The name is absent

35

constrained by external pressures, but where they also have to care about their
individual futures. Thus, holding the assumption that legislators can use these pieces to
improve their own reputation puts this piece in the big puzzle that has already
demonstrated the existence of party controls, majoritarian legislative performance and
subnational sources of federal power.

Table 3.2: Composition of the Bills submitted to the Congress -1983-2007
By Kind of Bill

Source: Official Statistics of the Camara the Diputados

Political Goals, Credit-Claiming and Legislative Activity

It was stated above that declarations, resolutions, and communications are
frequently used by rank-and-file legislators to create a political capital that helps them
further their political goals. So, the expectation is that writing legislation might increase
their chances of claiming credit vis-a-vis their constituents and also provincial party
leaders. However, recalling the literature, agenda controls do exist (Aleman 2006). In
fact, the rates of passage of these bills still remain low. As Table 3.3 shows, although
their chances of approval are much higher than those of national bills; declarations and

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