Congress and the Politics of Problem Solving

Congress has long served as a test case for important theoretical and methodological advances in political science. Existing research is this area emphasizes preferences, institutions, and information as the key variables for understanding policy change. We propose a fourth variable - agenda scarcity - and investigate its implications for policymaking. This new perspective compels us to develop new approaches to measuring policy change, which in turn leads to very different conclusions about the dynamics of policy change in Congress. What drives policy change in Congress? It's not what you think!