Congress – Center for Effective Lawmaking

Tom Wickham: Motion To Vacate Explained

Tom Wickham: Motion To Vacate Explained On March 22, 2024, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took procedural steps toward removing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. This activity comes just six months after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was removed from the Speaker’s post in the House and Representative Johnson was elected Speaker. To provide insights, Tom Wickham, former Parliamentarian of the House who now serves as Senior Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a Center for Effective Lawmaking Advisory Board Member, has given the following overview of where the…

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March 25, 2024

CEL presentation to the LEGIS Congressional Fellows

CEL presentation to the LEGIS Congressional Fellows On February 23, 2024, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) gave our annual presentation to the LEGIS Congressional Fellowship program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The LEGIS program is composed of a bipartisan group of professionals from government agencies selected by offices in both chambers of Congress to learn about the lawmaking process and serve as subject-matter policy experts for legislators. As in previous years, co-directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman (of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy…

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February 28, 2024

Conversations with Lawmakers

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen served as the U.S. representative for Florida’s 18th and 27th congressional districts from 1989 to 2019. She has been identified by the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) with the distinction of being among the top ten most effective Republican lawmakers in the US. House of Representatives in the 110th, 111th, and 112th Congresses (2007 to 2013). She was also identified as the most effective lawmaker in advancing international affairs policy among both Republicans and Democrats in the 112th Congress (2011…

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February 20, 2024

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

The Conditional Lawmaking Benefits of Party Faction Membership in Congress

The Conditional Lawmaking Benefits of Party Faction Membership in Congress In this new Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) paper published in Political Research Quarterly, CEL co-directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University respectively, alongside Lafayette College’s Andrew Clark (also a CEL Faculty Affiliate), examine how joining a party faction can impact a lawmaker’s effectiveness. Party faction membership has been shown to increase lawmakers' electoral success, but this paper investigates if the benefits persist once those lawmakers enter Congress. The authors’ research tests three…

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February 14, 2024

Center Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Polarization and Lawmaking Effectiveness in the United States Congress

Polarization and Lawmaking Effectiveness in the United States Congress Political scientists have emphasized the rightward ideological movement of congressional Republicans across recent decades, relative to a more limited leftward shift by Democrats. However, new research from Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) co-directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman (of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, respectively), and CEL Graduate Affiliate Patrick Buhr (also of Vanderbilt) argue that this asymmetric polarization has not translated into an equally conservative shift in lawmaking. Drawing on data on the lawmaking effectiveness of Representatives and…

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February 7, 2024

Events

Future Forum Caucus Briefing

CEL co-directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman with Representative Colin Allred (from left to right). Future Forum Caucus Briefing The co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, paid a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, November 14, to engage members of the Future Forum Caucus. The caucus is a group of young Members of Congress who are focused on issues important to younger Americans. Their three core principles are: “Bridging the divide between young Americans and their government, engaging with and empowering young voters,…

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November 29, 2023

Conversations with Lawmakers / Events

WATCH: Effective Lawmaking: A Cornerstone of Democracy

WATCH: Effective Lawmaking: A Cornerstone of Democracy On Friday, October 20, 2023, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) held a presentation titled “Effective Lawmaking: A Cornerstone of Democracy” as part of our “Conversations with Effective Lawmakers” Series and the Karsh Institute’s “Democracy360” event, a three-day series that brought together thought leaders, journalists, policymakers, scholars, activists, artists, and students in Charlottesville, VA, to explore collectively how to shape a thriving democratic future. CEL co-directors, Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, moderated a discussion panel featuring former U.S. House Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL)…

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October 25, 2023

Board of Advisors

Tom Wickham: Understanding the U.S. House Speaker Situation

Tom Wickham: Understanding the U.S. House Speaker Situation 10/18/2023 UPDATE: This post, originally published on Friday, October 13, has been updated to reflect new developments, including yesterday’s speaker vote in the House. There is uncertainty concerning the status of the speakership of the United States House of Representatives. As such, the Center for Effective Lawmaking is taking the opportunity to present insights from Tom Wickham, Senior Vice President of state and local policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; he is also a Member of our Advisory Board. Previously, he was the…

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October 13, 2023

Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Pivots or Partisans?: Proposal-Making Strategy and Status Quo Selection in Congress

Pivots or Partisans? Proposal-Making Strategy and Status Quo Selection in Congress Lawmakers vary considerably in how effectively they advance their priorities through Congress. However, the actual proposal-writing strategies undergirding these differences have remained largely unexplored, due to measurement and methodological difficulties. These obstacles have included prohibitively small sample sizes, costly data requirements, and strong theoretical assumptions. In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, political scientists Jesse Crosson (CEL Faculty Affiliate), Alexander Furnas, and Geoffrey Lorenz (CEL Faculty Affiliate) address these obstacles and analyze the proposal strategies of effective…

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September 27, 2023

Events

CEL Briefing with the Congress’s “Problem Solvers”

CEL Briefing with the Congress’s “Problem Solvers” The co-directors of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), Professors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman (of the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and Vanderbilt University Department of Political Science, respectively), visited the U.S. Capitol Building this week to conduct a briefing with the legislative staff of members of the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus. The caucus defines itself as “a bipartisan group of Members of Congress organized to get to ‘yes’ to help solve some of our country’s…

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September 22, 2023

University of Virginia+Vanderbilt University

University of Virginia
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Vanderbilt University