Knowledge, Expertise, and Committee Power in the Contemporary Congress

Curry, James M.

doi:10.1111/lsq.12219

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The legal rules that structure executive‐legislative information disputes may also have implications for the information asymmetries and power dynamics between party leaders and rank‐and‐file members of Congress. Not only can legislative leaders capitalize on knowledge and expertise to shape the legislative process (e.g., Curry 2015; 2019), but the law shapes executive incentives in a way that prioritizes leaders in the oversight process. Legislative leaders have both legal and political sanctioning mechanisms for noncompliance.…”

Section: Legal Developments In the Trump Eramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Law: “If Men Were Angels”: The Legal Dynamics of Overseeing the Executive Branch

Selin¹,

Milazzo²

2021

Pres Stud Q

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One of the fundamental principles of American governance is that each branch of government has the necessary constitutional means and motives to resist the encroachment of the other branches. Oversight is an important part of this system. In this article, we identify the legal principles that govern legislative and judicial oversight of the executive branch. These legal parameters of oversight influence informal negotiations between the branches over executive information and have important consequences for the exercise of executive power.

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Section: Legal Developments In the Trump Eramentioning

confidence: 99%

The Law: “If Men Were Angels”: The Legal Dynamics of Overseeing the Executive Branch

Selin¹,

Milazzo²

2021

Pres Stud Q

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“…At its core, information theory asserts that legislative committees expend effort to learn what would happen if a bill were enacted, which leads to a pressure toward ideologically unbiased committees. While information theory often emphasizes the principalagent relationship between legislative parties and committees, committee expertise also shapes interpersonal influence (Curry 2019) with nonexperts taking cues from experts.…”

Section: Professional Background and Information In The Legislative P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Instant Credibility: The Conditional Role of Professional Background in Policymaking Success

Makse

2021

Political Research Quarterly

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For legislators without legislative experience, credibility can be vital to achieving legislative success, and expertise from one’s professional background is a highly plausible source of such credibility. For example, when legislating in policy areas directly related to one’s previous occupation, a legislator’s colleagues may perceive policy instruments as more informed by expertise rather than ideological preferences. In this paper, I focus on several questions related to the linkage between professional background and legislative success, and specifically, the ability to guide authored bills through the legislative process. First, does a match between a legislator’s professional background and the topic of legislation make that legislation more likely to advance in the legislative process? Second, if so, does the importance of professional background dissipate as length of legislative service increases? Third, does the relevance of professional background systematically differ across types of legislators and legislatures? I find strong evidence that having a relevant professional background does lead to legislative success for new members, but that this pattern persists later in the legislative career too. Moreover, I find that these patterns are especially strong for minority party legislators and in legislatures with higher levels of membership turnover.

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“…While the increasing centralization of staff resources and information in majority party leadership offices has decreased the independent influence of committee chairs over the crafting of much important legislation (Bendix 2016;Curry 2015; but see Curry 2018), chairmen are still instrumental in the production of many bills. data on bill introductions consistently bear this out, Majority Party Strategy and Suspension of the Rules in the House as both full committee and subcommittee chairs introduce considerably more legislation than the average rank-and-file member of the House (volden and Wiseman 2014).…”

Section: Full Committee and Subcommittee Chairsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Majority Party Strategy and Suspension of the Rules in the House

Bussing

2020

Legislative Studies Qtrly

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Most bills that pass the House of Representatives do so under suspension of the rules. Despite the procedure’s prevalence, however, we know little about its systematic use. Although the supermajoritarian threshold for passage of bills under suspension typically precludes the majority party from using these bills for partisan policy, I argue that leadership control over the procedure still allows for the pursuit of party goals. Speakers split the suspension agenda between noncontroversial but substantively important legislation and parochial bills that serve credit‐claiming goals of individual members. While the minority party is not entirely shut out of the process, I argue that Speakers have been strategic in appeasing minority party demands for inclusion. Using data on bills considered under suspension from 1973 to 2015, I demonstrate that the distribution of suspension bills systematically favors electorally vulnerable majority party incumbents, and largely excludes their minority party counterparts.

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Knowledge, Expertise, and Committee Power in the Contemporary Congress

Cited by 24 publications

References 42 publications

The Law: “If Men Were Angels”: The Legal Dynamics of Overseeing the Executive Branch

The Law: “If Men Were Angels”: The Legal Dynamics of Overseeing the Executive Branch

Instant Credibility: The Conditional Role of Professional Background in Policymaking Success

Majority Party Strategy and Suspension of the Rules in the House

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