In February of 2009, second-term congressman Bruce Braley of Iowa announced the formation of a new Congressional Member Organization in the House of Representatives: the Populist Caucus. A year later, the Populist Caucus has grown from 23 to 30 members and has built a record through mission statements, advisory letters and a “Blueprint for Recovery” slate of four bills. Who in the Populist Caucus is most to thank for this activity? Whose action within the caucus has generated the greatest support? Which caucus members have been most content to follow the lead of others?

Leadership in Bill Sponsorship

Some members of the Populist Caucus have done more to initiate action by introducing bills as the principal “sponsor.” The following is a list of the number of substantive House Resolution (“H.R.”) bills introduced by members of the Populist Caucus in 2009:

Rep. Bob Filner: 44
Rep. Peter Welch: 21
Rep. Steve Cohen: 19
Rep. Peter DeFazio: 19
Rep. Keith Ellison: 17
Rep. Marcy Kaptur: 17
Rep. Jan Schakowsky: 15
Rep. Hank Johnson: 13
Rep. Jackie Speier: 13
Rep. Bruce Braley: 12
Rep. Phil Hare: 12
Rep. Thomas Perriello: 12
Rep. Linda Sanchez: 12
Rep. Michael Arcuri: 11
Rep. Ben Lujan: 11
Rep. Michael Michaud: 11
Rep. Louise Slaughter: 11
Rep. Mazie Hirono: 10
Rep. John Yarmuth: 10
Rep. Lloyd Doggett: 9
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter: 9
Rep. Brad Sherman: 9
Rep. Dan Lipinski: 8
Rep. Joe Courtney: 7
Rep. David Loebsack: 7
Rep. Steve Kagen: 8
Rep. Betty Sutton: 8
Rep. Henry Waxman: 8
Rep. Leonard Boswell: 6
Rep. Eric Massa: 3

Sponsorship and Cosponsorship: Leaders, Followers and Factions

Introducing a bill to the House of Representatives is a necessary step in getting it passed, but it’s not sufficient. A bill can only succeed if it gains supporters; in the U.S. Congress, support is expressed through the formal act of cosponsorship. Some members of the Populist Caucus are more successful than others in gaining cosponsorship support for the bills they introduce as principal sponsor. Turning the tables, some members of the Populist Caucus are more prolific cosponsors than others, lending their support more readily. These two tendencies reflect two necessary behaviors for the functioning of a legislature: nothing will get accomplished unless someone initiates action, but nothing will get done if everyone leads without heed.

Who are the leaders of the Populist Caucus? Who are the followers? The graph below color-codes members of the Populist Caucus by what we term the “Balance of Cosponsorship”. The Balance of Cosponsorship for a caucus member is the # of cosponsorships his/her bills gain from other caucus members, minus the # of cosponsorships s/he gives to other members’ bills. The Balance of Cosponsorship is positive (colored green) when a caucus member gets more cosponsorships than s/he gives and is negative (colored red) when a caucus member gives away more cosponsorships to others than s/he gets in return. Those colored yellow strike a balance between the two roles.

Also on display in the above graph are are arrows pointing from one Representative to a second Representative. These arrows are present when the first Representative has cosponsored at least 5 of the bills introduced by the second Representative. These are indications of strong ties in the Populist Caucus, and the pattern of these ties indicate the presence not only of central figures to the caucus (most strikingly Bob Filner and Peter DeFazio), but also the existence of factions within the Populist caucus. These caucus factions are subgroups focused on shared support from a caucus member (four women: Janice Schakowsky cosponsoring legislation by Linda Sanchez, Jackie Speier and Louise Slaughter), shared support to a caucus member (three men: Hank Johnson and John Yarmuth supporting Lloyd Doggett’s bills), or reciprocal ties (Iowa-based triad Leonard Boswell, David Loebsack and Bruce Braley working in balanced coooperation).

This post is excerpted from our new report, The Congressional Populist Caucus, Year One: Leaders, Followers and Coalitions in 2009. To read the report in full, click here.