New Member Material
The CEL is grateful for the willingness of members of Congress to engage in public service at this crucial time. We congratulate the newly-elected members of the 119th Congress.
The materials available here offer our best advice for how new members can become effective lawmakers. We scoured all of the materials presented in previous new member orientation activities by numerous organizations, looking for their advice on effective lawmaking. We then tested the implicit hypotheses in these guides to discern which pieces of advice are likely to have the greatest impact if adopted by new lawmakers.
We distilled this information into an easy one-page checklist for members and a Venn diagram worksheet to help lawmakers define their legislative agenda and prioritize their proposals.
We continue to refine our materials for members of Congress who are interested in increasing their lawmaking effectiveness, so be sure to sign up for our email list below.
Start here: The Five Habits for Highly Effective Lawmakers.
Helpful Articles for New Members
- Effective Lawmakers Put Policy Before Symbolism, UVAToday, March 2023
- Workhorses, not show horses: Five ways to promote effective lawmaking in Congress, The Conversation, August 2022
- Experienced staff promote effective lawmaking, The Hill, June 2021
- Congress’ most effective lawmakers aren’t generally its household names, USA Today, April 2021
- Members of Congress are specializing less often. That makes them less effective., The Washington Post, September 2020
- Does Bipartisanship even work in today’s polarized Congress? Yes. The Washington Post, February 2017
- Volden and Wiseman on the 5 habits of highly effective legislators, The Washington Post, February 2015
Working Papers for New Members
- The Legislative Effectiveness of Party Faction Members in Congress
- How Experienced Legislative Staff Contribute to Effective Lawmaking
- Turning Legislative Effectiveness into Electoral Success
- Do Constituents Know (or Care) about the Lawmaking Effectiveness of their Representatives?
- Foxes vs. Hedgehogs: Issue Specialization and Effective Lawmaking in the U.S. Congress
- Are Bipartisan Lawmakers More Effective?
- Congressional Town Halls and Legislative Effectiveness
- How Modern Lawmakers Advertise Their Legislative Effectiveness to Constituents
- Pivots or Partisans? Proposal-Making Strategy and Status Quo Selection in Congress
- Effective Lawmaking Behind the Scenes
