Congressional Information Management and the Successful Maintenance of Policymaking Power

Abstract

Congressional policymaking occurs in a complex and information rich environment. Committees and subcommittees take action within this environment to manage information flow in response to numerous representational and institutional demands. Unlike previous studies of legislative organization that focus on the motivations behind the committee system and characteristics of committee membership, this paper seeks to explain how committees manage the policy environment to achieve committee success. Defining committee success as increasing or maintaining concentrated legislative jurisdiction over policy issues, I argue that subcommittees provide the management resources necessary to facilitate organizational, or committee, success. Preliminary statistical analyses of both House and Senate data from the 104th-108th Congresses reveal the challenge of systematically explaining the effects of committee and subcommittee actions which are inherently utilized for multiple purposes.

Keywords: legislative organization, Congress, committees, subcommittees, information, management