Do Congressional Committees Still Make Policy?
Congressional action now seems to be mostly about…
An episode of the The Science of Politics podcast, hosted by Niskanen Center, titled "Do Congressional Committees Still Make Policy?" was published on June 16, 2021 and runs 39 minutes.
June 16, 2021 ·39m · The Science of Politics
Summary
Congressional action now seems to be mostly about building partisan floor majorities, with committees doing more grandstanding and less legislating. But there is still a lot of action in committees, especially in distributing goods to states and districts. Jonathan Lewallen finds that congressional committees are holding fewer legislative hearings over time, due to centralized lawmaking powers. But Leah Rosenstiel finds that committee members still change policy to benefit their states. They both say committees and constituencies still matter, even in our hyperpartisan age.