In this groundbreaking work, Scott A. Frisch and Sean Q Kelly draw on significant new data from congressional archives—gleaned from the papers of both Democratic and Republican leaders from the 85th to the 103rd Congress—to reveal the complex process through which congressional members get assigned to the powerful committees of the House. They conclude that parties differ in their committee assignment methods and that party approaches can change over time depending on leadership. They also pay particular attention to the increasing roles of race and gender in the assignment process. Based on extensive primary and secondary research, this volume fills a crucial gap in our understanding of the internal dynamics of the American political system.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas.

Since World War II, the U.S. government has spent more than $10 trillion on defense. Although everyone in the United States must pay taxes supporting defense contracts, ten states have obtained 75 percent of all defense contracts and expenditures. In Congress and Defense Spending , Barry S. Rundquist and Thomas M. Carsey examine how the distribution of defense contracts is influenced by the interaction of state and local economies with the organization of Congress and how previous state representation on defense committees has affected current committee representation.

A breakthrough study that looks at the disciplinary measures which party leaders employ to command loyalty from members

Describes the structure and activities of six committees of the House of Representatives and their Senate counterparts during the 1955-66 period and analyzes their influence on congressional policy making

Demonstrates that the majority party seizes agenda control at nearly every stage of the legislative process.