• OBJ: SWBAT discuss and decide why the framers chose to organize the Legislative
Branch in the manner they did.
• Drill: Why are there two houses in Congress?
What is this called and what created it?
• Homework: Answer the 6 questions in Wilson for Chapter 13 DUE FRIDAY HOLD ON TO THE
QUESTIONS I GAVE YOU YESTERDAY, WE WILL
USE THEM LATER.

The Roots of the Legislative Branch
• Colonial Assemblies
– Bicameral legislative bodies
• One popularly elected house
• One Crown-appointed council
– Served as Advisory Council
• To the King-appointed governors
– Power
• Limited
• Increasingly over taxation & spending
• Legislation on religious matters
• Regulate production of goods in colonies

The Roots of the Legislative Branch
• 1st Continental Congress (1774)
– 1st National Legislature
– To respond to the Coercive Acts
– Advised building of colonial militia
– Organized colonial boycott of British goods
• 2nd Continental Congress (1775)
– Prepared the colonies for war with Britain
– Raised a colonial army
– Adopted Declaration of Independence
– Directed the war & run a national government

The Roots of the Legislative Branch
• Congress Under the Articles of Confederation
– Unicameral legislature
– Each state represented by 2 to 7 delegates
– Each state had one vote (“ equal representation”)
– Congress = National government
• No President & National Court created
– Members of Congress sent by state legislatures
– Limited Powers
• Maintaining an army and navy
• Supervising trade with Indians
• Coining money

The Roots of the Legislative Branch
• Limitations of Congress under the Articles
– Weak national government vs states
• Missing link btwn people & nat’l government
– Low standing in international affairs
• Foreign relations conducted by states
• Foreign trade regulated by states individually
– Financially incapacitated
• No taxation power
• Reliance on state for financial resources

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Constitutional convention of 1787
– Structure of Congress
• Unicameral or Bicameral
– New Jersey Plan
» “equal representation”
One state, one vote
– Virginia Plan
» “proportionate representation”
# of seats proportional to population

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Constitutional convention of 1787
– Unicameral or Bicameral
• Great Compromise
– Bicameral Congress
» Proportional representation (House)
» Equal representation (Senate)

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Sources of Power: How Should Congress
Be Elected?
– Lower house: popularly elected
– Upper house: sent by state legislatures
• Powers of Congress
– Does Congress elect President?
• No, Electoral College does
• Yes, when no candidate receives a majority votes in the College

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Powers of Congress
– “Power of the Purse”
• Appropriation of money
• Authorization of borrowing
• taxation
– Regulatory Power
• Regulation of currency
• Punishment of counterfeiting
• Regulation of inter-state & int’l trade

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Powers of Congress
– Law-making Power
• Establishing rules of naturalization
• Making patent & copy-right laws
• Making bankruptcy laws
• Making amendments to Constitution
– War-making & Military Power
• War declaration
• Raising & supporting armed forces
• Providing for militia

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Powers of Congress
– Power of Personnel Appointment
• Confirmation of executive appointments
– Secretary of State
– US ambassador to the UN
• Confirmation of federal judge nomination
– Federal court judges
– US Supreme Court justices
– Power of Impeachment
• Bringing impeachment charges (House)
• Trying impeachments (Senate)

Congress & Constitution (1789)
• Powers of Congress
– Other Powers
• Establishing post office & post roads
• Fixing weights and measures
• Providing for the government of D.C.
• Admitting new states
• Establishing lower federal courts

• In order to figure out why and how Congress has the powers they do, you will read #57 and #62 of the
Federalist Papers.
• Answer the following questions.
• How does Publius describe the legislative role of
Congress?
• In what ways does Publius see the Senate as differing from the House?
• What gives it the different character?
• Does democracy need a less democratic legislative chamber?
• Is the Constitution sufficiently democratic?
• Why did the framers choose to organize the legislative branch of the United States government in the manner that they did?

Article I
• Take a copy of Article I of the Constitution if you do not have your copy with you.
• Using what you read in the Federalist Papers place a 57 or 62 by ideas that appear in Article
I that come from each paper.

