Congress

CongressThe 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 $170,000/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_pigbook2008

Gerrymandering-the drawing of district lines to the advantage of the majority party in the state “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 they strict rules on debate and amendments

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

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 Leadership

•President of the Senate Dick Cheney-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 policy-

report 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)