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The perception of Congress as a gridlocked institution where little happens is overblown, according to new research by scholars at the 彩民宝典 and the University of Washington.
And the way much of Congress鈥� work gets done is through self-manufactured crises like the 鈥渇iscal cliff,鈥� say political science professors Scott Adler of CU-Boulder and John Wilkerson of UW.
鈥淵es, Congress has taken on a more partisan tone in recent decades,鈥� Adler said. 鈥淲e do hear a lot about the conflicts between Democrats and Republicans on key pieces of legislation. But we鈥檙e also seeing Congress exceeding public expectations. Congress does govern.鈥�
Adler and Wilkerson studied several decades of lawmaking to better understand how issues end up on the legislative agenda and the factors that lead to policy change. In a new book, 鈥淐ongress and the Politics of Problem Solving鈥� from Cambridge University Press, they reveal that they were surprised to find political friction had a limited influence on congressional productivity.听
鈥淯nderstandably, the media, scholars and the public tend to be more attentive to political conflict, especially partisan conflict, than to political cooperation,鈥� Wilkerson said. 鈥淵et on most issues, including the most important issues, consensus and cooperation are the norm within Congress.鈥�
It is a common congressional practice to pass short-term legislation that forces lawmakers to revisit important issues on a regular basis, the authors said. The 鈥渇iscal cliff鈥� has helped to draw attention to the use of manufactured crises 鈥渢o induce bargaining between Democrats and Republicans, between the president and Congress and between the House and Senate,鈥� Adler said.听
This is not a new development. In fact, the first substantive law passed by the very first Congress in 1789 was set up to expire six years later. Short-term laws have been passed with greater frequency since the 1960s as the congressional agenda has become increasingly crowded. Today Congress simply has too much to deal with to operate in any other way, they said.听
Most major programs are on schedules that have them expiring every four, five or six years. And because the reauthorization calendar is known years in advance, everyone, including lobbyists and other stakeholders, knows when it is and is not time to press for policy changes. Wilkerson and Adler found that program expirations are the best predictors of when big policy changes will occur.听
鈥淎n expiring law does not necessarily lead to significant reform,鈥� Wilkerson said. 鈥淪ometimes Congress just renews it because there is little need for reform. At other times, Congress extends because partisan differences inhibit substantive progress. But often these manufactured crises do serve as the catalysts for significant policy change.
鈥淭he Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 comes up for reauthorization every six years, and has been the catalyst for major education reforms,鈥� Wilkerson said. 鈥淭he Civil Rights Act similarly comes up for reauthorization on a regular basis, and these reauthorizations have served as catalysts for important expansions of civil rights protections. The same can be said for transportation, intelligence and many other policy areas.鈥�
Congress has had less success reforming issues that are not on recurring schedules, such as immigration and energy, the professors said. Passing smaller programs on a short-term basis in these areas might be one approach to encouraging more action. These renewals might then provide the catalysts for broader policy changes, as has been the case with the Higher Education Act.听
鈥淏y reading our book, we hope that observers of Congress will better appreciate what Congress does and how it does it,鈥� Wilkerson said.
Contact:
Scott Adler, CU-Boulder, 303-492-6659
e.scott.adler@colorado.edu
John Wilkerson, UW, 206-543-8030
jwilker@uw.edu
Peter Caughey, CU media relations, 303-492-4007
Peter Kelley, UW media relations, 206-543-2580
Scott Adler
