1st Edition Theriault Test Bank Docx - Congress 1e | Test Bank Theriault by Sean M. Theriault. DOCX document preview.

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1st Edition Theriault Test Bank Docx

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 1

Chapter Outline

  1. Congress Seen and Unseen
    1. Congress is the heart of American government
      1. But, it is complex and in many ways, “what you see is what you get, but the things you see contradict each other. And there is much you do not see.”
    2. Congress is majestic and grand, but it is also nitty gritty politics and deal making.
      1. The attitude of members within the Congress have changed and so have the processes that lead to deal making.
        1. In particular, there are fewer bipartisan meetings behind-closed-doors than ever.
    3. To evaluate Congress we must decide what it is supposed to do.
      1. Example: Gridlock
        1. Defined as the failure to reach agreement to move a legislative program forward.
        2. Could be a bad thing if it is the job of Congress to move efficiently to implement the will of the majority or to achieve what the legislature determines to be in the common good.
        3. Could be a good thing if one emphasizes, instead, a Madisonian concern with the need to empower competing factions to prevent dominance by any one of them or to prevent the majority from trampling on the rights of a minority.
  2. Congress: The First Branch of Government
    1. The U.S. Constitution will be our guide for examining the role of Congress in government.
      1. Congress is Article I in the constitution and it should be the central focus of government, having chief authority over most policymaking in America.
    2. Separation of Powers
      1. Congress-Presidency
        1. More often than not Congress holds power over the presidency, even if that is not what most Americans think. Theriault and Edwards provide a variety of examples to illustrate this dynamic.
          1. The strongest example deals with removal from office.

Congress can remove a president from office, but there is no presidential mechanism for removing members of Congress from office.

          1. Congress invites the president to provide a State of the Union address.

While this may be a media spectacle for the ages in modern times, it is nothing more than a wish list to Congress.

No president since Johnson has been even partially successful on more than half the requests made during the State of Union address (see Figure 1.1).

          1. The president appoints ambassadors, federal judges, and executive branch officials but they are subject to approval from Congress.
          2. The president must attain final approval in signing treaties as well
        1. By contrast, little that Congress does requires presidential approval unless a president vetoes a bill, in which case if the Congress has enough votes, it can approve the bill anyway.
          1. Presidents have the ability, in a limited number of circumstances, to affect public policy, but for the most part a president’s agenda is dependent on finding congressional sponsors and winning congressional approval.
        2. Foreign Policy
          1. Many observers—and all presidents—contend that the Congress’s dominion over federal policy extends only to domestic issues.

That is, presidents contend that they should have final say in matters involving the military and international affairs.

          1. The Constitution makes no clear distinction between foreign and domestic policy.

Article I, Section 1, contains the language that creates the Congress and gives the Congress all of the nation’s legislative power.

Congress, not the president, was given the power to declare war, raise armies, and maintain a navy.

The president cannot enter treaties without the Senate’s support and cannot appoint ambassadors without the Senate’s confirmation, and the Constitution grants Congress the authority over international commerce.

        1. Managing the Bureaucracy
          1. Congress writes the laws, but bureaucrats in executive agencies implement those laws.
          2. It is difficult to overturn a federal regulation.

Congress has attempted to assert its right to veto administrative regulations, but the courts have held that to do so would be a violation of the separation of powers.

          1. In recent years critics have assailed the legislative branch for its micromanagement.

That is, attempts through legislation, oversight, or the mere application of threatening pressure to dictate how congressional policy is carried out.

This micromanagement even comes down to Congress trying to decide which aircraft will be built, which pistols will be purchased, or whether a military base in Georgia or Alaska will build a gymnasium instead of a new dining hall.

        1. Popular Presidents
          1. Popular presidents who are able to marshal public support can often create pressures that bend the Congress to the president’s will.
          2. Examples: FDR and Reagan
      1. Congress-Courts
        1. Congress approves (via Senate majority vote) all appointments to federal courts.
        2. The courts, however, decide the constitutionality of Congress’ actions.
  1. Empowerment and Constraint: The Limits of Power
    1. The Constitution, Congress’s founding document, is both empowerment and constraint.
      1. Congress is the people’s power in government, and in fact, Professor Mansfield writes that the Founders created strong executive and judicial branches of government specifically ‘to stand up against the people’ and ‘to oppose (their) momentary inclinations.’
      2. But, the constitution was designed for a different world, one where there were still many monarchs in Europe.
      3. Despite the document being designed for another world, it still provides a constant framework defining citizenship and the relationships between our branches of government.
        1. And, the document was designed to protect its citizens from the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the autocrat.
      4. Restrictions on congressional power are built into the document.
        1. In terms of separation of powers (see previous section & examples in this section)
        2. And individual sections such as
          1. Article I, Section 9

The Congress may not enact laws declaring actions illegal that were not illegal at the time they took place.

          1. Article VI

Congress cannot require a candidate for public office to belong to any specific religion or to subscribe to any religious beliefs at all.

    1. The Bill of Rights
      1. Amendments 1-10 to the constitution
        1. Designed to safeguard citizens’ freedoms regardless of whether they are in the majority or minority.
      2. Provides protections for individual liberties such as freedom of religion, right to protest, right to bear arms, etc.
      3. Restricts congressional action, especially the final two amendments
        1. Ninth Amendment
          1. Provides that the enumeration of individual rights in the Constitution “shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
        2. Tenth Amendment
          1. Provides that government powers not given to the federal government in the Constitution “are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.”
        3. These two amendments form the backbone of arguments that Congress, even with majority support, is sometimes precluded from acting.
        4. By constitutional design, and made clear by the Tenth Amendment, much of the governing power in the US remains at the state and local levels.
  1. A Matter of Process
    1. Any overview of congressional activity must begin with this dictum: process often dictates policy.
      1. No matter how strong the ideological drive that propels legislators forward, what they achieve is often determined by the hurdles and sand traps that lie in the path of government action.
    2. Power in American government is distributed across different branches of government. But, Congress itself is divided into two chambers, and each chamber has power divided among committees, subcommittees, and political parties.
    3. The path to passing a law is long…
      1. A member needs to first introduce a bill
        1. Most bills start in the House
      2. The bill is then assigned to the committee of jurisdiction
        1. Yet sometimes multiple committees claim jurisdiction
          1. To combat this, legislators often attempt to draft a bill in such a way as to increase the chance that it is assigned to a committee thought to be more likely favorable to the desired result.
      3. The committee chair has wide latitude on whether or not to act on a bill once it is assigned to their committee.
        1. This may mean assigning the bill to one of its subcommittees.
        2. It can also mean taking no action at all and letting the bill die in committee.
        3. If the proposal is significant, the Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate may also review the proposals.
          1. This is increasingly common
      4. If the bill is approved by the committee (and its subcommittees, if applicable) it still might never receive a floor vote.
        1. If action is taken, in the House, the next step is getting a favorable decision by the Speaker or majority leader and then approval by the members of the House Rules Committee, who have their own hearings on the bill, and if they want the bill to go forward, they determine what amendments may be offered by other representatives.
      5. The House then votes on the rule and the bill. If the bill passes it goes to the Senate.
        1. The bill may then be introduced separately by a senator, sent to a committee, and then to a subcommittee, and the whole process repeats…
      6. If the bill passes both the House and Senate the two versions likely need to be reconciled so that they are identical versions.
        1. This reconciliation process is generally handled in a conference committee.
      7. The reconciled version of the bill then needs to be passed by both the House and Senate as well.
        1. Sometimes (and increasingly) House or Senate leaders decide to kill the legislation altogether by refusing to appoint any members to participate in a conference committee.
      8. Finally, it arrives at the desk of the president. If he signs, the bill becomes law. If he chooses to veto the bill can either be passed by overturning the veto or can go back to committee to address the president’s concerns.
    4. Because this is how the legislative process works, party leaders sometimes subvert the entire process by writing, debating, and introducing a bill within the confines of party leadership.
    5. It is no accident that the process works this way; if we believe the political system is based on the need to protect individual rights, it must be difficult to limit those rights.
  2. A Matter of Principle
    1. Do not lose sight of principles that may have motivated members to run for Congress initially.
      1. There are times when legislative work is done as a favor to a constituent or special interest, but the member also might have done what she did because she thought it was the right thing to do.
    2. Members perceive their role in diverse ways
      1. Some see themselves are servants to their constituents, others advocate for causes, others want to give back.
    3. Of course, some members may serve to enhance their power and prestige. Usually these members structure their activities around getting reelected.
    4. Usually, members are motivated by a variety of these factors.
  3. A Matter of Politics
    1. While some Americans may see the ideal policymaking process as a value-neutral approach, the reality is that people have preferences and values that they want to shape policy. Disagreements about these values and preferences are what makes politics.
    2. An easy example where some neutral reasoning exists but that is starkly political as well is regulation of business with consideration for the environment. On some level Americans agree that pollution is bad, no one wants to breath dirty air, but how much regulation is too much? That is where politics comes in.
    3. “The issue is not who is right, but the fact that in a free society, different people come to different conclusions.”
    4. Technocrat – a person who prefers evidence-based decision making over political decision making.
    5. Just how responsive to constituent preferences should a member be?
      1. Do we want a member to represent our views exactly?
      2. Do we want a member who examines all sides and reacts based on their conscience?
      3. These questions will be taken up again later.
  4. A Matter of Party
    1. Politics is increasingly organized by political parties.
      1. Example: Whereas all new members once went through new member orientation together—without regard for their political party—now they are introduced into their new lives through the lens of their political parties.
    2. Polarization is very high; not a single Democrat is more conservative than the most liberal Republican in either the House or the Senate—and it has been that way for more than ten years.
    3. Article I, Section 5, gives each chamber the power to determine “the Rules of its Proceedings.”
      1. The members have chosen to organize their chambers by party and empowered their party leaders by choice. They can always change these features with internal reforms to their processes.
  5. Caught in the Web: Conflicting Interests
    1. Members represent large and diverse constituencies. House members represent about 700,000 people each. Some senators, such as those from California, Texas, or New York represent millions of people each.
    2. Even if it is easier to understand politics as “good” vs. “bad,” the reality for members is that they represent a distinct group of people. If the people in a given district make their living from dairy products, it is reasonable to expect that member to oppose regulations on those industries despite their party or personal preferences.
      1. This is just one example of the many conflicting interests that pull members in different directions for every single decision they have to make in Congress.
    3. To try and prevent a member from abusing their power in favor of a friend or powerful company they are involved with, there is a conflict-of-interest provision in the congressional rules that prevents members from voting on legislation if they have a personal interest in the outcome.
  6. The Culture of Congress
    1. Just as the culture of America evolves over time, so do the members of Congress and the culture therein.
      1. Members entering Congress today find a completely different House or Senate from 100 or even 20 years earlier.
    2. One of the biggest changes is that Congress now deals with more issues than ever and members are expected to be informed on every decision.
      1. Senators, for example, are voting about 200 more times than they did in the 1950s.
    3. Another prime example is the decline in deference to expertise.
      1. That is, the most senior members used to be revered and hold outsize roles in the policymaking process. Today. Americans demand all members have an active role in the process.
      2. Another easy example is the decline in civility among members.
  7. Congress in Perspective
    1. Congress must make difficult decisions every day. There will always be disagreement and conflict, but the alternative to this is a system of imposed decision, which is the antithesis of a free society.
  8. Politician’s Take on Foundations of Congress
    1. The American system of governance is exceptional and deserved to be studied and well understood by the public. The conflict that happens within the halls of Congress is participated in by the diverse set of members who are sent to Congress by the people.
  9. Professor’s Take on Foundations of Congress
    1. Congress is a complicated, but magnificent, place. It is remarkable that anything gets done, but what does get is more often than not the will of the people and that is an awesome thing.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. One of the strengths of this first chapter is that it is ready-made to organize a first lecture in a Congress course. Frame this opening lecture by talking about Congress being a complex institution within an even more complex American political system. Then, one-by-one, start deconstructing elements of Congress into its component parts following the organization of the chapter. That is, start by discussing the Constitution and separation of powers that both empower and limit Congress. Then move on to a quick overview of the modern legislative process and so on.
    1. The outline of the chapter provided by OUP will be useful for executing this suggestion.
  2. When discussing the legislative process, try first playing the classic “Schoolhouse Rock” version of how a bill becomes a law. Then, contrast that view with the caveats provided by Theriault and Edwards, such as the centralization of the process towards party leaders, the polarization of the two parties leading to less compromise, etc.
  3. If this lecture is happening around the time of the State of the Union you might show a clip of the president entering the chamber pointing out important members of both parties seeking time with the president as he enters. As the entrance proceeds, detail a few points from the textbook such as the fact that Congress invites the president to speak, that the speech has become much more ceremonial and less effective over time, and that members of the Supreme Court as also invited and present for the speech.
    1. Visual aids like this can be helpful in cementing the ceremony of American politics alongside the less inherently interesting aspects.
    2. Note: You could include this with footage of the most recent State of the Union address, but that may not be as powerful since this address is only one aspect of the chapter.

Class Activities

  1. Constitution Activity
    1. First, provide the students with a copy of the U.S. Constitution to read.
      1. Depending on the scope of your course, you might instruct the students to focus on only Article I with an eye toward identifying ways the constitution defines Congress’ role in American government.
      2. Constitution Online: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
    2. After they have read the document, split the students into groups (or pairs) and have them discuss one or two new things they discovered.
    3. After a few minutes, start picking groups to volunteer new things they learned and write them on the board. Encourage students to chime in if they also did not know what is being added to the board.
      1. As you add things to the board, you should discuss how important a given clause or section is for understanding Congress.
      2. Use this activity to frame future topics you will discuss in your course. And, at the end, you will have a board full of interesting things that are true to what Congress is meant to do and powers it has, whether or not it does or utilizes them.
      3. Moreover, this activity will demonstrate that there is still much to learn about Congress and that even after reading a document they have probably already read you helped open their eyes to new things about Congress and American government.
    4. Note: It is almost never a bad idea to have students read the Constitution because they all think they know what it says, but they almost always find something they did not know before. This activity even works in graduate-level seminars on Congress.
  2. What are members of Congress like?
    1. Begin by writing at the top of the board “Members of Congress” and underline it.
    2. Then ask the students, “what are members of Congress like?” or “what are notable attributes of members of Congress?”
      1. It may be useful to provide a few examples to start. You could write “honorable” or “sneaky” depending on what tone you would like to strike.
    3. After a few minutes you will, ideally, have a mix of positive and negative attributes.
    4. Next, play a few short clips that show members of Congress in both serious and funny situations while serving as members.
      1. Video Suggestions:
        1. The best resource for amusing videos might be Roll Call’s YouTube series “Congressional Hits and Misses,” which aims to show the humanity (and amusing nature) of members as they serve. Each video is a few minutes long and features many members from both chambers. Pick one that amuses you and maybe only play part of the video.
          1. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_sEtMR4aiVedkncmQi3eqkh31LpyFL1K
          2. Here’s a few good videos if you prefer not to browse the playlist:

Hallelujah, National Geographic and the Chinese Libertarian Army: Congressional Hits and Misses https://youtu.be/y_VZqGkExjw

Congressional Hits and Misses: Week of Feb. 22, 2016 https://youtu.be/1zaib8mF_m0

Congressional Hits and Misses: Best of Barbara Mikulski https://youtu.be/_Uaiso6ZYAE

Congressional Hits and Misses: Week of June 22, 2015 https://youtu.be/7ggYswDkL1E

        1. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) Snowball in the Senate (C-SPAN) https://youtu.be/3E0a_60PMR8
          1. Amusing video where Sen. Inhofe brings a snowball onto the floor to make a point about climate change.
        2. Rep. DeLauro (D-CT) oversight hearing with Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfJwnjJEdH0
          1. Video showcases Rep. DeLauro providing oversight passionately.

Actual video title is biased, but the content is illustrative of the important point that members care about oversight.

        1. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) on driving while black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUOCNsRKoGI
          1. A short clip of Sen. Scott from the Senate floor discussing being pulled over disproportionately for being a black American. This is a great clip for illustrating the diversity of views within both parties, but make sure your class is prepared for the content.
        2. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) Speaks on the House floor about Letters from Constituents on Obamacare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-sRcpbbVI
          1. Short clip from the House floor; useful for showing that members read letters and take calls from their constituents.
        3. Watch as Senators Debate Health Care Overhaul on Wednesday https://youtu.be/s3UQEI2XhjM
          1. A few clips of senators from the floor debating healthcare policy.
        4. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Conducts Science Experiment on Senate Floor https://youtu.be/vgNzz_DWLMQ
          1. Amusing video of Sen. Whitehouse performing a science experiment on the Senate floor to make a point about climate change.
      1. You might tie in attributes your students listed and apply them to each video after you play it.
    1. After the videos have played, and it might be a good idea to end on a funny one, say a few words about how members of Congress are really just regular people trying to do their jobs in a high-stakes environment. It might be useful to underscore that there is diversity in representation (in many ways) and while it may not be totally representative of the population in America, it does exist and affect how the institution operates.
  1. Domain of Foreign Policy
    1. Split the students into three groups.
    2. Assign one group with the task of thinking of reasons why the president should have domain over foreign policy. Assign another group with thinking of reasons why the Congress should have domain over foreign policy. Assign the final group as spectators.
    3. Instruct the students in the first two groups to prepare a brief statement in favor of their position.
    4. Have one student from each of the first two groups come to the front of the class to plead their case.
    5. After both groups have gone, each student in the spectator group must write down which group was most compelling and list at least one reason why.
    6. Tally the votes and highlight the most prominent reasons listed.
    7. Announce the winning group and discuss the merits of both arguments underscoring that this debate continues on today and that students should determine their real stance on this issue if they want to be active citizens.

Discussion Questions

  1. Why is Congress the first branch of government? Was this an arbitrary decision?
  2. The founders intended for gridlock to be the norm in Congress; is that a good thing? Is their intention the most important consideration in modern America?
  3. Do we want members of Congress to represent the views of their constituents exactly? What value is there in a member voting based on their personal preferences and the privileged information they gain as members of Congress?
  4. Technocrats prefer evidence-based decision making for enacting public policy. Are there any downsides to this approach?
  5. If members of Congress and Americans are displeased that political party leaders control so much of the legislative process in the modern Congress, why do members not just reorganize the legislative process?
    1. Note: They have the power to do this as noted in Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution.

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.house.gov/

Official website of the U.S. House. Includes information on the organization, procedures, and history of the chamber. Also includes current information on all members in the House and the current legislative schedule.

https://www.senate.gov/

Official website of the U.S. Senate. Includes information on the organization, procedures, and history of the chamber. Also includes current information on all members in the Senate and the current legislative schedule.

https://www.govtrack.us/congressional-procedures

Learn more about the modern legislative process.

https://www.rollcall.com/

Major news outlets all have reporters covering Congress, but they only report on the flashiest stories. Roll Call reports directly from Washington, D.C. and has a cadre of reporters who are specially trained in all things Congress.

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs

Read and learn more about the Founding Documents of the U.S.

Essay

1. To evaluate Congress’ performance in any way we must decide what its functions are as an institution of government. Drawing from the founding documents, Federalist Papers, and any other relevant material, discuss three different functions of Congress. Be sure to detail where the function is derived from, why Congress has authority to act with regard to this function, and why that function is relevant for, or useful to, citizens.

2. Political scientists, members of Congress, and the public alike all express concern at the gridlock on display in the modern Congress. Define gridlock and discuss why some people think it is a good thing and why others think it is a bad thing. Be sure to cite any sources to which you refer.

3. Some Americans argue that policymaking should be value-neutral and focus only on the best outcome based on the evidence. Politics, defined broadly here as disagreements about values and preferences in shaping policy, are inevitable. Yet, Theriault and Edwards go one step further and argue that politics are central to our free society. Do you agree with their argument? Why or why not? Be sure to provide concrete examples to back up your position.

4. Imagine you are having a conversation with a close friend and they say to you “I do not understand why my member of Congress never listens to me.” Being an astute observer of Congress, you can think of many reasons a member might be pressured to ignore your friend. Identify a few interests, people, or industries that members must be aware of when making political decisions on behalf of their constituents. Be sure to explain why these factors matter to members and they might privilege these factors over regular constituent communications from your friend.

5. Given what we know about the evolution of congressional culture, the legislative process, and the influence of political parties, would it be more advantageous to a senator’s constituents for her to join the Senate as a new member today or 25 years ago? Support your claim with at least three reasons.

Short Answer

1. Congress wields power over the presidency in a variety of ways, such as final approval on a variety of appointments. Name three other ways Congress has power over the president.

  • impeachment
  • invitation to state of the union address
  • power of the purse
  • power to declare war
  • approval of treaties
  • oversight hearings

2. Discuss why Congress retains supremacy over the president in foreign policy matters despite the claims made by most presidents.

  • constitution makes no clear distinction between foreign and domestic policy
  • Article I, Section 1 establishes the Congress and gives it all of the nation’s legislative power
  • Congress retains the power to declare war, raise armies, and maintain a navy
  • The president cannot enter treaties without the Senate’s support
  • The president cannot appoint ambassadors without the Senate’s confirmation
  • the Constitution grants Congress the authority over international commerce

3. Two amendments to the Constitution are said to form the backbone of most arguments that Congress, even with majority support, is sometimes precluded from acting. Name each amendment and what its purpose is.

  • Ninth amendment, protects rights not explicitly stated in the constitution
  • Tenth amendment, provides government powers not given to the federal government to the states

4. Given what we know about the modern legislative process, name a role in the House of Representatives you might want to attain to increase your power in the legislative process. Explain why you would want that role.

  • Speaker of the House
  • Any party leadership position
  • Chairman of the Rules Committee
  • Any committee chair position
  • Conferee in a conference committee

5. Some members of Congress perceive their role in Congress as being a servant, helping their constituents achieve certain ends. This is likely not their only perception of their role. Describe two other ways a member might perceive as their reason for serving as a member of Congress.

  • as advocates for causes they believe in deeply
  • noblesse oblige—a belief that they have been blessed and should dedicate their time and effort to repaying the system in which they have flourished
  • as a means of acquiring power and prestige

6. Politics is increasingly organized by political parties. If you were a new member of Congress today what are two things, related to party influence, you might experience in your first term that members joining the institution for the first time in the mid-20th century might not have experienced?

  • Partisan new member orientation
  • Very demanding party fundraising requirements
  • Ideologically consistent parties
  • Partisan control of the legislative process

7. Which part of the Constitution establishes Congress? Is there any significance to its location? Why or why not?

  • Article I
  • Article I, Section 1
  • Many scholars argue that Congress is the first article of the Constitution because it was meant to be the most powerful and significant branch of government.

8. Congress scholars frequently use the phrase _______ often dictates policy. Why is this phrase so common and what does it mean?

  • Process
  • No matter how strong the ideological drive that propels legislators forward, what they achieve is often determined by the hurdles and sand traps that lie in the path of government action. Put another way, the legislative process is not efficient and the obstacles throughout the process often decide what ends up in the final law.

9. What is the role of the House Rules Committee in the legislative process?

  • After the bill wins approval from its committee of jurisdiction it will be referred to the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee then decides whether or not to have their own hearings on the bill. If they report the bill favorably, they then get to determine what amendments will be allowed to be offered by other members on the floor.

