Book contents
- Can America Govern Itself?
- SSRC Anxieties of Democracy
- Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council
- Can America Govern Itself?
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Anxieties of American Democracy
- Part I Anxieties of Power, Influence, and Representation
- Part II Procedural Anxieties
- Part III Anxieties of Governance
- 10 Public Policy and Political Dysfunction
- 11 The Effects of Partisan Polarization on the Bureaucracy
- 12 Polarization and the Changing American Constitutional System
- 13 Democratic Anxieties
- Index
- Index Authors
- References
10 - Public Policy and Political Dysfunction
The Policyscape, Policy Maintenance, and Oversight
from Part III - Anxieties of Governance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2019
Book contents
- Can America Govern Itself?
- SSRC Anxieties of Democracy
- Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council
- Can America Govern Itself?
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Anxieties of American Democracy
- Part I Anxieties of Power, Influence, and Representation
- Part II Procedural Anxieties
- Part III Anxieties of Governance
- 10 Public Policy and Political Dysfunction
- 11 The Effects of Partisan Polarization on the Bureaucracy
- 12 Polarization and the Changing American Constitutional System
- 13 Democratic Anxieties
- Index
- Index Authors
- References
Summary
We provide an overview of the concept of the “policyscape,” a dense network of policies that structure the current political order, and then assess its relationship with four aspects of American institutional behavior: the creation of new policies; the maintenance of existing policies and programs; policy “thickening” that may lead to additional gridlock and dysfunction during what is an already laborious lawmaking process; and the monitoring of the current policyscape through executive oversight in Congress. We address, among other questions, why new and broad-reaching policy reforms have been scarce in recent years; why Congress has failed to update extant policies in accordance with social, economic, political, and technological developments; and how partisan polarization has affected Congress’ ability to oversee policy implementation and hold the executive branch accountable for administrative failures.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Can America Govern Itself? , pp. 238Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
References
Aberbach, Joel D. 1991. Keeping a Watchful Eye: The Politics of Congressional Oversight. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Aberbach, Joel D. 2002. “Improving Oversight: The Endless Task of Congress.” Society 40(1): 60–63.Google Scholar
Adler, E. Scott, and Wilkerson, John D.. 2012. Congress and the Politics of Problem Solving. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Jones, Bryan D.. 2015. The Politics of Information: Problem Definition and the Course of Public Policy in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Berry, Christopher R., Burden, Barry C., and Howell, William G.. 2012. “The Lives and Deaths of Federal Programs, 1971–2003.” In Jenkins, Jeffery A. and Patashnik, Eric M. (eds.), Living Legislation: Durability, Change, and the Politics of American Lawmaking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 86–110.Google Scholar
Binder, Sarah A. 2000. “Going Nowhere: A Gridlocked Congress?” Brookings Review 18(1): 16–19.Google Scholar
Binder, Sarah A. 2003. Stalemate: Causes and Consequences of Legislative Gridlock. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Binder, Sarah A., and Maltzman, Forrest. 2002. “Senatorial Delay in Confirming Federal Judges, 1947–1998.” American Journal of Political Science 46(1): 190–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenthal, David, and Morone, James A.. 2009. The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Burman, Leonard E., and Slemrod, Joel. 2013. Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Andrea. 2003. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Congressional Budget Office (hereafter, CBO). 2014. “Updated Budget Projections: 2014–2024.” Retrieved from www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/45229-UpdatedBudgetProjections_2.pdf (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
CBO. 2015a. “The Federal Budget in 2015.” Retrieved from www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/graphic/51110-budget1overall.pdf (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
CBO. 2015b. “Updated Budget Projections: 2015–2015.” Retrieved from www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/reports/49973-UpdatedBudgetProjections_0.pdf (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
CBO. 2017a. “The Federal Budget in 2017: An Infographic.” Retrieved from www.cbo.gov/publication/53624 (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
CBO. 2017b. “Discretionary Spending in 2017: An Infographic.” Retrieved from www.cbo.gov/publication/53626 (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 2016. “Policy Basics: Non-Defense Discretionary Programs.” Retrieved from www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-non-defense-discretionary-programs (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Cohen, Marty, Karol, David, Noel, Hans, and Zaller, John. 2008. The Party Decides: Nominating Contests before and after Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, John J. 1999. “Unified Government, Divided Government, and Party Responsiveness.” American Political Science Review 93(4): 821–835.Google Scholar
