“There are a lot of assumptions about the strengths and weakness of committees in the congressional decision-making process, but few objective means to measure the power and authority of these committees,” said Scott Adler, assistant professor in political science. “By collecting data on bill introductions and referrals, we believe we will be able to define committee jurisdictions, measure the effects of jurisdiction change, understand the process of committee issue gatekeeping, and discover the effects of individual and committee agendas on the overall work of Congress.”

Adler, in collaboration with John Wilkerson at the University of Washington, has embarked on an
NSF-funded project to code by subject about 750,000 bills that were introduced in the U.S. Congress from 1947 to 2000.

By analyzing these data, Adler, Wilkerson, and their research teams of undergraduate and graduate students, hope to accomplish two major projects. One is to study the role of committees in congressional agenda setting. Are some committees more powerful than others at different times and why? The second goal is to study the representation process. When representatives make it to Congress, what interests do they most often champion in their law-making role—those of their constituencies, their personal ideologies, or the agendas of their political parties? The data can be used to trace individuals over their careers and show how instrumental they have been in passing legislation.

“These analyses will help reveal how well the congressional structure works,” said Adler. “Does it serve the citizens of this country as an effective form of representational government? Do committees and their members create good public policy or get in the way of what Congress ought to be doing?” Adler represents himself as an optimist about the conclusions that might be drawn from the data.

“The congressional committee system seems to serve the public interest,” said Adler. “Congressional committees make members build coalitions and negotiate across party lines. So-called pork-barrel projects are often designed to meet the needs of constituents, possibly in more than one district. However, these data will allow us to go beyond any positive or negative speculation and understand how effectively the Congress and its committee system work.”