View article

Interest group activity manifests itself throughout the political process. Political action committees (PACs), for example, spend millions of dollars each year lobbying, donating to political campaigns, and providing legislators with free trips, meals and recreation. In return, legislators draft new legislation, sponsor bills and vote for bills that may be favorable to the interest groups. Change in interest group activity will thus become visible in the measured output of legislation. Figure 1 shows the number of measures enacted by Congress (during both sessions) since 1970. Beginning around 1990, there has been a downward trend in the number of measures enacted by Congress. Thus, not only has expenditure growth slowed, but so also has the production of new legislation. This same trend is also visible in data on the number of measures introduced before Congress. A more specific look at interest group activity can be …