ABSTRACT
The environment of Congress directs demands but also extends supports to the legislature. Senators and representatives structure their institution in ways that promote their individual freedoms; they support committees, formal rules, and informal norms that protect their ability to act as they see fit; they decline to empower disciplined political parties to control their behavior. Independent committees and sometimes subcommittees make many major choices that the entire chamber merely ratifies at some later point in the proceedings. In effect, the committees possess considerable latitude to act as they see fit and to convert the policies they prefer into the judgment of the full chamber. In the light of such considerations, it is not surprising that the testimony of witnesses before congressional committees is not entirely devoted to objective statement of the facts. In any event, the lawmaking process continues when the committee makes its report; each bill must still survive on the floor.
