The President and Congress:
A Strategic Relationship
Part II
What should the relationship between the
president and Congress look like?
• To what degree should Congress look to the
president for policy leadership?
• To what degree should partisanship govern the
president’s relationship with Congress?
• Under what circumstances do you think the
president and Congress should compromise?
You will turn in notes for participation credit.
To what degree does partisanship govern the
president’s relationship with Congress?
• Unified and divided government
– Mayhew’s argument
Passage of major legislation, 1947-1990
Unified
Government
Number passed…
By partisan
majority in both
houses
By bipartisan
majority in both
houses
14
73
Divided
Government
Passage of major legislation, 1947-1990
Unified
Government
Divided
Government
14
10
73
123
Number passed…
By partisan
majority in both
houses
By bipartisan
majority in both
houses
To what degree does partisanship govern the
president’s relationship with Congress?
• Unified and divided government
– Mayhew’s argument
• An advantage…
• Not a total advantage
Under what circumstances will the
president and Congress compromise?
• Logic of compromise:
• When a party to a negotiation prefers any
improvement over the status quo to the
status quo itself.
Under what circumstances will we see
the president and Congress compromise?
• Unified government
• Issue is good for one party and bad for the
other
• Long time until the next election
• Major legislation
Under what circumstances will the president
and Congress fail to compromise?
• Logic of the failure to compromise:
• Hard to explain to enthusiastic supporters
• Parties wish to maintain differences
• Reduces chances of getting more later
Under what circumstances will the president
and Congress fail to compromise?
• Divided government
• Issue is subject of intense interest by active
pressure groups
• Issue is good for one party and bad for the
other
• Elections are close
Veto bait
•
•
•
•
Divided government only
Congress passes an uncompromising bill
Veto imposes costs on the president
Can lead to game of successive
approximations
• How can the president win?