Lobbying is an essential part of the legislative system of the United States, which directly affects the behavior of members of Congress. Lobbying is a complex issue which needs to be studied thoroughly in order to understand how it functions and what implications it has for society in general. Essentially, lobbying can be performed by different actors, including interest groups and congressional committees, and it plays a major role in the ability of Congress to adopt relevant policies.
Interest groups are the primary lobbyists which have a considerable impact on legislative behavior. Essentially, on an individual level, interest groups establish communication with legislators and attempt to persuade them to consider their requests and preferences. As a result, depending on the degree of success of interest groups’ efforts, legislators can change their behavior to correspond to the needs of the lobbyists (Truijens & Hanegraaff, 2021). Collectively, interest groups play a significant role in shaping the legislative behavior of the entire Congress. Since there are always dozens of interest groups which try to influence legislators, their work on a large scale affects the agenda and legislative behavior of both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Interest groups engage in different types of strategies when lobbying Congress. The main strategy involves building personal contacts with the officials to foster credibility and persuade legislators that they need the group’s proposals. Another strategy is the use of media to expand the outreach of the interest group and make the ideas popular among citizens (Schnakenberg, 2017). Grassroots lobbying is also a strategy which is often used by interest groups, and it involves raising awareness about a certain cause on a local level with an intent to impact legislators’ actions. Essentially, the two main focuses of interest groups are direct interactions with legislators or the mobilization of public opinion.
Congressional committees have considerable power over new policies and legislation, and therefore their members constitute the main targets for lobbyists. Thus, certain members of congressional committees may have close ties with interest groups and can lobby for their initiatives. Moreover, congressional committees often have hearings where experts affiliated with different interest groups may present their ideas (Parrott, 2019). Additionally, members of congressional committees also may lobby for their own initiatives representing the interest not of a certain group but of their constituencies. Essentially, such members may promote policies which correspond to the needs of the communities they represent in order to have a better chance of getting re-elected in the future.
The core idea of a Biblical model of statesmanship is the promotion of policies and legislations which are consistent with the Christian ideas. Therefore, from the Biblical perspective, lobbying cannot be perceived only as a negative or positive phenomenon. Instead, it is important to consider the implications of every lobbying act to determine whether it is appropriate. In other words, lobbying efforts which promote initiatives which will contribute to the well-being of society and do not violate Christian principles can be considered acceptable. Additionally, Congress members espousing a Biblical model of statesmanship need to be accountable to God in their activities, and therefore, they should listen to interest groups only if their proposals are beneficial for the society.
Lobbying is an inherent element of the U.S. government, and various types of interest groups have a considerable impact on the legislative process in the country. Interest groups offer their ideas and initiatives to legislators using different methods, including by establishing direct contacts with them. Congressional committees often become the main target of interest groups because their members possess significant legislative power and thus can promote the initiatives of lobbyists.
References
Parrott, M. (2019). What role do interest groups play in house committees?: A view from behind the curtain. PS: Political Science & Politics, 52(2), 404–409.
Schnakenberg, K. (2017). Informational lobbying and legislative voting. American Journal of Political Science, 61(1). 129–145.
Truijens, D., & Hanegraaff, M. (2021). The two faces of conflict: How internal and external conflict affect interest group influence. Journal of European Public Policy, 28(12), 1909–1931.