It Takes a Coalition: The Community Impacts of Collaboration

Abstract

Members of Congress frequently collaborate on policy initiatives, reaching out to colleagues in both parties to find common ground on solutions for the problems faced by their constituents. Using a novel dataset of over 30,000 “Dear Colleague” letters sent by members of the 111th Congress, I use the collaborative relationships that exist in the earliest stages of the policy process to measure the social influence of legislators. I demonstrate that districts represented by members of Congress who are better connected to their colleagues receive a greater share of federal grant money. I argue that this is because collaborative legislators are well‐positioned to be influential allies to strategic bureaucrats who want to maintain a broad base of support for their programs in Congress. Thus, devoting resources to building relationships with their colleagues is one way members of Congress can more effectively support the communities they represent.

The Deaths of Ideas in Congress

“…From a policy perspective, it means understanding the problem that needs to be solved, gathering relevant information, and writing the measure (Jones and Baumgartner 2005). From a political perspective, it means engaging with relevant interest groups, constituents, and fellow lawmakers to build a supportive coalition (Craig 2021;Hula 1999;Sabatier 1988). These costs can range from very small to substantial, but broadly speaking, they only need to be paid once.…”

“…Scholars argue that legislators create momentum for them by increasing their visibility and building support on the other side of Capitol Hill with the goal getting the measure enacted in future terms. To accomplish this, they send "Dear Colleague" letters, seek out cosponsors, and have companion bills introduced (Craig 2021;Harbridge 2015;Kirkland and Kroeger 2018). Signs of momentum increase a proposal's expected future benefits and make it more likely that it is kept alive.…”

“…Usually, measures that are not enacted are treated as the comparison case for successful bills. In this way, political scientists constructed a comprehensive literature that catalogs the various ways members can increase the likelihood an idea advances through Congress, the importance of the broader political environment, and measuring how effective they are at this task (Anderson, Box-Steffensmeier, and Sinclair-Chapman 2003;Craig 2021;Volden and Wiseman 2014).…”