Senate vs. the House
• Size
– 435 members in the House (since 1911)
• 106 members in 1791 representing 3.5 million residents
– 100 Senators in the Senate
• Qualifications
– House
• 25 years of age
• Citizenship for at least 7 years
• Residency in district: 1 year
• Term of service: 2 years
• 1 member per 550,000 people
– How often is Congressional election?
– How many Members face election each time?

Senate vs. House
• Congress & Constituency
– House of Representatives
• Closer to the voters
• More reflective of voter preferences
• More answerable to constituents
– Senate
• More remote to the voters
– Allows for political stability & policy continuity
• Less responsive to temporal changes in popular sentiments
– Can act as a dispassionate counter-weight to the more popular & radical House

Senate vs. House
• Qualifications
– Senate
• 30 years of age
• 9 years of citizenship
• Residency requirement in state: 1 year
• Term: 6 years
• 2 seats per state in Senate
– How often is Senatorial election?
– How many Senators face election each time?

Senate vs. House
• Legislative role differences
– Senate
• More deliberative
– Why?
• Less structured
– House of Representatives
• More centralized & organized
– Why?
• More routine & structured

Congress vs. US Society
Does Congress mirror the American society?
• In religious belief (2001-2003)
– Protestant
– Catholics
– Jewish
– Mormon
• Policy implications
– Abortion
– Same sex marriage
341
149
37
16

Wrap Up
• Make an assumption on what you know already, why are there different requirements for entry into the House and the Senate?

Congress vs. US Society
• Minorities in Congress
– Women
Number of Women in US Congress
100
80
60
40
20
0
59 63
67
72
77
82
24
17
11
20
11
9
1937 1947 1957 1967 1977 1987 1997 1998 1999 2001 2003 2004

Congress vs. US Society
• Minorities in Congress
– Race
Number of Minorities in US Congress
(2001)
371
400
300
200
100
0
6
37 23
Asia n
Afr
Am eric an
His pan ic
Wh ite

Congress vs. US Society
• Professional background
Members of Congress by Professional
Background (2001)
250
200
150
100
50
0
209
183
Law
108
154
31
16
28
17
56
Bus ine ss
Edu catio n
Pub lic S
Agr erv icult ice ure
Jou rna
Rea lism l Es
Me tate dicin e
Oth er

Congress vs. US Society
A typical member of Congress
• Middle-aged
• Male
• White
• Lawyer
• Whose father is of the professional or managerial class
• Native born or from northwestern or central Europe, Canada

To run for Congress…
2000 Senatorial Race of New York

To run for Congress…
Three success factors
• #1: Who the person to run
– Candidate characteristics have an edge over others
• A record of prior public service
• National name recognition
– Hillary Clinton versus Rep. Rick Lazzio
• Fund-raising capability

To run for Congress…
• Why members of Congress easily win re-election?
Success Rate of Congressional Election
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2002
Senate
House

To run for Congress…
• #2: Incumbency Advantages
– Visibility
Contact with Members of House
• Advertise thru contacts with constituents
( blue=Incumbents; brown=challengers)
• Stay visible thru trips to home districts
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Re ce ive
Sa w I d m ail on
TV fro m
I
Re ad
He
ab ou ard t I
M et I
I o n ra dio
pe rso na lly

To run for Congress…
• #2: Incumbency Advantages
– Visibility
– Campaign contributions
• Donations go to those in office
• Donations to challengers offend incumbents
– Credit claiming thru services to individuals & district
• Casework
– Attend to voter concerns, requests and problems
– Help cut thru bureaucratic red tape to get what one believes he has a right to get
• Pork barrel
– List of federal projects, grants & contracts
– Help obtain or make known such projects to district

To run for Congress…
• #2: Incumbency Advantages
– Visibility
– Campaign contributions
– Credit claiming thru services to individuals & district
– Incumbent resources
• Institutional connections and access to channels of communications
• “franking privilege” (free use of the US mails)
• Tax-funded travel allowance to stay visible in one’s own district
– Incumbents scaring challengers away
*calls for “term limits” aim to eliminate incumbency advantage

To run for Congress…
Congressional Districts
District 23 (Texas) and District 3 (Florida in ’92 and ’96)

To run for Congress…
• #3: Redistricting
– Congressional districts redrawn every 10 years
• To avoid under- or over-representation
– Re-drawing districts is highly political
• Can create open seats
• Can pit incumbents of the same district against one another, ensuring one of them to lose
• Can create advantage for one Party
– Putting people of the same party in one district
– Or separating them into two or more districts.

