Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local...

Congress: Balancing National

Goals and Local Interests

Chapter 11

Original intent

Leading branch of government

Parts of executive and judicial branches cannot

exist without congressional approval

Branch where the interest of the people would be

found

© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 2

Congress as a Career

Election to Congress – professional politicians High incumbency rate

Using incumbency to stay in Congress

Districts are lopsided

The service strategy: taking care of constituents

Pork barrel projects

Congressional staffers

Franking privilege

Campaign fund-raising: raking in the money

Mailing lists and PACs

Redistricting: favorable boundaries for incumbents

Reapportionment, redistricting, and gerrymandering


Congress as a Career

Election to Congress

The pitfalls of incumbency

Disruptive issues

Personal misconduct

Turnout variation: the midterm election problem

Strong challengers – pitfall to the Senate

Who are the winners in Congressional elections?

Qualifications (expressed and implied)


Party Leadership in Congress

Party caucus

House leadership

Speaker of the House

Elected by the House membership

By default a member of the majority party

Said to be the second-most-powerful official in

Washington, after the President

Powers of the Speaker

Majority and minority leaders

whips



Senate leadership

Majority party leader is the most powerful Senator

The Vice President presides over the Senate;

however has power only to cast tie-breaking vote

Senate president pro tempore presides over the

Senate in the VP absence,

Largely a honorary position held by the majority party’s

senior member



The power of party leaders

Relatively weak compared to the power exercised

by party leaders in other democracies

Have grown stronger in recent years as partisan

divide has become more dramatic


COMMITTEE SYSTEM

Standing committees – permanent committees

Subcommittees – where most of the work is done

Select committee – created for a specific

purpose

Joint committee – members of both houses

Conference committee – reconcile versions of

a bill from both houses


The Committee System

Committee jurisdiction

Bills introduced must be referred to the proper committee for

deliberation

Turf wars – usually decided by party leaders

Committee membership

The ratio of D and R is approx. the same as the ratio in the full House

or Senate

Majority party decides what the ratio will be

Prestigious committees – Senate Foreign Relations Committee and

the House Ways and Means


Committee chairs

Schedules meetings, and controls debate and order

Typically the senior member of the majority party


How a Bill Becomes a Law

Committee hearings and decisions

Bill is introduced, given a number and title and

sent to appropriate committee

Most work on legislation is done in committee

Most bills die in committee

Schedules hearings and invites testimony from

interested groups.


From committee to the floor

House Rules Committee

Closed or open rule

Strict rules that prevent many House members from

speaking on the bill

Senate – unlimited debate

Cloture and filibuster

riders

Rules for debate are defined


Leadership and floor action

Debate, changes, and vote by full membership

Party discipline

Simple majority in both houses

Conference Committees and the President

Reconcile differences between similar legislation

Veto – must have reasons

Congress can override the veto

Pocket veto


How a

Bill

Becomes

a Law

Figure 11-5


Congress’s Policymaking Role

Lawmaking function of congress

Broad national issues limits Congress’s role

President is better suited of providing leadership on

major national issues

News coverage least favorable to Congress

Congressional Budget Office

Government Accountability Office

Congressional Research Service

Most legislation passed by Congress is distributive


Representation function of congress

Represents the interests of constituents

They sit on committees that coincide with their

constituents’ interests

Logrolling

Presidential agenda depends a lot on Congress and

who holds the power

Constituents vs. party loyalty


Oversight function of congress

Sees that executive branch carries out the laws

faithfully and spends the money properly

Programs must have their funding renewed every

year

Bureaucracy is too big to oversee efficiently

Hold hearings (executive privilege)


Congress: Too Much Pluralism?

Pro (advantages):

Diverse interests represented

Cons (disadvantages):

National interest subjugated to special interests


Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local...

Documents

Transcript of Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local...