Congressional Representatives Research Articles

No. of Seniors Matching Into Psychiatry Takes Large Leap

No. of Seniors Matching Into Psychiatry Takes Large Leap

Exploring coping among urban youth through photovoice

Adolescent perspectives on coping are often explored through quantitative methods within a problem-focused paradigm. To better understand how urban adolescents define, perceive, and experience coping, this research used photovoice, a qualitative research method that employs co-creation of meaning and knowledge around photographic images. Twelve adolescents in the 9th-11th grades at a Baltimore City High School photographed images representing coping. They participated in focus groups to discuss how their pictures reflected coping and its relationship to decision-making, development, and academic success. Participants identified different types of coping, as well as strategies and resources in their homes, school, and community. They classified coping as “good” or “bad,” depending on its impact on themselves and others. They described how coping evolves and noted long-term consequences of different coping strategies, suggesting a future-oriented aspect to their understanding of the concept. Students presented these findings to key stakeholders including a congressional representative, the Baltimore City School Board, community members, and their peers. Study findings elucidate the importance of adolescent perspectives to the coping research literature. Moreover, findings can inform the development of school and community-based programs designed to foster coping among urban adolescents.

Self-Stigmatizing Identity and Democratic Participation Among Low-Income Individuals

Political quiescence among low-income Americans is well documented but its causes are not well understood. This study explored the hypothesis that a self-stigmatized identity in low-income individuals is associated with a reluctance to participate in democratic activity. We engaged in participant/observation at nine mealtimes to analyze the discourse of guests of our local community “soup kitchen” and also administered a survey to investigate their perceptions of the poor, their beliefs about causes of poverty, and their knowledge of the demographics of recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. We then offered respondents to the survey the opportunity to sign a petition, write a letter, or both to communicate to their Congressional representatives their position on the question of whether SNAP program funding should be cut. We found that low-income guests with stigmatized attitudes toward the poor were significantly less likely to sign petitions or write letters. We also noted that distancing, embellishment, and embracement were prevalent among the discourse of these guests, all phenomena associated with the struggle to negotiate an identity of value in a stigmatized individual. Our findings suggest that a self-stigmatizing sense of identity is a barrier to participation in civic activity.

Electoral Institutions and Legislative Particularism

How do electoral institutions affect legislative behavior? Though a large body of theoretical scholarship posits a negative relationship between multimember districting and the provision of particularistic goods, empirical scholarship has found little evidence in support of this expectation. Using data on the provision of US post offices from 1876 to 1896, a period during which many states elected congressional representatives from at‐large districts, and a differences‐in‐differences approach, I find that counties represented by at‐large representatives received approximately 8% fewer post offices. The results have important implications for studying how electoral institutions affect incentives for legislative behavior.

The Quantum Paradox of Truthiness: Satire, Activism, and the Postmodern Condition

The Quantum Paradox of Truthiness: Satire, Activism, and the Postmodern Condition

Extremity War Injuries X: Return to Health and Function.

The symposium Extremity War Injuries X: Return to Health and Function, presented by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the Orthopaedic Research Society, was held in Washington, DC, on January 27 and 28, 2015. Course chairs Marc F. Swiontkowski, MD, and COL Jeffrey N. Davila, MD, presided over 2 days of general session lectures focusing on war/trauma-related musculoskeletal injuries resulting in service member disability, followed by small group discussions, with a goal of identifying knowledge gaps in the treatment of these injuries. Recognized civilian and military clinicians and researchers summarized the current state of knowledge in their topic areas and led these discussion groups with meeting participants. Musculoskeletal conditions discussed included posttraumatic osteoarthritis of the knee, foot, and ankle and their relationship to chronic ligament injuries; back disability; peripheral nerve injury; hand transplantation updates; the role of biologics; and prosthetic acceptance and function. A scientific program highlighting research presented by 12 investigators was led by COL (Ret) Romney C. Andersen, MD. Keynote speaker LT GEN Douglas J. Robb, MD, discussed the future of military research funding and the anticipated consolidation of medical care among the three military branches. Additional presentations referencing the impact of military medical care and the government's continued commitment to funding medical research occurred throughout the symposium and were given by five congressional representatives.

