Understanding Politicians' Power & Our Own
Not too long ago, I was giving a summertime workshop on policymaking. And everything I was saying could be boiled down to two syllables: power.
The bones, marrow, and heart of policymaking is power - who has it, who stands to gain or lose it. And the more we understand about the different powers politicians have (or don't have), the more we can frame an ask they might be able to say yes to.
So here are a few good powers to keep an eye out for:
Majority Power: Ahhh, the majority. Nothing beats it. Literally. The party in the majority beat the party in the minority. And to the winner go the spoils. In this case, the spoils are controlling what bills come to the floor for a vote, having the majority of votes in committees, the majority of votes on the floor, the majority of staff. In other words, the party in the majority has the majority of power.
Right now in Congress, Republicans have the majority in the House, Democrats have the majority in the Senate. In 29 state legislatures, Republicans have the majority, in 20 state legislatures, Democrats have the majority. And our friends in Nebraska have a nonpartisan state legislature.
Seniority Power: Most legislatures are gaga for seniority. The longer a politician has served, the more sway she has to get her calls returned, her bills passed, her projects funded. This means when a legislator retires or loses their reelection, the district they represent loses their seniority. And the candidate who takes their place is at the bottom of the power barrel.
At the state and federal level, we've each got a few politicians who represent us: two Senators and one House member in Congress, and one state representative and state senator in the state legislature. If you've got an ask for a politician, it's not a bad idea to start with the one who's served the longest.
Of course, if the most senior politician isn't a fan of your issue, forget seniority and go with the politician who is - or might be inclined to be - supportive.
Committee Power: For a bill to become law, it typically has to pass through a committee, so members of committees are uniquely positioned to help or hurt a bill's passage. It's super useful to know what committees your legislators sit on; if you've got an issue that falls in their committee's jurisdiction, they can be a real ally in moving it along.
Productivity Power: Runners gotta run, bakers gotta bake, and legislators gotta legislate. Or at least the productive ones do. So my favorite indicator of productivity is the number of bills (aka pieces of legislation) a legislator passes.
Introducing a bill is a piece of cake; 17,817 bills were introduced last Congress. Getting that bill to become a law is more of a K2 climb. Only 365 bills (2%) of those 17,817 bills were enacted. It takes a bit of elbow grease to find out how productive our politicians are, but digging around in Congress.gov or our state legislature's website can give us a sense if our legislator is serious about getting stuff done or not.
Back at that summertime policymaking workshop, we got to talking about a certain Tuesday in November. Isn't that the most important thing right now? someone asks.
I love this question. I get it all the time.
It's hugely important! I say. Voting is one of Americans' superpowers. At the same time, democracy doesn't happen once every four years. It's a 365-day enterprise. So let's all vote, absolutely! But we have another power, too: the power to have a say in shaping the bills that becoming the laws we live under. That happens between elections.
Another way to say this is it's not just politicians who have a few good powers. It's us, too.