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How Parties

Parties in the House

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How Parties

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    1. How Parties? PLS 324 5/27

    2. Parties in the House – The Early Years 1880s to 1910 – strong parties Reed Rules Speaker appointed committee chairs Speaker and chairs of Ways and Means and Appropriations ran rules committee Reed could discipline members to get outcomes Cannon Appointed all committee members Ran rules committee Power was centralized

    3. Parties in the House – The Middle Years 1910 – members revolted Leaders lost power to appoint committee members and chairs Committee assignments based on seniority, not loyalty Committee chairs became powerful Power was decentralized

    4. Parties in the House - The “Modern Years” Mayhew summary Members are single-minded seekers of reelection Parties do not matter Parties are local, not national Individuals must mobilize her own resources Congress does not need party cohesion to sustain a cabinet Insulated from Party pressure due to the seniority system

    5. Parties in the House – The “Modern Years” Liberal members of Democratic party not getting their legislation passed Southern committee chairs played gatekeeper Solution – recentralize power to leadership

    6. Reform Three tracks Powers of Committee chairman Remove power from chairs Strengthening Democratic Party and Leadership Increase power of the party and leadership in policy Collective Control of Power Let the caucus vote on leadership

    7. Powers of Committee chairman Sub-committee positions and chairs based on seniority Specific jurisdiction for sub-committee Guaranteed staff and budget Secret ballot to approve committee chairs Some chairs were removed End of seniority system

    8. Strengthening Democratic Party and Leadership Creation of Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Make policy recommendations Make Committee assignments Speaker appointed chair and members of rules committee Multiple Referral

    9. Collective Control of Power Make leaders responsible to rank-and-file Caucus vote on committee chairs Secret Ballot Appropriations sub-committee chairs Committees could vote down sub-committee chairs More members on Ways and Means

    10. Parties in the House – The “Modern Years” Puzzle – If members are single-minded seekers of reelection, why would they change the rules of the game? Why would they cede power to the leadership? Answer – they are not single-minded seekers of reelection

    11. An Alternative Theory - Conditional Party Government (CPG) Incorporate different goals Make Good Policy Achieve and wield power in Congress Win elections Maintain the majority Assuming everyone is centrally concerned with winning reelection does not mean they are only concerned with winning reelection

    12. CPG Assumptions Members will structure the rules in the House to achieve their goals Different constituencies Geographic Reelection Primary Personal Importance of activists

    13. CPG “Conditions” Preference agreement within the party Homogeneous within Preference conflict between the parties Heterogeneous between If these two conditions hold, parties will be strong, otherwise weak

    14. Evidence Elements for conditions to hold Primary constituency changed over time Became homogeneous within the parties Became heterogeneous between Therefore, we should expect members to mimic these views

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