CONGRESS

Congress is the first branch of the American national government in terms of constitutional powers and prerogatives. How is this trueCONGRESSCongress Vs Parliament Among the large democracies in the world only the U.S. Congress has great powers that it can exercise independently of the executive branch. That is why we are the only democratic nation with a legislative branch.Congress ( Latin) a coming together a meeting as of representatives from many places.Parliament (French parler) to talkBoth members of congress and parliament represent their districts but the differences that their names imply are real with major significanceHow laws are madeHow the government is run.These differences also effect two important aspects the lawmaking bodiesHow one becomes a member What does one do as a member

How one becomes a memberParliamentBy persuading a political party to put your name on the ballot.Usually a local party committee selects a person to be the candidate which the committee gets suggestions from the national headquartersSomeone willing to support the national party program and leadershipIn the election the people vote in their districts not for different personalities running for office but instead they vote between two of three national parties.CongressPeople become a candidate for either house by running in a primary which the national parties have little control.The parties have little choice of who is nominated to run for officeVoters select candidates in the primaries because of personalities and their position on issuesEven in the general election people vote for the candidate and not the party even with the label.Parliament tends to be made up of what type of people?Congress tends to be made up of what type of people?

Once in officeParliamentThey can make only one important decision whether or not to support the government.CongressRepresentatives and Senators can vote on proposed laws without worrying that their votes will cause the government to collapse and without fearing that a failure to support their party will lead to their removal from the ballot in the next electionCongress has powers that are independent defined by the Constitution and can be exercised without regard to presidential preferences.Parties do not control nominations for office so they can not discipline members who fail to support the party leadership.Because of these things congressman are free to express their views and vote hoe they wishThey are free to become involved in the most details of lawmaking budget making and supervision of the administration of laws which is done in committees and subcommitteesCongress is constitutionally independent of the presidentOnce in office cont.ParliamentIs an assembly of party representatives who choose a government and discuss major issues.The daily work is debate.CongressMeeting place of representatives of local constituencies and states.They create modify approve, and reject laws, and they share with the president supervision of the administrative agenciesPrincipal work is representation and actionWhat does this mean in practical terms to the typical legislator?Since our congress is made up of people that were elected by those in their district or state it should be no surprise that members of congress are more concerned with What their constituencies wantCareers over the national party they belongSince congress does not pick the president members of congress worry more about what the voters they represent want than worrying about the presidents programs and their success.Because of these two factors our congress tends to be decentralized with each member more interested in his or her own views and those of the their voters than with the programs of the presidentCongress was designed by the founders in ways that almost inevitably make it unpopular with voters Why?WHO IS IN CONGRESSIncumbencyThe most important change that has occurred in congress was the slow increase in incumbency. in the 19th century a large fraction of congressmen served only one term.In 1869 more than half of the members of congress were first term why?Being a congressman in those days was not thought of as a careerFederal government was not very important (states was were the most interesting political decisions were being made)Travel to D.C. was not easy and the city was not a nice place to liveBeing a member of congress did not pay wellMany congressional districts were very competitive