10. What does it mean when someone says that partisan polarization is “high”?

  • Not a single Democrat is more conservative than the most liberal Republican in either the House or the Senate, or vice versa

Multiple Choice

1. Members of Congress come from all walks of life including a variety of previous career fields. The two most common previous jobs for members of Congress are both related to which field?

a) Law

b) Social work

c) Politics

d) Medicine

2. Congress approves all appointments to federal courts, but the courts still provide a check on Congress. What power do the federal courts have over Congress?

a) They can decide the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress

b) They can impeach any member of Congress

c) The Supreme Court, with support from lower courts, can bar Congress from meeting

d) They appoint a new member if someone resigns

3. Most bills originate in _____________.

a) The Senate

b) Conference Committee

c) The House of Representatives

d) The White House

4. When the number of House members and senators is added together we get the full membership of the Congress. How many members of Congress are there?

a) 435

b) 535

c) 538

d) 100

5. It is often said that Congress represents America in a miniature. Despite this, we know that some groups remain underrepresented in Congress. Which of the following groups exist in Congress and the population equally?

a) Women

b) African Americans

c) Hispanic Americans

d) None of the above

6. What is the main role of the Library of Congress?

a) To facilitate visitors to the Capitol Building

b) To archive all official government documents

c) To serve the Congress by providing information to lawmakers

d) None of the above

7. Approximately what percent of State of the Union requests have been fulfilled by Congress since 1965?

a) 40%

b) 65%

c) 10%

d) 80%

8. Who was the first president to deliver his State of the Union address at night to more effectively communicate with the public?

a) Richard Nixon

b) John F. Kennedy

c) Lyndon Johnson

d) Jimmy Carter

9. What is the first step the president would take to remove a member of Congress from office?

a) There is no process for the president to remove a member of Congress from office

b) Hold a joint meeting with the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader in the Senate

c) File a petition with the Senate parliamentarian

d) Draft an executive order adjourning Congress

10. Political party leaders hold much of the power in the modern legislative process and this fact frustrates members of Congress as well as the public. What can be done to change the process?

a) The president’s cabinet can vote to force Congress into an Executive Reorganization session

b) The Supreme Court can rule the legislative process to be unconstitutional

c) The Department of Justice can file a claim with the Senate to form a reorganization committee

d) Members outside the party leadership can organize to change the rules that shape the process

11. If you were advising the president, and assuming her main goal was to enact sweeping policy changes, what task would you advise her to assign to her best staffers?

a) Designing mass media campaigns about her agenda

b) Coordinating with party leadership in Congress

c) Overseeing cabinet meetings

d) Monitoring the Supreme Court

12. Given what we know about the pace of the legislative process, what is the easiest way for a new member of Congress to make an impact for their constituents during their first term in office?

a) Introduce as many bills as possible

b) Found a Political Action Committee

c) Conduct oversight on an important industry in their district

d) Move to Washington, D.C. permanently

13. The lower chamber of Congress, said to be closer to the people, is known as the ________.

a) House of Commons

b) General Assembly

c) House of Representatives

d) Senate

14. The upper chamber of Congress, said to be more exclusive and deliberative, is known as the ________.

a) House of Lords

b) House of Representatives

c) General Assembly

d) Senate

15. Protecting the individual rights of citizens is a common consideration throughout the U.S. Constitution. The founders immediately amended the constitution with the first ten amendments, which are better known as what?

a) The Bill of Rights

b) The Magna Carta

c) The U.S. Code

d) The Declaration of Independence

16. What committee is usually formed to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the same bill passed by the House and Senate?

a) Rules committee

b) Conference committee

c) Standing committee

d) Joint reconciliation committee

17. What term refers to someone who believes policy should be made by considering all possible policy choices based on a neutral, best-outcome perspective?

a) Technocrats

b) Bureaucrats

c) Autocrats

d) Lobbyists

18. What term do members of Congress use to refer to the people they represent?

a) Representees

b) District citizenry

c) Constituents

d) None of the above

19. The State of the Union Address is a constitutional requirement, but to whom is the address mainly directed?

a) Citizens

b) The Supreme Court

c) Federal employees

d) Congress

20. The president, Senate majority leader, and Speaker of the House each wield significant power in their institutional roles. Which of the following is a key difference between them?

a) Only the Speaker and Senate majority leader are paid with tax dollars

b) The Speaker and Senate majority leader hold national office without national constituency

c) The president has many more staffers

d) Both b and c

21. What happens if the president vetoes a bill and Congress still wants it to become law

a) Nothing because presidential vetoes are final

b) With enough votes the Congress can overturn the veto and the bill becomes law

c) Congress can reprimand the president and hope he reverses his decision

d) Congress can sue the president and the Supreme Court decides the fate of the bill

22. What happens when the president sponsors a bill in Congress?

a) The bill is assigned to a specific committee for presidential bills

b) If enough members cosponsor the bill it can be voted on without a committee hearing

c) Presidents cannot sponsor bills in Congress

d) Both a and b

23. Which section in the Constitution distinguishes between foreign and domestic policy?

a) Article I, Section 4

b) Article IV, Section 2

c) Article I, Section 2

d) None of the above

24. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gave Congress power to do which of the following?

a) Impose taxes

b) Establish a public education system

c) Appoint cabinet secretaries

d) Establish judicial review

25. What did the War Powers Act do?

a) Reserved Congress’ right to intervene in a president’s deployment and use of troops

b) Shifted the power to declare war from Congress to the president

c) Capped spending on the military in a given year

d) Required the president to report updates on any wars during the State of the Union address

26. Congress does not hold all and unlimited powers. Which of the following is a power reserved for the president?

a) Ratifying trade agreements

b) Establishing diplomatic relations with other countries

c) Receiving ambassadors from other countries

d) Both b and c

27. Within Congress there is the Democratic Caucus and the Republican Conference. What are these two groups examples of?

a) Groups formed by each party to screen nominations

b) Internal governing groups for lawmakers to discuss policy and party strategies

c) Fundraising organizations

d) Formal advisory groups to the president that only exist when their party has the White House

28. If a bill originates in the House and passes a floor vote, what is the next step in the legislative process?

a) A hearing by the House Rules Committee

b) Conference Committee

c) A similar bill must be introduced by a senator

d) It goes to the White House for the president’s signature

29. Who decides if a bill will get a subcommittee hearing?

a) The Speaker of the House

b) The Senate arbiter

c) The committee of jurisdiction’s chairman

d) Both a and b

30. If a bill has passed both on the House and Senate floors how might party leaders go about defeating the bill?

a) Refusing to appoint conferees to the conference committee

b) Filing a discharge petition for the bill

c) Having the president submit a hold for the bill

d) Moving into a special session

31. Which of the following best defines the term ideology?

a) The belief that policy should be made based on a neutral, best-outcome perspective

b) A set of consistent political values

c) A set of elected officials organized to support certain public policies

d) The belief that congressional procedures should be interpreted literally instead of via evolving precedents

32. Which section of the Constitution establishes political parties?

a) Article I, Section 4

b) Article IV, Section 1

c) The eleventh amendment

d) None of the above

33. About how many people does the average member in the House of Representatives represent?

a) 20,000,000

b) 60,000

c) 1,500,000

d) 700,000

34. If a member of Congress has a personal interest in the outcome of a vote are they allowed to support it on the floor?

a) Yes, but there will be political costs and they may not be reelected

b) No, the parliamentarian will revoke their right to vote

c) No, the conflict-of-interest provision in the congressional rules prohibits it

d) No, the political parties prohibit their members from doing so

35. Do members of Congress today cast more or fewer votes on the floor than they did in the mid-20th century?

a) More

b) About the same

c) Fewer

d) We cannot compare because the process of voting has changed

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 2

Chapter Outline

  1. The Power of the People
    1. While debates still rage on about the role of Congress within the separation-of-powers system one responsibility is has remained the same without doubt. That is, Congress is to be the voice of the people.
      1. The debates that continue today are usually about the extent of congressional, presidential, or judicial reach.
        1. Example: how much can the president do abroad without Congress’ declaration of war?
    2. For much of history the people remained outside the scope of decision-making processes within government.
      1. High-ranking members of the clergy or military, or holders of large estates were sometimes included, but for the most part there were two classes of people: those who decided and those who obeyed.
    3. The framers sought to create a radically new system of government that would constrain the powers of the executive.
      1. With this idea in mind, and the history of European monarchical abuses of power, they created Congress as the voice of the people.
      2. To avoid Congress becoming merely symbolically empowering, they created two chambers
        1. Senate – where elected officials in states chose the senators
        2. House of Representatives – direct elections by citizens
      3. Members of Congress are constitutionally required to actually live in the states from which they are elected.
        1. And, they are to be selected from among the people themselves.
        2. This contrasts what is normal in the United Kingdom’s parliament where many members of Parliament have prior ties to constituencies, but a large minority do not.
    4. The people were expected to keep their elected officials in line.
      1. James Madison, in Federalist 57, argues that the “vigilant and manly” spirit of the American public would keep members in line.
      2. Example: Pay of members of Congress
        1. Should members be paid? Benjamin Franklin thought not, but Madison believed in the ability of people to regulate members who might try to abuse their ability to set their own pay.
        2. Madison won out and at least three times in American history (1816, 1873, and 1989), the public retaliated with public demonstrations and, ultimately, incumbent defeats after members raised their own pay.
        3. In the modern era, even when the two parties agreed not to use pay increases as a campaign issue they often did anyways.
  2. The Voice of the People
    1. How members represent their constituents can take two distinct forms
      1. Delegate
        1. Act just as their constituents would act if put in the same situation
        2. Given modern advancements such as scientific polling, smart phones, etc. a true delegate form of representation could reduce policymaking to a purely administrative matter where citizens text in their preferences for votes.
      2. Trustee
        1. More concerned with the effects of public policy than they are with the popularity of a given proposal.
        2. A member who views her job as a trustee will support a proposal with positive outcomes even if her constituents oppose it.
          1. Of course, the representative still takes public perception into account but they will ultimately rely on their perceptions of the policy’s effect on his constituents to make a decision
    2. Most members today employ both kinds of representation.
      1. This is known as the politico type of representation
      2. Commonly, the member will be a delegate on issues where their core constituency has strong beliefs.
        1. Examples: abortion, gun rights, death penalty
      3. On other issues, especially more complex policy matters, representatives will be a trustee
        1. Examples: intellectual property, procuring military defense weapons systems
    3. Another variant in representational type is known as a Burkean trustee
      1. While pure trustees would act in their constituents’ best interests, a Burkean trustee will act in the country’s best interest.
      2. Named after Edmund Burke, an 18th century British statesman.
        1. He argued that legislators owed to their constituents not blind obedience but, for two reasons, the exercise of good judgment.
          1. Many issues are complex
          2. Alternative means of addressing problems may have ramifications that are difficult to foresee or have differential effects on groups of constituents.
        2. Burke was defeated in an election following his support for a free trade bill that both the delegate and the trustee forms of representation suggested he should oppose. But, Burke thought free trade was an economic good and he supported the bill anyway.
      3. Popular wisdom might call for a Band-Aid solution that seldom provides a permanent fix to the problem and often creates additional problems that make matters worse.
    4. Members may switch representation types multiple times per day and these switches depend on several factors.
      1. How strongly constituents feel about the issue
      2. The representative’s information and understanding compared to their constituents
      3. The likelihood of defeat at the next election if they oppose their constituents
      4. Whether a small constituency benefit outweighs a substantial nationwide cost
      5. Whether the issue is of great enough importance to justify that risk
      6. Example
        1. Regulations on farmers or factories in the name of environmental protection
    5. What do constituents expect?
      1. Constituents’ expectations are more varied and less well defined.
      2. Many citizens focus not on specific policy outcomes but on the “direction” of a legislator’s activities.
        1. Constituents want members to represent their values and fight for different causes.
        2. Ideological concerns come to mind here; that is, packages of issues where views are subjected to tests like “does this proposal maximize freedom” or “does this proposal reduce inequalities?”
      3. Other citizens prefer a more pragmatic approach where the solutions are not predetermined by such tests but where they expect the legislator to thoughtfully solve the problem in the best way possible.
      4. For many constituents, good policy is simply policy with which they agree.
        1. Even if there is evidence that the policy opposite their views could be beneficial in some way or another, many constituents still would not favor their member supporting a view with which they disagree.
      5. In addition to legislating—writing laws and shaping policy—members of Congress are expected to provide a link between government and citizen. This link takes several forms.
        1. Providing information about pending legislation
        2. Offering opportunities for citizens to express themselves on public policy issues
          1. Examples: town meetings, questionnaires, attendance at public events, tweets, and Facebook updates
        3. Assisting constituents who encounter problems with federal agencies
          1. This is also known as casework
          2. Many members maintain staffers in district officers to handle these cases
          3. Requests made by members staffers are given preferential treatment, in part, because agencies know members provide their budgets
          4. If there are problems resolving a case members will get involved and personally oversee the dispute’s resolution
        4. Not all constituent service is of a personal nature. Members may be called on to seek financial assistance in the broader community interest. This is called pork barreling.
          1. Funding for these projects has historically been obtained via earmarks.

Earmarks were banned in 2011 and since then members have spent more time securing money from bureaucrats who in turn rely on members for their agencies’ budgets.

          1. Examples: support for the construction or repair of a bridge or highway, the building of a new museum, or the expansion of a local military base or commercial airport.
    1. How members view the constituency
      1. Members must be more systematic in how they view their constituents because it is the constituents who decide if the members will retain their jobs.
        1. Not to mention, members in the House today have more than 700,000 constituents each.
          1. Initially the constitution mandated that members have only 30,000 constituents each, but in 1929, via the Reapportionment Act of 1929, the House was capped at 435 members.
      2. Fenno’s Concentric Circles
        1. Geographic constituency
          1. Outermost circle
          2. Includes every constituent and structure in the district
          3. Usually described in geographic terms

Example: “My district includes the northeast corner of the state, but then has a strip fifty miles south never more than twenty miles from the border.”

        1. Reelection constituency
          1. First circle inside the geographic constituency
          2. Includes the voters who supported the member in their last general election or expect to in the next election

By virtue of the math it must include at least half of the voters from the geographic constituency

          1. Begins with the member’s fellow partisans. But, only for the luckiest representatives will fellow partisans be enough. Most members need to peel off enough independents and voters from the opposite party to retain their seat in Congress.
          2. Members view this constituency differently throughout their careers.

First, and for the first few elections, members take an expansionist view of their reelection constituency. That is, they seek to expand the number of supporters they have.

As a member’s career winds down, they enter the protectionist phase. That is, they seek to keep the supporters they have instead of gaining new supporters.

        1. Primary constituency
          1. The circle just inside the reelection constituency
          2. Voters who side with the member even in a contested primary
          3. The member’s most loyal voters, which might include…

People from their ideological bent in their parties

Residents in their hometown

Old business associates

People in the member’s old trade

Voters belonging to the special interests particularly favored by the member

        1. Personal constituency
          1. The innermost circle
          2. Discusses the broad contours that the member follows in both casting difficult and important votes and evaluating future electoral prospects with the member.
          3. Contains the members’ spouse, family, closest friends, political consultants, and most trusted advisors
          4. Varies in size from member to member considerably
        2. Developed by Richard Fenno via his signature method of soaking and poking research.
          1. That is, observing a member when she was engaged in official duties (e.g., soaking) and then later asking the member about her actions (e.g., poking).
    1. How members present themselves
      1. Understanding how members view their constituencies goes a long way in determining how they present themselves.
      2. Homestyles
        1. Fenno’s term for a member’s presentation of themselves to their constituents
        2. Members have many different homestyles, but they each take their constituents into consideration.
        3. Homestyles are a function of both the members and their districts or states.
          1. What fits an inner-city district may not fit an outlying district encompassing both suburbs and rural parts of the state.
        4. A homestyle must constantly be adjusted to fit the member, those she represents, and the time in which she serves.
        5. Example: Senator Grassley of Iowa still maintains his family farm and works it when he is home.
  1. The Voice of the People and Its Complexities
    1. Whose views matter?
      1. Many questions can be posed to parse out the options for whose voice matters.
        1. Do members owe their attention to everyone or only those who were involved in the political process?
        2. What if those not involved could not spare the money or time to be involved?
        3. What about the fact that elections are THE way that citizens choose what views are represented in Congress?
          1. Put another way, the plurality of people who voted thought that the winning member should represent them in Congress. Shouldn’t those people matter first and foremost since they won?
          2. Moreover, does winning matter more if the election is close vs. a landslide? At what point does a mandate to govern really start?
        4. What about constituents who feel strongly about an issue while others do not?
      2. Our founding documents proclaim that all men and women are created equal. Given that, how can we argue that a representative not represent everyone’s views equally?
        1. Fenno’s concentric circles help to clarify some answers.
          1. In their right to vote, all citizens are equal. But members of Congress cannot possibly weigh all constituents’ opinions equally. So, their perceptions of their constituency help them weigh the preferences of different parts of their constituency.
    2. Determining the constituents’ preferences and interests
      1. The most common way for members to determine what that voice is saying involves professional, scientific polling.
      2. Other methods, especially in recent years are used.
        1. Examples:
          1. Questionnaires
          2. An evaluation of constituent-generated mail, including emails, Facebook comments, and replies on Twitter
          3. Engaging citizens at town meetings (or telephone town halls) or at meetings of community organizations.
          4. Members have even developed smartphone apps that allow constituents to access information about the member or federal programs and leave their opinions about public policy problems both big and small.
      3. Each of these methods remains insufficient and while polling is the best option it remains extremely expensive.
        1. Moreover, the most common type of poll is called a tracking poll.
          1. These polls imply try to gauge the member’s standing with their constituency. That is, are they in front of their challenger by a large margin or just a few points?
          2. Most polls also fail to get at the nuances within issues.

Pollsters may ask whether a citizen favors more or less gun control, but legislation may deal with guns made of plastic instead of metal to avoid detection. It is difficult for members to extrapolate preferences on gun control to such a specific issue.

        1. Because of the brevity and infrequency of polls, legislators may know the political will of constituents for only a small percentage of the issues on which the House or Senate votes.
          1. And, the poll is static. To get accurate preferences a week later another poll would need to be conducted.
        2. Some members attempt to conduct their own surveys and this often yields no useful results because they, and their staffers, lack professional training in survey design. This lack of expertise often leads to leaning questions and slanted responses, not to mention the lack of a random sample.
          1. Surveys conducted without a scientific sample are likely to be filled out by a small number of people most of whom feel strongly about a salient issue or who have a lot of time on their hands.

Face-to-face meetings with constituents suffer from these problems as well.

    1. The absence of committed political views
      1. Most scientific surveys show an American population that, at best, can easily be swayed from one side of a political issue to another or, at worst, lies.
        1. Example: Bringing the possibility of a tax increase depresses support for programs for poor people.
        2. Example: We know that in the 2016 election 60.1% of eligible Americans voted. In the chief survey on political behavior conducted by political scientists we saw 72.2% of Americans reported voting.
          1. These people lied, and they likely lied due to social pressure.
    2. The American public does not have faith in the system
      1. While most Americans do not hold firm political beliefs everyone seems to be able to agree on one thing even across time: the federal government is inept and cannot be trusted.
        1. Example: In only a handful of Gallup polls conducted since February 2010 have more than 20 percent of Americans approved of “the way Congress is handling its job.”
          1. Congress is always at or near the bottom of the list for institutions Americans approve of.
        2. There are some exceptions and usually they involve points when approval for all institutions spikes such as after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01.
      2. Support for the federal government is simply nuanced.
        1. Americans believe in the Constitution—they even revere it.
        2. They approve of separation of powers and a legislative process that makes passing laws difficult.
        3. They just do not like the way that these principles are carried out.
    3. The American public is politically ignorant
      1. In addition to not having firm political beliefs, the American public is also shockingly ignorant when it comes to basic facts about the practice of American politics.
        1. Example: For years, surveys have revealed that the American public believes the United States should cut back sharply on foreign aid. Yet when asked what amount of assistance might be acceptable, they usually state a figure much higher than the United States normally provides.
      2. Many constituents do not even know who represents them in Congress.
        1. In a 2013 Gallup poll, only 35 percent of the respondents could recall who their representative was and about the same percentage could name both of their senators, while an equal proportion could name neither one.
    4. Voter turnout
      1. Turnout in American elections is notably disappointing. During the 2018 midterm elections only about 50% of eligible Americans voted and this is consistent with previous years.
      2. Participation in broader senses is even worse. During 2018,
        1. 9% attended a political meeting
        2. 4% campaigned on behalf of a candidate or party
        3. 13% gave money to a political cause
        4. 18% wore a button supporting a candidate
        5. <50% tried to influence how others voted
  1. Restoring Faith in the American Public’s Duty
    1. Given what we have discussed about the necessity of people to the American system of government and the less-than-encouraging record of people’s participation, opinions, and knowledge, how has the system endured for so long?
    2. The vigilant American spirit
      1. The system designed by the framers does not require aggressive monitoring of members. Instead, it requires an evaluation every two years of their House member and twice every six years for their senators.
      2. Americans react to economic factors like unemployment or violations of their civil rights and when they are displeased they vote the incumbents out.
        1. Put another way, the American public need not always be vigilant; they only need to rise up when they perceive that the country is on the wrong track.
    3. Police patrols and fire alarms
      1. Some citizens get involved between campaigns. Political science suggests there are two forms of oversight performed by these people.
        1. Police Patrol
          1. This form of oversight is constant. Like the police monitoring neighborhoods, the public is constantly monitoring members of Congress for wrongdoing.
          2. Most frequently involved actors:

The media

Interest groups

        1. Fire Alarm
          1. Unlike the police who are constantly on patrol, firefighters only jump into action when an alarm rings.
          2. The people need not be well informed; they need only respond appropriately when the alarm goes off. Because other actors in the political process are engaged in police patrol, the American public can be lazy, ignorant, and uninformed.
    1. Heuristics
      1. Our brains also help us to make decisions efficiently.
      2. Psychologists have noted that humans developed mental shortcuts (heuristics) to break down complex situations into simpler ones.
        1. Political scientists have found that people use heuristics to make political decisions.
        2. Put another way, people use heuristics in lieu of in-depth assessments of the country’s or a politician’s performance. These make the process of voting much easier.
      3. The likability heuristic is probably the most important one that helps the people do their job.
        1. Voters need only decide who they like and then make political decisions through association.
        2. Example: If you like Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), you can simply adopt Schumer’s preferences. You can vote for the same people that Schumer would vote for and support the same policies he endorses.
          1. The same can be applied to political parties in general
    2. The electoral process: adversarial and competitive
      1. Part of the genius of the American constitutional system is that it established adversarial relationships and that, from time to time, it requires the people to vote.
      2. People need not understand the minutia of American politics they just need to weigh in from time to time on how things are going.
    3. Potential preferences
      1. Critically, despite the lazy, distrusting, and uniformed nature of the American public, the elected officials think that the American public can do its job, and so they act in accord with the public’s wishes.
      2. Members act as though they are being constantly monitored with prepared rationales for every action and vote.
      3. Members act in accordance with potential preferences of their constituents. That is, if their constituents were well informed about a particular vote, what would they think?
  1. Conclusion
    1. Returning to the founders, we can examine James Madison and Alexander Hamilton’s difference in opinion on how the American government would gain legitimacy and understand the endurance of the American system of government.
      1. James Madison believed in a bottom-up approach where Americans were constantly consulted about policy.
      2. Alexander Hamilton believed in a top-down approach where legitimacy was secured through the proper functioning of government.
      3. Both believed firmly that the acceptance of the American public was critical for the democratic experiment to work in the newly formed country.
      4. In the end, both top-down and bottom-up approaches were integrated into the system. Regular elections and public outlets for expressions of outrage lend for bottom-up legitimacy. And the constant oversight provided by political parties, interest groups, and the media allow for a top-down legitimacy based on performance to exist. Together, they show that if the system fails, we have only ourselves to blame.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. An ideal time for a robust and engaged discussion during this lecture would be immediately before the lecture material on whose views matter. Discussion question #3 (listed below and reproduced in this section for convenience) provides a great framing question that will get students thinking about who should matter and why. If the students are riled up from this discussion, then later in the lecture when you discuss how little Americans know about politics it will likely evoke many doubts about views many of them held strongly earlier in the class.
    1. Do members of Congress owe their attention to every single constituent or only those who were involved in the political process? And, what if those not involved could not spare the money or time to be involved?
      1. Optional mid-discussion additional question: What about the fact that elections are THE way that citizens choose what views are represented in Congress?
  2. As you approach the topic of ignorance in the electorate, show one of those “man on the street” videos where people are asked political questions.
    1. Jimmy Kimmel has a great video for this purpose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6m7pWEMPlA
  3. It might be useful to put the lecture material about participation and turnout into a broader and more historical perspective. That is, create a bar plot with the turnout rates from the past few elections and note how turnout differs between presidential and midterm election years. It could even be useful to point out differences in how we think about turnout based on who is eligible to vote at a given point in the country’s history.

