U.S. CONGRESS
Why do we love our Congressperson, but hate Congress?
October 2008 Congress Approval Rating (CBS/NYT) : 17%
October 2008 My Representative Approval Ratingn
(CBS/NYT) 50%
2008 Re-Election Rates : House 94%, Senate 83%
www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php
“The Paradox of Congress”: It is a locally elected body,
responsible for making national policy!
Bicameralism
 Original differences between House & Senate:
Age, size, basis of representation, term length, method of
election (not anymore), size of constituency, Constitutional
responsibilities
 Evolved differences: rules of procedure, level of
partisanship, power/function of leadership & committees,
power of majority
 Why the lower and more variable re-election rate for
Senators?
 Longer term, more diverse constituencies, more national
visibility, more perceived responsibility, more qualified and
better funded challengers
Congressional Structure
 HOUSE
 Size fixed at 435
 Apportionment of Districts (based on census)
Who gains? Who loses?
 Supreme Court and “one person, one vote”
 Redistricting process – who does it?
a.) Partisan gerrymandering
LULAC v. Perry, 2006
b.) Racial gerrymandering and MMDs
Congressional Structure
 SENATE
Effects of equal representation for each state: state
admissions in 19th Century, grant formulas, urban v. rural
issues, leadership
 THE IMPORTANCE OF MAJORITY CONTROL
 HOUSE PARTIES & LEADERSHIP
1.) House Democratic Caucus -- elects
Speaker (Nancy Pelosi), Majority Leader (Steny Hoyer),
Majority Whip (James Clyburn)
2.) House Republican Conference – elects Minority Leader
(John Boehner), Minority Whip (Eric Cantor)
Congressional Structure
 SENATE PARTIES AND LEADERSHIP
Constitutional Leadership: Vice-President
(Joseph Biden), President ProTempore (Robert
Byrd)
Why they did not evolve into the “real” leaders of
the Senate
1.) Senate Democratic Conference: elects
Majority Leader (Harry Reid), Majority Whip
(Dick Durbin)
 2.) Senate Republican Conference: elects
Minority Leader (Mitch McConnell), Minority
Whip (Jon Kyl)
Congressional Structure
 COMMITTEES
“Congress in Committee is Congress at Work”
 Positive and negative power (agendasetting,
gatekeeping)
 Jurisdictions, competition, and multiple referral
 The Committee Assignment Process: selfselection, seniority, party loyalty
 How Committee Chairpersons are Selected:
committee majority & seniority, caucus approval
How a Bill Becomes a Law (or Not)
 1.) Introduction and Referral to Committee
sponsorship v. cosponsorship
2.) Committee consideration
a.) hearings – who testifies?
b.) markup session
c.) report (noun and verb)
 3.) From Committee to the Floor – House
House Rules Committee: “gatekeeper to the
floor”
How a Bill Becomes a Law (or
not)
 4.) From committee to the floor – Senate
The ever-present “filibuster” threat
Unanimous consent agreements
 5.) House and Senate floor debate & floor
amendment process
--sneaky ways to “kill” a bill on the floor
 6.) How House members and Senators decide to
vote: cue-taking, constituency, ideology, and
party
Representative roles: delegate, trustee, politico
National vs. local interest
How a Bill Becomes a Law (or
Not)
 7.) Reconciling House and Senate
versions of the same bill: the
conference committee
8.) The President’s options –
 regular veto, pocket veto
 SAPs and signing statements
Why do Members of Congress
get re-elected so easily?
 a.) advertising
b.) credit claiming: “pork barrel” projects
and “casework”
c.) strategic position-taking
d.) the financial advantage
e.) the “scare-off” effect on potential
opponents
 Is it more important that our congresspersons
take the “right” positions, or that they be
successful at getting things accomplished?
What Americans Don’t Like
About Congress
 John Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse
Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How
Government Should Work (Cambridge Univ. Press,
2002)
 Compromise = Selling Out?
 Debate=Petty Attack Politics?
 Does Congress reflect the deep divisions in
American society?
Morris Fiorina, Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized
America