New Directions in Legislative Research: Lessons from Inside Congress

Knowledge, Expertise, and Committee Power in the Contemporary Congress

“…scholars, practitioners, and observers typically portray committee influence as rooted in traditional congressional processes and practices, which are thought to provide committees with powerful opportunities to block and shape legislation. this perspective permeates college-level american government textbooks 1 and is shared by many members of Congress (see Crespin and Madonna 2016). scholars connect committee influence to the gatekeeping rights, agenda setting and proposal abilities, and conference committee practices of the "regular order" Congress (denzau and Mackay 1983;ripley 1983;shepsle and Weingast 1987;snyder 1992;Weingast and Marshall 1988).…”