Partisanship in Congressional Travels abroad

Abstract

Members of Congress frequently cite official travels abroad as one of the best opportunities to develop friendships across the aisle. Yet since 1977, representatives spent roughly one of every eight days with members of only their political party. Some members have spent more than a month's worth of time in a single congress traveling and never doing so with a member from the other party. This paper examines the causes and consequences of the members who are willing to travel overseas so long as it is not with a member of the other party. We find that liberal Democrat are more likely than moderate Democrat to travel with their copartisans, and moderate Democrat are more likely than liberals to travel abroad in cross-party delegations. For Republicans, the former relationship holds, though we uncover no relationship for the latter. Taken together, these results suggest that ideological extremism and partisan warfare are tearing at the norms surrounding congressional travel abroad, which is perhaps the last and best opportunity for members to form relationships across the aisle.

Gift Travel in the U.S. House of Representatives

“…The final report from the bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress provided members’ direct testimony on exactly how the loss of civil bipartisan interactions has impacted Congress and its members. It recommended bipartisan retreats for members at the opening of each Congress to encourage work across party lines (Kilmer and Graves 2020; McGee and Theriault 2020). Scholarly research also finds extended trips with their colleagues facilitate the critical relationships that underpin legislating in Congress (Curry and Roberts 2020).…”

“…Especially as partisan polarization has Capitol Hill in a seeming death grip, these trips provide cover for interacting with members of the opposite party and the ability to humanize their colleagues across the aisle (Interviews 2020). While one might think such relationships are not necessary for a functioning legislature, evidence of Congress’ fraying social fabric has been well-documented (Alduncin, Parker, and Theriault 2017; Curry and Roberts 2020; McGee and Theriault 2020), and efforts to increase civility among members show up in multiple recommendations from the 116th Congress’ bipartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (Kilmer and Graves 2020). From the sponsor’s side, trips are a powerful tool with which interest groups attempt to persuade and educate members and build relationships with them to shape legislative coalitions.…”