Cancer groups concerned with Medicare proposal

Cancer groups concerned with Medicare proposal

Religious Identity and Descriptive Representation

AbstractDrawing on the descriptive representation literature, we argue that religious identity is a social identity similar to gender or race, which leads a person to feel represented by someone who shares their religious identity. We argue that religious identity motivates approbation for public officials that is distinct from partisanship. We find that constituents who share the religious identity of their congressional representatives are significantly more likely to approve of their representative's performance in office. In addition, those who share a religious identity with President Obama are more trusting of him; particularly among those for whom religion is important. Finally, we find that shared religious identity moderates the relationship between partisanship and trust in the President. All else equal, Republicans who share a religious identity with President Obama are 500% more likely to trust him than a Republican who does not.

Combating Corruption in Campaign Finance in the United States: Why a Grass Roots Approach Is the Only Solution

This paper suggests a viable solution about how to curb the influence that wealthy individuals and corporations have in federal elections because this influence not only perpetuates a system of corruption, but also creates problems for voters. When corporations and wealthy individuals can use money to influence elections, congressional and presidential representatives that received monetary support are beholden to their donors, not their constituencies. Part two will discuss recent Supreme Court precedent that has changed campaign finance laws and the effect that these changes had on the deregulation of campaign finance that allowed super PACs to flourish. Part three will examine international principles and comparison of trends in the regulation of campaign finance in the United States. Part four will explain that the only means of combatting deregulation that allows corruption to take place in federal campaign finance, is to empower the citizens of the United States with knowledge about which corporations and wealthy individuals are promoting or calling for defeat of specific candidates.

Strategic behavior by federal agencies in the allocation of public resources

How do government agencies allocate program resources? Some authors presume that agencies seek to maximize program objectives; others suggest agencies favor the districts important to the president’s election. In addition, agencies may distribute larger program resources to those districts whose congressional representatives are best positioned to help the agency. We examined how federal government agencies responded both to the 2006 election, when control of Congress shifted from the Republican to the Democratic Party, and to the 2010 election, when the House switched from Democratic to Republican control. We used a difference-in-difference analysis to evaluate the impact of each election on the agencies’ allocations of contracts. Agencies generally responded to the elections by allocating more contract resources to districts represented by the winning party. However, federal agencies reacted differently to changing political environments, depending on the characteristics of the agency. For example, after the 2006 election, those agencies with programs favored by Republican members of Congress allocated more resources to Democratic districts. These “Republican agencies” presumably are the most vulnerable to the risk of losing future appropriations. “Democratic agencies” (and “neutral agencies”), facing no significant threats to their appropriations, did not respond to the election as strongly. Finally, more vulnerable districts received the most support, especially by the “Republican agencies.” We reaffirmed these results by using the 2010 congressional elections, in which the political orientations of the districts favored with more contract distributions was reversed.

Congressional influence as a determinant of subprime lending

We apply unique loan level data from New Century Financial Corporation, a major subprime lender, to explore whether attributes and committee assignments of Congressional Representatives were associated with access to and pricing of subprime mortgage credit. Research findings indicate enhanced credit access at discounted prices among borrowers represented by Congressional leaders and by members of the House Financial Services Committee. Black borrowers in districts represented by Congressional leaders also were more likely to obtain subprime mortgage credit. We do not find evidence of adverse performance differentials among the politically directed loans. Our results conform to those of Agarwal et al. (2014) in documenting preferential treatment of constituents in congressional districts represented by members of the House Financial Services Committee. Research findings provide new insights into the political geography of the subprime crisis and suggest gains to trade between subprime lenders and targeted Congressional Representatives in the extension and pricing of subprime mortgage credit.

Oregon's Civil War: The Troubled Legacy of Emancipation in the Pacific Northwest

When working with the Oregon Historical Society to create the exhibit 2 Years, 1 Month: Lincoln's Legacy, project historian Stacey Smith sought to answer a number of questions about Oregon's place in the Civil War. Drawing on themes from the exhibit and new scholarship on the Civil War in the American West, Smith reveals the Pacific Northwest's critical role in shaping Reconstruction policy and challenges “the myth that Civil War Oregonians were disengaged from the national struggle over slavery and civil rights.” Smith describes Oregon as a multiracial society led exclusively by white men, noting that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation forced the state's leaders to consider citizenship rights beyond just the black-white politics emphasized in most histories of the Civil War. Drawing the story into the 1870s, Smith shows how congressional representatives from Oregon played a prominent role in ensuring that African American enfranchisement did not extend to others, particularly Chinese-born immigrants.