Class Activities

  1. Voice of the People
    1. At the beginning of class randomly select ~5% of your students and tell them they are the ruling class. Select one student to be King. Have those students sit in the front of the classroom.
    2. Inform the students that you are planning to offer extra credit during this class (Note: you don’t actually have to give it, just claim it was for activity’s sake at the end). The King will be getting 10 points, the elites will each get 2 points, and for anyone else to get any points the King has to sacrifice his own points to bestow it upon them.
    3. Allow the students to mull over your announcement for a few seconds and then announce that the King will be holding a session where you can suggest reasons he or she should give their extra credit points away.
    4. Allow for a few students to make their pleas and watch things play out.
    5. Announce the end of the simulation and discuss how this was quite literally how society used to function. Underscore that the founders wanted to reject this model and that Congress, with its empowering role for the people, was the centerpiece of their new way of governing.
      1. It may be a good idea to distribute some candy to everyone to equalize the students again.
    6. This activity is useful because it really sets the stage for why political participation should not be taken for granted. It also puts the American system of government in an important contrasting role, which is critical framework for this chapter.
  2. Which circles are you in?
    1. Before class:
      1. Pick a member of Congress, or make one up, and characterize their place on the ideological spectrum (i.e., liberal Democrat – conservative Republican) and the phase of their career (i.e., expansionist or protectionist).
      2. Create index cards, or some other way of assigning roles to students, and determine how many students should be assigned the following roles (given the percentages provided).
        1. Liberal Democrat (10%)
        2. Moderate Democrat (30%)
        3. Independent (20%)
        4. Moderate Republican (30%)
        5. Conservative Republican (10%)
    2. As students enter class give them index cards randomly and tell them to take their seat as they normally would. Proceed with lecture.
    3. After covering Fenno’s concentric circles, discuss the politician you chose. Be sure to detail the member’s ideological position and current phase of their career.
    4. Pick a student, or ask for volunteers, and have them read their index card out loud. Ask them, given their position as assigned by their index card, which circles they would be in if they were in the member’s constituency. Repeat this a few times until the students seem to understand why certain constituents are in different circles.
    5. Discuss how members might use these concentric circle classifications when weighing different constituents opinions in political decision making.
  3. What is their Homestyle?
    1. Navigate to a member’s website and/or YouTube channel.
      1. It might be good to pick the House member who represents the university or one of the university’s state’s senators.
    2. Explore as the students watch and tell them to pick out and write down 1-3 notable things the member says or does that might contribute to their homestyle.
      1. Ideally, you would pick a video or two in advance that really highlights the more prominent facets of the member’s Homestyle.
        1. It may be particularly useful to highlight any instances where the member praises your university on the floor or on their website.
    3. If time allows, pick another member from a very different type of district or state and repeat the activity asking the students to point out differences between the two members’ homestyles.

Discussion Questions

  1. Given modern advancements such as scientific polling, smart phones, etc. a true delegate form of representation could reduce policymaking to a purely administrative matter where citizens text in their preferences for votes. Would this necessarily be a bad thing? What decisions might not lend themselves best to direct democracy?
  2. The Reapportionment Act of 1929 capped House membership at 435 members. Should we allow for more members in the House? If so, should we return to the standard suggested by the founders (i.e., 30,000 constituents per member)?
  3. Do members of Congress owe their attention to every single constituent or only those who were involved in the political process? And, what if those not involved could not spare the money or time to be involved?
    • Optional mid-discussion additional question: What about the fact that elections are THE way that citizens choose what views are represented in Congress?
  4. Does it matter that most Americans do not know who their member of Congress is?
    • Alternative frame: Do you agree with Alexander Hamilton that the people need not be constantly engaged as long as the government functions properly?
  5. Should members of Congress determine their own pay? If you think they should not, who should decide their pay and how? What are the terms of an increase in salary?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.archives.gov/legislative/research/special-collections/oral-history/fenno/interview-notes.html

Access Richard Fenno's original research notes to explore what members of Congress were like in the midcentury.

https://www.comparativeagendas.net/tool?project=us

Official website of the Comparative Agendas Project that allows anyone to plot historical data coded by policy area. Can be used to see how the public’s priorities on different areas of public policy change over time.

https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Investigations-Oversight/

Learn more about the origin, and current state, of oversight activities within the U.S. House of Representatives.

Essay

1. Legislating is a critical task for members of Congress, but constituents expect them to do more than just write bills and cast votes. Name three other expectations that constituents have of their members and discuss why fulfilling each of these is important for a member to work toward reelection.

2. Polling is considered the best option for members of Congress to determine the preferences and interests of their constituents. Despite polling be the best option there are many reasons why polls are still not ideal for assessing constituent preferences. Briefly discuss why members should care about their constituent preferences at all and then provide three weaknesses of polling.

3. Chapter 2 discusses four different kinds of representation that members of Congress can utilize. Which form is the best and why? Be sure to name and clearly define each kind of representation. Be clear about what members’ goals are fulfilled when they rely on each type of representation.

4. Richard Fenno coined the term “homestyle” to describe how members present themselves to their constituents. Why and how are homestyles useful to members? What factors go into shaping a member’s homestyle? Are homestyles static and unchanging over time or dynamic and always adjusting? Support your answer with examples where appropriate.

5. Given what we have discussed about the necessity of the people in the American system of government and the less-than-encouraging record of people’s participation, opinions, and knowledge, how has the system endured for so long? Provide at least three reasons and support for each reason.

Short Answer

1. Before the founders developed the system of government used in the United States today most societies were divided between those who decided and those who obeyed. In those societies, what types of people might have been included in the political decision-making process (i.e., the deciders)?

  • Kings
  • High-ranking members of the clergy
  • High-ranking members military
  • Holders of large estates

2. What precautions did the founders take to make sure Congress did not become merely a symbolically empowering body?

  • Two chambers, one of which was directly elected by the people
  • Members are required to live in the state they represent
  • Members are to be selected from amongst the people themselves

3. Who was Edmund Burke and why does he matter?

  • An 18th century British statesman
  • Burkean trustee named after him
  • He stressed that acting in a country’s best interest was more important than reelection or constituent preferences

4. Members of Congress may switch representation types multiple times per day and these switches depend on several factors. Name three factors.

  • How strongly constituents feel about the issue
  • The representative’s information and understanding compared to their constituents
  • The likelihood of defeat at the next election if they oppose their constituents
  • Whether a small constituency benefit outweighs a substantial nationwide cost
  • Whether the issue is of great enough importance to justify that risk

5. Many citizens focus not on specific policy outcomes but instead on the “direction” of a legislator’s activities. What is meant by direction in this context?

  • Representation of values
  • Alliance with social movements or political causes
  • Support for an ideology or set of ideas

6. Why might some federal agencies give preferential treatment to requests made by members of Congress?

  • agencies know members provide their budgets
  • Members of Congress conduct oversight of all federal agencies

7. In an ideal world a member of Congress would consider every constituent’s preferences equally. In reality, they cannot possibly do so. How might they decide which constituents to listen to?

  • By applying Fenno’s concentric circles and focusing on different circles at different points in a given election cycle (e.g., primary constituency during the primary election and reelection constituency during the general election).

8. Polling is the best way for members of Congress to estimate constituent preferences but it is not the only way. How else do members of Congress estimate constituent preferences? Name at least three.

  • Questionnaires distributed via newsletters
  • Evaluating constituent-generated mail, including emails, Facebook comments, and tweets
  • Engaging citizens directly at town meetings (or telephone town halls)
  • Smartphone apps

9. What explains the approximately 12% gap between those who claim to have voted and those who actually voted in 2016?

  • The social desirability or pressure that Americans feel to vote

10. If a member of Congress was trying to determine how they will vote on a piece of legislation dealing with a complex public policy issue it is most likely they will be what kind of representative and why?

  • Trustee
  • Complex policy issues often mean the member has much more information than their constituents do, and the nuance involved is beyond the vague preferences most constituents have

Multiple Choice

1. Representative Molono has an important vote coming up on a bill that would increase environmental regulations in a variety of industries. Her constituents want her to oppose the bill. The most important industries in her district want her to oppose the bill too. But, Rep. Molono strongly believes that environmental regulations are critical for the future of the nation she loves. What form of representation is she utilizing if she supports the bill?

a) Trustee

b) Delegate

c) Burkean Trustee

d) Politico

2. People come to their political preferences in a variety of different ways, but not everyone has the same level of specificity in their reasoning. Who tends to have the most well-defined preferences?

a) Members of Congress

b) Congressional staffers

c) The general public

d) Members of the media

3. The framers sought to create a government based mainly on __________, which developed a similar form of government about a decade before the United States did.

a) Italy

b) Austria

c) Spain

d) None of the above

4. What key point does James Madison make in Federalist No. 57?

a) That the spirit of the American people will keep members of Congress accountable

b) That representation of the masses is of no concern as long as those with suffrage are pleased

c) That political parties will play a key role in representing the people

d) All of the above

5. If a member is more concerned with the effects of public policy than they are with the popularity of a given proposal they are utilizing _________ representation.

a) Fennoean Delegate

b) Trustee

c) Burkean Trustee

d) Delegate

6. Most members today employ what type of representation form?

a) Trustee

b) Delegate

c) Politico

d) Burkean Trustee

7. One way that members of Congress serve constituents is by bringing federally funded projects to their districts. What is the process of getting these projects called?

a) Pork barreling

b) Earmarking

c) Homestyle

d) Constituenting

8. Earmarks were banned in 2011, but members still need to bring money back to their districts and so now members of Congress ______________________.

a) Pressure the president to allocate funds to their districts

b) Apply for waivers from the House or Senate Clerk’s office to insert earmarks into existing bills

c) Obtain projects as a result of court case decisions that get overturned

d) Secure projects via executive branch bureaucrats

9. Fenno’s primary constituency includes which of the following?

a) Every constituent and structure in the district

b) Every member of the member’s political party in the district

c) The member’s most loyal voters

d) None of the above

10. During the later phase of a member’s career they seek to keep the supporters they have instead of gaining new supporters. What is this phase known as?

a) Protectionist phase

b) Defensive phase

c) Expansionist phase

d) Retention phase

11. Senators were not directly elected according to the unamended version of the Constitution. Who chose senators initially?

a) A committee made up of state legislators, judges, and the governor

b) The governor of a state

c) Members of state legislatures

d) Members of the U.S. Senate

12. Richard Fenno developed a, now widely respected, way of conducting research on Congress. Part of that method of research is known as “soaking,” which can be defined as which of the following?

a) Closely examining all files in a member’s office during a session of Congress

b) Observing a member when they are engaging in official duties

c) Conducting an in-depth interview with a member about their official duties

d) Meeting weekly with a member and asking them the same questions each week to see how their answers evolve over time

13. Fenno describes a typology of homestyles within which all members can be categorized. What is the category that most members end up in?

a) Reelection focused

b) Committee focused

c) Prestige focused

d) None of the above

14. Americans tend not to have firm political beliefs, but almost all Americans tend to agree on which of the following positions?

a) All children should attend public school

b) Universal healthcare should slowly be phased into American society

c) The federal government is inept and cannot be trusted

d) The IRS should be eliminated

15. Members of Congress will frequently hold meetings to meet constituents and answer their questions. What are these meetings known as?

a) Questionnaires

b) Town Halls

c) Policy Programs

d) District Days

16. A member of Congress announces that they have secured funding for a bridge in their district to be repaired. What is this an example of?

a) Casework

b) Heuristics

c) Porkmarks

d) Pork barreling

17. Members of Congress frequently face complex public policy issues that are difficult to resolve. In these cases, popular wisdom sometimes calls for members to use a(n) _____________, which seldom provides a permanent fix to the problem and often creates additional problems that make matters worse.

a) Band-Aid solution

b) Heuristic

c) Roosevelt Resolution

d) Pork barrel

18. To estimate their constituents’ preferences some members attempt to conduct their own surveys. Why do these surveys often yield no useful results?

a) Too many constituents respond

b) Their staffers lack professional training in survey design

c) The surveys frequently include leading questions

d) Both b and c

19. Most scientific surveys show that Americans _____________________.

a) Hold consistent views over long periods of time

b) Can easily be swayed from one side of a political issue to another

c) Participate vigorously in politics

d) Both a and c

20. Which of the following most accurately describes American public opinion about their system of government.

a) They believe in, and even revere, the Constitution

b) They approve of the separation of powers

c) They do not approve of the way that the principles underpinning their government are carried out

d) All of the above

21. How would you characterize the proportion of people who know who their member of Congress is?

a) Almost no one

b) A little over a quarter of the population

c) Just over half the population

d) Almost everyone

22. Which founder is most notable for his insistence that the American public be constantly consulted about policy decisions and the actions of government?

a) James Madison

b) Thomas Jefferson

c) Alexander Hamilton

d) Benjamin Franklin

23. The framers wanted to be sure that members of Congress were selected from among the people themselves. To accomplish this goal, they required members of the House to be from the ________ that they represent.

a) State

b) District

c) Geographic grouping

d) Both a and b

24. Which form of oversight suggests that the people need not be well informed and instead they need only get involved when attention is brought to an issue or scandal.

a) Burkean alarm

b) Police patrol

c) Fire alarm

d) Judicious rigor

25. The media and interest groups are the two most frequently involved actors in which type of oversight?

a) Trustee

b) Police patrol

c) Delegate

d) Fire alarm

26. In pondering how their newly created government might gain legitimacy, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton suggested different approaches. Which approach is served by the constant oversight provided by political parties, interest groups, and the media?

a) Top-down approach

b) Bottom-up approach

c) Colonial approach

d) Anti-federalist approach

27. Which of the following heuristics allows for voters to merely decide who they like and then make political decisions through association?

a) Associative heuristic

b) Availability heuristic

c) Resolution heuristic

d) None of the above

28. By asking themselves what their constituents might think of a given decision they have made if they were fully informed, members of Congress are trying to do what?

a) Fend off attacks from party leaders

b) Act as trustees

c) Estimate potential preferences

d) None of the above

29. Which of Fenno’s constituencies do members view differently during different phases of their career?

a) Geographic

b) Reelection

c) Primary

d) Personal

30. Liberals and conservatives often end up on different sides of issues. These people usually have concerns based on sets of ideas about how the country should operate. What are these concerns called?

a) Partisan concerns

b) Issue concerns

c) Ideological concerns

d) Both a and c

31. Some constituents gives legislators more flexibility and accept the premise that many issues are complicated. These constituents tend to stress problem solving over politics. This is known as the __________ approach.

a) Ideological

b) Social

c) Goldwater

d) Pragmatic

32. We know that only about half of Americans tend to vote, but political participation more broadly defined produces even lower numbers. Which of the follow activities is the most common way Americans participate politically if we exclude voting?

a) Trying to influence how someone else votes

b) Donating money to a political cause

c) Volunteering for a campaign or political party

d) Attending a political meeting

33. Congress is the most popular branch of government, but which branch comes in as a close second?

a) Presidency

b) Judicial

c) Executive (bureaucracy)

d) Congress is not the most popular branch of government

34. Which of Fenno’s constituencies is usually described with references to its borders?

a) Reelection

b) District

c) Primary

d) None of the above

35. A mental shortcut in the human brain that breaks down complex situations into simpler ones to reduce cognitive costs of decision making is known as a _________.

a) Heuristic

b) Psychological alternative

c) Rational choice

d) None of the above

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 3

Chapter Outline

  1. Getting Elected to Congress
    1. Politics is about ideas
      1. One of the greatest misunderstandings about politics is the belief that most of the people who seek elective office are only concerned with accumulating power.
      2. Most members arrive in Congress with predetermined attitudes towards whole ranges of policy questions.
        1. Central to each issue is the candidate’s view on the proper role of government.
          1. Or, whether one should be concerned primarily with protecting the rights of the individual or more with advancing the interests of the society.
    2. Political campaigns are the first step in determining which positions will ultimately prevail.
      1. While most Americans are nonideological most of the people who get involved in politics or run for office do so because they hold relatively strong beliefs about some aspect of the relationship between citizens and the government.
    3. Members of Congress come from various backgrounds and different levels of interaction with government in their previous jobs.
  2. A Historical Perspective on Congressional Elections
    1. The election system in place today was not born fully mature from the Constitution.
      1. Article I, Section 4
        1. Gives the state legislatures the power to determine the time, place, and manner of holding congressional elections
        2. It also grants Congress the right to alter these regulations except for the choosing of US senators, which, according to the Constitution, was reserved for the state legislatures.
      2. Article I, Section 2
        1. Establishes the House of Representatives
        2. Prescribes the electorate for congressional elections
          1. Whoever can vote in state legislative elections can also vote for members of Congress.

This compromise kept the constitutional convention from having to engage in a painful debate about who ought to have the right to vote.

      1. Article I, Section 5
        1. Gave the respective chambers of Congress the power to resolve disputed elections.
    1. Early congressional election contests
      1. Shortly after the ratification of the constitution political parties formed and became the dominant players in congressional elections.
        1. Parties determined who, and for which position, someone would run.
          1. This made successful independent candidates a rarity.
          2. Example: Henry Clay, who served two disjointed terms in the Kentucky General Assembly, three disjointed terms in the House, and four disjointed terms in the Senate and unsuccessfully ran for president three times.
        2. Parties also…
          1. Organized precincts
          2. Recruited candidates
          3. Provided volunteers
          4. Offered expertise
          5. Contributed money to campaigns
          6. And often directed every stage of a candidate’s campaign from issue selection to the design and placement of billboards and placards.
      2. The early party system was similar in some ways to the election process of a parliamentary system.
        1. In such systems voters choose between two competing parties.
          1. These parties select candidates to serve the larger needs of the party and their campaigns are just tag-alongs to the national party campaigns.
          2. No concern for constituencies and often candidates are not from the constituency they represent.
      3. The U.S. has never had a parliamentary system but at times it has operated as if seats in Congress were the private patronage of local party bosses.
        1. Candidates were not chosen because of their legislative acumen or their policy expertise, but because they were loyal to the machine.
        2. Less noticed, but equally powerful, were the various city and county political bosses who often served as the local leadership of the parties.
        3. Example: Daley machine in Chicago
      4. The Seventeenth Amendment
        1. Made the people directly responsible for the election of senators
    2. Candidate-centered elections
      1. Party dominance of congressional elections began to decline during the second half of the 19th century.
        1. Pendleton Act of 1883
          1. Forbade parties from forcing their elected and appointed officials to contribute to the political parties’ coffers.
          2. Made merit, instead of party loyalty, the basis for receiving a civil service job.
        2. Progressive Era reforms
          1. The secret ballot

Provided voters with an easy mechanism to vote for individual candidates rather than entire party slates.

          1. Opened up the primary system

Reduced the party’s power by closing the smoke-filled backrooms where nominations had typically been sought and granted.

      1. Members become more responsible for their own careers
        1. Caused in part by…
          1. The decline of party dominance
          2. Television made communications easier
          3. The money to fund campaigns became more tightly controlled and monitored
        2. Other consequences of this change extend beyond individual careers
          1. The party system rewarded loyalty but the candidate-centered system rewards ingenuity.

No longer would parties provide all resources to run. Instead, only those who could accumulate those resources could run.

          1. Accountability was now more varied.

During the party system members were first and foremost accountable to the party and if they failed to be they would not be renominated for their job. The candidate-centered system has led to members rarely being defeated for their own party’s nomination.

          1. The types of candidates that emerged under the systems differ

In a party-dominated system, the individuals who received the nomination were the candidates who could win the general election.

Democrats could run conservative candidates in districts that called for it and Republicans could run liberal candidates in districts that called for it.

In a candidate-centered election, however, electability is only one consideration primary voters have when they cast their ballots.

Usually the primary voters’ biggest consideration is ideology, with more extreme candidates being attractive until they run to the middle in general elections.

      1. Parties can be helpful or harmful in a candidate-centered system
        1. Some members try to get elected in spite of their party identification.
        2. The parties do provide services for candidates
          1. Training schools and campaign managers
          2. Lists of potential contributors
          3. Access to such volunteer-rich, party-affiliated organizations as the local Federation of Republican Women or the Young Democrats clubs
          4. Staffs of experts in fundraising, polling, organization, and advertising design
      2. The number of ordinary citizens who have thrown their hat in the ring has grown enormously
        1. In 2014, 279 people who ran during the general election for a seat in the House had never held public office, but only 14 of them won their election.
          1. Getting on the ballot is not the same as winning.
        2. Also in 2014, 1,841 candidates spent funds in excess of $5,000, which required them to file campaign expenditure reports with the Federal Election Commission.
          1. Of those who filed reports, 858 won their primaries. Eventually, 435 of those candidates won seats in the House.
  1. Four Factors of Congressional Elections
    1. Fixed Factors
      1. Factors that do not change from one election cycle to the next. They are rooted in the constitution or law and describe the broad factors that set up the logistics and dynamics for the current, and all future, election cycles.
      2. Examples:
        1. The date of the election
          1. The actual date may change but since 1845 election day is the Tuesday after the first Monday in November

Unless Congress changes the law

        1. The length of term for the members
          1. House: 2 years
          2. Senate: 6 years
    1. Long-Term Factors
      1. Factors that are fixed for a given election cycle, but can change from cycle to cycle and are not necessarily rooted in the Constitution.
        1. Examples:
          1. District boundaries

District boundaries change, but rarely do they change within an election cycle.

Reapportionment and redistricting occur every ten years.

Supreme Court mandated this in the 1960s.

Updated to minimize the population variation across the states and districts therein.

          1. Party registration numbers

While a voter may change their official party affiliation over the course of the election, broadly speaking, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in a district or state do not dramatically change during the election cycle.

This is separate for vote choice. This is about party registration.

          1. All the laws that define the electorate and implement the logistics of an election

Who can vote and the manner in which they do it.

Examples: early voting, felons voting, identification card requirements, absentee ballot requirements, or the opening and closing times for the polling stations.

    1. Medium-Term Factors
      1. Factors that can change within an election season, but the individual candidates do not have control over them.
      2. Candidates are very much expected to react to these changes
      3. Examples:
        1. The unemployment rate
        2. The president’s approval rating
        3. Number of casualties during times of war
    2. Short-Term Factors
      1. Factors that individual candidates can control.
      2. Can also be thought of as the campaign.
      3. Examples:
        1. Campaign commercials
        2. Fundraising strategies
        3. Visits from high-profile politicians
        4. Debate strategies
      4. Short-term factors are the things that receive media coverage in the days leading up to the election because they are the only factors that are changing.
        1. Very effective ads or debate strategies can make all the difference.
          1. Example: Joni Ernst pig castration ad
    3. Which factors matter most?
      1. Long-term factors matter most
        1. Consider that if a candidate produces the perfect campaign commercials, delivers flawless debate performances, and receives all the best endorsements, but is running in a district where her opponent enjoys a two-to-one party registration advantage, all her efforts will be wasted come Election Day.
      2. Short-term factors matter LEAST
        1. While these sometimes make a difference, in the broad scope of understanding congressional elections, most winners and losers are determined before the first ballot is cast.
        2. In 2018, more than 75% of the seats were never, not even for a second, in play.
        3. Short-term factors matter slightly more today than they did three decades ago.
          1. Since the mid-1990s the majority party’s margins have been lower, meaning that 10 percent of the close races on Election Day can swing the majority across the aisle.
      3. Medium-term factors are not that important
        1. Example: 2018
          1. Trump’s approval rating was 40% and Congress was unpopular.

Yet, on Election Night, more than 200 Republicans still managed to win.

If medium-term factors were the most important, that number should have been much lower.

  1. The Campaign
    1. The candidates
      1. Two broad categories exist:
        1. Incumbents
          1. A member of Congress who is running in a district that he or she currently represents
        2. Challengers
          1. Any candidate who is not the current member for the district they are running to represent
          2. Challengers come in two forms:

Those who challenge incumbents

Those who run in open seats

That is, those races in which no incumbent is running.

