Examining sponsorship and cosponsorship in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1973-2002

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the effects of background characteristics on members of Congress\u27 legislative activity. I intend to measure legislative activity using the total number of bills sponsored and cosponsored during each Congress. Beginning in 1973, this original dataset includes over 6,000 observations and is the most comprehensive study of this subject. Because my dataset begins in 1973, I will be able to identify any effect that the unrestricted ability to cosponsor, which began in 1978, had on legislative activeness. It is my intention to contribute to our scholarly understanding of sponsorship and cosponsorship activity in the U.S. House of Representatives and help shape future studies. I find empirical support for the signaling perspective which posits that political actors use legislative activity as a means for internal, rather than external, communication