Congress

Flying can be a mess that everyone complains about but few people can change. Vanderbilt Law Professor Ganesh Sitaraman might be one of those people. He testified before Congress in early October about what they could do to fix the airline industry: requiring resilience and rainy day funds, setting minimum seat sizes, preventing dynamic pricing and giving passengers the ability to sue. Sitaraman was also a recent guest on Provost C. Cybele Raver’s Quantum Potential podcast, where he talked about his book Why Flying Is Miserable and How To Fix It. Read More

Do you want a quick, reliable way to keep up with the issues in Washington, D.C. that matter to Vanderbilt University? DCbrief from the Office of Federal Relations provides timely, concise summaries of news items to inform Vanderbilt faculty and staff of federal policy developments that impact the university and higher education.  Read More

In late June, Chancellor Daniel Diermeier traveled to Washington, D.C., for a day of congressional meetings and to headline Vanderbilt University’s congressional reception. His visit, organized by Vanderbilt’s Office of Federal Relations, came at a pivotal moment as Congress considers sweeping budget and tax legislation.  Read More

At a time of deep political divisions, registered Tennessee voters are united in their overwhelming support for key federal programs, according to the latest semiannual statewide Vanderbilt Poll. Concern about the U.S. economy and personal financial futures is also prevalent, while partisan divides are more apparent on issues such as immigration, tariffs and President Donald Trump’s response to court rulings against his actions and policies.   Read More

Vanderbilt’s Alan Wiseman co-directs the Center for Effective Lawmaking with University of Virginia professor Craig Volden. Using a combination of 15 metrics, the center defines legislators that “exceed expectations” as those who outperform the center’s benchmark Legislative Effectiveness Scores by 50 percent or more, and high-performers are across the political spectrum. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Jules White, a leading computer scientist and expert on large language models and prompt engineering, visited Capitol Hill recently to share his expertise with lawmakers. Read More

On National Humanities Alliance’s advocacy day in D.C., through a series of meetings and a social media campaign, Vanderbilt students advocated for federal funding to support the National Endowment for the Humanities. This effort was part of the Robert Penn Warren Center’s Humanities in the Real World: Undergraduate Advocacy Fellowship in collaboration with Vanderbilt’s Office of Federal Relations.  Read More

Krish Roy, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of the School of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor, met with members of Congress in early February to discuss the importance of engineering’s role in improving living standards, socioeconomic growth and global competitiveness. Read More

Congress has given itself until Dec. 22 to produce a new budget, but Bruce Oppenheimer, professor of political science, says that's not a guarantee that a deal will be made. Here's what he's going to be watching for. Read More

PredictGov pulls from decades of congressional data plus hundreds of variables, including the bill’s sponsor, amendments, economic trends and political shifts. Read More

By obstructing most legislation President Obama sends its way, Congress has weakened rather than exercised its power, says a Vanderbilt University political expert. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos visited with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., June 8–9 to encourage members to reach a budget agreement that allows for additional discretionary funding for important priorities such as research and education. Read More

Media Note: Vanderbilt has a 24/7 TV and radio studio. The studio is free for Vanderbilt experts, other than reserving fiber time. More information » Bruce Oppenheimer U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee is working to protect congressional prerogative on any nuclear agreement with Iran while avoiding the… Read More

When Congress gets too many hands on an issue, its influence actually decreases, researchers from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University found. Read More

Vanderbilt University law professor Rebecca Haw told a U.S. House subcommittee that the power of state licensing boards should be trimmed to the point where competition can again take hold. Read More

Researchers analyzed data from the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) used by the George W. Bush administration to grade the effectiveness of federal programs. Read More

Although the NSA may not conduct queries or examine content unless it or a court determines that “national security” is at stake, national security is apparently at stake quite often, if the recent reports about monitoring hundreds of thousands of foreigners’ calls as well as the calls of foreign leaders are true, writes Christopher Slobogin, Milton R. Underwood Professor of Law. Read More

Alan Wiseman's research shows that women lawmakers, particularly ones in the minority party, are more effective than their male counterparts when it comes to negotiating and getting things done--as they did to end the government shutdown. Read More

Policymakers in Washington, D.C., increasingly are earning the distrust of the American people, and the current impasse that led to a government shutdown is no exception, according to Marc Hetherington, a political science professor and author of two books on trust and polarization in American government. Read More

One of the nation’s top scholars on constitutional law, Vanderbilt law school professor Suzanna Sherry, the Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law, explains why she thinks the Supreme Court successfully followed the law. Read More