        1. Only two categories exist because there is no “typical” congressional district
        2. The overwhelming number of congressional contests include incumbents
    1. Recruitment
      1. Crucial because the right candidate can make a seemingly noncompetitive race competitive.
        1. Probably the most important and least studied aspect of congressional campaigns.
        2. Example: Joe Manchin (D-WV) running in West Virginia, which is increasingly Republican
          1. When Manchin decided to enter the race, the seat went from being forecast as a Republican takeover to a Democratic hold.
      2. Recruitment can also lead to defeat in places where a quality candidate would have otherwise won.
        1. Such as losing a safe Democratic seat in New York.
      3. The candidate matters, but the way in which they are selected rarely does.
        1. Manchin choosing to run and party leaders picking a candidate in NY did not make them better or worse candidates.
      4. Influential people in the party can recruit good candidates in many ways.
        1. Mentioning to someone that she or he would make a good candidate
        2. Campaign donations
        3. Campaign strategies and experts
        4. Clearing the field of other potential candidates
      5. The ability to select oneself, or one’s neighbor, for a role in American politics is a key element in the formation of a government of the people.
      6. To become a candidate:
        1. Pay the required filing fees or gather the necessary signatures
        2. And, it happens, people not anointed or handpicked do run and win.
          1. In the 2018 cycle, more than 15,000 women, from every walk of life, contacted Emily’s List about running for office in response to President Trump’s election to the White House.
          2. In 2016, President Barack Obama named Jahana Hayes the “Teacher of the Year.” Two years later, she entered the race to replace her congresswoman, who had recently announced her retirement. She won.
        3. But, Congress also has its share of industrialists and inheritors of both name and wealth.
          1. Romneys and Udalls take seats in the Senate
          2. Kennedys and Cheneys take seats in the House of Representatives
          3. Congressional candidates with pedigrees and their own resources can have an easier time getting to Congress because they have the means to establish themselves in the early stages of a campaign.
      7. Members come from all walks of life.
        1. College professors, TV comedians, fire chiefs, athletes, and housewives alike all serve in Congress.
      8. The parties have taken an increasingly active role in recruiting candidates.
        1. A key person in both parties takes on the responsibility of finding competitive candidates in every race.
          1. These members of Congress will vote by day and talk to local citizens, community leaders, and party volunteers back in the districts by night to ensure that their parties will have as many good candidates as possible running throughout the country.
      9. Some candidates run just to run or to bring attention to a cause.
        1. Example: Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, died in the Iraq War, ran against Nancy Pelosi in 2008 to keep the spotlight on the antiwar movement. She came in second and garner 16% of the votes.
    2. The incumbents
      1. The best candidate for almost all congressional races is the incumbent
        1. They usually win
        2. They are usually better at securing campaign resources
        3. They are usually already well known by their constituents
        4. They are less likely to have primary battles that irreparably tear a party apart
        5. They are less likely less likely to have competitive general election contests
      2. Incumbents choose to run for reelection about 90 percent of the time, and when they run, 90 percent of the time they win.
      3. Sometimes incumbents choose to retire. They usually do this for one of two reasons.
        1. Attempting to get a promotion to a higher office
          1. House members looking to the Senate or members looking toward the presidency.
        2. Deciding to recede from public life
          1. Usually spurred by old age, scandal, redistricting, electoral vulnerability, or reaching a career ceiling, which happens when a member’s power in the legislature stagnates.
    3. The power of money
      1. Every candidate has a chance to win but some have a better chance than others. Early assessments about their prospect for victory often inform the decision to run.
        1. Several factors plat a role here:
          1. If the opponent is an incumbent
          2. Which party the president belongs to
          3. The president’s popularity or lack thereof
          4. The state of the economy
          5. How the public perceives the Congress and the government
          6. Whether a district has a demonstrated willingness or reluctance to support a particular type of candidate
        2. Of course, a critical and immediate concern is how much money the candidate can raise.
          1. Money plays two roles

The very real need to pay for the campaign

It functions as a signal that a candidate is making a serious run

Only when a candidate can demonstrate that she can raise money will the other political actors notice and then act.

      1. Several factors in recent years have combined to make it harder and harder for candidates to gather the resources necessary to run an effective congressional campaign.
        1. More people per House district due to the number of seats being fixed at 435.
        2. The American population has become increasingly urban, which forces candidates to spend more money on advertising since media markets do not match to single congressional districts
        3. The level of expertise candidates require of their campaign consultants has grown
          1. Partially due to margins between the two parties being lower
          2. Examples: pollsters, fundraising experts, media experts, debate consultants, and social media experts.
      2. The costs of congressional campaigns have skyrocketed
        1. 1990:
          1. Average House Race: $582,492
          2. Average Senate Race: $4.3 million
        2. 2014
          1. Average House Race: $2.2 million

Members given $1,093,405 to wage their campaigns.

~53% from individuals

37% from PACs, 5 percent from the candidates themselves

1% from the parties

4% unknown

          1. Average Senate Race: $15.6 million

Members given $7,827,052 to wage their campaigns

71% from individuals

13% from PACs

6% from the candidates themselves

4 % from political parties

6% unknown

          1. Controlling for inflation, 60% increase in House and 34% increase in Senate
      1. Just as there are no typical districts or candidates, there are no typical campaigns.
        1. Candidates spend 53% of their budget on communication
          1. ~33% of that money is spent on television ads
        2. 40% go to overhead
          1. This includes staff salaries (14%), fundraising (12%), and travel (4%). The remaining 7% is spent on research, which is approximately split between polling and opposition research.
        3. The adage in analyzing how money is spent in elections is that half of the money is wasted, but we don’t know which half.
          1. We can’t conduct experiments on congressional races…
          2. Congressional candidates want to win races; they do not want to help political scientists determine the ideal spending formula for congressional campaigns.
    1. Campaign finance laws
      1. Campaign finance laws tend to deal with two main issues
        1. The amount of money in politics
        2. The source of that money
        3. Moreover, even with the evolution of laws regulating campaign finance stopping money from one source seems to lead to more money coming from a different source.
      2. Before the 1970s reforms campaign finance was regulated between four different laws:
        1. The Tillman Act of 1907
          1. Banned corporations from contributing to political campaigns.
        2. The Smith–Connally Act of 1943
          1. Banned labor unions from contributing to political campaigns.
        3. The Corrupt Practices Act of 1925
          1. Instituted reporting requirements for both political organizations and congressional candidates.
          2. It also placed a spending limit of $2,500 for House candidates and $10,000 for Senate candidates.
        4. The 1940 amendments to the Hatch Act of 1939
          1. Established $5,000 contribution limits by an individual to any single individual or political committee.

Political committees were limited to giving a total of $3 million in any single year.

        1. These laws contained numerous loopholes and exceptions, which candidates and political organizations easily exploited in practice.
      1. As spending in federal elections increase, Congress responded by passing Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
        1. The act had following provisions:
          1. Limited the total amount candidates could spend on media advertising (which would be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index)
          2. Forced radio and television stations to offer political candidates the lowest unit costs for advertising time
          3. Prohibited promises of employment in exchange for support
          4. Limited the amount of their own money that candidates (and their families) could contribute to their campaigns
          5. Instituted strict financial reporting requirements
        2. The act also provided transparency that allowed for the investigation of the Watergate scandal.
      2. Fueled by the corruption uncovered by Watergate, Congress responded even more aggressively with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974.
        1. The act had the following provisions:
          1. Established contribution limits ($1,000 per individual and $5,000 per organization per election)
          2. Set spending limits ($100,000, or 8 cents per voter, for Senate primaries, $150,000, or 12 cents per voter, in Senate general elections and $70,000 for House primaries and general elections)
          3. Repealed the media expenditure limit established by the 1971 act
          4. Limited party spending to $10,000 in House elections and $20,000 in Senate elections
          5. Strengthened the disclosure requirements
          6. Established the Federal Election Commission
          7. Instituted public financing for presidential contests
        2. The spending limit provisions were struck down in the 1976 landmark Supreme Court case known as Buckley v. Valeo, which famously equated money with speech.
      3. Of course, over time abuses of these new laws grew and so in 2002 Congress passed another law known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA).
        1. The law had two major provisions:
          1. Banned soft money

Soft money is defined as money that does not need to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission.

          1. Limited issue advocacy ads paid for by corporations or nonprofit organizations in the days leading up to the election.
        1. The second provision was struck down (nullifying the first) in Citizens United v. FEC (2009).
          1. The ruling said that BCRA restricted the speech of corporations, labor unions, and other associations.

Since this ruling these groups, usually via Super PACs, have played an increasing role in elections.

Super PACs have less stringent reporting requirements but are not allowed to coordinated with candidates or campaigns directly.

      1. At issue with all these laws is a fundamental balance between fairness in elections and the fundamental principle of free speech.
        1. Limitations on money in politics need to be reconciled with the idea that citizen involvement in the political process is critical.
        2. And, for perspective, all the nation’s congressional candidates put together spend less on their campaigns than Americans spend for cigarettes or cheeseburgers.
    1. The power of organization
      1. While a good organization can lead to more money and money can buy an organization, a good organization can also decrease the importance of money.
      2. Shortly after the end of World War II congressional campaigns could rely on a large supply of retirees and women with free time to volunteer.
      3. Those days have passed, but the reliance on volunteers have not. Today, candidates tend to rely on church or social friends, or members for the local party club or an interest group for volunteers.
      4. To optimize the use of those volunteers some candidates devised strategies such as the Kasten Plan.
        1. The Kasten Plan it assigns to each precinct in the congressional district a specified vote target based on an assessment of how many votes each precinct would have to produce to result in a district-wide victory.
          1. It has been successful many times since it was first devised in the mid-1970s.
      5. Unlike money, organization is difficult to quantify, and sometimes even good organizations fail.
        1. Examples: High ranking Democrats and Republicans like Joe Crowley and Eric Cantor being defeated in primary elections.
      6. The key to election victory is voter turnout, which is made easier with an organization and an ample campaign treasury.
      7. Even though there are fewer idle Americans in the electorate, many candidates have resorted to using their platforms to identify concerned citizens who might want to get involved.
        1. Example: A candidate who opposed restrictions on private gun ownership might seek volunteers from the membership of the National Rifle Association.
        2. These groups might be given very specific tasks like phone banking on Tuesday nights.
          1. Moreover, jobs like phone banking, canvassing, or staffing local campaign events provide services for the campaign they might have otherwise had to pay for and now instead they have passionate volunteers filling those roles instead.
      8. Finally, organization speaks to a key goal of the founders.
        1. That is, the key to a truly democratic system of governance is maintaining a process in which, ultimately, power rests with the people—not just their power to vote, but also their ability to shape an election’s outcome.
    2. Primaries versus the general election
      1. People who are the most passionate about ideological differences are also the most likely to take part in elections as campaign workers and as voters.
        1. The lower the turnout, the more likely that the ultimate decision will be made by these people.
        2. Primaries tend to pull voters away from the political center.
          1. Republicans pulled to the right and Democrats pulled to the left.
          2. Sometimes this dooms a candidate in the general election
  1. Who Wins?
    1. Incumbents win!
      1. Even in anti-incumbent and wave election cycles, more than 90 percent of House incumbents win and 80 percent of Senate incumbents win.
      2. Incumbents have already won, so to some extent, all they need to do now is adjust their winning campaign strategy to fit the new election cycle.
      3. Incumbents do have five distinct advantages as well:
        1. They are already fulfilling the needs of their constituents by legislating and representing their constituents in Congress.
        2. Members receive a salary, health insurance, and an expense account, which in 2014 averaged almost $1.4 million, to help them represent their constituents and legislate on their behalf.
        3. Members have certain privileges such as name recognition and free media.
        4. Easier access to campaign contributions than their challengers do since they already have a record in Congress.
          1. This record can lead to increased money from interest groups.
          2. Always remember that keeping someone in power who casts the right vote is much easier for campaign contributors than putting someone new in power who would cast the right votes.
        5. Party cues frequently dominate the election
          1. A split-ticket voter is much more likely to side with an incumbent who has done a good job and who enjoys name recognition in the district rather than the challenger.
      4. The incumbency advantage is worth about 5-10 percentage points in the election.
        1. There has been a slow decline in recent years from a peak in the 1980s.
      5. Incumbents are also politically savvy and smart. If an incumbent knows they are not likely to win reelection, they often just retire instead.
    2. Quality challengers
      1. Defined as candidates who have previously won an election to any other public office.
      2. More likely to win than those who have never won an election.
        1. Only about 6% of challengers beat incumbents, but for quality challengers the number is 19%.
      3. Having formerly held office they accrue some of the advantages enjoyed by incumbents, but not all of them.
        1. Name recognition, easier access to money, experience serving, and proving she can win are all advantages of the average quality challenger.
    3. Really lucky candidates
      1. Some of these candidates run exceptional campaigns that hit all the right notes.
        1. Example: Patty Murray & her “just-a-mom- in-tennis-shoes” campaign
      2. Other times, candidates are lucky to win simply because they are not the incumbent.
        1. Example: Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski was indicted on seventeen counts of corruption and went on to lose.
  2. Who Votes?
    1. Congressional races generally draw far fewer voters than a presidential race.
    2. The picture is clear: it is the older, richer, whiter, better-educated Americans who disproportionately decide who writes the laws.
      1. This shapes who candidates in congressional races speak to.
      2. Especially with regard to party, Republicans tend to campaign among more conservative voters and Democrats among liberals.
      3. But, candidates from both sides focus their efforts not only on citizens with specific areas of concern (doctors, factory workers, farmers) but also on the populations that are most likely to vote, such as senior citizens and upper-income professionals.
        1. What this means is that the segments of the population who do not vote because the candidates are not speaking to them will guarantee that candidates will not ever speak to them by not voting.
    3. Although the proportion of voters who call themselves independent continues to rise, many voters still rely on the candidates’ partisan affiliation to determine their vote.
      1. In fact, the proportion of the electorate that votes for one of the parties for all races rather than individual candidates from different parties across races continues to grow.
    4. Voters frequently opt for candidates whose names they recognize.
    5. Some voters are known as single-issue voters, which means they research all the candidates’ positions on a particularly important and salient issue and cast a ballot for the candidate whose position is closest to their own.
      1. Interest groups will frequently make this research rather easy by making an endorsement or giving money to its favored candidate.
    6. This list of decision rules is not exhaustive, of course. Some voters make decisions based on yard signs or personal appeals or some combination of the factors we discussed in this section.
  3. Conclusion
    1. In evaluating who gets to Congress, it is fair to ask whether the current election system in the United States provides a national legislature that is, indeed, representative.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. As you discuss each of the Four Factors of Congressional Elections it could be useful to have a live example of each.
    1. For example, you could show a trend line of the president’s approval rating. Or, you could show the current district lines, D-to-R voter registration in your state, etc.
    2. These examples will help give context and concreteness to these abstract concepts.
  2. In discussing quality challengers, look up a few challengers in the current election cycle. Note some basic facts about them, maybe by writing them on the board. Then, ask the students whether or not the person is a quality challenger and why.
    1. Take it one step further by also evaluating the chances that this challenger, if they are not a quality challenger, will simply get lucky and win because they are running a good campaign and their message is resonating with the electorate.
  3. After discussing single-issue voters navigate to a few websites of interest groups that try to cater to these voters. Many of them have scorecards that they send out to their members to indicate who they should support. A few appropriate links are provided below.
    1. http://scorecard.lcv.org/ (League of Conservation Voters)
    2. https://www.nrapvf.org/grades/ (National Rifle Association)

Class Activities

  1. Earn the Vote
    1. Solicit two volunteers to be candidates and have them pick three other students to be their core advisors.
    2. Instruct the candidates that they, and their advisors, need to develop a platform with at least three policy positions. Their goal is to solicit the most money possible from the rest of the class who will be functioning as interest group representatives, activists, and PACs.
    3. While the candidates are developing their platforms, assign roles to the remaining students.
      1. If your class is particularly large you might group students together and assign those groups a collective role.
      2. The best way to assign roles, and the money that corresponds to those roles, will be to use OpenSecrets. Pick an industry, assign a PAC name and a dollar amount they have to donate.
        1. https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/
    4. Once the platforms are designed and the students have their roles and money, instruct the candidates to make a short pitch to the class about why they should be elected.
    5. After the pitches have been made, allows the candidates to meet with individuals groups and students for about 15 minutes to try and shore up additional support and donations.
    6. Finally, tally up who raised the most money and where their money came from. Debrief with the students and allow students from a variety of roles to share what their experience was like. Speculate about how the candidates might be inclined to shift their voting behavior due to the donations they received.
      1. If you want, you can contextualize this activity and talk about what the process is really like, especially post-Citizens United.
  2. Who should we recruit?
    1. In this activity your class will act as the party bosses of olden days deciding who will be nominated for your state’s senate seat for your party. Before class begins design a set of potential candidates. Below are a few rough suggestions but the more detail you are able to add the more fun it will be for students.
      1. A Henry Clay-like figure with significant experience in the House as a party leader.
      2. A young and charismatic upstart that holds controversial opinions
      3. The state’s current or recently former governor. Touts his experience dealing with the upper-crust of political society.
      4. An ambitious member of the committee that is deciding the nomination. Stresses her experience working with the people on the committee and her alignment with many committee members on the issues.
      5. A member of the House who has only served one term
      6. An influential industry figure who holds some sway over the fate of your state’s economy.
        1. Maybe they are an oil baron, railroader, farmer, miner, etc.
    2. Solicit a few volunteers (4-8 people) and assign them one of the identities you just devised.
    3. Give the volunteers a few minutes to study their roles and instruct them to prepare a few words to make their case to be the Senate’s nominee.
    4. Instruct the rest of the students that they each will have one vote to cast and whoever gets the most votes in the first round will be the nominee. It is up to them to decide what factors matter most and why. Remind them that whoever they pick has to run against the other party’s nominee in the general election.
    5. Give each candidate time to say their piece and then have them stand aside. Give the rest of the students approximately 20 minutes to make pleas on behalf of their candidate-of-choice.
    6. Tally the votes and announce the winner!
    7. Debrief with the students about this method of selecting a nominee.
      1. Is this the most effective way to decide who runs?
      2. What weaknesses does this method have?
        1. Strengths?
      3. Are you happy this is no longer the way politics are conducted in the United States?
  3. Which Factor?
    1. Write each of the four factors of congressional elections on the board with room the write underneath.
    2. Pick one factor to start with and have the students turn to a partner around them and ask them to brainstorm an example of that factor.
    3. After the students have paired up and discussed for about a minute, get one pair to tell you the definition.
    4. Next, start calling on pairs for examples and before writing them on the board ask a different pair whether they agree that it is an example and why they think it is or is not. If necessary, call on a few pairs before writing the example on the board or determining it might not be an ideal example.
    5. Repeat this activity for each factor.

Discussion Questions

  1. Theriault and Edwards argue that politics is about ideas. Many Americans do not believe that and instead argue that most people get into politics for prestige or power. While we now know that is not an accurate characterization, the point still stands that some people do get involved in politics for themselves. Is it inherently bad that some people are in it for the wrong reasons if they still help their constituents? If so, what can be done about it if their constituents continue to elect them? Do we need to amend the constitution?
  2. If we agree that most members arrive in Congress with predetermined attitudes towards whole range of policy questions, what role can constituent preferences have in shaping the actions of legislators?
  3. Was passing the seventeenth amendment a good idea? Should citizens directly elect their senators and House members? Why or why not?
  4. Given that some primary elections tend to elect more extreme candidates that go on to lose in their general election, should we return to the party-centered election system where party committees and bosses chose the nominees?
  5. Is there too much money in politics?
    1. Why do most Americans not feel comforted to know that all transactions are reported online?
    2. What about the fact that every election is more expensive than the last?
    3. How can we restore confidence in elections if most people believe there is too much money in politics?
  6. Do you agree that money is a form of speech? Why or why not?
    1. What would the implications be if the Supreme Court decided money was not a form of speech?
  7. What do you think is the main driver behind incumbency advantage?
  8. What can be done about the large drop in turnout from presidential to midterm elections, especially with regard to the midterm electorate being older, richer, whiter, and better-educated?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

Track polling for congressional elections on this website that gathers and aggregates polls to give averages over an election cycle.

https://maplight.org/

Take a closer look at the influence money has on politics with the data and analysis gathered by MapLight.

https://www.cookpolitical.com/

The Cook Political Report is the most-trusted name in elections ratings for every election cycle. They take all four factors of congressional elections into their official ratings.

Essay

1. What do Theriault and Edwards mean when they say, “politics is about ideas”? Be specific in defining what they mean and expand on their argument using supportive concepts about congressional elections and examples from throughout the material covered thus far.

2. Compare and contrast the role of political parties in congressional elections during the early, party-centered, era and the modern day, candidate-centered, era. Be specific about the role of the parties, what duties they fulfilled or did not, and provide examples when necessary.

3. How big of a role does recruitment play in a congressional election? Explain in what way it matters or why it does not matter. How can people be recruited to run for Congress and who tends to do the recruiting? Provide examples where possible.

4. What factors in recent years have made it harder and harder for candidates to gather the resources necessary to run an effective congressional campaign? Be sure to explain how each factor has made it harder to raise money and provide examples where necessary.

5. Trace the history of campaign finance laws in the United States. No need to list all provisions of every law but be sure to include the highlights and why the law was passed (if applicable). Along the way, address why it is so difficult to regulate campaign finance and what reason the Supreme Court consistently uses to strike down provisions of campaign finance laws.

Short Answer

1. Name three things that you would consider before deciding to run for Congress.

  • If the opponent is an incumbent
  • Which party the president belongs to
  • The president’s popularity or lack thereof
  • The state of the economy
  • How the public perceives the Congress and the government
  • Whether a district has a demonstrated willingness or reluctance to support a particular type of candidate

2. What two things does Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution do with relation to congressional elections?

  • Gives the state legislatures the power to determine the time, place, and manner of holding congressional elections
  • Grants Congress the right to alter congressional elections regulations except for the choosing of U.S. senators

3. The U.S. has never had a parliamentary system of government, but at times it has operated as if seats in Congress were the private patronage of local party bosses. Name two similarities between the parliamentary system and congressional elections under party bosses.

  • The parties select candidates to serve the larger needs of the party
  • Candidates’ campaigns are just tag-alongs to the national party campaigns
  • There is no concern for constituencies and often candidates are not from the constituency they represent
  • Candidates were not chosen because of their legislative acumen or their policy expertise, but because they were loyal to the machine/party

4. The unemployment rate, president’s approval rating, and the number of casualties in a war are all examples of which factor of congressional elections?

  • Medium-Term Factors

5. Which of the four factors of congressional elections matters least and why?

  • Short-term factors
  • While these factors sometimes make a difference, in the broad scope of understanding congressional elections, most winners and losers are determined before the first ballot is cast. Moreover, most seats are never even in play.

6. It is said that the best candidate for almost any congressional race is the incumbent. List three reasons in support of this statement.

  • They usually win
  • They are usually better at securing campaign resources
  • They are usually already well known by their constituents
  • They are less likely to have primary battles that irreparably tear a party apart
  • They are less likely less likely to have competitive general election contests

7. Why do incumbents choose to retire?

  • Attempting to get a promotion to a higher office
  • Deciding to recede from public life, sometimes because they hit their career ceiling

8. Which campaign finance law allowed for the transparency necessary to allow for the Watergate investigation? Name the law and two of its provisions.

  • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
  • Limited the total amount candidates could spend on media advertising (which would be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index)
  • Forced radio and television stations to offer political candidates the lowest unit costs for advertising time
  • Prohibited promises of employment in exchange for support
  • Limited the amount of their own money that candidates (and their families) could contribute to their campaigns
  • Instituted strict financial reporting requirements

9. What are the two major provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act?

  • Banned soft money, that is, money that does not need to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission.
  • Limited issue advocacy ads paid for by corporations or nonprofit organizations in the days leading up to the election.

10. What is a quality challenger and why are they more likely to win than other challengers?

  • Candidates who have previously won an election to any other public office
  • Having formerly held office they accrue some of the advantages enjoyed by incumbents, but not all of them.

