12
Congress
Congress: Representing the
American People
A congressperson’s primary responsibility is
to the district and to his or her constituency
(the residents in the area from which an
official is elected).
House and Senate:
Differences in Representation
Framers provided a bicameral legislature—
The House of Representatives- elected by the people
The Senate- first chosen by state legislatures
Since 1913, Senators have been elected by the
people.
House and Senate:
Differences in Representation
435 House members elected from districts
apportioned according to population.
The 100 Senators are elected by state, two for
each state.
The two houses play different legislative roles.
House and Senate:
Differences in Representation
The smaller Senate encourages deliberation
and debate.
Specialization on particular issues discouraged
since large, often diverse, constituencies.
In the Senate, less power is concentrated in the
leadership’s hands.
House and Senate:
Differences in Representation
House is the larger, more centralized and organized
so leadership has legislative control and allows for
specialization.
Differences in terms of office and requirements
determine how both houses develop their
constituencies and exercise their powers.
House members serve as well-organized local
interests’ agents, whereas the senators serve as agents
to both local and national constituencies.
Sociological versus Agency
Representation
What does it mean to “represent” someone or
something?
Book says two circumstances under which one
person represents another:
Sociological representation- “mirrors” the
represented
Agency representation- “accountability” to the
represented
More Accurate Three Types
of Representation
Legalistic
Sociological
Substantive
Legalistic
Two characteristics:
Authorization
Accountability*
* Books definition of agency
Sociological Representation
Representation in which representatives have
the same racial, gender, ethnic, religious, or
educational background as their constituents.
The idea is, if two individuals are similar in
background, character, interests, and
perspectives, then one could represent the
other’s views.
Sociological Representation
The assumption here is that sociological
similarity promotes good representation.
Thus, the composition of a properly
constituted legislature ought to mirror, or
reflect the society it represents.
This can lead to a “group” rather than
individual orientation.
The Social Composition of the
U.S. Congress
Congress is not sociologically representative.
Religions are over- or under- represented.
Minorities and women are under-represented.
The Social Composition of the
U.S. Congress
Most members of Congress are:
Lawyers
Businessmen
Industry professionals
Have religious affiliations
Higher income and education
Substantive Representation
More important measure– how well
representative “serve the interests” of the
represented?
Instructed delegate? Vote exactly as told
Trustee? Use own judgment in decision
Politico? Act as delegate on some issues, as
trustee on others
Politico
Certain issues are core issues, with clear indications
of constituents’ view, so little doubt as to how to
vote, i.e., act as delegate
Non-core issues are offers representative more ability
to use own judgment, i.e., act more as trustee
Trustee style helps to ease legislative process, since
representatives can use “free vote” to aid other
representatives in return for help later
The Electoral Connection
Three factors related to the electoral system
affect who gets elected and what they do in
office.
Who runs for office
Incumbency
Redistricting
Who runs for office?
Voter’s choices are restricted by who decides
to run for office.
Parties try to ensure that well-qualified
candidates run for Congress, but to run for
office is a personal choice ignited by the
individual’s ambition and potential to raise
funds and attract support.
Incumbency
Incumbency (being in office) gives great
advantage in elections.
Already have won
Publicity from simply doing job
Case work
Fund raising
Incumbency factor for House members seen at
worth 10% advantage over challengers
Incumbency
Incumbency help to give high reelection ratesincumbents tend to get re-elected.
This effect tends to preserve the status quo in
Congress and keeps the social composition of
Congress consistent.
Incumbency
Supporters of term limits argue that such limits
are the only way to get new faces in Congress.
 However, because of retirement, there is a 10
percent average of congressional turnover
during election years. (says the book(!) but this
is overstated if one looks at the New Faces in
Congress every two years.)
Redistricting
The last factor affecting congressional seats is
the way congressional districts are drawn.
Reapportionment is the allocation of the 435
seats among the states after every decennial
census as required by the Constitution.
States with population growth gain seats and
states that lose population lose seats.
Redistricting
Lines are drawn by state legislatures and are greatly
affected by partisan division in each state.
Districts are to be equal in population, contiguous,
relatively compact, but majority party will draw lines
to advantage its members now and in the future
Redistricting
Sometimes legal challenges to existing
districts results in re-drawing the lines
As in 2000, Texas Republicans and Democrats
went to court to challenge remaps that they
viewed as unfair.