Conway, Madeline. 2017. “Ryan: Obamacare Is the Law of the Land for the Foreseeable Future.” Politico. March 24. Retrieved from www.politico.com/story/2017/03/obamacare-repeal-failed-paul-ryan-reaction-236478 (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Cox, James H. 2004. Reviewing Delegation: An Analysis of the Congressional Reauthorization Process. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Matthew D.. 1993. Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House. Oakland: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Drutman, Lee, and Teles, Steven. 2015. “A New Agenda for Political Reform.” Washington Monthly. March/April/May. Retrieved from https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2015/a-new-agenda-for-political-reform/ (last accessed January 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Edwards, George C. III, Barrett, Andrew, and Peake, Jeffrey. 1997. “The Legislative Impact of Divided Government.” American Journal of Political Science 41(2): 545–563.Google Scholar
Ejdemyr, Simon, Nall, Clayton, and O’Keefe, Zachary. 2015. “Building Inequality: The Permanence of Infrastructure and the Limits of Democratic Representation.” Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/~nall/docs/di.pdf (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr. 1995 (1973). Congressmen in Committees. Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies Press.Google Scholar
Fenno, Richard. 1977. “U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration.” American Political Science Review 71(3): 883–917.Google Scholar
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 2016. “Federal Net Outlays as Percent of Gross Domestic Product,” Economic Research. Retrieved from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1981. “Congressional Control of the Bureaucracy: A Mismatch of Incentives and Capabilities.” In Dodd, Lawrence C. and Oppenheimer, Bruce J. (eds.), Congress Reconsidered, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Firozi, Paulina. 2017. “Poll: Just 17 Percent of Voters Back ObamaCare Repeal Plan.” The Hill. March 23. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/325448-poll-majority-of-voters-disapprove-of-gop-obamacare-repeal-plan (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 2014. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.Google Scholar
Ginsberg, Benjamin and Shefter, Martin. 1990. Politics by Other Means: The Declining Importance of Elections in America. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Jeffrey. 2006. “Central Casting: The Democrats Think about Who Can Win in the Midterms—and in 2008.” The New Yorker. 29 May. Retrieved from www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/05/29/central-casting (last accessed January 17, 2019).Google Scholar
Green, Donald, Palmquist, Bradley, and Schickler, Eric. 2002. Partisan Hearts and Minds: Political Parties and the Social Identities of Voters. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haberman, Maggie and Schmidt, Michael S.. 2018. “Trump Sought to Fire Mueller in December.” The New York Times, April 10. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-sought-to-fire-mueller-in-december.html (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S., and Pierson, Paul. 2001. “Winner-Take-All Politics: Public Policy, Political Organization, and the Precipitous Rise of Top Incomes in the United States.” Politics & Society 38(2): 152–204.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob, and Pierson, Paul. 2005a. Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob, and Pierson, Paul. 2014. “After the ‘Master Theory’: Downs, Schattschneider, and the Rebirth of Policy-Focused Analysis.” Perspectives on Politics 12(3): 64362.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S. 2002. The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S. 2004. “Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States.” American Political Science Review 98(2): 243–260.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S., and Pierson, Paul. 2005b. “Abandoning the Middle: The Revealing Case of the Bush Tax Cuts.” Perspectives on Politics 3(1): 33–53. DOI: 10.1017/S1537592705050048CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, Christopher. 2002. “Tax Expenditures.” In Salamon, Lester M. (ed.), The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Howard, Christopher. 1997. The Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures and Social Policy in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Howell, William G., Adler, Scott, Cameron, Charles, and Riemann, Charles. 2000. “Divided Government and the Legislative Productivity of Congress, 1945–94.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25(2): 285–312.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Skocpol, Theda, 2010. Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Mettler, Suzanne. 2017. “Outside of Washington, There Is a New Vital Center in Health Care Reform.” Health Affairs. July 31. Retrieved from www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20170731.061320/full/ (last accessed January 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Jenkins, Jeffery A., and Milkis, Sidney M.. 2014. “Introduction: The Rise of a Policy State?” In Jenkins, and Milkis, (eds.), The Politics of Major Postwar Policy Reforms in Postwar America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kaiser, Frederick M. 1988. “Congressional Oversight of the Presidency.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 499: 75–89.Google Scholar
