In this article, the author examines the career advancement of subcommittee chairs in the U.S. House of Representatives from the 86th to the 103rd Congresses (1959-1994). The author demonstrates that the rate of advancement to subcommittee chairs increased immediately after House reforms in the early 1970s but decreased once again during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Further, cross-sectional differences among committees are presented to show that there are also nonperiod effects that determine the pace of member career advancement. Finally, the author constructs and tests a model to examine the determinants of the rate of subcommittee chair acquisition.
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