Financial Services Industry PAC Contributions and Senate Committee Membership‪.‬

Introduction A recent article in this journal, Bennett and Loucks (2008), finds that membership on relevant committees is significantly related to financial services industry political action committee (PAC) contributions in the House of Representatives, providing further evidence that committee membership in the House matters to PACs. The different rules of the Senate would seem to give less power to committees than in the House. Senators, unlike members of the House, have the filibuster available to attempt to keep legislation from coming to a vote, and they also have greater ability to propose amendments from the floor than do members of the House.