Partisan Control and Foreign Policy in the U.S. Congress

Previous research has devoted considerable attention to the outcomes of congressional activity under divided government, but far less to the question of how partisan control influences Congress’s issue priorities. In this paper, I argue that Congress pays less attention to foreign affairs under unified government than under divided government. This is because under unified government, the majority party would like to take this hard-won and fleeting opportunity to pass legislation that they think will help them in the next election, and such legislation, in most cases, concerns domestic issues. Due to the limitation of legislators’ attention span and Congress’s agenda space, consideration of foreign affairs-related bills is postponed. Under divided government, negotiations over domestic issues frequently face gridlock. Foreign policy issues, which in general are more likely to see bipartisan support, thus receive more attention and greater agenda space. I analyze all bills related to foreign policy introduced in the House from the 103 rd to 118 th Congresses (1993-2024). My findings reveal that under divided government, foreign policy bills constitute a greater proportion of the measures receiving House floor action and individual foreign policy bills are more likely to receive House floor consideration. This suggests that the partisan composition of government plays a crucial role in shaping U.S. foreign policy.