Congress

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

Reps. Gerald Connolly, D-VA, and Don Bacon, R-NE, and Sens. Gary Peters, D-MI, and John Cornyn, R-TX, top their respective lists of the most effective Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the recently completed 117th Congress (2021–23), according to the latest round of legislative effectiveness scores compiled by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint initiative between Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia. Read More

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