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Percentage of Legislation originating from the Executive branch?

L

lowfatbaconboy

Golden Member
One of my friends said that 80% of legislation introduced to congress originated from the white house...and ive been googling it for about an hour and can't find anything....

anyone know if that statistic is correct or what the actual number is?
 
I don't have any statistics, but given the number of congresspersons as opposed to those in the employ of the White House, I think it is very unlikely that your friend's claim is anywhere near the truth.
 
yea but id still like to have a number :/

i emailed a poli sci prof at my university hopefully he'll be nice enough to respond (im not a poli sci major and have never met this guy before)
 
Much legislation that is national impact is proposed by a member of Congress acting as a proxy for the WH.
 
ok so this is the response i got from the prof

"These are often listed as "By request" so its easy enough to look them up on THOMAS.

But examining this question is not totally straightforward. There is a raw count of bills, but that may not be totally accurate because there can be duplicate bills, clean bills, bills that are simply amendments to other bills, etc. All of these may not be listed "by request" but whose initial concept or impetus came from the Exec Branch.

Prof. <name removed>"

anyone know what the hell THOMAS is?
(i don't think i should ask that prof again he was kinda weired out about someone random emailing him who isn't a student of his)
 
don't know the number but all bills dealing with financing the government must originate in the house of representatives as said in the constitution
 
Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
One of my friends said that 80% of legislation introduced to congress originated from the white house...and ive been googling it for about an hour and can't find anything....

anyone know if that statistic is correct or what the actual number is?
Click to expand...

That can not be true. THe great majority of legislation is meaningless, with all sorts of bills of "appreciation" and official congressional recognition, that it is not even funny.
 
i finally got my friend to find the source....his prof said it in class.....so he asked his prof for the source and this is the response he got

it was Hudson and Parenti's explanation that the idea for
these acts of legislation comes from Executive branch.
I believe that the number originates from Parenti's book with his
discussion on the use/abuse of executive orders (the chapter "the
Would Be King?") I do not have the book at home but I am fairly certain
that this is where that number emanates from.
Click to expand...

http://www.michaelparenti.org/DemocracyForFew.html

so even if the actual legislation wasn't written by someone who worked in the white house...the idea for most legislation comes from the white house.....appears to be the claim... im going to have to find that book and look up that chapter to see how exactly it was worded
 
Originally posted by: daveshel
I don't have any statistics, but given the number of congresspersons as opposed to those in the employ of the White House, I think it is very unlikely that your friend's claim is anywhere near the truth.
Click to expand...

Actually congresspeople have a lot of experience outsourcing their legislative duty to the other branches. Sometimes this makes sense to have things be more efficient or to give an executive agency more control over their own matters.
 
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