Going Local? Localized Rhetoric in Congressional Communications

We investigate the influence of partisanship on congressional communication by analyzing 180,000 press releases issued by members of Congress (MCs) between 2005 and 2019. Specifically, we examine whether partisan factors such as party control of the White House and/or Congress influence the tone used by MCs and whether MCs are more likely to focus on issues that their respective party owns. Our analyses include the use of multiple OLS models, the machine learning approach gradient boosting, and Grimmer’s topical modeling software “expAgenda.” We find that (1) partisanship influences the tone MCs use when communicating online; and (2) MCs are unable to prioritize discussing issues that their respective party own but devote slightly greater attention to their party’s issues than MCs from the opposite party. Our study ultimately finds strong evidence of partisan influence in the way MCs design their press releases and has important implications for online congressional communication.

Social media have opened new pathways for the representation of traditionally underrepresented constituencies. We examine the Facebook posts by members of Congress in light of the descriptive characteristics of the members and their districts, revealing limited conditional support for descriptive representation through social media issue messaging. Representatives are more likely to post about issues directly related to the races, genders, or other characteristics they share with constituents. However, this relationship may be tempered by the strategic imperatives of members. While Black representatives post more often about race, these members and those who represent more Black and Latino constituents are not more likely, and in some cases are less likely, to post about other issues important racial minorities, such as health care, jobs, guns, and the environment. This division suggests that the descriptive representation of issue preferences on social media is largely limited to issues that directly convey shared identity.

Psychiatrists Lobby Congress on Health Reform, Privacy Issues

We investigate the influence of partisanship on congressional communication by analyzing 180,000 press releases issued by members of Congress (MCs) between 2005 and 2019. Specifically, we examine w...

Emerging literature shows that rising import exposure resulting from the China shock devastated U.S. manufacturing and contributed to the rise of Donald Trump. However, several studies found that these recent localized economic shocks did not negatively impact the tenure of incumbent politicians, and this outcome remains a puzzle. In this paper, we examine the partisan difference in congressional communication strategies on China and trade‐related issues. We propose a theory of China‐bashing to explain how members of Congress frame the negative impacts of trade to their voters. Using press release data from members of Congress, we show that, even though Chinese import competition impacted both Republican‐ and Democrat‐held districts, Republican politicians in adversely affected districts responded by increasing their anti‐China rhetoric, while there was no similar difference among Democrats. At the same time, there was no difference between Republican and Democratic messaging on general trade issues. In doing so, Republican legislators were able to support trade liberalization during the Bush and Obama administrations while blaming its negative externalities to their constituents on China.

The district-level political implications of trade competition are mitigated by the strategic behavior of incumbent legislators and the constraints placed upon them by party affiliation. In this paper, we examine the partisan difference in congressional communication strategies on China and trade related issues. We find that, even though Chinese import competition impacted both Republican- and Democrat-held districts, Republican politicians engage in more protectionist and anti-China rhetoric and policy proposals. Using press release data from members of Congress, we show that, among districts more exposed to Chinese imports, Republicans are more likely to blame China as the problem. But there is no difference between Republican and Democratic messaging on trade issues in general. We attribute this partisan shift in political communication strategy to the fact that Republican legislators are more constrained by their party platform from advocating for trade protectionism and social welfare relative to Democrats. Blaming the negative externalities of import competition on China rather than on trade policy has allowed Republican incumbents to continue to support their party’s free trade platform without alienating their constituents. This explains why candidate Trump’s protectionist message linking China and trade resonated with the Republican base much more so than proposals that were better grounded in economic realities.

White‐Collar Government in the United States

Science and Public Engagement in National Parks: Examples and Advice from Young Scientists

RADPAC® and the Importance of Government Relations

This study examines the relation between local news content and ownership structure in 17 television markets in the United States. It is an extension of the localism research that was conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2004 and the Local Television News Media Project at the University of Delaware in 2007 (see FCC, 2007). The findings point to the need to consider television markets as the appropriate unit of analysis when examining the effect of ownership on local content. Ownership does matter in the production of news on local broadcasts. When examining only station-level factors, independent stations broadcast more local content on their newscasts than those stations that were either (a) owned-and-operated (O&O) and part of a duopoly, (b) O&O-only, or (c) part of a duopoly-only. However, when examining station-level and market-level factors of television markets, the station-level ownership profiles positively affected local content. Market-level factors that indicated more consolidation negatively affected the proportion of local news presented in the entire designated market area.

Since Law No. 9.478/97 was enacted, the ANP (National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels) has been looking forward to enhance local content for the areas offered in its rounds. After several tender processes, local content requirements had become decisive for the concession contract winners. Consequently, all the concessionaire supply chain had to evidence the local content of its products and services in accordance to the existing rules. As result, the local content that could be achieved by each E&P (Exploration & Production) supplier becomes a great competitive differential in Brazilian oil market. In this context, foreign companies interested in taking advantage of the growing opportunities in the E&P segment in Brazil, started to look for alternatives and structures capable of adding local content to their products and services. The concession contracts for offshore blocks have the highest local content commitments during the development phase. This is because there are huge investments in goods and services acquirement, particularly in the acquisition of a production unit like FPSOs (Floating production, storage and offloading) which are particularly efficient due to its mobility in different areas. The construction and installation for a FPSO, for instance, generates significant demand for such goods and services that may impact the entire local supply chain. The lack of availability these acquisitions in the Brazilian market may adversely affect the attractiveness of projects. Thus, we highlight the importance of a more appropriate method that considers both the profit margin as local content committed by the concessionaires with ANP. Considering the relevance of the scenario presented above, this paper aims to suggest a method that supports the decision-making that complies with the required local content index and the operator preference. The original view on Brazilian regulatory environment, contributes to improve local content strategy in petroleum industry. The work is developed briefly presenting: method of decision support; oil industry in Brazil; regulatory market and local content policies.

