Record Details

Replication Data for: Gridlock, Bureaucratic Control, and Nonstatutory Policymaking in Congress

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Replication Data for: Gridlock, Bureaucratic Control, and Nonstatutory Policymaking in Congress
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GT8NDD
 
Creator Bolton, Alexander
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description Increasing ideological polarization and dysfunction in Congress raise questions about whether and how Congress remains capable of constraining the activities of other actors in the separation of powers system. In this paper, I argue Congress uses non-statutory policymaking tools to overcome the burdens of legislative gridlock in an increasingly polarized time to constrain executive branch actors. I leverage a new dataset of committee reports issued by the House and Senate appropriations committees from fiscal years 1923 through 2019 to empirically explore these dynamics and evaluate my argument. Traditionally, these reports are a primary vehicle through which Congress directs agency policymaking in the appropriations process. Committees increasingly turn to them when passing legislation is most difficult and interbranch agency problems are most pronounced. In this way, non-statutory mechanisms may help maintain the balance of power across branches, even when Congress faces gridlock-induced incapacity.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Congress
Bureaucratic politics
 
Contributor Bolton, Alexander
 
Source "GDP Deflatory by Year." URL: https://www.multpl.com/gdp-deflator/table/by-year (Link current as of January 5, 2021).



House of Representatives. 2010. A Concise History of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.



House of Representatives. "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present." URL: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/ (Link current as of January 5, 2021).



Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2019). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ (Accessed August 1, 2019)



United States Senate. 2008. Committee on Appropriations (110th Congress, 2d Session, Document No. 14). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.



United States Senate. "Party Division." URL: https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm (Link current as of January 5, 2021).