Congress
The legislative branch
Members represent their constituents
• Constituency-the district comprising the area which
an official is elected, but this difficult for a
congressman because of many demands of the
people
▫ A congressman also sees his job in 3 ways:
 Delegate-acting on the express preference of their
constituents (nearly impossible)
 Trustee-making decisions on what he thinks best (limits
that congressman to focus on high profile issues and
opens door to special interests)
 Partisan-loyalty to the party (limits their service to the
constituents)
The job is difficult
• On any given day, a
member is expected to
make decisions on any
number of issues, some of
which he/she may not be
educated about
• Many bills can be lengthy
(Clinton’s health reform
package was 1300 pages
long), which increases the
reliance on the party and
interest groups to decipher
them
• But…congressmen are taken care of
▫ They earn $174,000/year
▫ They receive a spending allowance,
office, office staff, travel allowance,
health care, private restaurant,
private gyms
• Congress is sometimes considered a
millionaires club, but many are
elitists are either lawyers or
businessmen, and mostly male and
white
• Franking privileges -free
postage, to help congressmen keep
in touch with constituents
Getting in
• Who runs-typically candidates are high profile members
of that state who have managed to raise enough money
to attract voters and have good connections
• Once in, however, you will stay in because of a stacked
deck called incumbency (average reelection rate is 95%)
▫ The advantages of being the incumbent
Name recognition
Campaign war chest (leads to the constant campaign)
Patronage-favors for supporters
Pork barrel spending (earmarking)-money given to local
projects that may or may not be needed
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pi
gbook2008
 Gerrymandering-the drawing of district lines to the advantage
of the majority party in the state
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 “one person, one vote”- Baker v. Carr 1962; Wesberry v. Sanders
1964 congressional districting
House of Representatives
• 435 Members (seats are
reapportioned every 10 years)
• 2 year terms (all 435 up for
reelection)
• Have to be 25, citizenship for 7
years and resident of state they
represent
• Must initiate all revenue bills
and pass articles of
impeachment
• Less prestigious, more
centralized turnover is small
• Seniority is important and
strict rules on debate and
amendments
House Membership of 111th Congress
• 262 Democrats
• 178 Republicans
▫ 6 nonvoting members
• Average Age: 57
• 78 women (61
Democrats, 17
Republicans)
• Ethnicity: 41 African
Americans, 28
Hispanics, 9 Asian
Americans, 1 American
Indian
• 96 Veterans
House Leadership
• Speaker of the House
▫ Most powerful person in the
House
▫ Traditionally the oldest
member of majority party
▫ Assigns committee
memberships (especially Rules
Committee)
▫ Assigns bills to committees
▫ 2nd in line to presidency
▫ What bills come to the floor
▫ Recognizes speakers on floor
▫ Controls material benefits
• Institutional task is to move
legislation through the House
• Also must ensure passage of
her party’s measures
Speaker of the
House
Sam Rayburn
Dem-Tx.
1941-1947
1949-1953
1955-1961
“I didn’t serve under
anyone. I served with
eight presidents.”
House Leadership
• Majority Leader-schedule bills
and seek support of bills
▫ Steny Hoyer
He is assisted by the whips
• Minority Leader-tries to block
majority party’s legislation
▫ John Boehner
 Also assisted by minority
whips
The Senate
• 100 members (2 per state)
• 6 year terms
• Have to be 30, 9 year citizen and
a resident in the state you
represent
• Senate provides “advice and
consent” to the president and
holds the impeachment trial
• Senate is seen as more
prestigious, leadership is less
decentralized and seniority less
important
• Senate has unlimited debates
which can lead to filibusters
(longest-24 hours, 18 minutes)
Senate Membership of 111th Congress
• 56 Democrats, 41
Republicans, 2
independents (as of 1/7)
• Average Age: 63
• Gender: 17 women (13
Democrats, 4
Republicans)
• Ethnicity: 3 Hispanics, 2
Asian Americans
• 25 Veterans
Senate Leadership
• President of the Senate
 Vice-President of US
 Joseph Biden-breaks ties
▫ President Pro Tempore
• Senate Majority Leader
▫ Harry Reid
 Majority whips
• Senate Minority Leader
▫ Mitch McConnell
 Minority whips
Committees
“Outside of traffic, there is nothing that has held this
country back as much as committees.”
• The real work of Congress done in committees
• They serve as a filtering process to ensure best bill is put
forward
• Committees hold hearing to investigate problems and
possible wrongdoings by the executive branch-a.k.a.
OVERSIGHT
• They control the congressional agenda and guide the
legislative process
• Allows members to specialize and become experts, but
also leads to corruption and undue influence from
special interests
4 Types of Committees
• Standing committees-permanent committees that
propose and write legislation 20 in the House, 17 in
Senate
• Select committee-temporary committees designed to
investigate issues not within the jurisdiction of a
standing committee (Watergate, Iran-Contra, 9/11)
• Joint committees-made up of members from both
houses and gather information
• Conference committee-made up of members of both
house and work to compromise on bills already passed
Power Committees
• House
▫ Rules-set rules for debate
▫ Appropriations-PORK
▫ Ways and Means-taxes
▫ Budget
▫ Armed Services
▫ Foreign Affairs
• Senate
▫ Foreign Relations
▫ Finance
▫ Appropriations
▫ Budget
▫ Armed Services
▫ Judiciary
• Being on the right
committees help with
▫ Reelection-PACs and
$$$$
▫ Shape public policyreport back home
▫ Increasing influence in
Congress
• Committee membership
decided by party
leadership, but legislators
are typically put on
committees that represent
their district needs,
matches their interests or
specialty, or if the member
comes from a “safe” district
Committees and subcommittees
• Membership and chairman of the committees
determined by seniority and party membership (the
chair of each committee is a member of the majority
party and committees are proportional to whole house)
• Chairs of committees and subcommittees wield a lot of
influence over proposed legislation
• Subcommittees are important because it allows for
younger members to be in on important legislation, each
subcommittee operates semi-independently of parent
committee and the shear number of them contributes to
gridlock
Informal Organizations
• Internal interest groups made up of congressional
members that share similar interests or background and
seek to advance the interests of the group
▫ Black Caucus, Democratic Study Group, Hispanic Caucus,
Steel Caucus, Mushroom Caucus, Blue Dog Caucus, Sudan
Caucus, Congressional Boating Caucus
• Staff members are second in importance to committees
and serve as conduits for interest groups
▫ Handle constituency requests
▫ Provide analysis and information on bills
Last thoughts-Congress vs. President
• Gridlock is good—no gridlock bad
▫ Different constituencies and view (President has a
global perspective, Congress local)
▫ Internal structure leads to conflict because of
committees
▫ Different levels of expertise and information
 Most congressmen are lawyers and lack expertise on
most subjects
▫ Differing timetables
 House elected every 2 years (represent passions of the
people) so constantly campaigning and tend to ignore
big issues
 Senators have 6 years to spend on issues and have
more freedom to what it wants (they cool the passions
of the people)