Effective Lawmaking and Legislative Negotiations
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
On Wednesday, July 9, the Center for Effective Lawmaking co-hosted a discussion panel on Capitol Hill with the Program on Legislative Negotiation (PLN) and the Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) entitled “A Guide to Effective Lawmaking and Legislative Negotiations.” Panelists discussed the importance of legislative negotiations and other keys to effective lawmaking on Capitol Hill. The panel featured CEL Co-Director Craig Volden (University of Virginia), CEL Co-Director Alan Wiseman (Vanderbilt University), PLN Director Bettina Poirier (American University), and PLN Co-Founder Chris Bertram (American University), who presented their research and remarks to over 100 Hill staffers.
After being introduced by PSA Executive Director John Sullivan, CEL Co-Directors Volden and Wiseman started the conversation by explaining how the CEL defines legislative effectiveness as the proven ability of a legislator to advance his or her agenda through the legislative process into law. They specifically cited their Legislative Effectiveness Scores and the New Member Guide as ways to judge and promote legislative effectiveness in Congress. These illustrate important lawmaking qualities such as experienced staffing, bipartisanship, issue expertise, and coalition building. They also highlighted their Office Hours program, where they meet with congressional offices and use CEL research to enhance the legislative agenda of these specific offices.
Upon the conclusion of the CEL remarks, Professors Poirier and Bertram highlighted the work of the PLN. Based at American University, the organization trains congressional staff, promotes scholarship, and offers courses in legislative negotiation. The professors explained to the group the importance of legislative negotiations and the key aspects used to enhance their possibilities of success.
The panel concluded with a Question and Answer session from the audience. They asked about how the offices should structure their priorities; what tactics they should pursue; how embedded bills are tracked; the roles of junior staffers in negotiations; how to address “hitting brick walls”; and how to utilize district offices.
The CEL is grateful to the PLN and PSA staff for helping to put together this very informative event, and we look forward to collaborating again in the future.
