Daily Dilemma: Are legislators more
like trustees or delegates? (p. 377)
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Origin and Powers of Congress
 The Great Compromise: The U.S. Congress has 2 chambers.
 Senate– Equal representation for all states
 House of Representatives– Based on state’s population and
reassessed by the census every 10 years
 The House and Senate share many powers including the
power to declare war, raise an army and navy, borrow and
coin money, regulate interstate commerce, create federal
courts, establish rules for the naturalization of immigrants
and “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.”
House of Representatives
 Alone can originate revenue bills
 Has the power of impeachment– charging a president, vice
president, and other “civil officers” of the national
government with serious crimes
Senate
 Has the power to try impeachments with the chief justice of
the Supreme Court presiding. A 2/3 majority vote of the
senators present is necessary for conviction
 Can approve major presidential appointments (federal
judgeships, ambassadorships and cabinet posts) and treaties
with foreign nations
Electing Congress
 The incumbency effect: The reelection rate is very high for
Congress. More than 90% of House incumbents have held
their seats. Senate races are more competitive but
incumbents still have high rates of re-election.
I.
Redistricting
II. Name Recognition
III. Casework
IV. Campaign Financing
V. Successful Challengers
VI. 2012 Election
Redistricting
 Gerrymandering– redrawing a congressional district to
intentionally benefit one political party.
 Some argue that gerrymandering
contributes to the increasing pattern
of polarization between the two parties
in the House
 Minnesota election examples 2012
Name Recognition
 Holding office brings the advantages of name recognition
and the franking privilege– you can send mail to constituents
for free
Case Work
 Casework– services for constituent
 Tracking down a Social Security check
 Directing the owner of a small business to the right federal
agency
 Not only will that person probably vote for the legislator, but
he or she will spread the word
 “Casework is all profit.”
Campaign Financing
 Challengers must spend large sums of money to run a strong
campaign with as emphasis on advertising
 “Bachmann got 50.5 percent of the vote in the 6th
Congessional District to Democrat Jim Graves' 49.3 percent -a difference of 4,207 votes and just outside the margin that
would trigger an automatic recount.”
Successful Challengers
 Some challengers beat incumbents. The opposing party and
unsympathetic PACs may target incumbents who seem
vulnerable because of age, lack of seniority, a scandal, being
elected by a narrow margin or unfavorable redistricting.
 Brings out higher quality challengers
Whom Do we Elect?
 Most members of Congress are upper-class professionals–
lawyers and business people
 44% are millionaires
 Women and minorities have long been under-represented–
their numbers in Congress are nowhere near their population
at large
 20 women are now in the Senate (following the election) the
most in history
 Descriptive representation– a legislature should resemble the
demographic characteristics of the population
2010 Election
 Democrats lost over 60 seats in the House and 6 in the
Senate…
 Economic uncertainty
 Anger over Obamacare (healthcare policies) and economic
stimulus
 Mobilized Republican base
 Lethagic liberal base frustrated by the failure of the Obama
administration
Approval Rating of Congress
 A record 84 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the
way the Congress is doing its job compared with just 13
percent who approve of how things are going, according to a
Washington Post/ABC News public opinion poll published on
January 12, 2012. (Reuters News Service)
Should gerrymandering be used to
promote the election of minorities?
 Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) pushed states to concentrate
minorities in House districts
 States redrew boundaries in the 1990 census with the intent of
creating districts with majority or near-majority minority
populations
 Shaw v. Reno ruled that racial gerrymandering segregated
blacks from whites instead of creating districts built around
contiguous communities and that racial gerrymandering
violated the 14th Amendment
 TODAY Race is not an illegitimate consideration in drawing
congressional boundaries as long is it was not the “dominant
controlling factor”
How Issues get on the Congressional
Agenda
 The test of time– Social Security, foreign aid, the national
debt
 Sudden issues– cyber bullying, 9/11 security, the fiscal cliff
 http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/08/news/economy/fiscal-
cliff/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
How issues get on the agenda
(continued)
 Highly visible events– 9/11
 Party leaders and committee chairs have the opportunity to
move the issue onto the agenda (with finesse and biding their
time)
The Dance of Legislation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0
Dance of Legislation
p. 363
 After a bill is introduced it’s assigned to a committee with
jurisdiction over the policy area
 In the House, the bill must go to the rules committee to determine
the specific rules of debate– specifically the length of debate and
the sorts of amendments that can be offered
 If the House and Senate both pass the bill after votes on the floor, a
conference committee must meet to discuss the bill
 PRESIDENT can sign, veto or pocket veto (can only be used in the
last 10 days of the session)
 If the law is vetoed, then the House and Senate have to override
with a 2/3 vote
Committees: The Workhorses of
Congress
 “Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst
Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work”
 The Division of Labor Among Committees– members of Congress
end up specializing on specific topics (based on their expertise and
the needs of their constituents)
 Standing committees– permanent committees. Typically 16-20
senators serve on these committees and about 42 representatives
 Joint committee– members of the House and Senate. Weaker than
standing committees because there are specific rules about their
ability to report bills to the House or Senate.
 Select committee– temporary committee for a specific purpose
Congressional Expertise and Seniority
 Influence grows with seniority and expertise
 Within each committee, the senior member of the majority
party usually becomes the committee chair
 Committee and subcommittee members have to find ways to
overcome inherent ideological and partisan divisions so that
they can build compromise solutions that will appeal to the
broader membership of the House and Senate
Oversight: Following Through on
Legislation
 Oversight– the process of reviewing agencies’ operations to
determine whether they are carrying out policies as Congress
intended
 Hearings may be a part of a routine review or the byproduct of
information that reveals a problem
 Ongoing contact with committee and subcommittee leaders
and agency administrators as well as between committee and
agency staffers
Majoritarian and Pluralist Views of
Committees
 Committees enhance pluralism because representatives and
senators are elected by voters and they tend to seek
membership on committees that most impact their
constituents.
 The committees also have a majoritarian aspect. Most
committee members reflect the general ideological profiles
of the two parties’ congressional contingents.
Leaders and Followers in Congress
 Democratic and Republican leaders in each house work to
maximize the influence of their own party while trying to keep their
chamber functioning smoothly and efficiently.
 The Leadership Task– Both parties elect party leaders in both the
House and the Senate who are in charge of overseeing institutional
procedures, managing legislation, fundraising and communicating
with the press. PUSHING THROUGH LEGISLATION AND BUILDING
COMPROMISE ARE LARGE TASKS OF PARTY LEADERS.
 Speaker of the House
 President pro tempore & the Vice President
 Real power in the Senate is in the hands of the majority leader
Rules of Procedure & Norms of Behavior
 House– Rules Committee governs floor debate
 Senate– very few rules governing floor debate
 Filibuster– a delaying tactic, used in the Senate, that involves
speechmaking to prevent action on a piece of legislation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX8aFpnWxPA&feature=fvwrel
 Congress must eliminate personal disagreements to prevent
the dissolution into bickering and factions
 “My good friend,” “the senior Senator from _______,” etc.
The Legislative Environment
 Political parties– can help or hinder efforts to get on the right
committees, get their bills and amendments considered and climb
the leadership ladder
 The President– The public’s expectation of what the President can
accomplish has skyrocketed during the 20th Century. The President
has limited power over the lawmaking process.
 Constituents– voters have a huge role in the lawmaking process.
Representatives need to be responsive to what their constituents
want
 Interest groups--
The Dilemma of Representation
 Trustees or Delegates?
 Trustees are obligated to consider the views of their
constituents but are not obligated to vote accordingly
 Delegates must follow their constituent’s views while voting
Pluralism or Majoritarianism?
 If legislators act like delegates, the system is more pluralistic
and policies reflect bargaining that goes on among
lawmakers who speak for different constituencies
 If legislators tend to act as trustees, policymaking is less tied
to pluralism
 True majoritarian legislatures require a paramount role for
political parties