Redistricting
After the 1964 Civil Rights Act, race became a
major and controversial consideration in
redistricting (i.e. the creation of minoritymajority districts to increase minority
representation in Congress).
However, in the 1995 case of Miller v.
Johnson the Supreme Court limited racial
redistricting-- race cannot be the predominant
factor in drawing district lines.
Direct Patronage
Congress members often have the opportunity
to provide direct benefits or patronage for their
constituents.
Pork barrel legislation
“earmarks” other projects for district
constituency service- case work
private bills
Direct Patronage
The House in 2007 passed a new ethics rule
requiring those representatives supporting
particular earmarks to identify themselves and
guarantee that they had no personal financial
stake in the requested project.
The new requirements seem to have had some
impact. For example, the value of earmarks
included in a 2007 military bill was cut in half,
although the reduced earmarks still totaled
almost $8 billion.
The Organization of Congress
To exercise its power to make the law,
Congress must first organize.
The building blocks include the political
parties, the committee system, congressional
staff, the caucuses, and the parliamentary rules
of the House and the Senate.
Each of these plays a key role in organizing
Congress and formulating legislation.
Party Leadership in the
House and Senate
A caucus is a legislative or political group’s
closed meeting to select candidates, plan
strategy, or make decisions regarding
legislative matters.
Every two years, at the beginning of a new
Congress, each party gathers and elects their
House leaders.
The House Republican’s gathering is called
the conference. Democrats call their gathering
the caucus.
Party Leadership in the
House and Senate
The elected majority leader is automatically
elected by the whole House as the Speaker of
the House, the chief presiding officer of the
House of Representatives.
The Speaker is elected at the beginning of
every Congress.
Party Leadership in the
House and Senate
The Speaker is the most important party and
House leader, and can influence the legislative
agenda, the fate of individual pieces of
legislation, and members’ positions within the
House and committee assignments.
Party Leadership in the
House and Senate
The House majority then elects a majority
leader, while the minority party elects a
minority leader.
In the House, the majority leader is
subordinate in the party hierarchy to the
Speaker of the House.
Both parties also elect whips to line up party
members on votes and convey voting
information to the leaders.
Party Leadership in the
House and Senate
In the Senate the president pro tempore is a
ceremonial position, held by the most senior
member of the majority party.
In the Senate the real power lies in the hands
of the majority leader and minority leader, who
perform tasks equivalent to their counterparts
in the House.
Along with these organizational tasks,
congressional party leaders may control or try
to set the legislative agenda.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
The committee system is central to
congressional operation. Congress relies on
committees to do the work of building
legislation.
There are different types of committees,
including:
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Standing committees
These are permanent in nature.
They have the power to propose and write
legislation.
The jurisdiction of each standing committee
covers particular subject matter, such as finance,
tax, trade, Social Security, and Medicare.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Standing committees
Among the most important standing committees
are those in charge of finances, such as taxation
and trade.
Appropriations committees also play important
roles because they decide how much funding
various programs will actually receive.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Standing committees
The House Rules committee allots debate time and
sets rules for making amendments.
More will be said later about the importance of
this standing committee in the legislative process.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Select committees
They are usually temporary legislative committees
set up to highlight or investigate or address a
particular issue that is not within the jurisdiction of
existing committees.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Joint committees
These are legislative committees formed by
members of both the House and Senate.
There are four of these committees: economic,
taxation, library, and printing.
Joint committees play important informationgathering roles.
The Committee System: The
Core of Congress
Conference Committees
These are temporary joint committees created to
work out a compromise on the House and Senate
versions of a piece of legislation.
These committees are important in reconciling
differences between House and Senate legislation.
Politics and the Organization
of Committees
Hierarchy
Each committee’s hierarchy is usually based on
seniority (an individual’s ranking based on the
length of continuous service on a congressional
committee).
From time to time, both parties have departed from
the seniority system in order to foster other
legislative and electoral goals.
Politics and the Organization
of Committees
Hierarchy
Over the years, Congress has changed its original
structure and operating procedures.
Among those changes is the increase in
subcommittees, which are responsible for
considering a specific subset of issues under a
committee’s jurisdiction.
Politics and the Organization
of Committees
Hierarchy
This was done to reduce the power of committee chairs.
However, this change brought power fragmentation
problems, making it more difficult to reach legislative
agreement.
 In 2001, the Republican House reduced the number of
subcommittees and instituted limits on the number of times
a member could serve as a committee chair.