Multiple Choice

1. Which factor of congressional elections is sometimes also known as the campaign?

a) Medium Term

b) Short-Term

c) Long-Term

d) None of the above

2. Anyone who meets the constitutional requirements can run for Congress. Despite this, candidates with pedigree tend to have an easier time getting elected. Why might this be?

a) Americans prefer to elect people from wealthier families to Congress

b) They have the means to establish themselves in the early stages of a campaign

c) Once someone in your family has served in Congress anyone related to the member may send mail for free

d) Members of the media

3. When incumbents choose to run for reelection how frequently do they win?

a) 90% of the time

b) 50% of the time

c) 75% of the time

d) None of the above

4. What role does money play in a congressional campaign?

a) It allows the candidate to pay for the campaign and its staffers

b) It functions as a signal that a candidate is making a serious run

c) It can be used to pay people to vote for the candidate

d) Both a and b

5. Where does most of the money for congressional elections come from?

a) Corporations

b) Political Parties

c) Individuals

d) Political Action Committees

6. What do congressional candidates spend most of their campaign money on?

a) Communication

b) Travel

c) Fundraising

d) Staff salaries

7. What pattern characterizes the regulation of campaign finance?

a) The Federal Election Commission passes a rule and the president vetoes it

b) Congress writes a law and the president vetoes it

c) The president imposes regulations by executive order and the Supreme Court overturns them

d) Congress writes a law and the Supreme Court overturns it

8. If you were running a congressional campaign in 1955 where would you likely pull your volunteers from?

a) Retirees

b) Housewives

c) Workers in sectors congruent with your campaign platform

d) Both a and b

9. Until this law was passed labor unions could directly contribute to political campaigns.

a) Corrupt Practices Act of 1925

b) Smith–Connally Act of 1943

c) Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

d) None of the above

10. The first time spending limits were placed on congressional candidates was with the passage of which law?

a) Tillman Act of 1907

b) Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974

c) Corrupt Practices Act of 1925

d) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

11. Which law established the Federal Election Commission?

a) Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974

b) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

c) Corrupt Practices Act of 1925

d) None of the above

12. Citizens United v. FEC (2009) led to provisions of which law being struck down by the Supreme Court?

a) Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974

b) Hatch Act of 1939

c) Smith–Connally Act of 1943

d) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

13. According to the U.S. Constitution as written in 1787, who has the privilege of voting in elections for the U.S. House?

a) White male landowners

b) The constitution let the House decide who can vote in its own elections

c) Any person born on U.S. soil

d) None of the above

14. What does the Kasten Plan involve?

a) The strategic allocation of advertisements in districts that cross multiple cities

b) The assignment of a vote target for volunteers to reach that would allow for a district-wide victory

c) A rigorous door-to-door canvassing operation that is used to recruit additional campaign volunteers

d) A daily phone-banking plan that leads to increased voter turnout

15. Primary elections tend to have what kind of effect on candidates?

a) Pulls candidates to the political center

b) Forces candidates to develop in-depth policy proposals

c) Pulls candidates to the ideological extremes

d) Allows candidates additional time to recruit volunteers

16. The incumbency advantage is worth somewhere between 5 and 10 percentage points. It has been in decline since when?

a) 1960s

b) 1970s

c) 1980s

d) 1990s

17. Which party are Americans increasingly identifying with?

a) Independent

b) Republican Party

c) Libertarian Party

d) Democratic Party

18. What changes did the Progressive Era reforms bring to the American political system?

a) Increased the number of federal jobs given on the basis of party loyalty

b) The secret ballot

c) Opening up of the primary system

d) Both b and c

19. The district’s boundaries are an example of which factor of congressional elections?

a) Long-Term

b) Short-Term

c) Medium-Term

d) Fixed

20. Two congressional candidates in the same district have claimed victory in a recent election. According to the Constitution, who resolves the dispute?

a) The state legislature

b) The Vice President

c) The U.S. House of Representatives

d) None of the above

21. Which of the following citizens is most likely to vote in a congressional election?

a) Joseph Brockman, White, 18 years old, some high school education

b) Rex Gates, White, 65 years old, graduate degree

c) Juan Medina, Hispanic, 35 years old, high school education

d) Monica Sampson, Black, 53 years old, college degree

22. Which of the following candidates has the best chance of challenging a member who is running for their third term representing the same district?

a) Ahmed King, a state delegate

b) Catherine Pillsbury, an industrialist and owner of the local factory

c) Chance Miller, a recent transplant to the district from the next county over

d) All of these candidates have an equal chance of winning

23. Which of the following is the best definition of the career ceiling?

a) The stagnation of a member’s power in the legislature

b) The member reaches their term limit

c) The recruitment of the member to run for higher office

d) Both a and c

24. Soft money is known as what?

a) Money that is spent in coordination with a campaign, but not by the campaign itself

b) Money donated by labor unions or corporations

c) Money earned by a campaign by selling merchandise

d) Money that does not need to be reported to the Federal Elections Commission

25. _______ elections do not have presidential contests.

a) Candidate-centered

b) Midterm

c) Midpoint

d) Tracking

26. The path to Washington, D.C. for a U.S. senator has changed over time. Of the options listed below, which is one way that senators were selected?

a) A senator was selected by the state legislature

b) The president nominated someone and the Senate voted to confirm them

c) The people directly elected their senator

d) Both a and c

27. The party-centered era of congressional elections tended to prioritize what type of candidate?

a) The most effective and experience legislator

b) The one who could raise the most money

c) The one who could win the general election

d) The one who could win the primary election

28. The price tag to run for Congress has increased sharply over the years. Despite this, it is always cheaper to run for which position?

a) Senate

b) House of Representatives

c) Governor

d) President

29. Regina Altman wants to run for her district’s House seat. Her views are decidedly liberal and she believes that reducing inequality in society is more important than any other consideration in policy. Under which system would she be more successful?

a) Candidate-centered system

b) Jeffersonian system

c) President-centered system

d) Party-centered system

30. Under the candidate-centered era of congressional elections parties still provided some services to candidates. Which of the following was NOT one of those services?

a) Staffers who were experts in a variety of areas

b) Access to organization who could provide volunteers

c) Selection of issues and production of campaign advertisements

d) Lists of potential campaign donors

31. The media tends to cover which factor of congressional elections in the days leading up to the election?

a) Short-Term

b) Medium-Term

c) Long-Term

d) Fixed

32. An open seat is best defined as a congressional race in which _____________.

a) No incumbent is running

b) A strong incumbent is defeated

c) More than four candidates compete in each of the parties’ primaries

d) A quality challenger is running

33. When political scientists refer to a typical congressional district, what are they referring to?

a) A district where about 60% of the constituents are members of one of the two political parties

b) A district where turnout is about 45% for both midterm and presidential elections

c) A district where most constituents identify as independents

d) There is no typical congressional district

34. Over the years it has become more expensive to run for Congress, but which chamber has become more than 50% more expensive to run for?

a) Senate

b) House of Representatives

c) Both chambers

d) Neither chamber

35. Nelson Tate is in charge of a large corporation and wants to make a direct contribution to a political campaign. In which year would it be legal for him to do so?

a) 1968

b) 1994

c) 1877

d) None of the above

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 4

Chapter Outline

  1. Being a Member of Congress
      1. For some members of Congress, winning is the primary goal.
      2. But for most, winning a congressional seat is a step toward fulfilling a vision of what government should be:
        1. A specific to a set of policy goals
        2. A vague desire to make government work better
        3. To be an advocate for the winning candidates’ interests
  2. Describing the Members of Congress
    1. Race, Ethnicity, and Sex of Members of Congress
      1. White men comprise around 75% of the total membership, but almost without exception their proportion declines every election.
      2. The 115th Congress is the most diverse in the institution’s history
        1. The biggest jump towards a more diverse Congress came in 1992.
          1. Hispanic and African American gains came from beneficial redistricting following the 1990 census

President George H. W. Bush’s justice department mandated that wherever a minority district could be created, it must be created.

          1. Women were catapulted into office on the back of Anita Hill’s treatment on Capitol Hill when she accused SCOTUS nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Similar momentum of female candidates came after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.

      1. Despite gains of women and minorities, none of these groups has reached the level of representation they have in the general population.
        1. African Americans in the House are the closest to fulfilling their proportion
          1. 12.3% in pop, 10.8% in Congress
          2. The Senate is less diverse and African American representation would need to quadruple to equal their proportion in the population.
          3. The proportion of African Americans in the United States and Congress has remained more stable over the past 20 years compared to other minority groups.
        2. Hispanic representation continues to increase most markedly in the years just after redistricting.
          1. And, this increasing growth of Hispanics mirrors their increasing growth in the general population.
      2. Most members of Congress from these underrepresented groups are Democrats.
        1. For the first time in history, white men constituted a minority of the Democratic caucus beginning in the 113th Congress (2013–14).
        2. Even today, white men comprise around 90% of the Republican Conferences in the House and Senate.
          1. Of course, all African American representation in Congress prior to 1935 was in the Republican Party. Today only one Republican in the Senate and one Republican in the House are African American.
    1. Other Member Characteristics
      1. Each new Congress has fewer lawyers, adherents to mainline churches, and a wider range of ages.
        1. Example: 2016 House elections
          1. 6 members under 35 years old
          2. 8 members over 80 years old
      2. The last decade or two has brought firsts for many groups in congressional representation including:
        1. Muslim Americans
        2. Buddhists
        3. Hindus
        4. LGBT Americans
      3. Fewer veterans are in Congress
        1. Vietnam veterans retire
        2. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are not running
      4. All of these characteristics thus far are useful in fulfilling descriptive representation.
        1. Descriptive representation is the idea that constituents should be represented by someone who shares characteristics similar to their own.
        2. Some theorists argue that this descriptive (or symbolic) representation is critical for Congress’s legitimacy.
      5. Other political theorists argue that descriptive representation is not as important as substantive representation.
        1. Substantive representation emphasizes policy congruence between representative and constituent instead of congruence of other characteristics.
          1. Example: A pro-choice woman is not the best representative for a pro-life female constituent.
      6. A mixture of both is probably ideal, but it is a balancing act.
  1. Member Goals
    1. We cannot begin to understand the decisions members make unless we understand what motivates them. And, members have many different goals.
    2. Reelection
      1. First and foremost members must be reelected to keep their seat.
      2. This goal of reelection is attributed to Congress scholar David Mayhew
        1. He famously argued that all members of Congress were “single- minded seekers of reelection.”
          1. That is, if we assume only this, we can begin to understand why members make decisions.
          2. Yet he also accepted that there are many other goals of members and that this was essentially a shortcut congressional observers can use to begin to understand decision making.
        2. Reelection is the proximate goal. That is, none of their other goals could be satisfied unless they were first reelected.
      3. This goal of reelection, and to be a single-minded seeker of it, seems negative at first.
        1. But members who seek to be reelected are going to tend more to their constituents’ preferences when voting, share more information, work to resolve constituent problems, and so on.
        2. Of course, reelection-focused members do not always engage in the best possible behavior
          1. Reelection can also be a distraction from good behavior because it requires tasks like constant fundraising.
          2. Or, members will invest disproportionate time pressing party leaders to help them not take tough votes on the floor.
      4. Some members might care most about reelection, but for many members it is simply the goal they must meet to pursue other goals.
    3. Providing Good Constituent Service
      1. Members of Congress aim to provide a link between government and citizen.
        1. They do this by fulfilling tasks we have mentioned before:
          1. Providing information about pending legislation
          2. Offering opportunities—town meetings, Facebook polls, attendance at public events—for citizens to express themselves on public policy issues
          3. Resolving disputes that arise between the constituents and the federal government
      2. Constituent problems come in many forms and are known as casework by members.
        1. Examples:
          1. Not receiving a social security check
          2. Veterans not receiving a citation they earned
        2. Intervention by a member of Congress speeds up the process of dealing with a federal agency
        3. Members encourage constituents to use their help because they are able to win support and gratitude from their constituents.
          1. Contrasted with taking a policy position that will inevitably peg some people against the member.
      3. Staffers handle most of this work but members are not shy about jumping in if necessary.
    4. Formulating Good Public Policy
      1. Some members view good public policy through an ideological lens
        1. These are packs of issues where liberals and conservatives align
        2. Some members use tests in these traditions to decide how to vote.
          1. Does it maximize freedom?
          2. Does it reduce inequalities?
        3. For many, whether a vote is considered good is determined by whether they agree with it and for these people constituents expect their member to vote as they would if they were the member.
      2. Other members take a more pragmatic approach
        1. These members are generally more problem oriented.
          1. That is, they may not have a predetermined opinion on how to resolve the problem, but they are interested in hearing a cadre of solutions and picking the best one.
        2. This view accepts the premise that many issues are complicated and that their solutions require a more sophisticated understanding than a strict ideological lens can provide.
      3. Good public policy can be void of ideological content
        1. Example: Student loans being publicly or privately distributed
        2. At the end of the day, public or private, all members of Congress—and all Americans—believe that the delivery of the loans should be done without waste, fraud, and abuse.
    5. Furthering Their Political Careers
      1. Some members are driven by a desire for power. This goal means different things for different members.
        1. Examples:
          1. Committee chair
          2. Whip
          3. Majority Leader
      2. Some members are fine to be permanent backbenchers as long as their pet issue is not ignored.
      3. Some members seek prestige within the institution, but others what to use their position as a stepping-stone to another office.
        1. House members want to be senators, senators want to be president, and some members just want a role in the administration or to become their state’s governor
      4. Other members use their seat as a launching point to a different career that suits their skillset
        1. Example: radio show host; academic job
    6. Having Majority Party Status
      1. The majority party, especially in the House, controls most of the legislative process using innovative strategies.
        1. In response the minority party uses procedural motions to slow down even noncontroversial legislation.
      2. Party polarization has made being in the minority party difficult for governing and therefore the goal of being in the majority has ever intensified.
        1. In 1999 being in the majority party was worth an additional $36,000 in campaign contributions and that number has only increased.
    7. Member goals are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive and it is rare that a member would be motivated by just one.
  2. The Perks of Serving in Congress
    1. Perks are the things members get simply by serving in Congress.
      1. Members were left to decide for themselves what benefits they would get and they struck a critical balance to avoid backlash from the public.
    2. Perks are distributed remarkably equally
      1. Members are paid the same salary no longer how they serve.
      2. The only characteristics that differentiate the perquisites of serving are
        1. The number of constituents (to account for the office personnel needed to respond to constituent requests)
        2. The distance from Washington, DC (to account for travel expenses)
    3. Salary and Health Benefits
      1. One of the first acts of Congress in 1789 was the establishment of members’ pay at $6 per day.
        1. Salaries have been increased 37 times and the current salary stands at $174,000 per year.
      2. In 1999 Congress instituted automatic cost-of-living increases that can only be avoided if both chambers reject them and they regularly do.
      3. Members may only earn 15% of their annual salary as outside income
        1. None of that income can come from serving on corporate boards or working for firms, partnerships, associations, or corporations.
        2. They cannot be paid honorariums for giving outside speeches or attending corporate or interest group meetings.
      4. Outside income can be earned by publishing books or utilizing the skills they developed before their congressional careers.
        1. Examples: farming, practicing medicine, or law
        2. They can also earn income from stocks or the sale of real estate.
      5. Members only receive retirement benefits if they have served more than five years in Congress
        1. The amount of benefits is dependent on the member’s age and their years of service, but can never exceed 80 percent of their final salary.
    4. Offices and Other Expenses
      1. Every member has an office on Capitol Hill.
        1. Members have offices in their respective office buildings.
          1. Some offices are better than others and after elections the vacant offices are offered to members based on seniority. New members wait until the end and draw lots.
        2. Almost all senators have hideaways on the Senate side of the Capitol.
        3. Some party and committee leaders in the House have offices in the Capitol, but they are strictly concerned with legislative or party affairs.
      2. Members also have district offices
        1. Consumed with constituent services or managing the members’ time when they are in their constituencies
        2. They are the eyes of the member in the district; they are the link of government and citizen
          1. This includes keeping track of local events like high school graduations, bar mitzvahs, Eagle Scout awards, etc. and representing the member at official events.
        3. Size and spread of the population determines the size and scope of these offices
          1. Dense districts having fewer offices than districts that encompass entire states like in Wyoming
        4. Well-functioning district offices help secure a member’s reelection. Poorly run district offices present members in the worse possible light, which makes it exceedingly hard for them to endear themselves to their constituents.
      3. Members structure their staffs similarly, though it can vary by member.
        1. Offices are typically headed by a chief of staff, who does the following:
          1. Directs the work of all staff members
          2. Manages the office accounts
          3. Acts as a gatekeeper managing the member’s time

In conjunction with a scheduler

The amount of gatekeeping varies greatly by member: some want as much free time as possible to work on legislative priorities while others seem eager to talk to almost any visitor who drops by

        1. Legislative Director
          1. Responsible for all legislative affairs for the member
        2. District Director
          1. In charge of the member’s offices back in the district
        3. A scheduler
        4. A press secretary
          1. Often a former journalist
      1. Hiring staffers can be tricky.
        1. Some journalists only have experience in one industry
        2. Schedulers familiar with the district may downplay the value of legislative events. And Capitol Hill staffers may schedule district events without ample travel time between them.
        3. Legislative assistants with strong political opinions may be inclined to skew their reports to prompt members to vote accordingly.
      2. Congressional staffers can wield enormous influence with the member and yet more junior staffers tend to do the bulk of the work.
        1. Overseeing specific policy areas or responding to constituent mail.
      3. Most offices usually include interns, but their exact roles vary by office and by intern.
      4. Senate staffs are larger and require more specialization than the nimbler and smaller House offices.
      5. Offices are funded by the annual legislative branch appropriations bill
        1. This bill also provides money for staff salaries, travel, mail, office equipment, district office rental, and other general office expenses.
        2. None of these funds can be used for campaign purposes.
      6. Member’s Representational Allowance
        1. Personnel
        2. Official office expenses
        3. Travel
        4. Official mail
          1. The frank
          2. Sent via a member’s signature instead of a stamp
        5. 2016 House Average: $1,268,520
        6. 2016 Senate Average: $3,263,940
  1. The Daily Life of a Member
    1. Members, like everyone, only has 24 hours per day and therefore any given task only receives a member’s full attention for a short period.
    2. Average Work Week
      1. In Session: 70 hours
      2. Out of Session: 59 hours
    3. How members spend that time varies greatly depending on whether they are in Washington, D.C., or in their districts.
      1. In Washington, D.C.
        1. 35% legislative and policy work
        2. 17% constituent services
        3. 17% political and campaign work
        4. 9% press and media relations
      2. In District
        1. 32% constituent services
        2. 18% political and campaign work
        3. 14% press and media relations
        4. 12% legislative and policy work
    4. Members time while in D.C. is further structured by the haphazard schedule of floor voting.
      1. Senate schedule is more predictable than the House
        1. But senators do not have electronic voting; they can only vote after the entire roll of senators has been called.
      2. Even when a predetermined duration for debate is agreed upon a few hours can stretch on for days and can even be interrupted by intervening quorum calls.
      3. Sometimes members are caught out of D.C. when a simple matter that was meant to be dealt with via voice vote ends up being dealt with via roll-call vote.
      4. At the end of the week they rush home to their constituents.
        1. The congressional schedule is generally compressed into four days a week. There are, of course, breaks for Easter, Christmas, and for as long as a month during the summer.
        2. Younger members and those elected by narrow margins may return home on most weekends
        3. Most members return home at least 40 weekends a year
    5. Many also participate in a variety of other official and unofficial congressional activities
      1. Examples: Party or policy committees and whip organizations, issues-related task forces and strategy groups, regional caucuses, state delegation meetings, and more private and personal activities such as bible study groups and members-only social groups.
      2. This includes interest groups and institutions hosting receptions and inviting members to raise awareness of a particular issue or concern.
      3. Technology has only exacerbated the demands on a member’s time.
      4. And, increasingly, members do no retreat to normal family lives at the end of the day. Instead, they often sleep in their offices.
      5. Senators’ time is disproportionately stressed due to their many constituents and more important state interests and media demands.
    6. Members prioritize their meetings with their constituents.
      1. This is rooted in the First Amendment right to petition the government.
      2. These meetings take place formally or whenever possible including over meals and at receptions.
      3. While they produce much-needed feedback about constituent opinion, they can also eat up time and produce more information than a member has time to reflect on.
    7. Members do travel abroad in what are known as congressional delegation trips.
      1. Most trips abroad are to strong U.S. allies or troubled hot spots.
        1. The purpose being first-hand information with which to legislate on foreign policy.
          1. The alternative is being privy only to what the executive branch wishes to tell or what they get from the media
      2. Some are fact-finding trips
        1. Ex) Senators going to Syria to see the state of the rebels
      3. Other are more benign
        1. Members of the House attending mass with the Pope
      4. From 2005 to 2012, members of the US House spent 18,178 days abroad
        1. Approximately 60% of House members will take at least one CODEL trip over the course of a congress.
        2. Most members spend about a week abroad per year
        3. Most trips are bipartisan, but an increasing number are partisan
  2. How Members Vote
    1. This is the most important thing that members do
      1. It sets U.S. policy on a variety of issues
      2. It showcases how members represent their constituents
    2. Political observers have long pondered the motivation for members votes on the floor.
      1. Some suggest it is simple: what do my constituents support? I will follow them to ensure my reelection.
        1. Of course, some would argue that these members firmly hold similar beliefs and if they did not their constituents would select someone else.
      2. Many other cues exist to influence the way a member might vote.
        1. Member’s personal opinions
        2. Party leaders’ opinions
        3. Constituents’ opinions
        4. Polls
        5. Salience of issue
        6. Policy domain of issue
        7. Public opinion
        8. Experts’ opinions
        9. Events and scandals
        10. Same-state members’ opinions
    3. Is it plausible to think that members simply have no opinions of their own, or at least that they hold those opinions lightly and dispense with them easily?
      1. This assumption is unlikely given even the most cursory reading of floor speeches or congressional communications. Members of Congress generally have strong views on at least a subset of issues and that is why they decided to run for Congress.
    4. Do legislators tend toward a pure-delegate model?
      1. This too seems unlikely because there is ample evidence that members do vote against their constituents wishes when it is in the national interest.
    5. Some suggest legislators are philosophical mirrors of their districts or states.
      1. Yet, we know members are concerned with other attributes and they often vote on issues never even alluded to during the campaign.
    6. Campaigns are involved affairs and being a member of Congress is taxing. Given these facts we are bound to come across a number of, so called, true believers.
      1. That is, people who have adopted, and are deeply committed to, specific points of view on the important social, cultural, and political issues of the day.
      2. And further, members campaign hard on divisive issues and it would be spectacular to see them abandon those hard lines due to short-term changes in district/state opinion.
    7. For bills to pass there needs to be a coalition in support of the legislation.
      1. These coalitions shift and evolve on a case-by-case basis.
      2. It is this ability to know where members are likely to align themselves that allows the party leadership in Congress, as well as the thousands of lobbyists, to devise effective strategies to develop coalitions to pass or to defeat legislation.
        1. Put another way, there are a set of people who know which member might defect on which issues. This knowledge is powerful in shaping successful legislative coalitions.
          1. It means not only identifying potential defectors but also potentially persuadable members as well.
    8. Members tend to vote with great consistency.
      1. That is, tracing a single members votes over a long period of time is unlikely to show much of a change due to the political opinion of the day.
      2. “Conservatives would remain conservative; liberals would remain liberal. It has been argued that members of Congress ‘die with their ideological boots on.’”
    9. The sorting of the political parties has muddied the ability for political observers to sort out partisan and ideological motivations for votes.
      1. Of course, the parties were not always sorted this way with Southern Democrats in the midcentury being particularly conservative Democrats for years and siding with Republicans on many policy issues. Yet, on matters of organization or procedure, they would side with their party.
    10. Ultimately members of Congress have to make choices about priorities because the coffers of the federal government are not infinite.
      1. Do we fund the military to protect against every possible threat at the cost of not investing in senior centers? Or vice versa?
      2. These difficult decisions are made by members who have to stand beside their records.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. In discussing the value of descriptive representation it might be useful to point out that lynching was only classified as a federal hate crime in 2018. The bill that made it illegal was introduced by the three current African American U.S. Senators.
    1. Their floor speeches about the bill can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahghD4v05o4
  2. After discussing the different aspects of constituent services and how important members claim this goal of their job is ask the class if they, or anyone they know, has ever interacted with a member or their office. It could be when they attended a town hall or if they called the office to express an opinion or seek help.
    1. Personal stories from questions like this can help to apply the concepts covered and demonstrate how interactions with members can put a human face on them.
  3. In discussing office space, and especially Senate hideaways, it might be useful to show students what it looks like. Since Senate hideaways are very private and exclusive, it is significant that there are photos or videos at all. The following video shows Senator Sherrod Brown’s and Rob Portman’s hideaways and they briefly discusses what they use it for.
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-JsErxhzHY

Class Activities

  1. Pick your own benefits!
    1. Divide the class into two groups (70/30). The larger group will be constituents and the smaller group will be members of Congress.
    2. Distribute pieces of candy to the constituents and tell them the amount they receive is equal to their salary for a given year.
      1. Give a few students many pieces, most students a reasonable number of pieces, and a few students next to none.
    3. Put the remaining candy in a pile and instruct the smaller group to come to the front of the classroom. They will now have to set their own salary without angering their constituents.
      1. Before the debate begins have the members elect a presiding officer to facilitate their debate.
      2. The members may only poll their constituents three times, but they can appeal directly to the constituents as many times as they want.
      3. The constituents should be allowed to see the entirety of the members’ debate.
    4. After the salary has been set allow the constituents to vote on whether or not the current Congress should be reelected. If more than half of the students vote in favor of reelection it was a success! If they fail, tell the members they have endangered the legitimacy of Congress for years to come.
    5. Debrief with the students. Below are a few questions that might help get the debrief started:
      1. What was the hardest part about setting your own salary?
      2. Did you feel heard as a constituent? Why or why not?
  2. Single-Minded Seekers of Reelection: Good or Bad?
    1. Proceed with lecture through the section on the goals of members of Congress.
    2. Pose the following question to the students: Is it bad if members of Congress are single-minded seekers of reelection?
    3. Instruct the students to split into two groups based on their response to the question.
    4. Give the students 10 minutes to formulate the strongest points possible in support of their position.
    5. Have each group send three people to the front of the classroom to conduct a loosely structured debate. Have one student from each group start by summarizing their strongest point or two.
    6. Allow the groups to make points and counterpoints back and forth to one another for about 10 minutes.
    7. Poll the students to see who won by posing the question again.
      1. This activity is great for getting the students engaged in deeper thinking about the incentives that members of Congress have to act the way they do. It also keeps student actively involved in the topic and may even provide an opportunity for them to change their minds via their peers.
  3. Influencing Members Voting Behavior
    1. Before discussing the many source of influence for how members decide how to vote on the floor, have the students pair up.
    2. Once the students are in pairs have them brainstorm a few things that might influence a member’s decision to vote one way or another. Encourage them to think broadly and creatively.
    3. After a few minutes, start calling on pairs and writing what they say on the board.
    4. As you proceed with writing different factors on the board discuss them in turn and provide examples.
    5. Once all the factors are on the board, ask students to assign percentages corresponding to how much influence they think a given factor has.
      1. Encourage debate among students on this topic.
      2. While this activity may seem simple the plethora of factors that influence a member’s vote makes this an ideal topic for exactly this type of activity.

