Premium
FACTIONS, COALITIONS, AND POWER IN THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Author(s) -
Schousen Matthew M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1998.tb00512.x
Subject(s) - ideology , prestige , house of representatives , legislature , power (physics) , lower house , political science , voting , order (exchange) , public administration , law , roll call , political economy , sociology , politics , economics , democracy , philosophy , linguistics , physics , finance , quantum mechanics
This paper examines the relationship between ideological factions operating on the House floor and the ideological makeup of the three most important House committees between 1931 and 1994. The data show that the strength of the conservative coalition and party‐unity voting on the House floor are related to the size and influence of the ideological factions that make up the Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means Committees. This paper makes two important contributions to the congress literature: 1) it shifts the emphasis from parties and individual lawmakers to ideological factions and factional coalitions as the units of analysis, and 2) it suggests that we need to examine the House floor and prestige committees together, rather than as separate entities, in order to understand legislative outcomes in the House.