ALIVE AND WELL IN THE UNITED-STATES-SENATE - PARTIES IN THE COMMITTEESETTING

Despite strong theoretical justification, the intersection of the two central organizing features of the U.S. Senate, parties and committees , has received little scholarly attention. This article focuses on tha t nexus by exploring party-based voting in three Senate committees dur ing the 1980s. Drawing from previous research, several hypotheses are developed that guide expectations about party conflict, unity, and suc cess in the Armed Services, Energy, and Labor committees. Party leader ship, committee membership, and policy agendas are found to be importa nt explanations for the patterns of partisanship that emerge in roll c all voting in those committees. Because of the size of Senate committe es and small partisan margins that often exist, party leadership strat egy also is found to influence the ultimate success of the majority pa rty. The differentiated committee system, it is argued, offers diverse opportunities for party influence in the Senate.