The Wednesday Wonk has finally returned from my adventures out west—none the worse for wear although I did come home with a nasty sinus infection!

Alas, the Wonk has recovered (mostly) and I’m ready to get back to discussing the business of governing. 

This week, let’s talk about some simple steps that you—dear reader—can do to track legislation ’all by yourself’.  Let’s say you’re really interested in climate change, or maybe you’re really concerned about your grandkids education.  You’ve heard that this or that bill is moving through Congress.  

Nevertheless, you have no idea how to find the bill number, let alone the committee considering the legislation.  Here are some tips to follow.

First, go to Congress.gov.  This website contains a wealth of information about pending legislation in both the House and Senate.  

If you’re smart and working with others in coalition—as the Wonk always recommends—then you may even have the bill number.  (Be very careful: remember these numbers change with every new Congress!)

Once you’ve found the bill—here are some questions you should ask.  Who introduced the bill?  In theory, any member can introduce a bill for any reason.  That’s true.  

Nevertheless, a bill introduced by the Chair of the committee which has jurisdiction over the matter has a far greater chance of seeing legislative action than a bill introduced by a freshman member who’s not on any significant committee and/or has little influence in the matter.  Remember, only about five percent of the bills introduced become law!!

Another critical question to ask is: how many cosponsors does the bill have?  Likewise, is the support for this legislation bipartisan?  Sometimes outside groups and/or coalitions will work together to obtain cosponsors and thus improve the chances of the bill’s consideration.  

Please note that this does not automatically guarantee that a bill’s consideration.  It’s just one in a series of tools which may be useful.

As a bill goes through the legislative process, you’ll want to know when the Congressional committee holds hearings.  Again, Congress.gov will provide you with this information.  

It’s important to note that nowadays, most Congressional hearings are available online.  Typically, you should be able to access a hearing by going to the Committee’s website.  

During any hearing—it’s really important to pay attention to the questions members of Congress ask witnesses—and sometimes each other.  These questions can often signal support for the legislation—or perhaps partial support.  

The Wonk has covered many hearings over the years.  Often, I ignored prepared statements.  (Such statements become a part of the official hearing record and are readily available.)  Yet I took down questions from members word for word!  

A line of questioning can either tell you what that member is thinking and/or give you a clearer idea for addressing his/her concerns.

Watching the development of public policy is—like wine—an acquired taste!  It’s not for everyone. Some folks think Congressional hearings are often a terribly glamorous process.  Let the Wonk assure you: they are not!  

Often, a hearing which was only scheduled for a couple of hours in the morning winds up taking the entire day.  Or a ‘star witness’ ends up being the most boring person you’ve ever heard.  The Wonk could go on.  

Those of us addicted to the development of public policy find the entire process—soup to nuts—enjoyable!  Perhaps you will come to enjoy this process, too.

That’s about it for this week.  I’m honestly not certain what I’ll write about next week. If you have a topic of interest or a question, by all means, please drop me a line.

Until next time, Happy Reading!