The Legislative Effectiveness of Congressional Oversight Reports Wednesday, October 14, 2026In this published article in Legislative Studies Quarterly, Sean Theriault, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Faculty Affiliate, examines the linkage between House and Senate oversight committee reports and subsequent legislative efforts in the same policy areas from the 106th through the 116th Congresses (1999-2020). He finds that policy topics appearing in the reports prompt the referral of bills related to such topics to the oversight committees. Topics covered in majority staff…

Bipartisan Political Brands Wednesday, September 30, 2026Can efforts to cultivate a bipartisan political brand meaningfully shape how lawmakers are perceived, or are such signals dismissed in an increasingly polarized political environment? In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Faculty Affiliate Andrew J. Clarke, an associate professor of Government and Law at Lafayette College, and Christopher M. Byrnes, a Lafayette College alum, examine whether affiliation with the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus can influence perceptions of legislators’ ideology. Through a descriptive analysis of newly collected Problem Solvers Caucus membership data…

Electable Effectiveness: How the Public Interprets Different Measures of Legislator Effectiveness Thursday, September 24, 2026What does it mean to be an effective legislator in the eyes of constituents, and what kind of effectiveness do voters prefer? In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Peter T. McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, examines how legislative, distributive, and bipartisan effectiveness in the US Congress correlate with constituent support. Through a forced choice conjoint survey design to measure public preferences on the three forms of…

CEL affiliates during a dinner at the end of APSA CEL at APSA 2026 Thursday, September 17, 2026Between September 2-5, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) attended the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The event brought together political scientists, scholars, and experts from across the discipline to participate and showcase their works to a broad audience, with panels and presentations that included the following from CEL affiliates (and others):The Impact of Public-Facing Personas on Legislative Activity in Congress – SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor (University of Virginia)Predicting…

Meet our Research Affiliates: Jordon Newton and Kisoo Kim The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce our newest research affiliate, Dr. Jordon Newton, and the recent move of our current research affiliate, Dr. Kisoo Kim.Jordon Newton is a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University. His research examines how American political institutions shape representation by structuring the behavior of political elites and citizens. His current projects focus on how institutional rules and election laws influence democratic outcomes at the federal and state level, and the ways that local political…

Meet Our Graduate Affiliates: Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau Tuesday, September 1, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to introduce Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau as two of our newest Graduate Affiliates.Browne is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia studying American political institutions and research methodology. Her research interests include state politics, policy diffusion, and quantitative methodology. Prior to attending the University of Virginia, Browne was a Policy Fellow with the Correlates of State Policy Project for the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. She also…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Jacob Lollis The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Jacob Lollis as one of our newest faculty affiliates. Jacob Lollis is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, where he studies American political institutions, with a focus on representation, legislative behavior, and effective lawmaking. His current research examines the consequences of descriptive representation, the dynamics of bipartisanship, and the conditions that facilitate effective lawmaking in the U.S. Congress. Dr. Lollis earned his…

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Mackenzie Dobson The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Mackenzie Dobson as one of our newest faculty affiliates, having recently been one of our graduate research affiliates. Mackenzie R. Dobson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research centers on bipartisan collaboration, effective lawmaking, and political representation in American legislatures. She studies how legislators build relationships across party lines, how those relationships shape policymaking and legislative success across policy areas, and how reform efforts, including those aimed…

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Eileen Chou Thursday, August 20, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to welcome Eileen Chou to our Board of Advisors.Dr. Chou is the interim dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, leading a multidisciplinary faculty of scholars and practitioners committed to creating new knowledge, developing ethical and effective leaders, and advancing solutions to humanity’s greatest policy challenges.An award-winning scholar of organizational behavior, Dr. Chou studies the social, psychological, and organizational mechanisms that shape leadership,…