Backdoor lawmaking : evading obstacles in the US Congress / Melinda N. Ritchie. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ritchie, Melinda N., author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Policy sciences--United States.

Policy sciences.

Executive-legislative relations--United States.

Executive-legislative relations.

Administrative agencies--United States.

Administrative agencies.

Legislation--United States.

Legislation.

Government accountability--United States.

Government accountability.

Bureaucracy--United States.

Bureaucracy.

United States. Congress--Rules and practice.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2023.

Summary:

'Backdoor Lawmaking' reveals how members of the US Congress use the federal bureaucracy as a backdoor for policymaking. Lawmakers pressure agencies to make policy changes in order to avoid obstacles in the legislative process. The book uses records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in qualitative and quantitative analyses to show how members of Congress are incorporating agency regulations into a broader strategy of policymaking that spans branches of government and which lawmakers are most effective at using this approach.

Contents:

Cover

Backdoor Lawmaking: Evading Obstacles in the US Congress

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

List of Tables

1. Introduction

Back-Channel Policymaking

Overview of the Argument

Scholarly Perspectives on the Relationship between Congress and the Bureaucracy

The Congressional-Bureaucratic Relationship: Keystone of the Washington Establishment

"Congress is a 'they' not an 'it'"

The Tip of the Iceberg: The Focus on Visible Policymaking

The Freedom of Information Act and Back-Channel Communications Dataset

Organization of the Book

Conclusion

2. A Theory of Back-Channel Policymaking

Conventional Wisdom about Policymaking

Why the Bureaucracy?

A Theory of Legislative Constraints

The Formal and Informal Constraints of Congress

The Constraints of the Public Record

The Advantages of Back-Channel Policymaking

The Limits of Back-Channel Policymaking

A Framework of Back-Channel Policymaking

3. The Freedom of Information Act and the War against Transparency

The Freedom of Information Act

FOIA Challenges and Agency (Un)Responsiveness

The Back-Channel Communication Dataset

Congressional Correspondence Logs

Coding Procedures

Variation in Contact Type across Agencies

Inter-Branch Contact across Time

Appendix: Back-Channel Policymaking Codebook

Compiling the Dataset

Policy

Non-Policy/Casework

Grant Requests

4. The Nature of Inter-Branch Policy Communication

Agency Policymaking and Rulemaking

Where Do Rules Come From? How Legislators Shape the Rulemaking Agenda

Outside the Rules

Shaping the Content of Regulations

Procedural Politicking and the Pace of Rulemaking

Information

Enforcement

Back-Channel Policymaking in Practice.

Are Policy Contacts Substitutes for or Complements to Legislation?

5. Misconceptions about Inter-Branch Relations

The Prevalence of Policy Appeals

Is This Policymaking? Measurement Validation and Misconceptions about Inter-Branch Communication

Is This Cheap Talk?

Is This Deceptive Credit Claiming or Earnest Policymaking?

Is This Oversight?

Placebo Test: Is This Constituency Service by Another Name?

Evaluating Inter-Branch Communication

Placebo Test

Appendix

6. The Bureaucracy: Congress's Backdoor to Policy Influence

Who Uses the Backchannel?

Do Legislators Strategically Shift Venues?

Exploiting the Separation of Powers

Confronting the Administration in the US House of Representatives

Analysis Examining Ideological Extremity and Inter-Branch Communication

7. Back-Channel Representation

Measuring Cross-Pressures

Labor Policy

Homeland Security Policy

Energy Policy

8. Congressional Access and Influence in the Bureaucracy

Inter-Branch Retaliation

Rewarding Friends or Appeasing Enemies?

Retaliatory Power

The Approaches and Challenges for Measuring Influence

What Types of Contacts Are Prioritized by Agencies?

Agency Prioritization and Access to Agency Policymakers

Results

How to Effectively Lobby Federal Agencies

Agency Prioritization by Chamber

9. Conclusion

Legislators Evading Congress

Evading Accountability

The Rich Get Richer

Deliberate Discretion?

Backdoor Policymaking or Tenacious Representation?

The Recursive Ideal?

Notes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

References

Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on June 23, 2023).

Other Format:

Print version: Ritchie, Melinda N. Backdoor Lawmaking

ISBN:

0-19-767052-0

0-19-767050-4