• The framers of the Constitution intended Congress
as the center of policymaking and true today
• Tasks become more difficult each year.
– Legislation through the congressional labyrinth
– Finding time to debate the issues difficult. Why?
• Congress the source of government expansion.
Why?
• THE REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS
• Hard work
• The typical representative on six committees and
subcommittees; a senator is a member of about ten.
• Attractions to the job?
• Power.
• Salary and $168K
• (“perks”).
Sen. Blutarsky
• 535 members of Congress—100 in the Senate (two from each state) and
435 in the House of Representatives.
• The Constitution specifies only that members of the House 25 years old,
American citizens for seven years, and must be residents of the states
from which they are elected.
• Senators must be at least 30 years old, American citizens for nine years,
and must be residents of the states from which they are elected.
• Law and business are the dominant prior occupations
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Representation of minorities.
10 percent of House are African American
23 Hispanics in the House and three in the Senate.
Women most underrepresented demographic
group in Congress; more than half of the
population is female, but only 16 senators and 71
voting representatives are female.
• Congress cannot claim descriptive
representation (representing constituents by
mirroring personal, politically relevant
characteristics)
• They may engage in substantive representation
(representing the interests of groups).
• CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS- Who Wins?
• Incumbents (already holding office) usually win.
• Even in a years of great political upheaval such as 1994, in
which the Republicans gained eight seats in the Senate and
53 seats in the House,
– 92 percent of incumbent representatives won
• National issues in 2006, (War in Iraq, Social Security
privatization, Pres. G. W. Bush) Democrats regained the
majority of both houses, but few incumbents lost their
seats.
• House of Representatives.
• 90 percent of incumbents House win 60 percent
of the vote. Why?
• Exposure and contact with constituency, similar
basic demographic.
• Most important resource to ensure an
opponent’s defeat-be the incumbent.
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• Senate.
• Senators win by narrower margins. Why?
– Entire state more diverse than a congressional district
– Provides more of a base for opposition to an incumbent.
• Less personal contact with their constituents
• Receive more coverage in the media than representatives
do
– Held accountable on controversial issues.
• Senators draw visible challengers, already known to voters,
substantial financial backing.
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Advantages of Incumbent
Voters not aware of how Congressperson votes
No “presidential coattails “
Members of Congress do not lose or gain due to economy (Tea Party 2010
contradicts this notion)
• Three activities for re-election:
• 1. Advertising- remain visible, use of franking privilege (free mailing in district)
• 2. Credit claiming, personal and district service. “This is what I have done.”
– How to serve constituency- pork barreling- expenditures on federal projects,
grants, and contracts for cities, businesses, colleges, and institutions
– Casework is helping constituents as individuals, cutting trough bureaucratic red
tape.
• Members of Congress must engage in position
taking on matters of public policy.
• Incumbents are likely to face weak opponents.
• Incumbency- potentially effective opponents do
risk challenging members of the House.
• Campaign spending.
• Money to elect a Congress
• Challengers have to raise large sums to defeat an
incumbent.
– Challengers are outspent by incumbents (2 to 1)
• One-fourth of the funds comes from PACs.
– PACs give money to incumbents.
– Critics of PACs - not trying to elect but to buy influence.
• Party loyalty voting not as strong but still predictor of voting
behavior.
• Defeating incumbents.
– Incumbent tarnished by scandal or corruption becomes vulnerable.
– Voters do take out their anger at the polls.
• Congressional membership is reapportioned after census,
– Incumbents may be redistricted out of base of support.
– Majority party in the state legislature will try to manipulate districts
– Gerrymandering-Gov Elbridge Gerry signed off on redistricting MA.
1812
Ralph Hall-90
• Open seats.
• Incumbent not running for reelection seat, greater
competition.
– Most turnover due to vacated seats.
• Stability with Incumbents usually winning reelection
– Expertise in dealing with complex questions of public policy.
– It also insulates them from political change and makes it more
difficult for citizens to “send a message to Washington” with their
votes.
• Term limitations laws for senators and representatives?
• Congress -generalists trying to make policy on specialized topics.
– Complexity requires more specialization. Meet these demands through
its elaborate committee system.
• American bicameralism -Legislature divided into two houses. The
U.S. Congress and every American state legislature except Nebraska’s
are bicameral.
• Framers of the Constitution thought the Senate would protect elite
interests. (Upper House- represent the elite)
– Gave the House (commoners/closest to the masses) the power of
initiating all revenue bills and of impeaching officials; they gave the
Senate the responsibility for ratifying all treaties, for confirming
important presidential nominations, and for trying impeached officials.
