Current Institutional Affiliation
Associate Professor, Political Science, Bowling Green State University
Award Information
Negotiating Agreement in Congress Research Grants 2016
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Associate Professor, Political Science
Vegan Pork: Congressional Letter-Marking and the Challenge of Negotiating Agreement in Congress
The ban on earmarks in both the House and Senate has resulted in a new practice for securing distributive benefits called letter-marking. The shift to letter-marking has made it more difficult for Congressional leaders to persuade rank and file members to vote for general interest legislation because agencies, not leadership, control the allocation of projects. This project explores the institutional determinants of letter-marking and how the emergence of this practice has reduced the power of Congress relative to the executive branch while reducing the possibility of negotiating agreement in Congress.