Center for Effective Lawmaking

Center for Effective Lawmaking

University of Virginia
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Vanderbilt University

Polarization and Lawmaking Effectiveness in the United States Congress
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
Future Forum Caucus Briefing
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
WATCH: Effective Lawmaking: A Cornerstone of Democracy
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
Tom Wickham: Understanding the U.S. House Speaker Situation
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
Pivots or Partisans?: Proposal-Making Strategy and Status Quo Selection in Congress
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
CEL Briefing with the Congress’s “Problem Solvers”
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
Expertise Acquisition in Congress
Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Expertise Acquisition in Congress

Expertise Acquisition in Congress Staff members are an essential part of a well-functioning Congress, as is the expertise they acquire and use to do their jobs. It is therefore important to understand what factors contribute to or detract from staff investing in acquiring expertise and learning new skills. To examine these ideas, Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Faculty Affiliate Christian Fong and his co-authors Kenneth Lowande and Adam Rauh – all of the University of Michigan – advance a theory of skill acquisition, rooted in the field of labor economics, and apply it to the problem of congressional oversight of the executive branch.…

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July 25, 2023
REWIND: Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Will Hurd
Conversations with Lawmakers

REWIND: Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Will Hurd

REWIND: Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Will Hurd Former Representative Will Hurd announced today that he was running for the Republican nomination for president. He served as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 23rd congressional district from 2015 to 2021, and 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.Back in September, CEL Co-Directors Craig Volden and…

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June 22, 2023
Just How Unorthodox? Assessing Lawmaking on Omnibus Spending Bills
Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Just How Unorthodox? Assessing Lawmaking on Omnibus Spending Bills

Just How Unorthodox? Assessing Lawmaking on Omnibus Spending Bills Scholars commonly observe that lawmaking in Congress has transitioned from the textbook system of “regular order” in which power was decentralized in committees and lawmaking followed a formal process to one of “unorthodox lawmaking” characterized by the centralization of power in party leaders and a lack of formal process. It is debated whether this change marks a decline in Congress’s lawmaking capacity, or is a procedural adaptation that has allowed Congress to remain productive despite high levels of partisanship. In this…

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June 21, 2023
The Legislative Success of “Giant Killers”
Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

The Legislative Success of “Giant Killers”

The Legislative Success of “Giant Killers” Incumbent members of Congress are difficult to defeat in elections: since the early 1970s, fewer than 10 percent of all those who have run against them have been successful. In this paper, Sean Theriault, Professor at The University of Texas at Austin and Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Faculty Affiliate, along with Jared Hrebenar and Isabel Reyna, examine the legislative effectiveness of those rare challengers who knock off incumbents they nickname “Giant Killers” and find that they have greater than expected legislative success after…

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June 20, 2023

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