• The House and Senate each set their own agenda.
• Use committees to narrow down the thousands of bills introduced.
• House of Representatives.
– Much larger /more institutionalized (centralized) than the Senate.
– Party loyalty to leadership and party-line voting more common than in the Senate.
(First term, “seen, not heard”)
• Debate can be ended by a simple majority vote.
• House Rules Committee-reviews most bills from House committee, then goes
to the full House.
– Each bill given a “rule,” -schedules the bill on the calendar, allots time for debate,
and may specify what kind of amendments may be offered.
• Members appointed by the Speaker of the House so they are following his lead
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Senate.
The Senate is less disciplined/less centralized than the House.
Today’s senators are more equal in power than representatives.
Party leaders do for Senate scheduling what the Rules Committee
does in the House.
• The filibuster (Dutch- pirate) permits unlimited debate on a bill.
– Opponents of a bill may try to “talk it to death.”
– Protects minority
• 60 members present and voting can halt filibuster by invoking cloture
(closure) on debate.
• Leadership in Congress is really whose party
put them there.
• No longer in the hands of key members of
Congress who are insulated from the public.
– Power is widely dispersed, requiring leaders to
appeal broadly for support.
• House leadership.
• The Speaker of the House is second (after the
vice president) in the line to succeed a
president who resigns, dies in office, or is
impeached.
• Power!!!!
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Formal powers of the Speaker : presides over the House
Makes committee assignments
Key role in appointing the party’s legislative leaders
Control over which bills get assigned to committees.
Speaker has informal power both inside and outside Congress.
– Partisan ally is the majority leader who is responsible for rounding up
votes on party legislation and for scheduling bills in the House.
• Party whips- work with the majority leader to round up
votes, pre-count votes, deal, and report the views.
• The minority party also organized (with a minority leader
and whips), prepared to take over the key posts if it should
win a majority in the House
• Senate leadership.
• Constitution names vice president as president of the
Senate.
• VP little power in Senate, rare case they vote to break a tie.
• The Senate majority leader—aided by the majority whips—
is the position of real power and authority in the Senate.
– Rounds up votes, schedules the floor action, and influences
committee assignments.
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Committees and Subcommittees.
Most of the work of Congress goes on in committees
Hearings to investigate wrongdoing/ investigate the executive branch.
Control the congressional agenda, guide legislation from its introduction to
send-off for the president’s signature.
Committees grouped into four types: standing committees (most
important), joint committees, conference committees, and select
committees.
Standing committees permanent subject-matter committees, handle bills
in different policy areas. (i.e. Agriculture, Ed. Env.)
Each chamber has its own committees and subcommittees.
Typical representative serves on two committees and four subcommittees,
while senators averaged three committees and seven subcommittees each.
• Joint committees -study committees exist in a few policy areas
(economy, taxation), membership from Senate and the House.
• Conference committees-work out the differences when different
versions of a bill are passed by the two houses.
– Result-compromised bill
– Membership is drawn from both houses.
• Select committees-temporary, appointed for specific (“select”)
– i.e. Watergate, 9/11
• 11,000 bills every two years
• Narrowed down committee process.
• Bills-to a standing committee; must have favorable committee
report are considered by the whole House or Senate.
• Process: New bills sent by Speaker to a committee (to
subcommittee) hold hearings on bill.
– Research, debate then “marked-up” (revised and rewritten) bill,
submitted to the full House or Senate for consideration.
• Members of the committee - “floor managers” of the
bill when the bill leaves committee, securing votes
for the legislation.
– Cue-givers - other members turn for advice.
– When the two chambers pass different versions of the
same bill, some committee members (both houses) will be
appointed to the conference committee.
• Legislative oversight—monitoring the bureaucracy and its
administration of policy
– Check Congress can exercise on the executive branch.
• Oversight - handled through hearings.
• Members of committees monitor how a bill is implemented.
– Enables Congress to exert pressure on executive agencies, or to
cut their budgets in order to secure compliance with
congressional wishes.
• Typically, the majority party will determine whether or not
to hold hearings, since it controls the majority of committee
seats and the majority of votes on the floor.
• Getting on a committee.
• New members write to party congressional leaders indicating
committee preferences.
• Party leaders key role in policy
• Seek committee assignments to achieve three goals:
reelection, influence in Congress, and the opportunity to
make policy in areas they think are important.
