Explaining Legislative Success in the U.S. Senate: the Role of the Majority and Minority Parties

• Author: Michael K. Moore,Sue Thomas
• DOI: 10.1177/106591299104400409
• Published date: 01 December 1991
• Date: 01 December 1991
• Subject Matter: Articles

EXPLAINING

LEGISLATIVE

SUCCESS

IN

THE

U.S.

SENATE:

THE

ROLE

OF

THE

MAJORITY

AND

MINORITY

PARTIES

MICHAEL K. MOORE,

University

of

Nebraska,

Lincoln

and

SUE THOMAS,

Georgetown

University

espite

much

research

examing

the

Senate

of

the

1950s

and

either

comparatively

or

separately,

the

Senate

of

the

1980s

(see,

for

example,

Matthews

1960;

White

1957;

Clark

1963;

Polsby

1975;

Ornstein,

Peabody,

and

Rohde

1985;

Schneier

1988;

Sinclair

1986

and

1989;

Smith

1988;

Rohde

1988;

Hibbing

and

Thomas

1990),

many

of

the

specific

norms

that

pervade

individual

member’s

everyday

legislative

work,

such

as

the

passage

of

legislation,

have

yet

to

be

explored.

The

question

we

are

interested

in

may

be

framed

as,

&dquo;What

kind

of

behaviors

currently

contribute

to

individual

success

in

passing

legislation?&dquo;

Thus,

we

attempt

to

discover

what

differentiates

&dquo;those

who

can

move

their

legislation

through

the

legislative

labyrinth

from

those

who

are

continually

stymied

in

their

attempts&dquo;

(Frantzich

1979:

409).

We

attempt

to

provide

an

answer

to

the

question

of

what

type

of

senator

meets

with

success

in

pursuing

the

type

of

work Matthews

(1960:

94)

referred

to

as

&dquo;highly

detailed,

dull,

and

politically

un-

rewarding.&dquo;

CONDITIONS

OF

LEGISLATIVE

SUCCESS

Why

are

some

legislators

more

successful

than

others

at

guiding

their

legislation

out

of

committee

and

perhaps

out

of

the

Senate?

What

are

the

correlates

of

this

kind

of

legislative

success?

Two

possible

sets

of

behaviors

can

be

hypothesized

as

leading

to

the

successful

pursuit

of

legislative

agendas.

First,

in

line

with

the

portrait

painted

by

scholars

and

journalists

of

the

reigning

values of

modern

senators,

it

may

be

that

legislatively

successful

members

are

those

who

are

younger

and

Received:

March

6,

1990

First

Revision

Received:

October

18,

1990

Second

Revision

Received:

November

13,

1990

Accepted

for

Publication:

November

26,

1990

Note:

The

authors

wish

to

thank

John

R.

Hibbing,

Susan

Welch,

and

Marvin

Heath

for

their

assistance

and

support.

Also,

thanks

to

Kidae

Kim

and

Don

Beahm

for

data

gathering

assistance.

The

authors’

names

are

listed

alphabetically.