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¹² For a more detailed discussion of the methodology see the appendix.

¹³ In Roger Davidson's words: ‘On Capitol Hill, the center stage of policy making is held by the committees and subcommittees. They are the political nerve ends, the gatherers of information, the sifters of alternatives, the refiners of legislative detail. “It is not far from the truth to say”, wrote Woodrow Wilson in 1885, “that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee-room is Congress at work.”’ ‘Subcommittee Government: New Channels for Policy Making’, in Mann, Thomas and Ornstein, Norman, eds, The New Congress (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1981), p. 99.Google Scholar

Hearings are available for public examination in libraries throughout the United States, yet, apart from use as a source of anecdotes or case-study detail, they have seldom been subjected to systematic analysis. Among works that have given some attention to hearings, see, in addition to those cited below, Davidson, Roger and Hardy, Carol, ‘Indicators of Senate (House) Activity and Workload’, Congressional Reference Service Report(s) for Congress, 1987Google Scholar, and Walker, Jack L., ‘Setting the Agenda in the US Senate: A Theory of Problem Selection’, British Journal of Political Science, 7 (1977), 423–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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¹⁷ The finding that conflicts are less in subcommittees than in full committee hearings is not particularly notable in itself, but it is important to recognize that other results reported in Tables 1 and 2 control for the increase in use of subcommittees.

¹⁸ The equation in Table 2 controls for coder, region and committee. The equation in Table 1 controls for coder, region, committee, presidential popularity and the interaction of presidential popularity and committee. The effect of presidential popularity on inter-branch conflict is complicated and will be addressed by Greene, Jay P. in ‘The Invitation Not to Struggle: The Logic of Executive-Legislative Relations’ (doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, forthcoming).Google Scholar

¹⁹ Committees were classified into these categories on the basis of information in Smith, Steven S. and Deering, Christopher J., Committees in Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1990)Google Scholar and Fenno, Richard F. Jr, Congressmen in Committees (Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, 1973)Google Scholar. In selecting our committees, we chose committees with roughly similar counterparts in both chambers whose jurisdiction remained relatively stable during the time period studied. We believe we have the universe of this type of committee.

²⁰ Since the logit coefficients may not have much meaning to many readers, we are reporting in the text frequencies derived from the logit coefficients, setting all other independent variables to their mean. All frequencies reported in the text have corresponding coefficients in Table 1 and 2.

²¹ A not dissimilar tripartite classification scheme – foreign, domestic and defence – has been proposed by Rohde, David, ‘Presidential Support in the House of Representatives’, in Peterson, Paul E., ed., The President, the Congress, and the Making of Foreign Policy (Norman: Oklahoma University Press, 1994).Google Scholar

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²³ In the logit model reported in Table 2 both time and time squared had a significant effect; this demonstrates a curvilinear relationship between time and conflict.

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²⁸ Smith, and Deering, , Committees in Congress, pp. 148–56Google Scholar; and Heclo, Hugh, A Government of Strangers (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1977), p. 59Google Scholar. See also Ornstein, Norman J., Mann, Thomas E. and Malbin, Michael J., Vital Statistics on Congress 1989–90 (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1990), p. 133.Google Scholar

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³⁰ Destler, I. M., American Trade Politics: System under Stress (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1986).Google Scholar

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³⁵ In the words of Senator Alan Cranston: ‘I submit that if you decide that it's improper to take a lawful and proper action at any time on behalf of someone who has contributed legally and properly, then every senator, including every member of this committee, had better run for cover – because every senator has done it; every senator must do it.’ Congressional Quarterly, 17 11 1990, p. 3870.Google Scholar