Party and Policy Committees in Congress

Party and Policy Committees in Congress

Contemporary News Analyses

Cowan, Richard and Thomas Ferraro. “Vanishing Giants in a Sharply Divided Congress.” Reuters, June 1, 2011. Available at:

The authors discuss the growing partisanship and lack of civility among current members of Congress that has led to the inability to compromise and pass legislation. A contrast is made between “old bulls” like Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-IL, 1951-1969) and Sen. Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy (D-MA, 1962-2009) and current leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV, 1987-present) and Senate Minority Leader Addison Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell (R-KY, 1985-present). Scholars and former Congress members alike contend that the “old bulls” fought passionately for their positions but were able to compromise in order to pass legislation, whereas current leaders seem unwilling to bend in an effort to score points with their party and voters.

Ostermeier, Eric. “House Republican Committee Chairs Enjoy Huge Spike in Fundraising.” Smart Politics, April 21, 2011. Available at:

Ostermeier reports on the dramatic increase in fundraising for the 21 GOP House committee chairs resulting from the new Republican majority in the 112th Congress. The article also compares fundraising among committee chairs between the first quarters of 2009 and 2011 including Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL, 1993-present), Financial Services Committee chair, who saw a 753% increase when comparing these two quarters.

“Rep. Steve Israel, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman.” C-SPAN, February 13, 2011. Available at:

Representative Steve Israel (D-NY, 2001-present), DCCC chair, discusses his strategy for regaining the majority in the House for the 2012 Congressional elections which includes attracting independent voters who supported Republicans in 2010 as the key to winning the 25 seats necessary to regain a Democratic majority. Besides raising funds for the DCCC, he also plans on recruiting the best Democrats possible to run for open seats which might include former Congress members. The article is accompanied by a 30 minute interview with Representative Israel(Newsmakers with Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)).

Ronayne, Kathleen. “Democrat or Republican, National Party Committees Reap Campaign Riches from Registered Lobbyists.” Center for Responsive Politics, June 6, 2011.

Available at:

Except for the Democratic National Committee, which has a policy against accepting donations from registered lobbyists, all other national party committees (including the Democratic Congressional campaign committees) received at least four times more money from registered lobbyistsin the 2010 election cycle than did any single political action committee.

“Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Republican Conference Chairman.” C-SPAN, September 25, 2011. Available at:

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN, 2003-present), Senate Republican Conference chair, announced that he will step down from his leadership position in January of 2012. Sen. Alexander describes his decision as “liberating,” allowing him to focus on forming bipartisan coalitions to work on issues such as No Child Left Behind, environmental regulation, and nuclear waste. Also included with the article is a 28 minute interview with Sen. Alexander (Newsmakers with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)).

1