Dozens of Psychiatrists Meet With Federal Lawmakers

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessPath to Health Care Reform Becoming a Steeper ClimbRich DalyRich DalyPublished Online:18 Sep 2009https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.44.18.0004aPublic support for health care reform in the United States has weakened following an August congressional recess marked by contentious town-hall meetings around the country during which critics voiced concerns about the cost and the large government role that such legislation is expected to bring.Growing opposition is borne out in numerous public-opinion polls, including an August tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Among the findings of the nationally representative monthly phone survey of more than 1,200 adults was that support for major health reform declined from 62 percent in February to 53 percent in August, while opposition rose from 34 percent to 42 percent.The public's cold feet could stem from growing concern about health care reform's costs and impact on them and their families. For instance, the Kaiser poll found in February that only 12 percent thought they would be worse off after reform, but in August, 31 percent thought that would be the case.Thus, shortly before Congress resumed deliberations over health care reform, a substantial portion of the population appeared unwilling to pay the cost they believe it will entail. While 55 percent of respondents to the Kaiser survey said they would be unwilling to pay more in either insurance premiums or taxes to cover health care reform, 42 percent were willing to accept additional costs as the tradeoff for a more comprehensive health care system.The public resistance to paying for more widely available health insurance coverage predates the current legislative fight to enact health care reform. An August Health Affairs article by researchers who examined public opinion in January found that while most people supported expanding access to health coverage, only a minority was willing to pay for coverage expansions. The Internet-based survey of 3,344 U.S. adults found that the only specific revenue-raising proposal that drew a bare majority of support was an increase in federal income taxes to expand Medicaid to cover half of the uninsured population, estimated to be about 47 million.Meanwhile, the decline in public support for major health care reform has led reform advocates to plan campaigns to convince the public about the value they see in overhauling the health system (see Original article: MH Groups Intensify Efforts to Pass Health Care Reform). Those efforts could be critical to spurring Congress toward enacting health care reform legislation this fall, a target set by President Obama.Organizing for America, the reconstituted campaign organization of Obama, launched a nationwide bus tour earlier this month to spur passage of health reform legislation with stops in 11 cities—the last stop was in Washington, D.C., as Congress returned from its summer recess. Health Care for America Now, an umbrella organization of groups pushing for comprehensive health care reform, coordinated with the national Democratic Party to hold about 2,000 pro-reform events from late August to mid-September.Also, mental health advocacy groups are urging their members to continue to contact their congressional representatives and speak out in support of a comprehensive overhaul that includes mental health provisions."If we want to be taken seriously, we need to be part of the process where members of Congress hear from their constituents," said Andrew Sperling, J.D., director of legislative affairs for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), in an interview with Psychiatric News.Sperling said September is a "critical stage of the process" to enact reform legislation. Members of Congress returned from recess after hearing what voters in their districts thought about the various reform proposals.The Kaiser poll results are posted at<www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/posr082209pkg.cfm>. TheHealth Affairspoll is posted at<http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.5.w909/DC2>.▪ ISSUES NewArchived

A majority of work on Congressional voting behavior finds that members of Congress establish ideological positions and maintain them throughout the entirety of their careers, regardless of how their career aspirations, political positions, or underlying constituencies change. Based on this evidence, Poole (1998) concludes that members of Congress die in their ideological boots. I examine the robustness of the thesis more closely, using vote-scaling techniques and roll-call voting data from a different American legislative system: the Congress of the Confederate States of America. Initial results run contrary to the ideological-boots thesis, as I uncover low levels of cross-system stability among members who moved from the U.S. House to the Confederate House. Examining further, I argue that high levels of ideological stability follow from a strong party system being in place to structure voting, which has traditionally been the case in the two-party U.S. House but was not the case in the partyless Confederate House. This result aside, I do find a moderate but increasing level of ideological stability among members of the Confederate House in a session-by-session analysis, which is robust to a serious shock (Federal invasion) to the constituency-representative linkage underlying the electoral connection. This latter finding suggests that as long as there are electoral incentives associated with ideological labels, then ideologies will develop regardless of party structure. ecent work in the field of Congressional voting behavior suggests that members of Congress (MCs) die in their ideological boots. That is, according to Poole (1998, 3), based upon the roll-call voting record, once elected to Congress, members adopt an ideological position and maintain that position throughout their careers-once a liberal or a conservative or a moderate, always a liberal or a conservative or a moderate. This finding applies not only to members of the contemporary Congress, but MCs from bygone eras as well, as Poole and Rosenthal (1997) find high levels of individual-level ideological stability across nearly all of United States Congressional history. Moreover, additional evidence suggests that members of Congress remain ideologically consistent even in the face of changing personal or electoral conditions: members' voting records remain essentially the same, regardless of whether they plan to retire (Lott 1987; Van Beek 1991; Lott and Bronars 1993; Poole and Rosenthal 1997), plan to run for a higher office (Hibbing 1986; Poole and Romer 1993), serve in a higher office (Grofman, Griffin, and Berry 1995; Poole and Rosenthal 1997), or have their districts redrawn (Poole and Romer 1993; Poole 1998). This article examines the thesis further to assess whether it is truly a general finding. Rather than examine voting behavior in the U.S. Congress, however, I focus on voting behavior in a heretofore forgotten institution in American history: the Congress of the Confederate States of America. I contend that the Confederate Congress is a suitable forum to explore the robustness of the ideological-boots thesis, because it provides two unique extensions to the study of individual-level ideological stability that cannot be pursued in a study of the U.S. Congress. First, a significant number of individuals who served in the Confederate House had

Physicians and Scientists in Gastroenterology as Legislative Advocates: Practical Tips and Resources