Demand-side theory and congressional committee composition: A constituency characteristics approach

Theory: Recent work on congressional committee composition suggests that the informational or partisan models better explain legislative structure than models based on ''distributive'' politics. We argue that in many instances a gains from exchange model, where committees are composed of members representing high-demand constituencies, is more appropriate. Hypotheses: The gains from exchange theory of congressional structure argues that congressional committees will be composed of representatives who come from congressional districts with higher demand for the policy benefits that each committee controls. In contrast to previous findings that committees are frequently ideologically representative of the entire chamber, these gains from exchange models suggest that a more accurate test of the policy needs of legislators would incorporate economic, social, and geographic information about the congressional districts that they represent. Methods: Census data, as well as information from several other sources, are collected for every congressional district from 1943 to 1994. District profiles on certain key characteristics for committee members are compared with those of the chamber using a nonparametric Monte Carlo simulation (difference-in-medians) test. The membership of 13 standing House committees is examined across 50 years. Results: Several committees are found to be composed of members representing districts whose characteristics indicate that they have high levels of ''need'' for the policy benefits under the jurisdiction of that committee. These findings, frequently consistent across time, apply to both committees that are traditionally considered constituency service-oriented and several that are thought to be more ''policy oriented.''