Congress

Join the Center for Effective Lawmaking for a roundtable discussion touching on questions of race, representation and policymaking in the contemporary Congress. The event will be Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m. CT at the Student Life Center Commodore Ballroom. Read More

Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier led 66 other leaders of Tennessee’s colleges and universities today in sending a letter to the Tennessee congressional delegation urging them to make an affordable, high-quality college education more attainable for students by doubling the maximum Pell Grant award and permanently indexing the grant to inflation to ensure that its value will no longer diminish over time. Read More

Former Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist shared examples from his time in political office and gave advice on what could help current lawmakers work toward compromise in a recent panel discussion on effective lawmaking. Read More

Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente and Jeff Balser, president and CEO at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and dean of the School of Medicine, sent a joint letter last week to members of the Tennessee congressional delegation applauding recent bipartisan efforts to invest in programs that support scientific research, public health and education, and urging Congress to finalize funding for fiscal year 2020. Read More

As students return to class and faculty and staff resume their work, thoughts and efforts turn to the opportunities that the new year holds, writes Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos in his first column of 2019. 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

The new Center for Effective Lawmaking, which studies the causes and consequences of the legislative effectiveness of members of Congress, will be introduced in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 26. The center is a joint effort by the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. Read More

Congress has reaffirmed the partnership between the federal government and American research universities by enacting a bipartisan appropriations spending package for fiscal year 2017 that preserves and increases funding for key federal research agencies—including a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health. 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

With the start of the 115th Congress, Vanderbilt's Office of Federal Relations wishes to remind the university community of the current regulations regarding federal lobbying disclosure reports as well as congressional restrictions on gifts, meals and travel. Read More

Vanderbilt professor Derek Griffith spoke at a recent Washington forum on the health of men and boys sponsored by two congressmen and the American Psychological Association. 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

Bad feelings about each other rather than competing ideologies keep Republicans and Democrats from encouraging their representatives to compromise and get things done, say the authors of a new book about why Washington won’t work. 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

The American Political Science Association announced it will award a prestigious honor to a book on Congress co-written by Vanderbilt's Alan Wiseman. 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

A measure of the legislative effectiveness of almost any member of the U.S. House of Representatives is easily available with the launch of a new website and upcoming book co-authored by Vanderbilt political scientist Alan Wiseman. 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