Kriner, Douglas. 2010. After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kriner, Douglas L. 2009. “Can Enhanced Oversight Repair the ‘Broken Branch?’” Boston University Law Review 89: 765–793.Google Scholar
Kriner, Douglas L., and Schickler, Eric. 2014. “Investigating the President: Committee Probes and Presidential Approval, 1953–2006.” Journal of Politics 76(2): 521–534.Google Scholar
Kriner, Douglas L., and Schwartz, Liam. 2008. “Divided Government and Congressional Investigations.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 33(2): 295–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Frances E. 2013. “Presidents and Party Teams: The Politics of Debt Limits and Executive Oversight, 2001–2013.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 43(4): 775–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Frances E. 2015. “How Party Polarization Affects Governance.” Annual Review of Political Science 18: 261–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Frances E. 2016. Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Levendusky, Matthew. 2009. The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, David E. 2008. The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerman, Amy A., and Weaver, Vesla M.. 2014. Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lewallen, Jonathan, Theriault, Sean M., and Jones, Bryan D.. 2015. “Congressional Dysfunction and the Decline of Problem Solving.” Paper prepared for presentation at the 2015 Midwest Political Science Association Meeting.Google Scholar
Light, Paul C. 2014. “A Cascade of Failures: Why Government Fails, and How to Stop It.” Center for Effective Public Management, The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
MacDonald, Jason A., and McGrath, Robert J.. 2016. “Retrospective Congressional Oversight and the Dynamics of Legislative Influence Over the Bureaucracy.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 41(4): 899–934. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/lsq.12138 (last accessed December 11, 2018).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maltzman, Forrest, and Shipan, Charles R.. 2012. “Beyond Legislative Productivity: Enactment Conditions, Subsequent Conditions, and the Shape and Life of the Law,” In Jenkins, Jeffery A. and Patashnik, Eric M. (eds.), Living Legislation: Durability, Change, and the Politics of American Lawmaking. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 111–134.Google Scholar
Mann, Thomas E., and Ornstein, Norman J.. 2016 (2012). It’s Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mann, Thomas E., and Ornstein, Norman J.. 2006. The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 2004. (1974). Congress: The Electoral Connection, 2nd edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 2005. “Actions in the Public Sphere.” In Quirk, Paul J. and Binder, Sarah A. (eds.), The Legislative Branch. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 63–106.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 2005. (1991). Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and Investigations, 1946–1990, 2nd edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McCarty, Nolan, Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
McCubbins, Matthew D., and Schwartz, Thomas. 1984. “Congressional Oversight Overlooked: Police Patrol versus Fire Alarms.” American Journal of Political Science 28(1): 165–179.Google Scholar
McCubbins, Matthew D., Noll, Roger G., and Weingast, Barry R.. 1987. “Administrative Procedures as Instruments of Political Control.” Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 3(2): 243–277.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2011. The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2014. Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Policy Sabotaged the American Dream. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2016. “The Policyscape and the Challenges of Contemporary Politics to Policy Maintenance.” Perspectives on Politics 14(2): 369–390.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2018. The Government-Citizen Disconnect. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 1987. “An Assessment of the Positive Theory of ‘Congressional Dominance.”’ Legislative Studies Quarterly 12(4): 475–520.Google Scholar
Nall, Clayton. 2015. “The Political Consequences of Spatial Policies: How Interstate Highways Facilitated Geographic Polarization.” Journal of Politics 77(2): 394–406.Google Scholar