Incumbency Cont.By 1950 serving in congress had become a career.Between 1863-1969 the amount of first term members of the house fell form 58% to 8%.As a result of this the public started to talk about professional politicians being out of touch A movement started to impose term limits and in 1995 congress approved a constitutional amendment but the senate stopped it, and the Supreme Court struck down an effort by to impose term limits on its members to congress.However in the 1992 and 94 elections brought a lot of new members to congress this was because of natural political forces1.When districts were redrawn after the 1990 census put many incumbents running in new districts that they could not win2. voters were upset with political scandals made them vote for outsiders3. Republican victory in 94 was made possible in part because the south had converted from being democratic strong hold. Incumbency Cont.Incumbents still enjoy great advantages in congressional elections.1994 35 incumbents democrats lost but 90% of all house incumbents won reelection 92% won in the Senate2000 only 6 of 399 house incumbents lost which was a hotly contestedThe fact is that most house members still win big in their districts even with the high number of new faces that were elected in the 1990sPolitical scientists classify congressional districtsMarginal districts win by less than 55% of the voteSafe districts win by more than 55% of the voteSenators are not as safe by rule less than half of incumbents win reelection by 60% of the vote.In the house incumbents who have won reelection with at least 60% of the vote has increased from 3/5 in the 1950s to almost 9/10 in the late 1980sIncumbency Cont.Why Congressional seats have become less marginal1. TV and other media but challengers can use it2. voters are more likely to vote for the person not the party3. voters know the incumbents4. Incumbents get and can use power to get programs and money for their districts.PARTYWHY have the democrats dominated congress?(1933-1998 33 congresses and they have controlled both housed in 25 and at least one house in 28)In every election from 1968 to 1992 the percentage of the popular vote for republicans to the house was higher than the percentage of house seats that they won. Why?Democratic controlled state legislatures have drawn congressional district maps in ways that make it hard for republicans to win house seats.This alone is not enough to explain why the democrats have dominated the house until 1994. one study concluded that no evidence indicates that the electoral system has little or no partisan bias, and that the net gains nationally from redistricting for one party over the other are very small.To control redistricting process one party would have to control all three branches of the state government, and that just does not happen.If the districts were drawn as fair as possible the democrats would still win the house because they win more votesThe republicans vote-gap is because in part the democrats tend to do very well in low-turnout districts while the republicans do well in high turnout districtsParty cont.Incumbents have come to enjoy certain built-in electoral advantages and the democrats were in the majority as those advantages grewGary Jacobson argues that the democrats continued dominance of the house is as a result of electoral politicsDemocrats generally have fielded better, more experienced congressional candidates, have more closely reflected district-level voters policy preferences.They have been able put together winning, district-level coalitions from among national democratic constituencies like organized labor, civil rights activists, feminists, environmentalistsParty Cont.Why did the democrats dominance end in the 1990s?By the 1990s the advantages of incumbency had turned into disadvantages voters disliked professional politicians who voters blamed for the mess in WashingtonBudget deficitsExempted themselves from laws that affected everybody else.Constant finger pointing between congress and the white houseCongressional scandalsThe democrats had the misfortune of being the majority party in congress when all this happened added with Redistricting after the 1990 censusShift of the south to the republican partyParty cont.Before the 1990s the democratic party was more divided than the republicans because of the conservative democrats from the south.These conservative democrats would vote with the republicans in both the House and Senate. Conservative CoalitionDuring the 1960s and 70s that coalition came together in about one fifth of all roll-call votes, and most of the time they won defeating northern democrats.Since the 1980s and even more after the 1994 election the conservative coalition had lost its importance Why?Southern democrats had been replaced by republicansThe southern democrats who remained were mostly African Americans were as liberal as northern democratsThe result of this was to make congress more partisan especially in the House and that is why there is more party unity in voting.Evolution of CongressWhy did the founders place the legislative power in the hands of a congress and not a parliament?They did not want to have all powers concentrated in a single branch even if it was popularly elected because of a fear that it would lead to rule by an oppressive majority.States took their independence very seriously and would never agree to a constitution that did not protect their interest and have a balance between large and small states.Bicameral legislatureEvolution cont.Though all legislative powers were given to congress those powers would be shared with President How?Supreme Court How?For a long time critics of congress have complained that it cannot plan or act quickly, which is true because of two competing values1.centralization if congress was to act quickly and decisively then there would have to be Strong central leadershipRestrictions on debateFew opportunities for stalling tacticsMinimal committee interference2. decentralization the interests of the individual members and the constituencies they represent are to be protectedWeak leadershipRules allowing for delay and debateMany opportunities for committee activityWe have had times when strong central leadership controlled congress but the trend in the last century has been more decentralized.

Evolution of the HouseThe House, though always powerful, has often changed the way in which it is led and organized.Some times it has given the speaker a lot of powerSome times it has given the power to the chairmen of the house committeesSome times it has allowed individual members to gain great influenceThe house faces fundamental problems 1. it wants to be both big and powerful2. its members want to be powerful both as individuals and as a groupBeing big makes it hard for the house to be powerful less a small group is given the power to run it.If a small groups runs it than the individual members lack much power that is the individual members can gain power but only at the price of making it hard to run and thus reducing its collective power.Evolution of the SenateThe senate does not face the problems the house does because it is small and can be run without giving much authority to any small group. It has also avoided some of the problems the house once faced (leading up to the civil war)From the start the Senate was small enough that 1. no time limits had to be placed on how long a Senator could speak2. there was never anything like a rules committee that controlled the amount of debate like in the House3. Senators were not elected by voters but instead they were picked by their state legislatures.They were often the leaders of local party organizations with an interest in funneling jobs and contracts back to their statesEvolution of the Senate Cont.The big changes in the Senate came from a dispute over 1. How senators were to be chosen.State legislatures picked popular local figures to be SenatorsThere was intense political maneuvering among many factions trying to win the votes from the State legislatures Often this lead to money changing hands and the Senate became known as the millionaires club and because the Senate was full of rich party leaders and businessmen.From this demands for the way Senators are picked arose the people wanted direct popular election.The Senate resisted and without its approval an amendment would not passSome states demanded for a new constitutional convention which lead to an amendment in 1913 that required the popular election of Senators the 17th amendment.

