Enabling Compromise

In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Assistant Professor (and CEL Faculty Affiliate) Christian Fong and Ph.D. Student Nicolas Hernandez Florez of the University of Michigan examine how lawmakers are able to compromise on legislation despite the fear of backlash from their party’s primary voters. Contrary to common perception, two aspects of congressional politics – partisan agenda control and messaging bills – can help facilitate compromise instead of preventing it. Congressional leadership will put forward messaging bills known as cover bills – bills they know will fail to become law to show their base that they are taking an extreme position on a matter – before the lawmakers ultimately compromise. The co-authors provide two survey experiments in order to demonstrate that primary voters are more supportive of lawmakers who eventually compromise if they initially vote for the cover bill. This is because initially voting for the cover bill shows constituents that the legislator supports their ideological values. Furthermore, cover bills are still effective if the legislator does not support an eventual compromise, as voters are still reassured that their lawmaker supports their core beliefs and best interests.

To learn more, read the full report here.

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