Here’s an interesting piece of scholarship from Phillip D. Waggoner at American Politics Research. Are the bills sponsored by a Congressional legislator constituent service?
Here’s the answer which I presume will surprise practically no one:
Through numerous tests across several issues spanning the 109th to 113th Congresses, I find a largely indirect effect of preferences on sponsorship through employment proxies, yet no consistent direct impact from constituents, opposite expectations of the delegate model of representation.
In other words, no. I’d very much like to see a related study investigating whether the bills a legislator sponsors are donor service. As might surprise many, I think the answer to that is negative as well.
I think that our legislators don’t do what they do as constituent service or donor service or for reasons of sincerely held conviction. I think almost all of what legislators do is what the party leadership tells them to do and it’s in service of somebody else’s constituents or somebody else’s contributors. Is it barely possible that it’s in service of the interests of the party leadership itself?