Evolution of the Senate Cont.2. FilibusterIt is a prolonged speech or series of speeches made to delay action in the Senate.The effort to restrict it came in 1917 after a very important foreign policy measure submitted by President Wilson was talked to death ( lasted 3 weeks by 12 Senators 2months before we entered WWI)Rule 22 was adopted by the Senate called cloture ruleA vote to invoke the rule must be taken 2 days after a petition calling for cloture has been submitted by al least 16 members If at least 60 senators (3/5) of the Senate then vote for it the rule goes into effectFrom that point on no more than another 30 hours of floor time may be spent on the measure then it must be brought to a final vote.Do members represent their votersIn a decentralized individualistic institution like Congress it is not always obvious how its members will behave.A. They could be devoted to what the people wantB. Act in accordance with their own beliefs, demands of pressure groups, or expectations of congressional leaders Why?It is not easy to figure out whether a member of Congress is devoted to his or her constituents by looking at how they vote. Why?Congressmen can influence legislation in many ways1. conduct hearings2. help mark up a bill in committee3.offer amendments to bills others have proposedFinal vote may conceal as much as it tells that is they may vote for a bill that has many things they dislike because it has thing they value.Three theories about how members behave.1. Representational Assumption that members want to get reelected, and therefore they vote to please their constituents.This theory has merit under certain circumstancesConstituents have a clear view on some issue and a legislators vote on that issue is likely to attract their attention (civil rights)A study of congressional roll-call votes and constituency opinionStrong correlation between the two on civil rights billsPositive correlation on social welfare measuresScarcely any correlation on foreign policy measures Why?Because it is remote from daily interest of most Americans and public opinion on this changes rapidly.

ContIssue arouses deep passions among voters legislators cannot escape the need either vote As their constituents wantHave to figure out which side of a divided constituency to support (gun control: federal money for abortions)What happens when a member of congress gets unambiguous cues from their constituents on these issues?What happens when a member of congress gets conflicting views?Members of Congress who won a close election do not always follow what their constituents want.

Cont.The problem with the representational theory is that public opinion is not strong and clear on most issues on which Congress must vote.They also have to deal with constituencies that are divided on key issuesInterest groups their power to affect congressional votes depends on whether a legislators see them as united and powerful or as disorganized and marginal.Constituents influence comes from the fact that legislators risk defeat should they almost always vote in ways that can be held against them in the next election because their opponent will use that against them.Organizational TheoryAssumption that since most constituents do not know how their legislator has voted it is not essential to make them happy. But it is important to please fellow members of Congress, whose goodwill is valuable in getting things done and gain power in Congress.Organizational view in explaining voting The principal cue is party: the party that a member of congress belongs explains more about a members vote than any other factorCues come from the opinions of colleagues with whom the member of congress feels a close ideological view.Get cues from members of their party on the sponsoring committee.

Attitudinal TheoryAssumption is that there are so many conflicting pressures on members of Congress that they cancel each other out leaving them basically free to vote on the basis of their own beliefs.The ideology of a member of congress affects how he or she votes.On many issues the average member of the House has opinions close to those of the average American while a Senator, by contrast, are often less in tune with public opinion Why?

Ideology and Civility in CongressCongress has become increasingly ideological that is its members are more sharply divided by political ideology than they once were and they are more divided than are most American voters.Attitudinal explanation of how members vote has increased in importance, while the organizational explanation has declined.This does not mean that its existing members have changed how they think rather it means that new kinds of members have been elected, bringing to congress a more ideological perspectiveCongress has become more polarized than voters in terms of political beliefsOne result of this polarization is that members of congress, especially those in the House, do not get along as well as they once did with members who disagree with them.They are more likely to challenge, investigate, and denounce each otherThe media feed on and aggravate this tendency because scandal sells.What does this mean for the public?