Issue linkage and climate votes in the U.S. House of Representatives, 2007–2020

Abstract

What motivates members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support legislative action (LA) on climate issues? Although the U.S. Congress has passed very few climate bills in the last 20 years, there has been a substantial number of LAs in the form of votes on bills, resolutions, and amendments. Because climate issues might not get legislative traction on their own, we examine whether linking them with other salient environmental issues changes how legislators vote on climate-focused LAs (C-LAs). Substantively, we examine whether linking climate with clean air, water pollution, environmental justice, and transportation might change House members’ votes. We analyze House votes on climate change LAs as reported by the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). For the 2007–2021 period, LCV scored 406 votes and identified 77 of them as C-LAs. Our regression analysis of the votes of 435 House members on 77 LAs suggests that all else equal, while climate issues without issue linkages diminish legislative support, C-LAs attract votes when they are linked with clean air and environmental justice. However, issue linkages could also backfire: C-LAs linked with water and transportation diminish legislative support.