Cost of Congressional Race…
• Cost to Get Elected
– Congressional elections are getting more costly
• Jon Corzine (NJ-D), $63 million own money on
Senate race
– $928 million spent on 1999-2000
Congressional election
– Incumbents outspend their opponents
• E.g., $7.5 million spent by Newt Gingrich’s reelection in 1998
– Candidates of major states spend more
• $85 million attracted in Hillary-Lassio race,
2000

Cost of Congressional Race…
• Cost to Get Elected
1998 2000
– Spending on House race
• Winners: $800,000
$2,839,813 campaign
• Losers: at least $300,000
$27,159,681
– Spending on Senate race
$7,266,576
$3,864,638
$63,000,000 (Jon
Corzine, D-NJ)
• Winners: $7 million up to $40 million or more
House
• Rising Cost
Average winner spent $650,428 $840,300
Average loser spent $210,614
Most expensive campaign $7,578,716
$307,121
$6,900,000 (James
E. Humphrey, D-
WV)

Cost of Congressional Race…
• Rising Cost
Rising Congressional Race Cost (in million dollars)
$1,000
$900
$800
$700
$600
$500
$400
$300
$200
$100
$0
1975-76 1979-1980 1985-1986 1989-1990 1995-1996 1999-2000

Organization of Congress
• Congress not only represents, it also legislates.
• Internal complexity makes it hard to conduct business without organization.
• Congress is organized around:
– Political parties
– A committee system
– Parliamentary rules of the House & Senate
– And others…

Organization of Congress
• Political Parties
– House leader election every two years
– Majority party leader = House Speaker
– Every party has a Committee on
Committees (
Democrats call theirs: the Steering & Policy
Committee
)
• Assign new legislators to committees
• Transfer incumbents to new committees on request
– Majority & minority leaders jointly control
Senate calendars (agenda)

Organization of Congress
• Party leaders & legislative agenda
– Leaders are enthusiastic for agenda
• To create consensus within party
– 1980
– 1994-1995
(when Congress not controlled by President’s party)

Organization of Congress
Committee System
Standing Committees
– Important policy-making bodies
– Existing from Congress to Congress
– Paralleling executive agencies
• Foreign Affairs Committee - State Department
• Intelligence Committee – CIA & others
– Having power to report legislation

Organization of Congress
• Select Committee
– Temporary committees
– No power to report legislation
– Set up to handle specific issues that fall btwn the jurisdiction of existing committees
• A special committee for investigating the
Watergate scandal (1973)

Organization of Congress
• Joint Committee
– With members from both parties
– Permanent
– No power to report legislation
– Four types of joint committees
• Economic
• Taxation
• Library
• printing

The Committee System
• Conference Committee
– Temporary
– Members appointed by Speaker & Senate presiding officer
– For reconciling any differences on legislation once it has been passed by
House & Senate

The Staff System
• A number of staff members for every legislator
• Staff members (
7,216 in House alone, 1999
):
– Handle constituency requests
– Take care of legislative details
– Formulate & draft proposals
– Organize hearing, deal with administrative agencies, reporters and lobbyists…

The caucuses
• What is a caucus?
Informal group or committee composed of Senators or
Representatives who share opinions, interests or social characteristics.
– Ideological causes
• Liberal Democratic Study Group
– Issue-oriented caucuses
• Travel & Tourism Caucuses
• Congressional Friends of Animals
– Common background caucuses
• The Congressional Black Caucus

The caucuses
• What is a caucus?
• Objectives of the Caucuses
To advance interests of the groups they represent by promoting legislation, encouraging Congress to hold hearing, and pressing administrative agencies for favorable treatment

How a Bill Becomes Law
Some facts:

For a bill to become law, there are many routine hurdles


It is easier for opponents to kill a bill than to pass it
The law-making process is highly political

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
1.
Introducing legislation
Who can introduce legislative proposals?




