“A Case for Congress: Shared Power for a Divided Society,” Frances Lee, Princeton University

AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP

Abstract: There has been so much Congress-bashing for so long in our national discourse that there has been some forgetting about what makes a representative assembly important and valuable. Although Congress is usually presented as unrelentingly polarized, I will argue that coping with conflict is one of Congress’s greatest strengths. The composition of Congress reflects overall party strength in the national electorate surprisingly well. The institution operates according to procedures that are respectful and inclusive of political differences. Furthermore, enacting coalitions are dominantly large and bipartisan, both generally and on important legislation. Even in the polarized contemporary era, coalition leaders usually win passage of their proposals by backing down from controversial provisions and otherwise coopting or logrolling support from the minority party. The upshot is that public confidence in Congress is much less party polarized than public confidence in the executive branch.

Frances Lee is professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. Her research focuses on U.S. national politics and policymaking, especially on the Congress. She is author of Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign (2016) and Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate (2009). In addition, she is coauthor of The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era (2020), Sizing Up The Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (1999) and a textbook, Congress and Its Members. Her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and other outlets. In 2002-2003, she worked on Capitol Hill as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. In 2019 she was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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