The Democratic Study Group (DSG) is a legislative service organization (LSO) in the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

. It was founded in 1959 "as a liberal counterpoint to the influence of senior conservatives and southern Democrats

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, it now consists of nearly all Democratic members of the House. Its Republican counterpart is Legislative Digest

Legislative Digest

Legislative Digest is an official publication of the House Republican Conference. It serves as the primary source of legislative analysis and preview of floor activity for Republican Members of the United States House of Representatives. As such, it functions as the Republican counterpart to the...

. The oldest and best known LSO in Congress, DSG has the largest budget and staff. The DSG's principal activity is to disseminate detailed written materials to members of the House about upcoming legislation and policy issues, which it does on a daily basis when the chamber is in session." According to Nelson W. Polsby

Nelson W. Polsby

Nelson Woolf Polsby was an American political scientist. He specialized in the study of the United States presidency and United States Congress. He was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former editor of the American Political Science Review from 1971-77.Polsby was born...

, the DSG was a centrally important actor in internal reform of Congress that would allow much of the Kennedy-Johnson program to pass in spite of the opposition of the Conservative coalition

Conservative coalition

In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...

.

Further reading

• Polsby, Nelson W. "How Congress Evolves", New York: Oxford University Press 2004 ISBN 978-0-19-518296-5
• Stevens Jr., Arthur G., Miller, Arthur H., Mann, Thomas E., "Mobilization of Liberal Strength in the House, 1955-1970: The Democratic Study Group," The American Political Science Review, Vol 68. No. 2. (Jun., 1974), pp. 667-681.At J-STOR

See also

• Conservative Coalition
  Conservative coalition
  In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...
  
  
• Legislative Digest
  Legislative Digest
  Legislative Digest is an official publication of the House Republican Conference. It serves as the primary source of legislative analysis and preview of floor activity for Republican Members of the United States House of Representatives. As such, it functions as the Republican counterpart to the...
  
  
• United States Democratic Party
• History of the United States Congress
  History of the United States Congress
  The history of the United States Congress refers to the chronological record of the United States Congress including legislative sessions.The Constitution defines the Senate as having two senators for each state in the Union. The size of the House of Representatives is based on the number of states...