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Congress

Congress. U3, C11. Electing Congress. Incumbency Effect Congressional elections offer voters chance to show approval of Congress’ performance or demonstrate their disapproval Name recognition Redistricting: gerrymandering Casework: services for constituents

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Congress

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  1. Congress U3, C11

  2. Electing Congress Incumbency Effect Congressional elections offer voters chance to show approval of Congress’ performance or demonstrate their disapproval • Name recognition • Redistricting: gerrymandering • Casework: services for constituents • Campaign financing: challengers must spend large sums of money to run strong campaign against incumbent • Successful challengers • Incumbents vulnerable: age, lack of seniority, scandal, unfavorable redistricting

  3. Whom do we Elect? Typical members of Congress: • Upper-class professionals • Lawyers and businesspeople • Increase in number of minorities Descriptive representation: view that a legislature should resemble the demographic characteristics of the population it represents

  4. Racial GerrymanderingShaw v. Reno, 1993 • Racial gerrymandering: drawing a legislative district to maximize chance that minority candidate will win election • Shaw v. Reno: North Carolina 12th Congressional district, attempt to increase minority representation • Outcome: “intensive and pervasive use of race” to protect incumbents and promote political gerrymandering violated 14th amendment • 2001 case altered ruling slightly by finding race was not an illegitimate consideration in drawing Congressional boundaries as long as it was not the “dominant and controlling” factor

  5. How Issues Get on the Congressional Agenda Formal legislative process begins when a member of Congress introduces a bill Someone must perceive that a problem exists or that an issue needs to be resolved • Highly visible event focuses national attention on a problem • Presidential support for an issue • Party leaders and committee chairs • Efforts of Interest Groups

  6. How a Bill Becomes a Law School House Rock – “I’m Just a Bill”

  7. Congressional Committees

  8. Role of Committees • Expertise and Seniority • Influence in Congress increases with member’s expertise • Seniority: years of consecutive service • Senior member of majority party becomes committee chair • Markup session: meetings at which subcommittees and committees debate and amend legislation • Importance of negotiation and compromise • Oversight: process of reviewing agencies’ operations to determine whether they are carrying out policies as Congress intended • Hearings • Requiring reports from agencies • Informal: contacts between committee and agency • Programs serve constituents • Extension of efforts to control public policy • Pluralism

  9. LEADERSHIP IN CONGRESS HOUSE SENATE Presiding Officer and Party Leader Presiding Officers Speaker of the House President of the Senate President Pro Tempore Party Officers Party Officers Majority Floor Leader Minority Floor Leader Majority Floor Leader Minority Floor Leader Majority Whip Minority Whip Majority Whip Minority Whip

  10. Leadership in Congress:House of Representatives

  11. Leadership in Congress:Senate

  12. Rules and Norms • Rules of Procedure (parliamentary procedure): scheduling of legislation, when and how certain types of legislation can be brought to floor, introduction of amendments • Facilitate cooperation; tool of majority • House • Amendments to bills must be germane (relevant) to bill at hand • Rules Committee: govern floor debate • Senate • Except in specified instances, amendments that are not germane to bill at hand can be proposed • Unanimous consent to set starting time and length of debate • Filibuster: talk a bill to death; Cloture: means of limiting debate • Norms: unwritten codes of behavior • Members show respect for colleagues during deliberations • Individual members should be willing to bargain with each other • Junior members of House and Senate serve apprenticeships and defer to party and committee elders (change in recent years) • Aggressive, impatient, ambitious junior legislators

  13. Legislative Environment • Political parties • Limited resources to influence voting • Party leaders and committee chairs help organize rank-and-file members • President • Chief Legislator • Constituents • Members have to think about what the voters back home want • Interest groups • Source of useful information for members

  14. Dilemma of Representation Trustee: representatives obligated to consider the views of their constituents; not obligated to vote according to those views if think misguided Delegate: legislator whose primary responsibility is to represent the majority view of his or her constituents, regardless of his or her own view

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