Craig Volden (UVA) and Alan E. Wiseman (Vanderbilt University), Co-Directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, and the Senator discuss a wide array…

Comments Off

April 15, 2021

Conversations with Lawmakers

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative French Hill

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative French Hill Congressman French Hill (R-AR2) has a unique background. Not only is the Representative a businessman, Vanderbilt alumnus, and graduate from UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management, Congressman Hill also has significant experience as a former staffer on Capitol Hill. Representative Hill served as an aide to Republican Senator John Tower; was a staffer on the Senate Banking then the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; served as executive secretary to President George H. W. Bush’s Economic Policy Council; and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of…

Comments Off

December 18, 2020

Conversations with Lawmakers / Legislative Anaylsis / Video

WATCH: The Future of Congressional Reform with Rep. Derek Kilmer

WATCH: The Future of Congressional Reform with Rep. Derek Kilmer On November 12, 2020, the Center for Effective Lawmaking was honored to host Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA06) for a public conversation surrounding his work as the Chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. (For an analysis of how the Select Committee's work intersects with research from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, read our article here.) The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress Committee (“Select Committee”) was established by H.Res. 6 on January 4, 2019 and is…

Comments Off

November 13, 2020

University of Virginia+Vanderbilt University

University of Virginia
+
Vanderbilt University