COPUS—Spreading the Word about Why Science Matters

W do a high school teacher, a former 76ers cheerleader, a hedge fund manager, a college professor, and a former shoe designer have in common? They all spent 3 days together at a remote field station in New Mexico, along with 20 others, working to improve the understanding of how science works, why it matters, and what scientists do. The group is part of the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS), whose members are passionate about ensuring that the public understands science. Each was drawn to COPUS for a different reason. Amy Vashlishan Murray, for example, the recipient of the 2014 Paul Shin Memorial Award, which honors individuals for contributions to the public understanding of science, teaches science to future artists and communicators at Emerson College. She is working on the “Ask for Evidence” campaign, to encourage people to think about the evidence substantiating claims that appear all around them. Cynthia Kramer, the former shoe designer and a longtime COPUS member, was inspired by her life experiences to build an alliance for science outreach: SCOPE (Science and Citizens Organized for Purpose and Exploration). She reaches thousands of people across the state of Missouri through science festivals and state fairs. Since 2012, COPUS members have met at “unconferences” to build relationships, stimulate creativity, collaborate, and freely exchange ideas. The COPUS unconference model is intended to allow the agenda to develop organically in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The Sevilleta Field Station was an inspirational setting for the third COPUS unconference. Loosely structured discussions took place in the conference room and on the outdoor patio, whereas more informal interactions unfolded on hikes and around the fire at night. “To be in a wonderful retreat-like setting away from the everyday hustle and bustle of life, to talk, to listen, to learn from such interesting and diverse people is a gift,” says Barry Greenwald, a high school teacher who has participated in all three unconferences. Formed in 2006, COPUS was organized by individuals from professional societies, universities, government agencies, and nonprofits who saw the need for a large-scale cross-disciplinary effort to raise awareness about the importance of understanding science. COPUS welcomes anyone who shares its goals, and its grassroots initiatives have evolved over the years. For 2015, the core group, known as the COPUS Corps, has set its sights on the lofty goal of reaching 1 million people through a rallying event for the group. The group aims to reach a broad audience to effectively deliver a common message about what science is, what scientists do, and why science matters. AIBS has supported COPUS since its inception and shares its concern about the factors that adversely affect the scientific enterprise, such as research funding decreases. In recent years, AIBS has repeatedly heard that one of the major challenges facing the life sciences is the public’s lack of appreciation for science. “Many people see an intractable issue when they talk about the public conversation around science. The scope and breadth of the issue just seem too big,” says Sheri Potter, coordinator of AIBS’s Leadership in Biology initiative (see the Special Report in this issue of BioScience). If people understand how science works and can use both its processes and its information to make decisions, this will ultimately lead to a healthier science and a healthier society, adds Potter. All biologists have a stake in the public’s understanding of science, and they can all play a role in addressing this challenge, such as implementing new teaching strategies to address gaps in their students’ understanding, writing for their local newspaper, or talking with their congressional representatives. Gina Schatteman, a former American Association for the Advancement of Science Science and Technology Policy fellow, emeritus associate professor of physiology at the University of Iowa, and a longtime member of COPUS, would like all scientists to understand how their lives will be easier if the public understands science. “We need to maintain current broad public support for and deepen public understanding of the scientific process, because it will directly translate into better public policy decisions and ensure robust funding for science,” says Schatteman. Achieving this goal will require a coordinated effort by people from a wide variety of backgrounds to reach a diverse audience. COPUS Corps members are inviting everyone with a stake in science to promote how science works, what scientists do, and why science matters throughout 2015. Visit the COPUS Web site (www.copusproject.org) to find out how you can get involved and make a difference.

Revisiting the link between PAC contributions and lobbying expenditures

Data on campaign contributions of PACs (political action committees) in the US does not contain the PACs' issues of concern. Additionally, while recent US lobbying data details the issues of concern for an interest group, it does not detail the Congressional representatives lobbied by the interest group. Expanding the time-frame of earlier work, I confirm that PACs engaging in lobbying and campaign contributions account for the majority of such political money despite representing a small minority of all PACs. I show how this allows the construction of a novel dataset that decomposes representative-specific contributions across issues as well as issue-specific lobbying expenditures across representatives. This decomposition can qualitatively affect results regarding the relationship between political money and Congressional voting behavior on trade policy.

