ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the characteristics of interest groups and indicates their roles in the process of interest articulation and aggregation. Informal, special interest caucuses predate formal party and committee structures on Capitol Hill. Indeed, when political parties were still inchoate and committees mainly ad hoc drafting bodies, members were already grouping themselves around regional or factional issues. Informal caucuses, then, are numerous and institutionalized on Capitol Hill. Another springboard for the rise of caucuses is undoubtedly the breakdown of traditional mechanisms for intrahouse leadership and mobilization through party or committee systems. The electoral decline of the traditional political parties has been universally commented upon. The impact of informal caucuses is not entirely clear. Informal caucuses have burgeoned without formal recognition in House or Senate rules, or direct monetary support from public funds. The House began in 1979 to regulate the caucuses.
