Reaching Bicameral Legislative Agreement in Canberra and Washington

Abstract

Congressional analysts and practitioners actually can benefit from looking at their institution from a broader, comparative perspective than they usually adopt. This paper compares a critical stage of the legislative process in bicameral national assemblies by looking at how two such assemblies, both with unusually strong senates, go about trying to reach legislative agreements. The paper discusses the procedures available in both the Australian Parliament and the US Congress, but emphasizes how the broader constitutional, electoral, and partisan contexts of each political system influence the procedures that actually are used and the legislative outcomes that ensue.