Legislator Characteristics and Collaboration in Inter-Branch Communications

• In Event: Political Networks, Influence, and Communication in American Politics

Abstract

Communication between members of Congress and Executive branch bureaucrats is a frequent occurrence, with letters aiming to advance policy, represent constituent interests, or advocate for distributive benefits (letter-marking). While these letters can come from individual legislators, they can also come from groups or delegations of legislators, and previous literature suggests under some conditions, letters from multiple legislators are more effective at securing their desired outcome (see Mills et al. 2015). Previous work on the role of group dynamics in Congress has examined the role of traditional factors, such as ideological distance and shared partisanship in the more formal cosponsorship networks (e.g. McPherson et al. 2001; Gross 2008; Zhang et al. 2008), yet no scholarship has examined the structure of these more informal communication networks between Congress and the Executive Branch. Using an original data set of Congressional communication logs, I explore first, whether certain types of inter-branch contacts foster collaboration between legislators, and second if the collaboration networks vary by institutional or legislator factors. As previous literature highlights the role of inter-branch communication in the policymaking process (see Ritchie 2017; Ritchie and You 2019; Lowande et al. 2019), understanding when and how members work together creates a more nuanced understanding of policymaking and representation in the U.S. Congress.

Author

• Nicole Kalaf-Hughes, Bowling Green State University