Congressional Losers in the U. S. Federal Spending Process

Recent studies have demonstrated that members of appropriate congressional committees are no better able to attract new federal spending within the jurisdiction of these panels to their districts than are non-members of these committees. In this study it is further shown that there are also no differences in the ability to prevent losses of existing federal activities in the district. It is revealed, however, that when such losses do occur, they are compensated either the following year or in some other segment of the budget during the same year. Congressional cooperation and the growth of uncontrollable spending are cited as causes of this trend, which is not deemed likely to change.