The Democrats kept many of these reforms after taking
control of Congress in 2007.
Politics and the Organization
of Committees
Partisanship:
Sharp partisan divisions among members of
Congress have made it difficult to deliberate and
bring bipartisan expertise to bear on policymaking
as in the past.
With committees less able to engage in effective
decision making and often unable to act, it has
become more common in recent years for partydriven legislation to go directly to the floor,
bypassing committees.
The Staff System: Staffers
and Agencies
Every Congress member employs many staff
members, whose tasks include handling constituency
requests and, to a large and growing extent, dealing
with legislative details and the activities of
administrative agencies.
In addition to their personal staff, senators and
representatives employ committee staffers who are
responsible for administering the committee’s work,
such as doing research, scheduling, and organizing
the legislative process.
The Staff System: Staffers
and Agencies
Congress also established staff agencies or
legislative support agencies responsible for
policy analysis.
These agencies help Congress oversee the
executive branch; they include the
Congressional Research Service, the
Congressional Budget Office, and the
Government Accountability Office, among
others.
Informal Organization: The
Caucuses
In addition to the official congressional
organization, there is an unofficial structure—
the caucuses.
A congressional caucus is an association of
congressional members based on party,
interest, or social group, such as gender or
race.
Informal Organization: The
Caucuses
They seek to advance the interests of the
groups they represent by promoting legislation,
hearings, and favorable treatment. Some
caucuses have evolved into powerful lobbying
organizations.
Rules of Lawmaking: How a
Bill Becomes a Law
Procedural rules govern the process from the
introduction of a bill (a proposed law by a
congressional member submitted to the clerk
of the House or Senate) all the way to
submission to the president for signature.
Schematic of process is on the next two slides.
Committee Deliberation
Draft bill submitted to the appropriate standing
committee for deliberation.
Which gives it to standing subcommittee.
It may hold hearings, testimony, and mark-up
(revision) sessions before the next step—
passing the bill up to the full committee for
mark-up and vote.
Committee Deliberation
Most bills allowed to “die in committee”
If bill is voted out of committee, it goes to the
Rules Committee.
The Rules Committee allots debate time and
floor amendments rules.
Committee Deliberation
The committee may attach a closed rule (a
provision limiting or prohibiting the
introduction of amendments during the bill’s
floor debate), or an open rule (a provision that
permits floor debate and the addition of new
amendments to a bill).
Senate rules are more relaxed, reflecting the
character of that chamber and there is no Rules
Committee.
Debate
Floor debate is next.
Speaker of the House and the Senate majority
leader have the power of recognition during
the bill’s debate.
The House Rules Committee has allotted
debate time to be controlled by the bill’s major
sponsor and opponent.
Debate
Senate leadership less control of floor debate.\
Once given the floor, a senator has unlimited
time to speak.
After floor debate, leaders schedule it for a
vote on the floor of each chamber.
By this time the bill is expected to pass;
otherwise it is not even brought to the floor.
Debate
Senators can filibuster to prevent action on
legislation they oppose, by continuously
holding the floor and speaking until the
majority backs down.
Once given the floor, senators have unlimited
time to speak, and a vote of three-fifths of the
Senate, a procedure called cloture, is required
to end a filibuster.
Debate
Senators can also place “holds,” or stalling
devices, on bills to delay debate.
The origin of the hold is kept secret.
Senators place holds on bills when they fear
openly opposing them will be unpopular, and
sometimes when they hold a grudge.
Conference Committee: Reconciling
House and Senate Versions of
Legislation
If bills are different, a conference committee is
used to iron out the different versions
When/if a compromise version leaves the
conference, it must pass another floor vote in
each chamber.
It is easier for a bill to die than to overcome all
of the hurdles successfully.
Presidential Action
Once a standard version of the bill has been
adopted by both the House and Senate, the
final step for the bill is to go to the president
who may chose to do the following:
Presidential Action
 Sign the bill and it becomes law
 Veto the bill: in this case the president rejects
the bill.
 Veto is the president’s constitutional power to
turn down congressional acts.
 A presidential veto may be overridden by a twothirds vote of each congressional house.
Presidential Action
 If not signed, bill becomes law in 10 days, if
Congress is in session
 If the president does not act on a given piece
of legislation passed during the final ten days
of a legislative session, it does NOT become
law.
 This is called a “Pocket Veto”
How Congress Decides
External and internal factors play a role in
congressional decision making.
