ArcadeNineFire

That's awesome. Zach Woods always seems to get cast as awkward/weirdo characters, so people might not know he's hysterical as an improvisor. He's done some great eps of the podcast improv4humans.

It's a legitimate question, but it should be noted that the state legislature draws district lines, not Congress.

Worth noting the "Nobel prize" in economics is handed out by a different body than the other Nobel Prizes. Still prestigious, but not the same thing.

Hope you don't mind, poli sci grad student stepping in...

There's a lot of literature on Congressional opinion, and of course any answer is going to have plenty of exceptions. That said, here are a few commonalities:

• District needs/opinion is almost always number one. If it's unpopular in the district, that's usually the end of it. National opinion is generally irrelevant.

• If the constituency is ambivalent, then party position is the next default. For one thing, most politicians are strong partisans to begin with. That's how they decide to run and how they gain support. Beyond that, most of the time it's simply not worth crossing the party leadership.

• After that, there's no clear consensus, but the top contenders are individual conscience, good public policy, and Washington prestige.

Of course, these can be in any order depending on the member, district, and issue. Douglas Arnold's The Logic of Congressional Action is a good text on this subject. Mayhew's seminal Congress: The Electoral Connection is a shorter/easier read, but a bit outdated, especially when it comes to party politics.

There's no limit to how many bills a US member of Congress can submit; not sure where you heard that.