Members of Congress
Executive branch
Interest groups
Constituents

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
2. Assignment to Committee


Given a number in House preceded by “H. R.” and by “S” in Senate
Bill referred to a committee



Most bills assigned to the appropriate committees
Complex bills referred to several committees
Controversial bills are sometimes handled by temporary or ad hoc committees set up for that purpose

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
2. Assignment to Committee

Often, nothing happens to the bills in committee. Neglect leads to death of many bills

Bills to be acted on are often referred to the appropriate sub-committees.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
3. Hearing

Once the sub-committee or full committee decides to act, hearings are held participated by:




Executive agency representatives
Academia
Interest groups
Other interested persons

In a typical two-year Congress


Senate: 1200 hearings
House: 2300 hearings

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
4. Reporting a Bill


When a sub-committee decides to act on a bill, it drafts it line by line
It reports it to the full committee

The full committee accepts, rejects or amends the bill.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
5. Schedule Debate

When a committee agrees to submit a bill to the two houses, it is put on the House & Senate calendar, a list bills for action

Each house has different calendars for different bills

In House, non-controversial bills are put on the
Consent Calendar or Private Calendar to be passed without debate

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
5. Schedule Debate

Each house has different calendars for different bills

Controversial or important bills are placed on the
Union Calendar or house Calendar. Rules & procedures (length of debate) are requested from the Rules Committee.
Define the following: filibuster, cloture, open rule, closed rule.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
6. Debate & Amendment

Opponents & proponents have equal debate time





Relevant amendments, if allowed, can be added
Floor debate seldom change views of others
In Senate, debate can last long time
In Senate, filibuster can be used
Senators can propose amendments irrelevant to the bill.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
7. The Vote

How do members vote? What impact their voting behavior?



Personal views
Opinions of the constituents
Advice of knowledgeable & trusted colleagues
Occasionally, President can win over wavering members of their Party to stick with the team or by cutting deals with pivotal members.

It is important for members to cast an explainable vote, one that is defendable in public when challenged.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
7. The Vote

How do members vote? What impact their voting behavior?


It is important for members to cast an explainable vote, one that is defendable in public when challenged.
Not every vote has to please the constituents. But, too many “bad” votes are costly and show distance with one’s folks at home.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
8. In Conference Committee

Once passed, a bill is sent to the other chamber for consideration



If the 2nd chamber passes the bill, it is then sent to the White House for action.
But, controversial bills need to go to a Conference
Committee to reconcile the differences in the two versions of the bills
After Conference, details of the bill are reported back to each chamber before sending to the
President.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
7. To the President

Approve the bill into law



Ignore it, with the result it becomes law in 10 days (not including weekend & when Congress is still in session)
Veto it (& facing override in Congress)
Pocket veto it (if Congress adjourns before the
10 days are up)
When President vetoes a bill, he usually explains why he does so.

How a Bill Becomes Law
The Law-making Steps
7. Congressional Override of Veto
A two-thirds majority is required in each chamber to override the Presidential veto

Influences on Law-making
There are two major forces impacting
Congressional law-making
• External influences
– Constituency
– Interest groups
• Internal/governmental influences
– Party leadership
– Congressional colleagues
– President/executive branch

Influences on Law-making
Influence from the Constituency
• Members of Congress comply with views of constituents due to re-election need
• They voluntarily anticipate or find out constituents’ positions
– 1998, 31 House democrats crossed the party line and voted in favor of an impeachment inquiry (e.g., Congressman
Gary Condit)

Influences from Interest Groups
• Mobilize followers in a member’s congressional districts
– “Astroturf lobbying”
• Provide information

Influences from Party Org
• Party leaders in Congress have influence over members
• Party organizations have resources:
– Leadership PACs
• PACs (1) raise funds and then (2) distribute to members for running for election
• PACs enhance party power
• PACs create bond between leaders & members who receive money
– Committee Assignments
– Access to Floor
– The whip system communication network, with info on member intentions in voting
– Logrolling

Influences from the President
• Since 1940s, President submitted yearly legislative proposals to Congress
• Since mid-1950s, Congress has looked to the
President for legislative proposals