PARTIES, POLITICS, AND REGULATION: EVIDENCE FROM CLEAN AIR ACT ENFORCEMENT

Does local Federal regulation respond to the preferences of local Congressional representatives? For example, do Republican Congressmen reduce local enforcement of Clean Air laws in their districts? We use facility‐level panel data on Clean Air Act inspections over 1989–2005 to study the causal effect of a Congressman's party affiliation on local enforcement. Random assignment of electoral outcomes is obtained with a Regression Discontinuity design. We find that new Republican (vs. Democratic) Representatives significantly depress inspection rates for local polluting facilities in the first year after their election. (JEL D73, Q52, Q53)

You Can Help Stop America’s March to the Right

You Can Help Stop America’s March to the Right

Congressional Influence as a Determinant of Subprime Lending

We apply unique loan level data from New Century Financial Corporation, a major subprime lender, to explore whether attributes and committee assignments of Congressional Representatives were associated with access to and pricing of subprime mortgage credit. Research findings indicate enhanced credit access at discounted prices among borrowers represented by Congressional leaders and by members of the House Financial Services Committee. Black borrowers in districts represented by Congressional leaders also were more likely to obtain subprime mortgage credit. We do not find evidence of adverse performance differentials among the politically directed loans. Our results conform to those of Agarwal, Amromin, Ben-David and Dinc (2012) in documenting preferential treatment of constituents in congressional districts represented by members of the House Financial Services Committee. Research findings provide new insights into the political geography of the subprime crisis and suggest gains to trade between subprime lenders and targeted Congressional Representatives in the extension and pricing of subprime mortgage credit.

Ideology and the size of US state government

This paper theorizes that the impact of ideology on the size of US state governments increases with state income. This idea is tested using state-level ideology data derived from the voting behavior of state congressional representatives. Empirically the interaction of ideology and mean income is a key determinant of state government size. At 1960s levels of income the impact of ideology is negligible. At 1997 levels of income a one standard-deviation move towards the left of the ideology spectrum increases state government size by about half a standard deviation. Estimated income elasticities differentiated by state and time are found to be increasing with ideology and diminishing with income, as predicted by the theory.

The role of the colleges of veterinary medicine in realizing the research mission of land-grant institutions to promote animal, human, and environmental health

Views: Commentary 869 T period from 2011 to 2013 marks a convergence of milestone anniversaries for three major events important in the history of veterinary medicine in the United States and the world. In 2011, the veterinary profession celebrated the 250th anniversary of the founding of the first veterinary school in Lyon, France, in 1761 by the French veterinarian Claude Bourgelat. The school was commissioned by King Louis XV to promote the prevention of cattle diseases, most notably cattle plague (rinderpest), a disease that caused widespread deaths of cattle and famine for hundreds of years until its eradication in 2011. In the United States, 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of land-grant institutions, which were established by the Morrill Act of 1862. The Morrill Act of 1862 granted to each state 30,000 acres of federally controlled land for each of its congressional representatives, with the stipulation that the states develop the land or use the funds from the sale of the land to establish a land-grant college to promote liberal and practical education in agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanical arts. Congress enacted and President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862 in response to the needs of the industrial revolution and to make education accessible to the working class. In each state, the land-grant institution became known as the people’s university and, in most instances, evolved into the state’s flagship university and was considered the state’s leading comprehensive public research institution. Lastly, the AVMA was first established as the United States Veterinary Medical Association in 1863, and 2013 marks its 150th anniversary. Many have written about land-grant institutions and their role in educating the citizenry of the United States, but we intend to highlight the research mission of these institutions, particularly the role that the colleges of veterinary medicine at these institutions have played in the advancement of science and how they have and can continue to have a positive impact on animal, human, and environmental health. This year, 2012, marks the midpoint of these three anniversary celebrations and should serve as an opportunity for the colleges of veterinary medicine and the veterinary The role of the colleges of veterinary medicine in realizing the research mission of land-grant institutions to promote animal, human, and environmental health

The Great Recession: Some Niebuhrian Reflections

The Great Recession: Some Niebuhrian Reflections