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| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
146817
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| Summary/Abstract |
Legislative error is an important and understudied element of the policy process. Even simple clerical mistakes—if unnoticed before enactment—can lead to ambiguity about a law’s meaning, spark political battles concerning rulemaking and implementation, and involve the courts in statutory interpretation. Understanding how and why error occurs can help us better understand how political institutions are intertwined in the design, enactment, and implementation of public policy. This article analyzes the sources of legislative error using data on corrected legislation in the US Senate from 1981 to 2012. The author finds that Senate drafting error is related to unified control of Congress and new majority parties, inexperienced committee members, and committee workload. In addition to bringing in different perspectives and preferences, elections can affect a legislature’s ability to draft clear, error-free statutes.
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| 2 |
ID:
163360
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| Summary/Abstract |
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS HAVE MANY WAYS TO ACHIEVE their multiple goals of being reelected, making policy, and gaining power and prestige within their institution. Of these, roll call voting is the most visible and, many scholars argue, the most important signal that legislators send to their constituents, colleagues, and interest groups about their positions and achievements.
Yet since 1790, and permanently since 1794, the U.S. Congress has included delegates who cannot vote on the House floor—those from the United States’ territories. Congress currently includes five delegates from the U.S. island territories (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas) as well as a delegate from Washington, DC. None of them is able to participate in roll call votes on the House floor, yet these delegates represent 4.52 million total residents which, according to 2015 Census Bureau estimates, would amount to the 26th most populous state between Louisiana (4.7 million) and Kentucky (4.4 million) in size.
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