Replication data for: The Motion to Recommit in the U.S. House of Representatives

Most works in this debate suggest at least implicitly that the ability to use the motion confers some advantage on the minority party that it would not otherwise enjoy.

Some of these works treat MTR’s primarily as dependent variables whose use is to be explained (Wolfe nsberger 1991, 2003; Roberts 2004). Consequently, they are heavy on analysis of the minority’s ability to offer (successful) recommital motions; for the most part, however, they imply that the ability to offer MTR’s benefits the minority party, without spelling out the nature of the benefit. Krehbiel and Meirowitz (2003) are an exception, arguing explicitly that the benefit that the minority party gains via MTR’s is the ability to exert significant influence upon the shape of legislative d ecisions.