“Dear Colleague” Letters in the House of Representatives: An Analysis of Volume, Use, Characteristics, and Purpose

Jacob R. Straus
Analyst on the Congress

The practice of writing “Dear Colleague” letters—official written correspondence from one Member, committee, or office to other Members, committees, or offices—dates back to at least the 1800s. Yet until recently, it was almost impossible to track the volume or purpose of “Dear Colleague” letters because a centralized, searchable system did not exist. The creation of the webbased e-“Dear Colleague” system has made it possible to systematically examine “Dear Colleague” letters, thereby offering a clearer understanding of what are largely, but not exclusively, intra-chamber communications.

In analyzing data on the volume of “Dear Colleague” letters sent between January 2003 and December 2010, several discernable trends can be observed. Overall, the total number of “Dear Colleague” letters sent continued to increase, from 5,161 “Dear Colleague” letters sent in 2003 to 14,531 letters sent in 2010. Additionally, the data show that overall more letters were sent during the first session of a Congress than the second session, and that the average number of “Dear Colleague” letters sent in the second session declined between September and December. This fall-off coincides with a decline in overall legislative activity at the end of a Congress.

During the 111th Congress, data from the web-based e-“Dear Colleague” system showed that Members sent the most letters (94%), and that the most popular topics were health care (8.8%) and foreign affairs (7.9%), followed by education (6.0%), family issues (5.8%), economy (5.6%), and environment (5.4%). The data demonstrated that the most frequent use of “Dear Colleague” letters in the 111th Congress was to elicit bill and resolution co-sponsors (53%).

Finally, when examining “Dear Colleague” letters that were linked to a specific piece of legislation, the data showed that public laws with a linked “Dear Colleague” letter had a greater number of average co-sponsors (74) than public laws without an associated “Dear Colleague” letter (16). The same can also be said for House resolutions, where resolutions associated with a “Dear Colleague” letter had an average of 50 co-sponsors and resolutions not associated with a “Dear Colleague” letter had an average of 24.

In light of the analysis of the volume, use, characteristics, and purpose of “Dear Colleague” letters, several possible administrative and operations questions are raised to aid the House in future discussions of the e-“Dear Colleague” system. These include questions on handling the growth in volume of “Dear Colleague” letters sent per year, and the potential to create additional mechanisms within the e-“Dear Colleague” system to aid subscribers in managing the “Dear Colleague” letters they receive.

For a brief explanation on how to send “Dear Colleague” letters, see CRS Report RL34636, “Dear Colleague” Letters: Current Practices, by Jacob R. Straus.


Date of Report: September 26, 2011
Number of Pages: 19
Order Number: R42026
Price: $29.95

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