Reflections on 65 Years of the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program

It is hard to believe that it's been 43 years since I was an APSA congressional fellow. Not only do the memories of that year remain vivid, but the benefits of that experience still accrue to my professional life as a researcher and teacher and to the richness of my personal life through friends that I made during that year. Reading the seven essays from recent program participants reminded me of the diversity of experiences that congressional fellows have and the lessons that they take away. The year on the Hill informs teaching about Congress, as is evident in the Ringenberg essay. It raises questions about the existing scholarly literature and challenges major findings on the difficulties in measuring legislative effectiveness in the Senate, as in the Johnston analysis. It leads to questioning whether members' public policy and reelection goals are mutually exclusive or intertwined, as explored in the Hager piece. It provides a feel for the intricacies of process, as Owens observes in the role of a Senate chair in the obstruction of a Supreme Court nomination. It allows for a front-row seat to observe the rules and norms of Congress--and sometimes, bucking those norms--as described in the Alexander piece. It nuances the understanding of how important legislative work continues even in an era when gridlock seems to be the norm, as Brown analyzes in overseeing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Howard documents in the Senate Armed Services Committee producing must-pass legislation.