Discussion Questions

  1. Should members of Congress determine their own salary and benefits? Why or why not? If not, who should decide?
  2. What is the best level of descriptive representation? Theriault and Edwards suggest that the proportion of members of Congress should equal the proportion of the population. Is that the best level or should it be more to make up for past inequality? Or, is just under the proportion of the population acceptable?
  3. Why are most members of underrepresented groups Democrats today? Will that ever change? Why or why not?
  4. Is substantive representation more effective for constituents than descriptive representation? Why or why not?
  5. Should members of Congress be more transparent about what their primary goal will be if they are elected to Congress?
    1. Would they be honest, or would the proximate goal of reelection cloud their statements?
  6. Is it possible for members of Congress to be pragmatic ideologues when pursing good public policy?
  7. Given the way members divide their time, what would you change? Are they spending the right amount of time fulfilling the duties you think are most important? Why or why not?
  8. Theriault and Edwards claim that voting on the floor is the most important thing members do. Do you agree or disagree with their statement? Why?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/02/the-changing-face-of-congress-in-5-charts/

Pew Research Center tracks diversity in Congress over the past few decades.

https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/

https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm

More information about party control of each chamber.

https://appropriations.house.gov/subcommittees/subcommittee/?IssueID=34776

Dig deeper into the subcommittee that allocates the expense accounts for members of Congress and their offices.

Essay

1. Political scientists argue about whether descriptive or substantive representation matter more. Define both types of representation and summarize the arguments on both sides. Use concrete examples to support your definitions. Then, pick a side of the debate and briefly explain why you agree with that side.

2. Why might a member of Congress prioritize the goal of reelection over the many other goals they have? Is it bad that some members prioritize reelection over other goals? Support your answer with support from the text and examples.

3. Why has having majority party status in Congress become a goal of members? How does being in the majority help those members? Be sure to support your answer with examples.

4. While in Washington, D.C. members of Congress adhere to incredibly complex and jam-packed schedules. Discuss at least three duties members must fulfill and explain why they must tend to that duty. If necessary, detail how that duty might change from one day to the next. Be sure to include examples where possible.

5. Why is voting on the floor a member’s most important job while in Washington, D.C.? Given the importance of voting, discuss what members might take into account when deciding how to vote. Be sure to support your answer with a rationale for why members might care about the factors they take into account when voting.

Short Answer

1. List two negative behaviors driven by the assumption that members are single-minded seekers of reelection.

  • Constant fundraising
  • Disproportionate time spent pressing party leaders to help them avoid tough votes on the floor

2. Hiring staffers can be a tricky task for members to navigate. Describe two potential problems that less-than-ideal staffers might have.

  • Some press secretaries might only have experience with one medium
  • Schedulers familiar with the district may downplay the value of legislative events
  • Capitol Hill schedulers may schedule district events without ample travel time between them
  • Legislative assistants with strong political opinions may be inclined to skew their reports to prompt members to vote accordingly

3. Why do members tend to prioritize meetings with constituents?

  • It is rooted in the First Amendment right to petition the government
  • It produces much-needed feedback about the member’s performance in office

4. Why might a member of Congress travel abroad?

  • Gathering first-hand information for foreign policy
  • Fact-finding trips about different regions in the world or catastrophes
  • Attending ceremonial events on behalf of the United States

5. Anita Hill historically accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. During her time before the Senate Judiciary Committee she was treated rather poorly. What significance did this event have on American politics?

  • A historic number of women ran for Congress and won

6. Which underrepresented group continues to increase most markedly in the years just after redistricting? Why is this group making such great gains in representation?

  • Hispanic Americans
  • Their proportion of the general population has continued to increase over the years

7. Are there more or fewer veterans in Congress in recent years? Why?

  • Fewer
  • Vietnam veterans retire and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are not running

8. David Mayhew famously argued what? Did he believe his argument was literally true? Why or why not?

  • Members of Congress are single-minded seekers of reelection.
  • No
  • He accepted that there are many other goals of members and that his idea was essentially a shortcut congressional observers can use to begin to understand member decision making.

9. All members have offices in their respective House/Senate office buildings, but some members are lucky enough to have offices in the Capitol building as well. Name three positions or people who have offices in the Capitol building.

  • House party leaders
  • House committee leaders
  • Almost all senators

10. Name three different staff positions and their responsibilities in the average congressional office.

  • Chief of staff, who does the following:
    • Directs the work of all staff members, manages the office accounts, acts as a gatekeeper managing the member’s time (in conjunction with a scheduler)
  • Legislative Director
    • Responsible for all legislative affairs for the member
  • District Director
    • In charge of the member’s offices back in the district
  • A scheduler
    • In charge of the member’s schedule and acts as a gatekeeper managing the member’s time (in conjunction with the Chief of Staff)
  • A press secretary
    • In charge of dealing with the press and writing press releases

Multiple Choice

1. White men comprise around ____ of the total membership of Congress, but almost without exception their proportion declines every election.

a) 95%

b) 87%

c) 75%

d) 66%

2. Who mandated the creation of majority-minority districts wherever possible?

a) The Department of Interior

b) The Department of Justice

c) Congress mandated it

d) The Federal Election Commission

3. While 1992 is still known as the “Year of the Woman,” what more recent event also catapulted record numbers of women to run for Congress?

a) The election of Donald Trump to the presidency

b) The War on Terror

c) The selection of the first female Senate Minority Leader

d) The Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade

4. Which underrepresented group in the House of Representatives is closest to the level of representation they have in the general population?

a) Black Americans

b) Hispanic Americans

c) Asian Americans

d) Native Americans

5. Women are best represented where?

a) Presidency

b) House of Representatives

c) Local governments

d) Senate

6. Prior to the early 20th century all African American members of Congress were members of which party?

a) Douglass Party

b) Republican Party

c) Federalist Party

d) Democratic Party

7. Most members of Congress from underrepresented groups are members of the Democratic Party. As a consequence, for the first time in history, white men constituted a minority of the Democratic caucus beginning in which Congress?

a) 107th (2001-2002)

b) 110th (2007-08)

c) 113th (2013–14)

d) 115th (2017–18)

8. ___________________ is the idea that constituents should be represented by someone who shares characteristics similar to their own.

a) Descriptive Representation

b) Substantive Representation

c) Characteristic Representation

d) Mayhew Representation

9. A proximate goal is best defined as which of the following?

a) A goal that is achieved on behalf of someone else

b) A goal that you assign to someone else

c) The easiest goal to achieve

d) The goal that must be satisfied to pursue any other goals

10. Casework is critical to members of Congress providing good constituent service. Which of the following is an example of casework?

a) Contacting the Veterans Administration agency in search of a missing benefits check for a constituent

b) Attending a town hall and answering constituent questions

c) Writing a bill to name a local post office in the member’s district

d) Researching policies related to a topic that is coming up in the member’s committee

11. Some members view good public policy through an ideological lens. Which of the following is a question one of these members might ask themselves when considering how to vote?

a) Does it maximize freedom?

b) Does it reduce inequalities?

c) Does this solve a policy problem?

d) Either a or b

12. A _________ approach to policymaking is more problem oriented and tends to concede that solutions to policy issues are complex and multidimensional.

a) Ideological

b) Pragmatic

c) Reelection

d) None of the above

13. If a member is aggressively seeking to become a committee chair or party leader, they are likely prioritizing which goal?

a) Constituent services

b) Reelection

c) Power and prestige

d) Majority party status

14. Not all members are driven by power, but members of Congress are ambitious people to start with and so they will not remain on the backbench silently. What might a member demand in exchange for not seeking advancement in the party?

a) A party whip position

b) Disproportionate fundraising service

c) Attention being given to an issue they care about

d) Both a and b

15. Who decides the benefits of members of Congress?

a) Members of Congress

b) The President

c) The Office of Management and Budget

d) Americans vote directly in each midterm election

16. How much more than a rank-and-file member does the Senate Majority Leader make per year from their salary?

a) $90,000

b) $10,000

c) $50,000

d) All members are paid the same

17. How much money can members of Congress earn as outside income? (As a percent of their salary)

a) Members are not permitted to earn outside income

b) 15%

c) 50%

d) 90%

18. What characteristic differentiates the money members are given for their expense accounts?

a) How long they have served in Congress

b) The distance their district or state is from Washington, D.C.

c) The number of constituents

d) Both b and c

19. How many years must a member serve in Congress to receive retirement benefits?

a) 6

b) 5

c) 2

d) 10

20. Which of the following is the main factor in determining how many district offices a member has?

a) Population density in the district

b) How long the member has served

c) The member’s margin of victory in their last election

d) All members have the same number of district offices

21. Which of the following are members of Congress NOT allowed to earn money from?

a) Sale of real estate

b) Dividends from stocks

c) Honorarium for giving an outside speech

d) Practicing law

22. Members’ offices are funded by the annual legislative branch appropriations bill. Which of the following is NOT also funded by this bill?

a) Staff salaries

b) Campaign fundraisers

c) Official mail

d) District office equipment

23. Which members are more likely to return home every weekend to spend time with constituents?

a) Younger members

b) Members who were elected by a narrow margin

c) Party leaders

d) Both a and b

24. What is the frank used for by members of Congress?

a) To send official mail with the member’s signature instead of a stamp

b) To vote on the floor

c) To contact their party’s leadership on the closed phone system in the Capitol

d) None of the above

25. When members are in Washington, D.C. what do they spend most of their time doing?

a) Constituent services

b) Legislative and policy work

c) Political and campaign work

d) Press and media relations

26. Which chamber(s) of Congress has electronic floor voting?

a) Both chambers

b) Neither chamber

c) House of Representatives

d) Senate

27. What types of places do members most often travel to when traveling abroad?

a) Strong U.S. allies

b) Areas that are particularly troubled

c) Countries that are not democracies

d) Both a and b

28. In a given congress, about what percent of House members will travel abroad on official business?

a) 10%

b) 60%

c) 33%

d) 95%

29. Most trips taken abroad by members of Congress are bipartisan. What does the trendline for the bipartisan nature of these trips tell us?

a) More bipartisan trips occur each year

b) An increasing number of trips are partisan

c) About the same number of trips have been bipartisan for the last decade

d) The number of bipartisan trips used to be extremely low, but trips have become much more bipartisan in recent years

30. Members voting records are known to be __________________.

a) Ideologically consistent

b) Responsive to polls

c) Responsive to national economic indicators

d) None of the above

31. People who have adopted, and are deeply committed to, specific points of view on the important social, cultural, and political issues of the day are known as what?

a) Ideologues

b) Political sophisticates

c) True Believers

d) Devout Partisans

32. When members vote on the floor by verbally expressing their position it is known as what?

a) Voice Vote

b) Verbal Vote

c) Teller Vote

d) Recorded Vote

33. They say knowledge is power and we know party leaders are powerful. What information helps party leaders shape winning coalitions for floor votes?

a) Knowing which members might defect

b) Knowing how frequently a member holds town halls

c) Knowing which members stand to be persuaded

d) Both a and c

34. The two major political parties have not always been so ideologically sorted. Who was particularly powerful in the mid-20th century, but could not survive in today’s Congress?

a) West Coast Democrats

b) Southern Democrats

c) Midwestern Republicans

d) None of the above

35. Which of the following is the most important goal of every member of Congress?

a) Good public policy

b) More effective federal agencies

c) Good constituent service

d) None of the above

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 5

Chapter Outline

  1. The Legislative Process
    1. Hundreds of new laws are enacted every year.
      1. They outlaw discrimination, protect individual rights, establish new federal agencies, protect the environment, fund government programs and national defense, and even supplement or amend older laws.
    2. Not all bills introduced become laws.
      1. Only about 1 in 10, and as few as 1 in 30 some years, will make it through the entire legislative process.
      2. In the 114th Congress (2015–6), senators introduced 3,548 bills and representatives introduced 6,536.
    3. Some bills only help small portions of the population or cater to special interests.
      1. Special interests, of course, vary widely from college students or the elderly to dairy farmers or bankers.
    4. The legislative process is always changing.
    5. How does somebody’s idea, or concern, make that long and difficult transition from mere thought to public law?
  2. The Textbook Congress
    1. The Constitution is surprisingly silent on how a bill should become a law. But it does mandate a few things:
      1. Identical bills must receive majority support in both chambers
      2. The president must sign bills into law
      3. Each chamber can override a presidential veto with 2/3 support
    2. Each chamber is given the right to establish the necessary rules to govern the legislative process.
      1. The early congresses had a rapidly changing legislative process
      2. By the mid-19th century the legislative process was well established and had become known as the Textbook Congress or the classic process.
    3. Introducing a Bill
      1. The first step in the process is generating an idea that should be enacted into law.
        1. This step can be the most difficult one.
      2. Laws come from a spark or passion.
        1. Someone—a member, an aide, a constituent, someone from the executive branch, a college student—decides something needs to be done about some problem.
      3. If the member decides to move forward with the idea her staff works with policy experts to transform the idea into legislation.
        1. Two nonpartisan offices exist for exactly this purpose.
          1. Congressional Research Service

Staffed by policy experts

Identify what laws currently exist and how they are carried out

          1. Office of Legislative Counsel

Staffed by lawyers

Transform ideas into legal language to be used for legislation

      1. Bills can only be introduced by a member of Congress.
        1. “Only bills that have been signed by a duly sworn-in member of Congress introduced in that member’s chamber while Congress is in session are considered” officially introduced.”
      2. To introduce a bill…
        1. In the House, members place their bill in the hopper.
          1. That is, a basket on the Speaker’s rostrum.
        2. In the Senate, a bill is introduced by talking to the clerk at the rostrum or by seeking recognition to introduce the bill verbally.
        3. The only requirement for a bill is that it have the member’s signature.
          1. It could be written on a cocktail napkin.
          2. It could be written in casual, nonlegal, language
      3. The member who introduces the bill is known as the sponsor.
        1. Members who sign onto the bill before introduction are called original cosponsors.
        2. Members who sign on after the bill has been introduced are called cosponsors.
        3. Cosponsoring is done to try and showcase broad support for a piece of legislation.
          1. Members often seek many, or several powerful members, to cosponsor.
      4. When the bill is introduced the parliamentarian refers the bill to the appropriate committee
        1. The chamber’s parliamentarian is a nonpartisan staffer
          1. They serve at the pleasure of the Speaker or Senate Majority Leader, but they use chamber rules and precedents rather than politics to do their job.
          2. Other offices like party leadership offices, committee staffs, or even the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate flip flop based on party.
        2. The House adopts an outline of each committee’s jurisdiction at the start of each congress.
        3. The Senate utilizes the same jurisdiction as the previous congress, but they can amend them whenever they like.
      5. The mere introduction of a bill will not likely yield any further action.
        1. Sponsors must aggressively campaign to gain support for their ideas.
          1. They build support in two distinct ways:

Among their congressional colleagues

They need their votes for bill passage

Within the greater public community

Constituents, contributors, policy advocates whose views may influence members’ voting decisions.

          1. The first step is to have personal conversations with members who share similar interests.
          2. A special effort is made to gain support from members of the committee or subcommittee of jurisdiction.
          3. The primary supporters of the bill will often write a “Dear Colleague” letter.

This letter spells out the legislation’s intention and arguments for its adoption and requests other members’ support.

Some members will get involved in the fight for passage and try to gain a public hearing for the bill and votes in committee.

Other members may sign on as cosponsors to show their support for the idea or as a favor to a colleague.

Members cosponsor many bills including a large number of which become buried and forgotten.

      1. The introductory phase of the bill’s path through Congress can drag on for months sometimes triggering additional “Dear Colleague” letters.
        1. Of course, not all letters are favorable, and some members might write a letter warning of the dangers of a bill’s passage.
        2. Do not forget, the legislative process is as much about stopping bad bills as it is promoting good ones.
          1. Good and bad being in the eye of the beholder.
      2. Members can enhance a bill’s prospect in a variety of ways.
        1. Giving a floor speech with its introduction.
        2. Giving a press conferences
          1. Or releasing a press release though this is less powerful
      3. EXAMPLE 5.1: Introducing a Bill
        1. This example highlights the importance of legislative language & committee jurisdiction politics
        2. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not include protections for persons with mental or physical disabilities. Many bills followed to protect these Americans including a bill by Senator Tom Harkin.
        3. Harkin’s bill, in part, sought to ensure public transportation be accessible for all.
        4. The drafting process requires the use of legal language to ensure that the bill is implemented properly by bureaucrats and judges who take control after the bill is passed.
        5. The bill’s language can also impact the legislative path the bill takes.
          1. The lines separating jurisdiction between committees in Congress is often fuzzy and porous.
          2. Members often know which committees, and committee chairs, will be favorable or unfavorable to certain types of proposals and therefore they try to write their bills in a way that directs the bill to the committee that will be most likely favor the bill.

Simply calling a charge a user fee (in which case jurisdiction could fall to several different committees) rather than a tax (the purview of the Committee on Ways and Means) may make the difference.

        1. Finally, members can signal that they consider a bill of theirs to be a legislative priority by giving a floor speech upon its introduction.
    1. Committees
      1. Once bills are referred it is up to the committee to act on them or not.
        1. Committee time is extremely valuable.
      2. The chair of the committee is responsible for setting the agenda.
        1. Committee members can play a role but it is arduous and often ruins relations with the chair.
      3. Getting the chair’s support is crucial to move a bill forward.
        1. She can…
          1. Refer the bill to a subcommittee
          2. Begin full committee deliberations on the bill
          3. Do nothing at all
      4. If the bill is referred to a subcommittee it undergoes a process similar to the full committee.
        1. The (sub)committee chair can hold hearings on the bill
      5. Hearings
        1. Members, lobbyists, CEOs, activists, or even ordinary citizens can offer analysis or insight into the bill.
        2. The chair has sole authority to call witnesses
          1. Witnesses can be called individually or as a panel
          2. Witnesses make their own brief statements and usually submit longer statements to the committee.
        3. The ranking member can also call witnesses, but usually only by agreement and they are rarely given equal time.
        4. After witnesses make their statements each committee member is given the opportunity to question the witness(es).
        5. Hearings are more about establishing a public record than changing minds.
          1. Testimony is often cited as evidence for a bill’s approval or defeat.
        6. Many more bills are never given a hearing than those that are.
      6. Following a hearing the (sub)committee can choose to conduct a markup.
        1. A markup is a period when committee members can debate and offer amendments to the bill.
        2. Supporting members view changes skeptically.
        3. Opposing members might try to make the bill more palatable.
          1. Or they might add material making it harder for the bill to pass on the floor or for the bureaucracy to enforce the provisions.
        4. If the bill’s sponsor is on the (sub)committee they will lead the charge letting members know what types of amendments, if any, are acceptable.
          1. Their absence means they must recruit an ally on the (sub)committee to lead the charge.
        5. If an amendment receives majority support it becomes part of the bill.
        6. At the end of the markup the (sub)committee votes…
          1. To report the bill
          2. If the bill has changed, to report the bill as amended
          3. If the bill is unrecognizable, to report a substitute to the bill
        7. If the motion to report at the subcommittee level passes the bill proceeds to the full committee and the entire process is repeated.
        8. If the motion to report at the subcommittee level fails the bill is relegated to the congressional trash can.
      7. Throughout the committee process members continue trying to build support for their bill, but now in a more targeted way.
        1. Gaining endorsements from interest groups.
          1. Using those groups to spread word of the bill via their newsletters, writing op-eds, or contacting members they have close contact with.
          2. Using those groups to pressure other members’ constituents to get them to support the bill.
        2. Of course, the opposition is also notifying groups and pursuing the same strategies.
      8. In the 114th Congress, only 532 senate bills and 849 house bills survived committee deliberations and were reported to their respective chambers.
      9. EXAMPLE 5.2: Committees
        1. Picking up with the ADA, Theriault and Edwards note that most bills are referred to just one committee, but the ADA was assigned to four in the House due its expansiveness.
          1. Each committee referred it to at least one subcommittee.
          2. The bills was marked up and amended.
        2. Because of the compromises struck along the way, the bill that would be debated on the floor had changed dramatically from the one that was introduced.
        3. In the Senate the bill was referred to only one committee.
    2. The Floor
      1. It is not uncommon for legislation to make it successfully past the hurdles posed by the subcommittees and committees of the House and Senate and yet proceed no further.
        1. The House relies more on its committees than the Senate, which is more likely to directly consider a bill on the floor.
      2. Floor processes differ greatly in each chamber as a consequence of each chamber’s respective rules.
        1. The legislative process is shaped greatly by the rules of the chambers. The constitution grants great authority to Congress in determining its legislative process.
          1. House and Senate rules can go beyond the Constitution, but they cannot go against it.
          2. They cannot, for example, remove their presiding officers.

That is, the Speaker of the House or the Vice President in the Senate.

      1. Regardless of the chamber, a member should obtain support of legislative leaders who have enormous power in deciding which bills are considered on the floor and when.
      2. House of Representatives
        1. Reported bills go to the Rules Committee
          1. The Rules Committee is stacked with members loyal to the Speaker and usually has twice the members from the majority party.

The biggest advantage in a large chamber like the House is the ability to structure the debate and the Rules Committee holds that power.

The Rules Committee is akin to a traffic cop, ensuring that the consideration of legislation is not bogged down by trivial side issues or attempts to delay action.

        1. EXAMPLE 5.3: The Floor
          1. Summarizes the process of amendments adopted on the Senate floor.
          2. Summarizes the stipulations of debate and amendments that would be in order, as determined by the Rules Committee. Goes on to summarize the amendments adopted on the House floor.
          3. Also notes that the House considered a motion to recommit the bill to committee.

This procedure is a last-ditch effort for an opportunity for the minority party to change the legislation.

        1. The House adopts its rules at the start of each new congress.
          1. These rules dictate the order in which bills come up for debate on the floor.
          2. To supersede the strict regimen prescribed by the rules, the Rules Committee must write a special rule for a particular bill for it to have priority status on the floor.

This special rule outlines how debate will proceed. It can dictate the following:

Amount of time for debate on the floor

Which members control debate time

Which amendments are to be considered

The order amendments will be debated on the floor

Whether members are allowed to raise points of order to protest violations of House rules.

        1. The Rules Committee operates to ensure majority party supported legislation has the best chance of passing and legislation opposed by the majority party has far worse chances of success.
          1. The mechanism that is utilized most is its control of the amendment process.

It controls the amendment process by offering different levels of discretion on the floor. These levels are known as types of rules:

Open Rule

Permits any member to make any amendment to any part of the bill

The amendment must be germane (relevant to the bill).

Closed Rule

Permits no member to make any amendment to any part of the bill.

Modified Open Rule

Permits any member to offer an amendment so long as the amendment has been printed in the Congressional Record prior to the debate.

Modified Closed Rule

Closes off certain titles from amendment while opening up other titles to any amendment.

        1. After the rule offered by the Rules Committee is adopted debate proceeds according to the rule. Once debate concludes the minority party, even under a closed rule, has one final chance to alter the bill.
          1. The Motion to Recommit would refer the bill to a particular committee with some suggested change.

In practice, if adopted, the changes to the bill occur automatically.

