Committee Markups and Floor Voting

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

The Investigators will conduct an integrated spatial analysis of committee markup voting and floor roll call voting in the United States House of Representatives and Senate. They have collected a comprehensive data set of markups staring in September, 1999 and will add to this during the project. All data will be web published and integrated into the VOTEVIEW software for congressional roll calls. The Investigators will incorporate methodological developments integrating the small committee methods developed by Londregan with the large legislature methods developed by Poole and Rosenthal and others. The analysis tests a number of theoretical hypotheses that concern the dimensionality of floor vs. committee voting. For example, are committees drawn, like the floor, mainly on liberal-conservative lines or are they more complex? The Investigators will also test the extent to which committees are preference outliers. Are certain interests over represented on committees?