9
2003). Recently, institutional approaches have been explained in terms of friction and policy
punctuations (Jones, Sulkin, and Larsen 2003; Lieberman 2002; True, Jones, and Baumgartner
1999). While these approaches to policy outputs contribute greatly to understanding the long
-
term accounts of political change within public policy (such as the revamping of welfare policy
over a thirty-year time period and its reform in 1996), they offer a reduced understanding of
short-term changes and the concept of individualism that exists within the legislatures. Early
decision theorists suggested that institutional change come about in a pattern termed
“incremental.” When one combines this incremental pattern of institutional change allowing for
continuous adjustments and incorporates the ideology of windows of opportunity where major
policy shifts occur, we can conceive more clearly how policy action occur within institutions
such as the U.S. Congress.
Intersecting the ideology of friction and punctuations within Congress are theories
describing electoral influence and party politics. As TANF was up for reauthorization in the
107
th
Congress, midterm elections and a narrow balance of power weighed heavily upon the
political process and the minds of those in leadership positions. The Senate had seen a mid-
session party change from Republican to Democratic control when Senator Jeffords (VT),
renounced his membership in the GOP. Democrat, Thomas Daschle took control as Majority
Leader and worked to pull the democrats together upon a unified agenda.
The 2002 elections were the first to follow the reapportionment after the 2000 census.
Scholars have revealed that the redrawn districts tended to lean in the Republican favor
(Campbell 2003), which raised concerns for the slim Democratic power hold in the Senate.
Maintaining Senate control for the Democratic Party or regaining Senate control for the
Convention