        1. Members can vote in a variety of different manners and the side with the most votes wins.
          1. Voice Vote

Supporters say “aye”

Opposers say “nay”

The presiding officer decides which side had more voices.

Vote is not recorded.

Members may appeal the presiding officer’s judgement and request for a division of the assembly.

According to the rules a certain number of members must request this but in practice the presiding officer just grants the request.

Usually this appeal leads to a standing vote.

          1. Standing Vote

The presiding officer requests members stand at the appropriate time to indicate which side they support.

Vote is not recorded.

          1. Recorded Vote

Voting is done electronically with an encoded card and voting boxes on the floor.

Members individual intentions are recorded.

        1. The presiding officer is responsible for ending the period of voting.
          1. That is, even if the prescribed time to vote was 15 minutes, the presiding officer, not the clock, decides when 15 minutes has ended.
      1. Senate
        1. Each senator has more individual power than a representative in the House
          1. As a consequence, little happens in the Senate without every senator’s consent
        2. The Senate operates not by special rules but by unanimous consent agreements (UCA).
          1. These UCAs are about the manner in which the bill will be debated on the floor.
          2. They are usually hammered out by the majority and minority leaders in consultation with their respective members.
          3. Since UCAs can only take effect if every single senator agrees (that is, does not object to it on the floor) they must be very carefully negotiated.
        3. Debate is usually handled much more informally after a UCA is agreed to, even though the agreements can dictate strict procedures.
        4. Once debate concludes if the majority of senators vote in favor of it, the bill is considered passed. But let’s turn to the particulars of the Senate…
        5. Since each senator can seek recognition on the floor the legislative process can be cumbersome.
          1. During debate, senators can object to UCAs or once they begin speaking they can speak indefinitely.

Speaking indefinitely on the floor is known as a filibuster.

The only recourse against a filibuster or UCA objection is to invoke cloture.

Cloture requires 60 votes.

It cuts off debate and allows for a final passage vote.

Because cloture has become so commonplace some people speak as though it takes 60 votes to pass something in the Senate. But the rules dictate only a majority is needed for something to pass.

        1. The Senate, unlike the House, allows nongermane amendments.
          1. Nongermane amendments are often used to move otherwise stalled legislation through the process.

Stripping a bill of all its word except for the bill number and inserting new legislation

Offered as an unrelated amendment to a bill that is being debated.

If the amendment passes, both the original bill and its amendment are bound together

        1. A bill’s supporters do not merely toss their proposals onto the floor and hope for the best.
          1. One must know how members are planning to vote and what changes in the proposed legislation might change some members’ minds.

This includes any potential amendments

          1. Members must also consider which arguments will be most effective in floor debate and who should deliver those arguments.

A common strategy is appealing to concerns of those in the other party.

For example, a Democrat might cite a Republican president or respected Republican legislator or people important to the Republican political base.

Of course, these floor speeches are rarely directed at their fellow members and instead are directed at the press, interest groups, or people watching the proceedings.

        1. Voting procedures differ in the Senate as well.
          1. Both chambers use voice votes.
          2. If 1/5 of senators request it a roll-call vote will be conducted.

These are recorded votes that, in the Senate, are taken by the clerk calling the name of each senator and the senator announcing their position.

The Senate could have electronic voting if they wanted, but have never opted to.

      1. Floor time is even more precious than member or committee time.
        1. Party leaders try to only use floor time for bills that will likely pass
        2. The Senate passed 172 of the 532 bills that were reported from committee in the 114th Congress. The House passed 633 of the 849 committee-reported bills.
      2. Passage in one chamber only marks the halfway mark for a bill.
        1. The legislative process must start from the beginning in the second chamber.
          1. Sometimes, not always, the second chamber will skip or shorten the legislative paths to passage.
        2. Sometimes a companion bill will be introduced.
          1. That is, a piece of related legislation to be considered at the same time in the second chamber.
          2. Companion bills increase the chances of passing a law.
          3. The two chambers cannot simultaneously act on the same piece of legislation.
      3. In the 114th Congress, the Senate passed 268 House bills and the House passed 132 Senate bills. Incidentally, the Senate did not pass 437 bills that the House did pass and the House did not pass 33 bills that the Senate did.
    1. Action After the Floor
      1. The Constitution requires that both chambers pass an identical bill before being sent to the president.
        1. More often than not, the chambers pass two different bills.
          1. Sometimes because one chamber makes changes to the other chamber’s bill.
          2. Other times it is the result of the passage of a companion bill.
      2. Differing versions of the same bill must be reconciled.
        1. The easiest process is for one chamber to adopt the changes made by the other.
          1. A more complex version of this idea is the chamber negotiating as entire chambers and agreeing to which changes will be kept or dropped.
        2. The Textbook Congress usually used the process of establishing a conference committee to iron out differences between the two bills.
          1. Conferees are appointed by the presiding officer, but usually with consultation with the party and committee leaders.

Usually members from the committee who held hearings and managed the bill’s floor time are conferees.

But, leaders in both chambers have considerable power over who is appointed.

They can determine the fate of the bill based on who they appoint.

Or, they can refuse to name any conferees and therefore doom the bill’s chance of ever becoming law.

The committee chair alternates between the House and Senate.

          1. Conference committees have great power.

They can alter language, remove language, and really do whatever they want with the entire bill.

Their only constraint is that what they do is subject to a vote in both chambers.

This means bill sponsors must continue lobbying for the bill’s passage even in this stage.

          1. To be reported from conference committee a bill must enjoy majority support from both House conferees and Senate conferees separately.
          2. Once the conference committee meets…

Most relatively minor differences in the bills are easily handled by staff who meet before the members to reach a preliminary compromise.

Major differences in bills can lead to hours of public debate, which makes compromise difficult.

Sometimes members will take a recess and negotiate in private then reconvene in public to strike the deal officially.

          1. Changes must be acceptable to the full House and Senate who must pass the identical bill.

Neither chamber can amend the bill reported from the conference committee. The only options are to approve or defeat the bill.

          1. Again, each chamber determines its own procedures and process and they may just ignore the bill.

If a chamber refuses to act and the bill is not passed by both chambers it dies at the end of the congress.

      1. In the 114th Congress, the House and Senate only passed 338 identical bills.
    1. On to the White House
      1. Although the president formally only enters the legislative process at the end, his hand is felt throughout the process.
        1. He has a congressional liaison team who makes his position known and meets with key congressional leaders and bill supporters. Occasionally trying to sway the members.
        2. On important pieces of legislation the president issues a printed memorandum with his position and his reasons. It may include a threat of presidential veto.
      2. When Congress and the White House are of different parties sometimes the Congress will pass a bill in hopes of the president vetoing it and making it a political issue in the next campaign.
      3. If the president does receive the bill he has many options:
        1. Sign it
          1. It then becomes law
        2. Veto it
          1. Send it back to Congress where they can override the veto with 2/3 support in both chambers
        3. Place it in his “pocket” / do nothing
          1. If the president does not act on the bill and Congress remains in session for ten days (not including Sundays), the bill becomes law.
          2. If Congress, during those ten days, adjourns and the president does not act on the bill, the bill dies.

In essence, the president kills the bill, not actively by vetoing it, but passively, by sticking it in his pocket.

      1. EXAMPLE 5.5: On to the White House
        1. The bill was signed without issue because the president was involved from the beginning.
    1. The End of a Congress
      1. No opponent to a bill is as formidable as time.
      2. Bills only exist until Congress adjourns sine die
        1. That is, “without day” or in congressional parlance “without assigning a day for further meeting.”
        2. Congress adjourns several times during a congress but it only adjourns sine die at the end of a congress.
        3. When the Congress adjourns sine die it adjourns until the next congress begins.
      3. Very few bills are ever actually defeated on the floor or in committee. All but very few bills simply die at the end of a congress because they have never been acted on.
  1. Different Pieces of Legislation
    1. Bills
      1. The most common type of legislation when we think of Congress
      2. Public Bills
        1. Apply to everyone in the United States
      3. Private Bills
        1. Apply only to named individuals
        2. 1971: bureaucracy given more power to deal with matters previously addressed in private bills.
          1. Since then, private bills are normally restricted to…

Grants of citizenship

Alleviation of tax obligations

Military matters

      1. Abbreviated with the first letter of the originating chamber
        1. House: H.R.#
        2. Senate: S.#
    1. Joint Resolutions
      1. Require majority support in both chambers before sent to the president.
      2. Like bills they have the status of law
        1. Congress usually uses joint resolutions for things that do not have the permanency of law.
          1. Temporary commissions

9/11 Commission

          1. Continuing appropriations

When one fiscal year ends before Congress has appropriated money for the following fiscal year

          1. Establishing the date for convening of Congress
          2. Adjusting the amount of money the government can borrow.
      1. Also used to declare war or amend the constitution.
    1. Concurrent Resolution
      1. Abbreviated H.Con.Res. or S.Con.Res.
      2. Not presented to the president
      3. Require majority support in both chambers
      4. Mostly used for congressional housekeeping matters:
        1. Adjourning
        2. Recessing
        3. Creating joint committees
          1. As opposed to commissions
        4. Providing for a joint session of Congress
      5. Also used to establish congressional budget resolutions
        1. These provide the broad contours of the congressional budget
    2. Simple Resolutions
      1. Abbreviated H.Res. and S.Res.
      2. Specific to each chamber
      3. Do not require approval from the other chamber
      4. Used in the Senate to change the rules
        1. Or ratify treaties (2/3 vote required)
      5. Used in the House to adopt special rules
        1. Those rules written by the Rules Committee!
      6. Each chamber respectively uses simple resolutions for:
        1. Expelling members
          1. Requires 2/3 vote
        2. Disposition of contested elections
        3. Expressing the sense of the chamber
          1. Can related to specific legislation
          2. Can stake a general belief of the chamber’s membership
  1. Implications of the Textbook Congress
    1. The Textbook Congress did not appear overnight or change rapidly with a new majority.
    2. The process has come to balance the three competing interests necessary for obtaining aggregate success in a legislative body:
      1. Congressional experts on the issues
        1. Established in committees
      2. Coalitions that form to win elections and govern the country
        1. Established in the parties
      3. The member’s desire to satisfy the demands of those responsible for electing them
        1. Constituents
    3. Members recognized the value of this semistable process and adapted their individual behavior to succeed at this legislative game.
    4. Three rules of thumb came to dominate member behavior in the Textbook Congress
      1. Members recognized that rules, order, and structure were critical for success.
        1. One step of the process was not taken until the previous step was accomplished.
        2. Innovative usage of the rules and procedures was possible but that strategy a strategy usually backfired.
        3. If a bill failed at one step the process stopped.
      2. Bill sponsors recognized the importance of the committee and its chair because of their role is setting the legislative agenda.
        1. In other words, committees were empowered and the power existed mostly with the chair.
      3. Members who had expertise were valued in the legislative process and those who sought publicity were not.
        1. Pursuing the support of the committee chair was a better bet than pursuing the support of the New York Times editorial board.
        2. Workhorses were rewarded for thoroughly learning a policy area and becoming an indispensable voice in the minutiae of law
        3. Show horses, that is, members more concerned about their next media appearance, had a more difficult time seeing their ideas turned into laws.
  2. Conclusion
    1. In the classic legislative process, more than perhaps anywhere else, the founders’ plan is clearly seen.
      1. The legislative process displays a system that inevitably forces compromise and prevents extreme positions from dominating everything.
    2. Lawmaking is a difficult exercise that is designed to maximize citizen influence and force some degree of consensus before new burdens can be imposed.
    3. The model is just that, a model.
      1. The Textbook Congress model does not describe the legislative process for every bill.
      2. Not every law passed goes through all the steps described in this chapter.
      3. There are only a few essential steps (passage by both chambers, for example).
      4. In fact, in more recent congresses, the regular order has become rather irregular.
        1. Theses irregularities are described in the next chapter.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. As a primer for this lecture it might be fun to play the classic Schoolhouse Rock video “I’m just a bill.”
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
  2. In discussing the filibuster, it is useful to differentiate between the actual act of filibustering and the now-constant threat of filibustering. To illustrate this point, you might consider showing this three-minute video of Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) near 13-hor filibuster.
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1_9nSzG_hk
  3. One of the more nuanced points of this chapter involves the differences between how the House and Senate operate. One of the key differences here is how the rules of each chamber are adopted and changed. If you feel comfortable, first show the 56-second video (below) of the Senate GOP reducing the threshold needed to invoke cloture for Supreme Court nominees. Then discuss how precedents and votes on decisions of points of order shape the operation of the Senate and how that stands in stark contrast to the slates of rules adopted in the House.
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyIz3DUGNCU

Class Activities

  1. Clear the air
    1. The legislative process is not simple. To make sure everyone is on the same page, at the end of each phase of the legislative process pair the students up and have them discuss a point or two that did not make sense to them.
    2. After they have discussed start picking students randomly to ask questions. Instead of answering the question immediately, call on other students to answer the questions. If they are struggling, you can answer the question.
  2. LegSim
    1. Nothing beats a simulation especially for understanding a process as complicated as the legislative process. While thus far the materials accompanying this book have provided shorter class-day simulations when possible, the legislative process may benefit from a longer-term simulation.
    2. Political scientists have developed just this type of simulation and it can be found here: http://info.legsim.org/
    3. For those interested in an abbreviated version of a legislative process simulation, you should probably pick only one chamber, have one committee and subcommittee. Roughly, you will need to do the following to be successful:
      1. Assign congressional leadership roles, hearing witnesses, and committee assignments to some students
      2. Assign a subset of students to introduce bills
      3. Allow the process to work; that is, let the students pick which bills proceed through committee and make it to the floor.
        1. Let the Speaker or Senate Majority Leader make deals
    4. We do not recommend a single-day simulation, nor do we recommend trying a shorter simulation before lecturing on the topic to make sure everyone understands the process first. If you do try a shorter-term simulation, make sure you know what level of complexity you want to introduce based on what your students can handle.
    5. Precautions aside, a simulation of the legislative process can be very informative for students as to how deal making works in Congress and how difficult it is to pass a law in practice.
  3. Types of Legislation
    1. First write the five different types of legislation on the board with room beneath them to fill in details.
    2. Split students into four groups and assign each of them a piece of legislation (with one group getting both public and private bills)
    3. After a few minutes have each group send someone to the board to fill in details about each type of legislation.
    4. Next, go type by type and discuss with the class what is right and wrong. Allow the students to identify characteristics or facts on the board that are incorrect.
      1. As always, provide concrete examples of each type of legislation whenever possible.

Discussion Questions

  1. Why did the founders not include more detailed requirements of the legislative process in the Constitution?
  2. Do you think it is easier to get a bill passed in the House or Senate? Why?
  3. Is the legislative process working as it should or has gridlock become too intense? What might the founders say about the Textbook Congress?
  4. Do interest groups or the president have too much, too little, or about the right amount of power in the legislative process?
    1. Should the president be allowed to introduce bills into Congress?
  5. Do you think any individual member has too much power in the legislative process?
    1. Or, does any role (e.g., Speaker of the House or committee chair) of a member have too much power in the legislative process?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process

Congress.gov’s general guide to the legislative process. Watch the videos or read the transcripts.

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record

Read the full proceedings from the floors of both chambers in the official transcripts included in the Congressional Record online.

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-RIDDICK-1992/GPO-RIDDICK-1992-1/context

This central location via the GPO allows any citizen full access to the precedents that govern the operation of the U.S. Senate through 1992 (i.e., the Textbook Congress era!).

Essay

1. Discuss the role of cosponsorship in the United States Congress. In drafting your essay, be sure to address, at least, the following questions. Why do members seek cosponsors for their bills? At what point in the legislative process do they seek cosponsors? Which types of members do they prioritize? How many cosponsors do they seek?

2. After introducing a bill it is critical that the member gain support for her legislation. How does a member build early support among her peers in Congress? Name at least three ways and be sure to explain how and why they make a difference.

3. Suppose a bill has been introduced and referred to a subcommittee. Let’s assume there is support enough to move forward with the legislative process. What happens next? What happens if the bill never makes it out of subcommittee? How can the bill ultimately make it to the floor?

4. Compare and contrast the floor procedures in the House and Senate. Be sure to address how amendments are handled, which chamber more empowers their members, and any important procedural motions that shape the nature of floor debate.

5. Suppose a bill has been passed, in different forms, by both chambers of Congress. What is next for the bill? What can happen between this stage and the bill finally becoming law. Be sure to consider the role that the president can play in this stage of the legislative process.

Short Answer

1. If a member seeks to turn an idea into a bill, what two nonpartisan offices would they contact to facilitate that process? What do each of those offices do?

  • Congressional Research Service
    • identify what laws currently exist and how they are carried out
  • Office of Legislative Counsel
    • transform members’ ideas into legal language to be used for legislation

2. How does a member introduce a bill on the floor? Be sure to speak to House and Senate differences.

  • In the House, members place their bill in the hopper
  • In the Senate, a bill is introduced by talking to the clerk at the rostrum
  • In the Senate, a bill is introduced by seeking recognition to introduce the bill verbally

3. How does each chamber adopt committee jurisdiction guidelines?

  • The House adopts an outline of each committee’s jurisdiction at the start of each congress.
  • The Senate utilizes the same jurisdiction as the previous congress, but they can amend them whenever they like.

4. Who are the two main targets of sponsors as they attempt to build support for a bill of theirs?

  • Among their congressional colleagues
  • They need their votes for bill passage
  • Within the greater public community
  • Constituents, contributors, policy advocates views may influence members’ voting decisions.

5. What do witnesses do after they have been called before a congressional committee?

  • Make their own brief statements and usually submit longer statements to the committee
  • Answer questions from committee members

6. What is the role of a congressional hearing?

  • Allows members of Congress, lobbyists, CEOs, activists, or even ordinary citizens to offer analysis on or insight into the bill
  • Establish a public record
  • Testimony from them is often cited as evidence for a bill’s approval or defeat

7. What happens after all amendments have been offered and voted on in committee?

  • The committee can vote to report the bill
  • If the bill has changed, they vote to report the bill as amended
  • If the bill is unrecognizable, they vote to report a substitute to the bill

8. What role do interest groups play in the legislative process? What actions do they take to fulfill this role?

  • They endorse bills that members are trying to move through the legislative process and help build support
  • Spread word of the bill via their newsletters
  • Write op-eds in newspapers
  • Contacting members they have close contact with
  • Pressure other members’ constituents to get them to support the bill

9. What exactly can special rules in the House dictate?

  • Amount of time for debate on the floor
  • Which members control debate time
  • Which amendments are to be considered
  • The order amendments will be debated on the floor
  • Whether members are allowed to raise points of order to protest violations of House rules.

10. The Textbook Congress is said to balance three competing interests necessary for obtaining aggregate success in a legislative body. Name each interest and how it manifests in the Textbook Congress legislative process.

  • Congressional experts on the issues
  • Established in committees
  • Coalitions that form to win elections and govern the country
  • Established in the parties
  • The member’s desire to satisfy the demands of those responsible for electing them
  • Constituents

Multiple Choice

1. The constitution mandates which of the following aspects of the legislative process?

a) The use of cloture to break filibusters

b) A structured amendment process to be determined by party leaders

c) The recording of all things said on the floor in the Congressional Record

d) None of the above

2. How can Congress override a presidential veto?

a) Majority support in each chamber

b) 3/5 support in each chamber

c) 2/3 support in each chamber

d) Presidential vetoes cannot be overridden

3. If the president has a policy idea that he wants to see become law, what is the first thing he should do?

a) Have the Vice President introduce a bill in the Senate

b) Introduce a bill in the House of Representatives

c) Lobby a friendly member of Congress to introduce a bill on his behalf

d) Jointly introduce a bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate

4. Which of the following are requirements for a bill to be introduced?

a) It must have at least one cosponsor

b) It must be formatted properly by the Office of Legislative Counsel

c) It must bear a member’s signature

d) Both b and c

5. A member who signs on to a bill after it is formally introduced is known as what?

a) Cosponsor

b) Post-sponsor

c) Original cosponsor

d) Partial cosponsor

6. Who decides which committee a bill is assigned to after it is introduced?

a) Council of Committee Chairs

b) Parliamentarian

c) Clerk

d) Rules Committee

7. Which of the following is a nonpartisan office?

a) Clerk of the House

b) Office of the Parliamentarian (both chambers)

c) Secretary of the Senate

d) None of the above

8. Members sometimes give a floor speech after introducing a bill. What purpose does this speech serve?

a) It allows the member to call their own panel of witnesses if the bill is brought up in committee

b) It signals the member is serious about the bill and increases its chance of passage

c) It is required by rules in both chambers before a bill can become law

d) It is an opportunity to partner with party leaders to politicize the bill introduction process

9. How can a member influence what committee a bill they introduce is assigned to?

a) Use specific legal language in the bill to influence which committee has jurisdiction

b) Use a point of inquiry to direct the parliamentarian which committee to assign the bill to

c) Earn the support of a committee chair who can make a motion on the floor to accept the bill

d) Earn the support of the president who can decide which committee the bill is assigned to

10. Getting the committee chair’s support for a bill is critical because the chair has the ability to do what?

a) Refer the bill to a subcommittee

b) Veto the bill’s assignment to her committee

c) Approve the bill by proclamation and send it straight to the floor for a vote without debate

d) All of the above

11. Amendments in committee require how much support to be adopted into a bill?

a) A majority of the committee

b) A majority of the committee’s subcommittee chairs

c) 2/3 of the committee

d) A majority of the majority party’s members

12. Which of the following most accurately characterizes the committee phase of the Textbook Congress’ legislative process?

a) Almost every bill is given a hearing, but many are defeated by subcommittee votes

b) Almost every bill is given a hearing, but amendments almost always doom the bill

c) Many more bills are never given a hearing than those that are

d) The committee process is not consequential and mostly serves as a rubber stamp for the president

13. What is a markup?

a) A report authored by the Clerk on lobbying disclosures made in a given monthly period

b) The period when (sub)committee members can debate and offer amendments to a bill

c) The act of a staffer making changes to legislation on behalf of the member who employs them

d) The final approval given by the Speaker of the House to have the Rules Committee report the bill to the floor

14. Which committee in the House is in charge of deciding which amendments are in order on the floor during debate?

a) Majority Committee

b) Ways and Means Committee

c) Amendment Committee

d) Rules Committee

15. The Constitution grants broad authority to Congress in determining its legislative process. Which of the following is Congress NOT able to do?

a) Reduce passage of a bill to 1/4 support

b) Eliminate the role of Speaker of the House

c) Reduce the threshold of overriding a veto to majority support

d) All of the above

16. The House Rules Committee usually has _______ the members from the majority party.

a) Twice

b) Four times

c) Three times

d) Half

17. What procedural tactic might the minority party use as a last-ditch effort to change a bill?

a) Motion to Halt

b) Request for Tabling

c) Motion to Recommit

d) Cloture

18. In the House, how are the rules, which dictate the order that bills come up for debate on the floor, adopted?

a) They continue from congress to congress and can be changed at any time

b) They are adopted with majority support at the start of each congress

c) They are adopted by the House Rules committee twice per congress

d) The Speaker of the House has the sole authority to write the rules

19. What does a modified closed rule in the House do?

a) Closes off certain titles from amendment while opening up other titles to any amendment on the floor

b) Permits any member to offer an amendment on the floor so long as the amendment has been printed in the Congressional Record prior to the debate

c) Prohibits any amendment from being offered on the floor

d) Refers a bill to a particular committee with some suggested change

20. What type of special rule in the House permits any member to offer any germane amendment to any part of the bill?

a) Open Rule

b) Germane Rule

c) Modified Open Rule

d) None of the above

21. If a member is not satisfied with the presiding officer’s determination of who won a voice vote what type of vote tends to follow?

a) A second voice vote

b) Cloture vote

c) Standing vote

d) Proclamation vote

22. Sometimes votes are held open much longer than the time designated. Who is responsible for ending the voting period in the House?

a) House Majority leader

b) The floor manager

c) Chair of the Rules Committee

d) Presiding officer

23. If the Senate Majority Leader wants to bring a bill to the floor, what does he need to do to determine the rules for debate?

a) Instruct the Rules Committee what he would like the terms of debate to be

b) Submit a simple resolution to the floor that lays out the terms of the debate

c) Negotiate a unanimous consent agreement

d) Make a motion on the floor to suspend the rules thus allowing him to stipulate his preferred terms

