Congress – Page 2 – Center for Effective Lawmaking

CEL Presentation to Charlottesville NOW

CEL Presentation to Charlottesville NOW Thursday, February 6, 2025 On Tuesday, February 4, Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director and UVA Frank Batten School Professor Craig Volden gave a presentation to the Charlottesville chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). The organization engages in the fight for women's rights, and works with its members and partners with other organizations to push for social change. Professor Volden's presentation, entitled “The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Congress and the Virginia General Assembly,” explained the mission of the CEL, the construction of our Legislative…

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February 6, 2025

Hearings on the Hill: The Politics of Informing Congress

Hearings on the Hill: The Politics of Informing Congress How do legislators, who are not policy experts, gather the information needed to make informed decisions? In a highly partisan environment, the flow of information in Congress is shaped by political competition, party leaders, and interest groups. Committees and hearings play a critical role in acquiring and disseminating this information, ultimately influencing the development of public policy in a democracy. In this new book, Assistant Professor Pamela Ban of the University of California, San Diego, Assistant Professor Ju Yeon Park of…

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February 4, 2025

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Credit Claiming and Accountability for Legislative Effectiveness

Credit Claiming and Accountability for Legislative Effectiveness Wednesday, January 29, 2025 In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Associate Professor Elizabeth Simas of Texas A&M University, Assistant Professor Michael Kistner of the University of Houston (and CEL Faculty Affiliate), Instructor of International Affairs David Hilden of West Point Military Academy, and Jamie Wright, Senior Survey Scientist at Morning Consult, examine why effective legislators struggle to convey their legislative accomplishments through credit claiming. Despite survey research showing that voters value legislative effectiveness, constituents often lack awareness of their legislator's…

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January 29, 2025

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

How Modern Lawmakers Advertise Their Legislative Effectiveness to Constituents

How Modern Lawmakers Advertise Their Legislative Effectiveness to Constituents Tuesday, January 28, 2025 In order to be re-elected, lawmakers must inform their constituents on what their intentions are in Congress. Effective representation in Congress goes beyond the traditional metrics of lawmaking. It encompasses a broader range of activities, including advocacy and direct engagement with constituents. Understanding how legislators communicate their multifaceted roles is essential to evaluating their strategies for maintaining public support and securing reelection. But how are lawmakers supposed to showcase their legislative effectiveness to the general public? What…

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January 28, 2025

Legislative Anaylsis

Five Lessons for Lawmakers from Trump I

Five Lessons for Lawmakers from Trump I Center for Effective Lawmaking Co-Directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman have published a commentary for the Niskanen Center that examines what lawmakers can expect with the new Trump administration and unified Republican control of government based on the lessons learned from the previous Trump term. This includes:both Republican and Democratic ideas will become law;members of each party can take the lead on their priority issues;the prioritization of lawmaking by Thune and Johnson offers new opportunities;congressional lawmaking is increasingly behind-the-scenes and via omnibus legislation;…

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January 23, 2025

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis

Interpersonal Relationships, Bipartisanship, and January 6th

Interpersonal Relationships, Bipartisanship, and January 6th Collaboration among colleagues is a cornerstone of effective lawmaking in Congress. Building and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships between legislators is especially important for fostering bipartisan cooperation. However, in the aftermath of the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, many Democratic lawmakers expressed reluctance to work with Republican colleagues who opposed certifying the 2020 presidential election results, claiming these actions had irreparably damaged their working relationships. Have these damaged relationships impacted overall legislative effectiveness in Congress? In this forthcoming published paper in the…

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January 21, 2025

Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Deployed to the Hill: Military Experience and Legislative Behavior in Congress

Deployed to the Hill: Military Experience and Legislative Behavior in Congress Military service is often touted as an important benefit for legislating in Congress. With fewer military veterans serving in Congress, candidates with military experience, along with their supporters, argue that electing more veterans could help reduce dysfunction and gridlock. They claim that military values, such as duty and teamwork, translate into differences in legislative behavior. But are veteran lawmakers more effective than those without military experience? Are they more bipartisan?In this paper published in Political Research Quarterly and based on a…

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December 16, 2024

(C)H.Dodge,L.Lamsa

Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Where Bills Die in the U.S. Senate

Where Bills Die in the U.S. Senate Friday, November 8, 2024To advance their policy goals in the second Trump administration, Republicans are considering how best to organize Congress. One natural obstacle is the Senate, commonly described as “where bills go to die.” The Senate floor, in particular, presents a significant hurdle – with the possibility of legislative holds and the need for either unanimous consent or a lengthy process of filibusters and securing 60 votes for cloture, barring budget reconciliation procedures.To determine how much of a challenge the Senate poses…

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November 8, 2024

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Legislative Effectiveness, Electoral Anticipation, and Garnering Campaign Advantage in the US Senate

Legislative Effectiveness, Electoral Anticipation, and Garnering Campaign Advantage in the US Senate In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Assistant Professor (and CEL Affiliate) Carlos Algara of Claremont Graduate University examines if US Senators anticipate an electoral cost for legislative ineffectiveness. Specifically, he determines whether or not they garner electoral payoffs if they act on this electoral incentive by increasing effectiveness prior to re-election. Through analyzing data on Senate primaries since 1980, he concludes that senators do conveniently become more effective before re-election when they are in-cycle and…

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October 29, 2024

Center Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Outcome-Consequential Campaigning

Outcome-Consequential Campaigning In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Co-Directors Craig Volden (University of Virginia) and Alan Wiseman (Vanderbilt University) and Ph.D. Candidate Mackenzie Dobson (University of Virginia) examine whether congressional campaigns offer insights into likely policy outcomes championed by the candidates, including those resulting from collective policymaking. To address this inquiry, the co-authors utilized new scholarship to highlight the enhanced lawmaking effectiveness of bipartisan legislators. They found that, since the year 2000, more than a third of congressional freshmen used bipartisan language on the campaign trail. These bipartisan campaigners…

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October 21, 2024