6Congress:

The First Branch

Clicker Question

Which of the following institutions do you trust the most?

A.CongressB.The presidencyC.The Supreme Court

Institutional Approval Ratings

Gallup – September 5–11, 2011• Do you approve or disapprove of the way

Congress is handling its job?Approve – 15%Disapprove – 82%

• Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as president?

Approve – 43%Disapprove – 49%

• Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job?

Approve – 46%Disapprove – 40%

Congress is the First Branch• The U.S. Congress is more independent and powerful than legislatures in other industrialized democracies

• It is no accident that the makeup and powers of Congress are outlined in Article I of the Constitution and that Article I is, by far, the longest Article of the Constitution

The Powers of Congress:Article I, Section 8• Congress is given a vast array of powers:– Power to tax and spend– Power to raise an army/navy and declare war– Power to regulate commerce– Power to coin money (regulate the currency)– Power to make all laws “necessary and proper” (elastic clause)

• Today, presidents play a bigger role in each of these areas

Congress and Representation• Congress is the most important representative institution in government

• A member’s primary responsibility is to their constituency – the district making up the area from which an official is elected

• Good representation encompasses a wide variety of activities

How Members Represent Their Districts

Forms of Representation

• Agency Representation – The type of representation according to which representatives are held accountable to their constituents if they fail to represent them properly

• Delegate – Legislators see themselves as perfect agents of others; they have been elected to do the bidding of those who sent them to the legislature

• Trustee – Legislator votes based on what he/she thinks is best for the constituency

House and Senate:Differences in Representation• Congress is a bicameral legislative assembly – composed of two chambers, or houses

• The Senate is smaller and more deliberative

• The House is larger, and thus power is more centralized and the process is more organized

House and Senate:Differences in Representation

The Electoral System:Who Runs?• Because members of Congress are agents, electoral considerations are very important

• To win, candidates need:– ambition– money– name recognition / strong political base

– charisma / strong personal organization

The Electoral System:Incumbency• Incumbency – holding a political office for which one is running – is a huge advantage in congressional elections

• Some of the advantages include:– casework– patronage– pork-barrel legislation– early money– name recognition

Turnover in the House of Representatives

The Power of Incumbency

Money in Congressional Elections• One of the big reasons congressional incumbents are so safe is that they raise and spend more money than their opponents

• In part, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as campaign donors only want to give to those they think can win and incumbents usually win … so they get more money

House and Senate Campaign Expenditures

The Electoral System:Congressional Districts• Every 10 years, House districts must be re-apportioned among the states and lines must be re-drawn to reflect population changes

• There is a lot at stake in how these lines are drawn as voters can be arranged so as to give an advantage to one political party. This is called gerrymandering

Changing Apportionment of House Seats By Region

Problems of Legislative OrganizationCooperation among many members is difficult for several reasons

– Matching Influence and Interest: Each member has particular priorities but one vote on every issue

– Imperfect Information: Legislators cannot be experts on every policy area

– Compliance: Monitoring legislative deals and legislative outcomes requires collective effort

Legislative Organization:Parties• Members organize themselves into party coalitions in the House and Senate called a caucus (Democrats) or a conference (Republicans)

• Members choose leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Whips)

• Members empower party leaders to influence the agenda and manage legislation

Legislative Organization:Committees• Members also organize themselves into standing committees divided by policy jurisdiction

• There are similar jurisdictional committees in the House and Senate

• Committees have gatekeeping authority – the right to decide if a change in policy will be considered

Legislative Organization:Committees

Legislative Organization:Staffers and Agencies• Each member of Congress has a large staff that provides assistance on everything from writing legislation to correspondence with constituents

• Congress has also created staff agencies like CRS, GAO, and CBO to provide non-partisan policy advice to members

Clicker Question

Which of the following institutions serves as a solution to Congress’s collective action problems?

A. Party leadershipB. CommitteesC. Congressional staffersD. all of the above

• Bills must first be introduced by a member of Congress and referred to committee(s)

• Most bills die in committee• Some are referred to a subcommittee, are amended, and are reported out to the full chamber

How a Bill Becomes a Law:Committee Deliberation

• Bills reported out of committee first go to the Rules Committee, which determines the rules under which the bill will be debated on the floor where the majority rules

• The Rules Committee may provide– a closed rule – prohibits the introduction of amendments

– an open rule – permits the addition of amendments

How a Bill Becomes a Law:Debate in the House

• The Senate has a tradition of unlimited debate

• It takes three-fifths of the Senate (60 votes) to invoke cloture (end of debate)

• Recently, greater partisanship has meant the minority frequently uses the filibuster — a delaying tactic in which senators do not allow debate to end — to kill legislation

How a Bill Becomes a Law:Debate in the Senate

• To become a law, a bill must be passed in exactly the same form in both chambers

• Frequently, the two chambers send the bill back and forth until one chamber passes a version passed by the other

• Sometimes, a conference committee is appointed with members from each chamber to work out differences

How a Bill Becomes a Law:Reconciling Bills

• The president may veto legislation and Congress may only override the veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber

• Presidents generally use the threat of a veto to shape legislation and try to avoid the embarrassment of having a veto overridden

How a Bill Becomes a Law:Presidential Action

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Unorthodox Lawmaking:Health Care Reform Act• Getting legislation through this long process sometimes requires unorthodox procedures

• The Health Care Reform Act is a good example of this:– Multiple referrals to committees– Use of reconciliation to pass changes to the bill that couldn’t overcome a filibuster

The Distributive Tendency in Congress• Building the super-majority coalitions in Congress necessary to pass legislation leads to a distributive tendency in legislation

• This means that bills are frequently designed so as to distribute policy benefits as widely as possible

How Members Decide

• Constituency – Members care about what constituents will think on Election Day

• Interest Groups – Groups educate the public, mobilize constituents, and make campaign donations

• Party Voting – Members listen to party leaders more today than 50 years ago

Party Unity on the Rise

Widening Ideological Gap Between Parties in Congress

Causes of Increasing Partisanship in Congress• Greater power for party leaders:– Committee assignments– Access to the floor– The whip system– Logrolling– Increasing power and visibility for the president

• Gerrymandering

Beyond Legislation:Other Congressional Powers• Advice and Consent (Senate only)

• Ratification of Treaties (Senate only)

• Impeachment

American Government, 12th EditionCopyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company

THE MEDIAN VOTER IN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

American Government, 12th EditionCopyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE HOUSE

AND THE SENATE