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Nonlegislative Debate in the U.S. House of Representatives

University of New Mexico

To date, most empirical analyses of position taking in Congress have focused on roll call voting, where members of Congress (MCs) regularly cast votes, thereby regularly taking positions. Left largely unstudied has been position taking outside the domain of roll call voting. This article takes a closer look at who utilizes one popular non–roll call forum in the House of Representatives—nonlegislative debate (NLD)—and why. The analysis expands on extant research by examining multiple Congresses (101st to 106th), both types of NLD (1-minute speeches and special-order addresses), and determinants not explicitly accounted for in previous research. Among other things, I argue that institutional variation across the NLD forums leads to important differences in participation. The results show that more individualistic, institutionally disadvantaged MCs tend to favor 1-minute speeches, whereas those in the parties' mainstream frequent the special-order period.

Key Words: U.S. House of Representatives • U.S. Congress • congressional debate • nonlegislative debate • minority party • special-order speeches • congressional position taking

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