of the chambers and majority parties compare. The preference configuration relevant for each agency is plotted with agencies arranged from the most liberal (bottom) to the most conservative (top). The open diamond denoted the mean location of careerists for the labeled agency and its 95% credible interval. The ideal points of the median members belonging to those committees mentioned by executives in the agency are plotted using solid circles, and the number of circles reflects the number of named committees relevant for each agency. The labeled vertical lines denote the location of median House and Senate Democrats as well as the House and Senate medians. President Bush’s ideal point omitted because it is more conservative than any of the agencies and committee medians (his ideal point is 1.25). [FIGURE 5 ABOUT HERE] Locating agencies relative to the critical political actors reveals that agency except for the NLRB has multiple committee medians to the left of the agency’s ideal point. Moreover, 28 out of the 31 agencies have committees with divergent preferences overseeing them (i.e., at least one committee on either side of their ideal point), and 25 agencies and bureaus have at least 2 committee medians that are more liberal and more conservative than the average careerist in the agency. For these agencies in the 110th Congress, there is therefore almost always at least one committee (and often at least one chamber) that would oppose an attempt by Congress to move agency policy to the left or right. Given this arrangement, if the president sought to influence agency policy by moving it to the right through appointments, regulatory review, or some form of unilateral executive action, depending on the magnitude of the shift urged by the president Congress might be divided about whether or not to respond. Figure 5 suggests that nearly every agency has multiple committees that are more liberal than the average policy preferences of careerists in the agency, and multiple committees on either
of the chambers and majority parties compare. The preference configuration relevant for each agency is plotted with agencies arranged from the most liberal (bottom) to the most conservative (top). The open diamond denoted the mean location of careerists for the labeled agency and its 95% credible interval. The ideal points of the median members belonging to those committees mentioned by executives in the agency are plotted using solid circles, and the number of circles reflects the number of named committees relevant for each agency. The labeled vertical lines denote the location of median House and Senate Democrats as well as the House and Senate medians. President Bush’s ideal point omitted because it is more conservative than any of the agencies and committee medians (his ideal point is 1.25). [FIGURE 5 ABOUT HERE] Locating agencies relative to the critical political actors reveals that agency except for the NLRB has multiple committee medians to the left of the agency’s ideal point. Moreover, 28 out of the 31 agencies have committees with divergent preferences overseeing them (i.e., at least one committee on either side of their ideal point), and 25 agencies and bureaus have at least 2 committee medians that are more liberal and more conservative than the average careerist in the agency. For these agencies in the 110th Congress, there is therefore almost always at least one committee (and often at least one chamber) that would oppose an attempt by Congress to move agency policy to the left or right. Given this arrangement, if the president sought to influence agency policy by moving it to the right through appointments, regulatory review, or some form of unilateral executive action, depending on the magnitude of the shift urged by the president Congress might be divided about whether or not to respond. Figure 5 suggests that nearly every agency has multiple committees that are more liberal than the average policy preferences of careerists in the agency, and multiple committees on either