Ogul, Morris S. 2009. (1976). Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy: Studies in Legislative Supervision. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Oleszek, Mark J., and Oleszek, Walter J.. 2012. “Institutional Challenges Confronting Congress after 9/11: Partisan Polarization and Effective Oversight.” in Auerswald, David P. and Campbell, Colton C. (eds.), Congress and the Politics of National Security. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oleszek, Walter J. 2010. “Congressional Oversight: An Overview.” Congressional Research Service report No. R41079. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Orren, Karen, and Skowronek, Stephen. 2014. “Pathways to the Present: Political Development in America.” In Valelly, Richard, Mettler, Suzanne, and Lieberman, Robert (eds.), Oxford Handbook on American Political Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., and Jacobs, Lawrence R.. 2009. Class War? What Americans Really Think about Economic Inequality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Parker, David C.W., and Dull, Matthew. 2009. “Divided We Quarrel: The Politics of Congressional Investigations, 1947–2004.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 34(3): 319–345.Google Scholar
Parker, David C.W., and Dull, Matthew. 2013. “The Weaponization of Congressional Oversight: The Politics of the Watchful Eye, 1947–2010.” In Frisch, Scott A. and Kelly, Sean Q (eds.), Politics to the Extreme: American Political Institutions in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 47–69.Google Scholar
Patashnik, Eric M. 2008. Reforms at Risk: What Happens after Major Policy Changes Are Enacted. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Patel, Jugal K., and Parlapiano, Alicia. 2017. “The Senate’s Official Scorekeeper Says the Republican Tax Plan Would Add $1 Trillion to the Deficit.” The New York Times, December 1. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/28/us/politics/tax-bill-deficits.html (last accessed January 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Pearson, James B. 1975. “Oversight: A Vital Yet Neglected Congressional Function.” Kansas Law Review 23: 277–288.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.” World Politics 5(4): 595–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1994. Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 2014. “Conclusion: Madison Upside Down.” in Jenkins, Jeffery A. and Milkis, Sidney M. (eds.), The Politics of Major Policy Reform in Postwar America. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 282–302.Google Scholar
Robertson, David Brian. 2005. The Constitution and America’s Destiny. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, James R. 2005. “The Impact of Divided Government on Legislative Production.” Public Choice 123(1/2): 217–233.Google Scholar
Rose, Richard, and Davies, Phillip L.. 1994. Inheritance in Public Policy: Change without Choice in Britain. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Saeki, Manabu. 2009. “Gridlock in the Government of the United States: Influence of Divided Government and Veto Players.” British Journal of Political Science 39(3): 587–607.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E.E. 1935. Politics, Pressure, and the Tariff. New York: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Scher, Seymour. 1963. “Conditions for Legislative Control.” Journal of Politics 25 (3): 526–551.Google Scholar
Schneider, Anne Larason, and Ingram, Helen. 1997. Policy Design for Democracy. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Shipan, Charles R. 2005. “Congress and the Bureaucracy.” In Quirk, Paul J. and Binder, Sarah A. (eds.), The Legislative Branch. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 432–458.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 1992. Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Skowronek, Stephen. 2009. “Taking Stock.” In Jacobs, Lawrence and King, Desmond (eds.), The Unsustainable American State. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stid, Daniel. 2017. “Why the GOP Congress Will Stop Trump from Going Too Far.” Washington Monthly, January/February. Retrieved from https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/januaryfebruary-2017/why-the-gop-congress-will-stop-trump-from-going-too-far/ (last accessed January 2, 2019).Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 1993. “The Myth of the Unitary Executive.” The Administrative Law Journal 7(1): 297–308.Google Scholar
Talbert, Jeffery C., Jones, Bryan D., and Baumgartner, Frank R.. 1995. “Nonlegislative Hearings and Policy Change in Congress.” American Journal of Political Science 39(2): 383–405.Google Scholar
Teles, Stephen. 2013. “Kludgeocracy In America.” National Affairs, 17(Fall). Retrieved from www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/kludgeocracy-in-america (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Teter, Michael J. 2013. “Gridlock, Legislative Supremacy, and the Problem of Arbitrary Inaction.” Notre Dame Law Review 88(5): 2217–2232.Google Scholar
Thelen, Kathleen, and Streeck, Wolfgang, eds. 2005. Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Theriault, Sean M. 2008. Party Polarization in Congress. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Toner, Robin. 2006. “How the Democrats Would Rule the Hill.” The New York Times, October 8. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/weekinreview/08toner.html?pagewanted=all (last accessed December 11, 2018).Google Scholar
Vogel, David. 2012. The Politics of Precaution: Regulating Health, Safety and Environmental Risks in Europe and the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Whittington, Keith E. 2001. Constitutional Construction: Divided Powers and Constitutional Meaning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wildavsky, Aaron. 1979. Speaking Truth to Power: The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co.Google Scholar