Replication Data for Congressional Capacity Survey 2017 v1.3

Timothy LaPira and Alexander Furnas were co-Principal Investigators of the 2017 Congressional Capacity Survey, which they fielded with collaborators as part of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group. Lee Drutman, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, and Kevin Kosar were also co-PIs. In the second half of 2017, the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group conducted an online survey of congressional staff regarding the legislative branch’s capacity. We distributed questionnaires to all the professionals who work for a member, committee, or party leader in the US House or Senate in Washington, DC. This survey queried respondents on the backgrounds, career paths, policy views, and job experiences of congressional staffers, as well as the procedures and organizational structures that allow these individuals to do their work in the most effective and democratically responsive ways. This version of the Congressional Capacity Survey data set includes unique identifiers that maintain respondents' strict confidentiality. This version was shared with contributors to the forthcoming volume Congress Overwhelmed: The Decline in Congressional Capacity and Prospects for Reform (eds. LaPira, Drutman, and Kosar f. 2020, University of Chicago Press). The original data set includes responses to additional questions that are embargoed for future publication.