• Every committee includes members from both parties
– Majority of each committee’s members—as well as its chair—
come from the majority party.
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Getting ahead on the committee: chairs and the seniority system.
Committee chairs -most important influencers of the committee agenda.
Play dominant—no longer monopolistic—schedule hearings, hiring staff, appointing
subcommittees, manage committee bills when they are brought before the full
House.
Until the 1970s, selected through the seniority system—the member of the
majority party with longest tenure on the committee would automatically be
selected.
(1) Chairs can “bottle up” legislation in committee.
(2) The system also gave a decisive edge to members from “safe”
districts, where members were seldom challenged for reelection
(1) Both parties in both houses permitted members to vote on committee chairs.
(2) Today, seniority remains the general rule for selecting chairs, but there have
been notable exceptions.
(3) These and other reforms have somewhat reduced the clout of the chairs.
• Caucuses: -grouping of members of Congress sharing some
interest or characteristic.
– Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, the Congresswomen’s Caucus.
Caucuses include regional groupings, ideological groupings, and
economic groupings
– The informal organization of Congress, powerful, shapes policy
– Made the representation of interests in Congress a more direct
process (cutting , the lobbyist).
• Caucuses exert more influence on policymaking than most
citizen-based interest groups can.
• Congressional staff.
• Congress. Nearly one-half of staffers and work in
members’ offices in their constituencies, not in
Washington.
– Easier for people to make contact.
• Organize hearings, research legislative options, draft
committee reports on bills, write legislation, and keep
tabs on the activities of the executive branch.
• Congress -three important staff agencies
• Congressional Research Service (CRS), administered by the Library of
Congress. The CRS uses researchers, for 250,000 requests/yr
• General Accounting Office (GAO)-reviewing the activities of the
executive branch to see if it is following the congressional intent of
laws, investigates the efficiency of policy implementation.
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzes the president’s
budget, economic projections about the performance of economy, the
costs of proposed policies, and the effects of taxing and spending
alternatives.
• THECONGRESSIONAL PROCESS
• A bill -proposed law in legal language.
• Anyone can draft a bill, only members of the House or
Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration.
– White House and interest groups also sources of bills.
• Most bills are quietly killed off early in the legislative
process.
• Congress is typically reactive and cumbersome
• Party leaders are most involved in the process.
• Presidents and Congress
• Partners with Congress / adversaries in the struggle.
• Presidents have their own legislative agenda, based on party’s platform and
their electoral coalition.
– Chief legislator
• Resources to influence Congress.
– may try to influence members directly
– More often will leave White House lobbying to the congressional liaison office
and party’s leaders in the House and Senate.
• Facilitator-works at the margins of coalition
• Successful early in their tenures or their party has a majority in one or both
houses of Congress.
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Party, constituency, and ideology.
Parties most cohesive when Congress is electing its official leaders.
A vote for the Speaker of the House is a straight party-line vote.
– On other issues, the party coalition may not unite.
– i.e. Civil rights
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Differences between the parties sharpest on questions of social welfare and
economic policy.
Polarized politics.
Congress has become more ideologically polarized and more likely to vote according
to the two party lines.
Parties pulled apart ideologically, they also became more homogeneous
– Increased difficulty in reaching a compromise.
– Due to divergent electoral coalitions.
• Constituency versus ideology, function of representation.
• 18th century English legislator Sir Edmund Burke-legislators
as trustees, best judgment for policy interests of the people.
– mirror the preferences of their constituents.
• Actually politicos, combining the trustee and instructed
delegate roles to be representatives and policymakers.
• Vote as they said they would
• Controversial issues, legislator cannot ignore constituent
opinion. Representatives and senators have recently been
– Concerned about single-issue groups
• Do pay attention to voters, especially on visible issues, but
most issues do not interest voters.
• Lobbyists and interest groups.
• Lobbyists—some of them former members of Congress—
represent the interests of their organization.
• The bigger the issue, the more lobbyists are involved.
– Must register and file reports with the secretary of the Senate
and the clerk of the House.
– Must report what issues they were seeking to influence
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Congress and democracy.
Large democracy, the success of democratic government depends on the quality of
representation.
Some undemocratic/unrepresentative features:
– Members are elite
– Its leadership is chosen by its own members
– Voters have little direct influence over the people who chair key committees or lead
congressional parties.
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Congress does listen
Election does make a difference
Linkage institutions do link voters to policymakers.