External influences include the legislator’s
constituency, interest groups, and political
parties.
Internal influences include party leadership,
congressional colleagues, and the president.
Constituency
Constituency influence is not straightforward.
Most constituents do not know what policies
their representatives support.
Still, Congress members spend much time
forecasting what policies constituents like in
order to be reelected.
(Representational Types)
Interest Groups
These groups lobby Congress by informing
their membership, by simulating grassroots
pressure (called “Astroturf lobbying,” this
technique can include mass mobilization via
collective mail), or by using congressional
scorecards rating congressional members’
voting decisions.
Party Discipline
A party unity vote is a roll-call vote in the House
or in the Senate in which at least 50 percent of the
members of one party take a particular position
and are opposed by at least 50 percent of the
members of the other party.
Party votes are rare today, although they were
common in the nineteenth century. (Book not so
current here– partisanship yields a large number of
unity votes– see Fig 12.9)
Party Discipline
Roll-call vote is a vote in which each
legislator’s yes or no vote is recorded as the
clerk calls the names of the members
alphabetically.
Party Discipline
Congressional party unity has increased in the
last decade as the two major parties have taken
deeply divided positions on various issues
such as abortion, the minimum wage, school
vouchers, affirmative action, and many more.
Party Discipline
Party unity is a product of shared ideology and
background plus party leadership and
organization.
Resources regularly used by party leaders to
secure party members’ support include:
leadership PACs, committee assignments,
access to the floor, the whip system, logrolling,
and the presidency.
Leadership PACs
Congressional leadership uses these
independent fund-raising committees
aggressively to win over a party’s
congressional members.
PACs enhance party power and create a bond
between the leaders and the members who
receive their help.
Committee Assignments
By helping members get favorable committee
assignments, leaders create “debts” that
members want to repay.
Access to the Floor
Floor time allocation is controlled by party
leadership (the Speaker and majority leaders
recognize members to talk on the floor) in both
the House and Senate.
The Whip System
The whip communication network takes polls
of members to learn their voting intentions.
This enables leaders to know how support for
the bill stands.
This system helps to keep party unity in both
houses and allows leaders to know when they
need to exert pressure on members, or offer
“carrots” for support.
Logrolling
Logrolling is the legislative practice wherein
agreements are made between legislators in
voting for or against a bill (“I’ll support you if
you support me”).
The Presidency
The most important influence is presidential.
Support of the president is a criterion for party
loyalty, and party leaders are able to use it to
rally some members.
Weighing Diverse Influences
Influence from external and internal factors
varies in degree depending on the timing or
stage of the bill.
Influence also varies according to the type of
issue the bill addresses, constituent interest,
and the historical moment.
Beyond Legislation: Other
Congressional Powers
Legislation is not the only form of influence
Congress has in governing.
Congress has other powers: oversight,
appropriations, the Senate’s power to approve
treaties and appointments, impeachment and
removal of executive.
Oversight
Through hearings, investigations, and other
techniques, Congress exercises control over
the activities of executive agencies.
 This means Congress supervises how
legislation is carried out by the executive
branch.
Oversight
During hearings about appropriations, most
agencies are subject to oversight.
 Committees have the power to investigate
when fraud, waste, and abuse are found, and
bring criminal charges for contempt (failure to
cooperate) and perjury (lying).
Advice and Consent: Special
Senate Powers
The Constitution grants the president the
power to make treaties and to appoint top
executive and judicial officers only “with the
advice and consent of the Senate” (Article II,
Section 2).
For treaties a two-thirds consent is needed; for
appointments a simple majority is required.
Advice and Consent: Special
Senate Powers
This gives Senators the power to set
conditions; this is why presidents often resort
to executive agreements (agreements made
between the president and another country that
has the force of a treaty but does not require
the Senate’s approval) instead of treaties.
Impeachment
Impeachment is the formal charge by the
House of Representatives that a government
official has committed “treason, bribery, or
other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
During impeachment proceedings, the House
acts as the grand jury by voting on whether to
convict and forcibly remove the person from
office.
Impeachment
A trial is held with the Senate as the jury, and
requires two-thirds Senate to convict and
remove that official.
 This considerable power is an effective
safeguard against the executive tyranny so
feared by the founders.
We The People
An Introduction to American Politics
Seventh Texas Edition
Benjamin Ginsberg
Theodore J. Lowi
Margaret Weir
Copyright © 2009 W. W. Norton & Company