24. If a senator threatens to filibuster a bill what can be done to ensure a bill has the chance to pass?

a) Negotiate a unanimous consent agreement without the objecting member

b) Invoke cloture to end debate

c) Appeal to the Rules Committee to make filibusters out of order for a given legislative day

d) Both a and b would work

25. Which of the following is unique about the amendment process in the Senate?

a) Amendments only need majority support to be adopted

b) Nongermane amendments are allowed

c) The Rules Committee decides which amendments are in order

d) None of the above

26. When members, especially in the Senate, make floor speeches about bills their arguments are usually aimed at whom?

a) Constituents

b) Fellow members of Congress

c) Interest groups

d) Both a and c

27. What proportion of senators is necessary to request a roll-call vote on the floor?

a) 1/5

b) 1/4

c) 1/2

d) 1/10

28. When a member finds a bill they like in the chamber they do not serve in they might introduce what kind of bill to allow both bills to travel through the legislative process at the same time?

a) Privileged bill

b) Conference bill

c) Companion bill

d) Private bill

29. After a bill makes its way through both chambers there is a conference committee to reconcile differences between the two versions passed. How many days does the presiding officers have to appoint conferees before the bill is automatically sent to the president?

a) 7 days

b) 30 days

c) 1 day per cosponsor of the bill across both chambers

d) None of the above

30. Conference committees are chaired by whom?

a) The most senior senator

b) The chairmanship simply alternates between members of the House and Senate

c) The highest-ranking party member from the House

d) A nonpartisan staffer

31. To be reported from conference committee a bill must ______________________.

a) Have majority support from both House conferees and Senate conferees separately

b) Have 2/3 support within the committee

c) Be supported by the most senior senator and House member

d) Have majority support within the committee

32. What does a president’s printed memorandum on a bill do?

a) Informs members of the president’s position

b) Details the president’s reason for his position

c) Explain whether members of Congress should fear a presidential veto

d) All of the above

33. What happens when Congress adjourns sine die?

a) It adjourns until the next congress

b) All remaining bills in committees are discharged to the floor and voted on in rapid succession

c) Any bill not signed into law dies and must be reintroduced in the next congress

d) Both a and c

34. To declare war or amend the constitution members of Congress use what type of legislation?

a) Public Bill

b) Joint Resolution

c) Concurrent Resolution

d) Simple Resolution

35. Occasionally one of the chambers of Congress will seek to take a formal position on an issue without passing a law. When they do this it is known as expressing the sense of the chamber. What type of legislation is used for this purpose?

a) Concurrent Resolution

b) Private Bill

c) Simple Resolution

d) Joint Resolution

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 6

Chapter Outline

  1. Modern Developments in the Legislative Process
    1. Gingrich, Hastert, Boehner, Pelosi, Ryan – they all held regular order up as their standard for what governing the House of Representatives should look like.
      1. But, each of them—to different degrees—discarded regular order in favor of efficiency and control of the process.
        1. The majority party leadership opts for this efficiency in search of their policy agenda.
    2. Members and leaders both made the decision not to invest further in the Textbook Congress system.
      1. Some outsider influences may have helped bring about irregular order, but even these influences cannot be solely blamed. Members shape the legislative process they use.
  2. Forces That Brought About the Irregular Order
    1. The breakdown in regular order was a response to the people.
      1. In the lead-up to the recovery after WWII the nature of representation changed and so did the politics surrounding it.
      2. Norms that held up the Textbook Congress began to break down.
    2. Individual Member Enterprises
      1. Parties organized congressional elections until the 1950s.
        1. Republican incumbents decided to run their campaigns as individuals rather than as a team.
          1. The Republican descriptor was missing from campaign paraphernalia in hopes that the voters would go with the name they recognized instead of the opponents of the party that they had grown weary of.
        2. An alternative route to Congress was provided.
          1. Parties weakened
          2. Radio and television ads were more available
      2. The individual campaign strategy failed to save most Republicans.
        1. It may have reduced the losses though
        2. And the strategy caught on anyways for use whenever their party was perceived as weak.
      3. Members became increasingly responsible for their own elections.
        1. As members were able to…
          1. Raise more money
          2. Develop their own campaign strategies
          3. Run on their own messages
        2. Members became less willing to abide by a system that rewarded orderly play.
          1. The work of legislating did little compared to raising their profile in obtaining reelection.
    3. The Stalling of Civil Rights Legislation
      1. In the late 1950s and early 1960s politics shifted in the nation.
        1. More urban centers in the North began voting for Democrats
          1. These voters expected action on civil rights
        2. The South remained as Democratic as it had been since reconstruction
          1. But not all supported civil rights legislation
      2. Each chamber had a feature that prevented it from considering civil rights legislation.
        1. Chairman of the House Rules Committee was in opposition and would not report rules to debate civil rights legislation.
        2. Filibusters in the senate prevented action
      3. Eventually Speaker Rayburn struck a deal where the Rules Committee chairman retained his seat but the number of members on the committee expanded to allow for a pro-civil rights majority.
      4. A few other exogenous things occurred and eventually civil rights legislation was passed but the Textbook Congress had to be weakened to accomplish this feat.
    4. Supreme Court Opinions
      1. While reapportionment had occurred every 10 years since the ratification of the constitution redistricting was much more sporadic.
      2. Baker v. Carr
        1. The court struck down malapportioned districts by instituting a one person, one vote standard.
        2. That is, an equal number of constituents must be in each district.
      3. Wesberry v. Sanders
        1. Clarified the Baker v. Carr decision by requiring districts in a state to be as nearly equal as possible.
      4. These changes implicitly forced congressional districts to become more heterogeneous.
        1. Before these decisions states often prioritized district homogeneity instead of population equality.
      5. These changes meant that members now needed to be involved in multiple policy areas to meet the more varying demands of their constituents.
        1. Whereas previously rural districts could focus on agriculture and energy policy while urban districts could focus on infrastructure or price supports.
      6. Members thus had a desire to get involved with the legislative agenda on committees to which they were not appointed.
    5. Northernization of the South; Southernization of the North
      1. Since the earliest days of the Republic, the northern states and the southern states had different priorities and interests.
      2. What the location of the capitol and the resolution of slavery did not do, television and the growth of the national news media did.
        1. When broadcast journalists from the 1950s and 1960s helped forge a national identity and national standards for acceptable behavior in a way that regional newspapers simply could not.
      3. Moreover, migration of Americans from the North to the South (and vice versa) helped interconnect the interests of the distinct regions.
      4. These changes too pushed more issues onto members individual agendas.
    6. The Fiscalization of Politics
      1. President Johnson
        1. Vietnam War
        2. War on Poverty
        3. Did not increase taxes even though federal government was spending more
      2. President Nixon
        1. Tried to control budget by impounding funds for projects he did not like.
        2. Congress and SCOTUS outlawed impounding funds
      3. President Reagan
        1. A deal led to increases in defense and social program spending.
        2. Cut taxes
      4. President H.W. Bush
        1. Raised taxes
      5. Eventually compromising and spending on all priorities was not feasible and the Textbook Congress was not suited for solving issues of debt and deficit.
    7. The Sorting of the Parties by Ideology
      1. The two parties are as divergent ideologically as they ever have been.
        1. When both parties had a liberal and a conservative wing, compromising across the aisle was more easily accomplished.
      2. APSA report called for more internally homogenous parties so voters had clear choices and could reward or punish members for their actions in office.
        1. Their dream has been achieved.
    8. Party Competition
      1. Neither liberals nor conservatives held long-term majorities.
        1. Democrats held control of Congress with the New Deal Coalition but the party was ideologically heterogeneous.
      2. As the two parties diverged the battleground has become more equally divided.
      3. Since 1994, with Newt Gingrich at the helm, both parties have entered the election cycle believing that they could win a majority of seats.
      4. What this intense electoral competition has meant is that both political parties try to gain electoral advantage wherever they can.
        1. This comes at the cost of searching for policy solutions.
    9. The Imperial President
      1. In each military exercise abroad since WWII, the American public has rallied behind its president, at least initially.
      2. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 have increased the stature of the president relative to the Congress due to a constant threat of attack.
  3. The Irregular Order
    1. Multiple Referrals
      1. In 1975, the Democratic caucus gave the speaker the ability to refer bills to multiple committees.
        1. This meant if one committee did not act on the bill, the other could still move it through the process.
        2. This also meant if the bill made it to the floor the other committee’s members will have amended it and control floor time for the bill’s debate.
        3. Senate bills can be multiply referred but it is much less common than in the House where it has become normal for major legislation.
      2. Joint Referrals
        1. When a bill is sent to two different committees at the same time.
        2. Usually have strict guidelines for when a committee must address the bill or they lose the ability to do so at all.
        3. If both committees report the bill, but not the identical bill, the Rules Committee decides which of the bills (or which combination of the bills) is the legislative vehicle for floor debate.
        4. In 1995, the Republicans curtailed the use of joint referrals by designating one of the committees as primary.
      3. Sequential Referral
        1. When a bill is referred to different committees sequentially.
        2. The first committee has a set amount of time to work with a bill before it goes to the second committee.
          1. If the first committee fails to act, the second committee gets the bill as introduced with no reference to the first committee.
        3. Instead of using the introduced bill as its legislative vehicle, the second committee uses the bill reported from the first committee.
        4. The final bill reported from committee is the version taken up by the Rules Committee.
      4. Split Referral
        1. When a bill’s referral is split between multiple committees.
          1. That is, one committee has jurisdiction over the first half of the bill and a different committee has jurisdiction over the second half.
        2. The Rules Committee is responsible for piecing together a final bill for debate.
    2. Subcommittee Bill of Rights
      1. Emerged explicitly because members of Congress wanted it to.
        1. Adopted by the Democratic Caucus in 1973 via recommendations from the Hansen Committee.
      2. Granted individual powers to subcommittees, which at this time were required to act in concert with full committee chair preferences
        1. Changes included…
          1. Named jurisdictions

See Table 6.1 where nameless legislative subcommittees become “Subcommittee on Research and Development” or “Subcommittee on Military Personnel.”

          1. Power to hire staff
          2. The ability to hold hearings and markups with the approval of the full committee chair
      1. The role of committee chair was weakened, but not totally diminished by any means.
        1. Subcommittees could hold hearings and report bills, but the full committee could still ignore these actions.
        2. Subcommittee chairs still had no power over the actions taken by the full committee at the will of the chair.
    1. Discharge Petitions and The Threat of Discharge Petitions
      1. Dislodges a bill from a committee uninterested in advancing a bill
      2. Developed as part of the 1910 revolt against Speaker Cannon
      3. Requires a specified number of signatures to take effect.
        1. Initially it was 1/3 of House members
        2. In 1935 it changed to 1/2 of House members
      4. As initially written, the signatories of the discharge petition only became visible when the discharge was executed.
        1. This creates issues where people claimed to have signed but did not.
        2. In 1993 signatures became visible upon signing
      5. Bills cannot be marked up by committees from which they were discharged.
        1. For a committee to maintain power over the bill, the committee has to act on it before the discharge petition achieves the necessary number of signatures.
    2. Omnibus Bills
      1. A legislative strategy that involves many of the disparate parts of an agreement joining in a common legislative vehicle (i.e., a bus).
      2. Utilized by Henry Clay in 1850 to try and broker a peace during the lead-up to the Civil War.
      3. These bills, while large, could still work their way through the Textbook Congress.
        1. Yet, the fashioning of these agreements was usually done by the Rules Committee.
        2. And, the larger the bill, the less scrutiny that rank-and-file members can give to each additional provision.
    3. Continuing Resolutions
      1. Continue the funding of federal programs and agencies usually, but not always, at their current level.
      2. Used when Congress fails to appropriate new money before the start of the new fiscal year.
      3. Usually developed by party leadership because of the dire consequences of not passing them.
        1. When Congress fails to pass these continuing resolutions in a timely manner, the government can shut down.
        2. When the normal appropriations process is used, the Appropriations Committee exercises the greatest amount of power.
    4. Ad Hoc Working Groups and Task Forces
      1. Nothing in the Constitution or the rules of the House or Senate requires legislation to go through a committee.
        1. The only thing that stops the chamber leaders from subverting the committee process is
          1. A dedicated minority in the Senate (at least 41 senators)
          2. A bare majority of House members
      2. There are many reasons party leaders may want to avoid the committee process
        1. Bills cut across too many issue areas to yield useful information via a committee process.
        2. Bills may be opposed by committee chairs
          1. Or the majority of a given committee
        3. Some policy problems require quicker action than the committee process can give
      3. One way party leaders still gather information about bills without a committee process is to form a task force to deal with a problem or write a bill.
        1. Often leaders appoint members with different views to get them to strike a compromise.
        2. The power to control membership to these task forces is invaluable.
      4. Committee chairs maintain wide discretion over deliberations, but leaders of ad hoc groups have even more discretion.
        1. Each is created in a different way and possesses different powers
      5. Weaken the autonomy of the committees and strengthen the party leadership that creates them.
    5. Gangs
      1. Informal groups formed by members as a bottom-up approach to solving policy problems.
      2. Do not have formal powers like committee or task forces but effective solutions might be adopted by party or committee leaders.
      3. Viewed skeptically by party and committee leaders because they subvert formal institutional power bestowed on leadership.
      4. Mostly used in the Senate and contain equal membership from each party.
    6. Commissions
      1. Established by a law with mandates
      2. Their tasks vary
        1. Investigating a particular problem and issuing a report
        2. Sometimes they have the power to write legislation
          1. If so, that legislation is then submitted to Congress with expedited rules
      3. Their membership can be exclusively nonmembers of Congress or a mix of members and nonmembers.
      4. They serve two important purposes
        1. Shows that it is responsive to a particular problem it believes needs addressing
        2. At least one step removed from the political process by including nonmembers
          1. Might make reports more palatable
      5. Structured in many ways making it difficult to assess their influence in Congress
      6. Weaken committee and individual power; enhance party leader power because they structure debate over commission proposals
    7. Restrictive Rules
      1. In the Textbook Congress, the Rules Committee more often than not gave the bills open rules.
        1. Its real power came from killing bills by not issuing rules.
        2. Open rules could lead to changes in bills not supported by leadership or that pitted their members against their constituents in favor of the party.
      2. Over time it became more difficult, via House rules, to amend bills and especially so for minority party members.
        1. Yet, when parties switch control the rules are not changed. The majority party holds firmly onto their power.
    8. Special Special Rules
      1. Allows for multiple versions of a bill to be voted on sequentially allowing them to compete against one another.
      2. King of the Hill
        1. The last alternative to receive a majority vote, even if it does not receive the greatest number of votes, is the alternative that is considered passed by the House
        2. First used in 1981
      3. Queen of the Hill
        1. The alternative with the highest number of votes, so long as it is at least a majority, is the alternative that is considered passed by the House.
        2. Began being used in 1995
        3. Used infrequently today
      4. Can give members the opportunity to vote for one alternative that their constituents may favor and a different alternative that their party leaders favor.
        1. But party leaders determine the sequencing of bills and therefore still have the ability to nudge results in their favor.
    9. Complex Unanimous Consent Agreements
      1. Have some of the same features as restrictive rules in that they outline who can offer amendments and when they can be offered.
        1. Members consent to this usually to more efficiently move legislation through the process
      2. Unlike UCAs in the Textbook Congress, Complex UCAs might…
        1. Dictate when the Senate will debate
        2. Who controls the time
        3. What amendments can be offered
        4. What happens on disposition of the various moving parts of the legislation
      3. Not as powerful as restrictive rules in the House because every single senator must still, if passively, accept a UCA.
        1. Still only takes one senator to object
      4. Weakens power of individual senators; strengthens power of party leaders
    10. Self-Executing Rules and Postcommittee Adjustments
      1. Self-executing rule
        1. Upon adoption sets debate for a bill and deems that the House, by virtue of the rule’s adoption, has taken some other action.
        2. Types of actions take many forms
          1. Prescribe the automatic adoption of an amendment

The rule can change the words of the legislation after the committee reported it and before its debate on the floor

          1. Combine two bills for the purposes of debate on the floor
          2. Deem some other legislation as being automatically passed.
        1. Most often used to create a more efficient legislative process.
        2. But, the majority party may also use them for partisan advantage
          1. The Rules Committee is an arm of party leadership
          2. Changes made by rules can go against the committee’s changes, thus reducing committee power

Their only recourse is to encourage members to defeat the rule on the floor

    1. Avoiding Conference Committees
      1. Increasingly, party leadership has chosen to bargain directly between the two chambers rather than using a conference committee.
        1. Has been described as ping-pong
          1. The bill travels across the capitol from chamber to chamber like a ping pong ball over a net
      2. Ensures that the party leadership stays in control of the process
        1. Subverts committee power because committee members are no longer being appointed as conferees
    2. Fast-Track Authority
      1. The executive branch can negotiate agreements that Congress must approve or reject in total
      2. Congress deprives itself of the power to amend the agreement with this tactic.
        1. Thus allowing the president to more efficiently negotiate an agreement.
        2. Without fast track authority Congress can amend trade agreements forcing the president to renegotiate based on their amendments and then come back to Congress for final approval.
    3. Filibusters and Holds
      1. Most irregular order changes have taken place in the House where only a majority is required. The individual power of senators has protected the chamber in many ways.
      2. Filibuster
        1. When a senator or group of senators tries to delay action in the Senate by endlessly debating either a procedural move or an actual piece of legislation.
        2. Derived from the elimination of the previous-question motion in 1806.
          1. This motion was used to procedurally terminate debate.
          2. Because the House retains the previous-question motion even today, a simple majority can mandate the settling of the question on the floor.
        3. In 1917 Senate adopted cloture to cut off debate.
          1. Initially require 2/3 of senators voting
          2. Today, as of 1975, requires 60 senators
      3. Hold
        1. Has the effect of letting his or her party leadership know that if a UCA is offered, the hold-placing senator will object.
        2. To be used prior to the start of debate
        3. Placed by informing the party secretary
          1. Secret unless the senator chooses to make her name public
        4. Usually respected by party leaders since objecting to UCAs is viewed negatively
          1. But on important pieces of legislation they may try to force the holder’s hand by making them object to a UCA on the floor
        5. In 2011 the Senate voted to makes holds public if they last longer than two days. Senators avoid this rule by rotating holds with one another.
          1. One senators holds a bill or nomination for just under 2 days, then the other senators places a hold, and then repeat.
        6. Cloture can overcome a hold but it is a costly process to get started (in terms of time).
    4. Death by Amendment and Filling of Amendment Trees
      1. Senators can slow, stall, or even kill bills by endlessly offering amendments.
        1. More amendments means longer time-to-passage.
      2. To prevent death by amendment, the majority leader—using his right to first recognition on the floor—can offer a first-degree amendment (i.e., an amendment to the legislation) and a second-degree amendment (i.e., an amendment to the amendment), which blocks any other amendments from being offered since the senate does not allow third-degree amendments.
  1. Consequences of the Changes
    1. Committees have lost a lot of power
      1. Mostly to party leaders
      2. Their ability to kill bills has been weakened
      3. Their sovereignty over certain issues has decreased
      4. Their authority over negotiating final changes in conference committees has eroded greatly
    2. At one time the legislative process could be described as a ladder; now it is characterized as a tree.
      1. Bills that died at one stage of the process used to die for good.
        1. But now, for example, a committee chair refusing to take up a bill may not spell the end.
          1. A different committee could get jurisdiction or the Rules Committee could make postcommittee adjustments that features the once dead bill.
          2. Or, the Speaker could even try to depose the recalcitrant committee chair.
    3. Congress has lost power to the president
      1. Increasingly the president sets his party’s agenda and the leaders in Congress take their orders from him.
        1. The opposition party lines up to try and thwart his agenda.
      2. As polarization slows congressional action the executive branch centralizes power to unitary presidential action.
        1. Fast-track authority is the primary example of this
        2. What’s worse is what is easily done by one president can be undone by the next.
  2. Conclusion
    1. The legislative process is more complex than ever and the complexity is managed and orchestrated by majority party leaders in the House and Senate.
    2. The slow and methodical Textbook Congress is gone and has been replaced.
      1. The new system rewards party team-playing and legislative efficiency
        1. These two concepts were viewed skeptically by the framers.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. In discussing the intensifying of party competition, it might be helpful to discuss the Contract With America and the pathbreaking effect it had. Gingrich had a vision for how the Republican Party could be a governing party and that vision was embodied in the CWA.
    1. Here is a short clip (<2 minutes) of Newt Gingrich discussing the contract and why he thinks it will be a new era in Washington.
      1. https://youtu.be/fSmVYqCqzkI
  2. When discussing continuing resolutions it may be useful to also detail some basics about the budget process as well. It can be difficult to understand why continuing resolutions are irregular or necessary at all without a basic understanding of the budget process.
    1. Roll Call has a great two-minute video that accomplishes just this task!
      1. https://youtu.be/mypwMnBagbc
  3. Many aspects of irregular order are partisan in nature. Fast-Track Authority is a unique exception to this since many labor unions oppose this authority but many more moderate Democrats in recent years have adopted free trade preferences.
    1. If necessary, PBS has a short video about President Obama’s efforts to get FTA despite opposition from Democrats.
      1. https://youtu.be/11x2W9F1Yv0

Class Activities

  1. Redistricting Game
    1. This activity requires access to a computer. The main point is to help students understand the modern redistricting process and how it might impact the incentives on members of Congress.
      1. Alternatively, you could split students into groups and have them play collectively, but the lesson is best learned by playing yourself.
    2. Have the students navigate to http://www.redistrictinggame.org/
      1. From their website: “The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states allows the state legislators themselves to draw the lines. This system is subject to a wide range of abuses and manipulations that encourage incumbents to draw districts which protect their seats rather than risk an open contest. By exploring how the system works, as well as how open it is to abuse, The Redistricting Game allows players to experience the realities of one of the most important (yet least understood) aspects of our political system. The game provides a basic introduction to the redistricting system, allows players to explore the ways in which abuses can undermine the system, and provides info about reform initiatives - including a playable version of the Tanner Reform bill to demonstrate the ways that the system might be made more consistent with tenets of good governance. Beyond playing the game, the web site for The Redistricting Game provides a wealth of information about redistricting in every state as well as providing hands-on opportunities for civic engagement and political action.”
    3. Have the students play the redistricting game and then discuss, in addition to the challenges of drawing districts, how the composition of these districts really does impact what members of Congress do.
  2. Pro/Con on Irregular Order
    1. Much of this chapter presents information about how power has shifted in Congress and why that is the case. This leaves the question as to whether or not these changes are for the better or for the worst.
    2. Split the students into small groups and prompt them to think of at least one pro and one con of the shift to irregular order.
    3. After a few minutes solicit pros and cons from the students and write them on the board.
    4. After the board is full, or a sufficient amount of time has passed, poll the students on whether they think irregular order is good or bad overall.
    5. Optional addition:
      1. Split the students into a pro group and a con group.
      2. Have them prepare talking points for a debate.
      3. Have one or two students from each group debate the pros and cons.
      4. Hold another vote and see if anyone changes their minds.
    6. In closing remarks it might be nice to discuss not only contemporary politics but also the views of the founders on how Congress was supposed to work deliberatively.
  3. Which change was most significant?
    1. Pair students up and pose the question, “Which of the irregular order changes do you think is most significant and why?”
    2. After students have deliberated, start calling on different pairs and have them share which change they thought was most significant.
      1. Encourage debate among the students and be sure to inquire whether both students in the pair agreed or not.

Discussion Questions

  1. Was every single force that brought about irregular order critical? That is, if one or two of the forces had not occurred would we still have regular order today?
  2. How critical is partisan polarization to the persistence of irregular order? If the parties were to become more ideologically heterogeneous would we see irregular order fade?
    1. Bonus: What would replace irregular order in this scenario?
  3. Why do members of Congress condemn irregular order but make no efforts to change it?
    1. Put another way, why do rank-and-file members allow for power to be centralized with party leaders?
  4. Would the framers have detested irregular order?
    1. Related: Why did they use such varying congressional processes early in American history?
      1. Why did they not prescribes a consistent and regularized process like the Textbook Congress?
  5. Will irregular order continue to get worse or might it start to slowly go away? Why?
    1. Related: How tolerant will members be about new innovations in irregular order?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

LINK

RollCall’s David Hawking’s “whiteboard” series where he explains modern developments of the legislative process.

https://gai.georgetown.edu/resources-publications/the-legislative-process/

An expert-run blog that covers developments in the modern legislative process.

https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/redistricting

Brennan Center For Justice’s page covering redistricting reform proposals throughout the United States.

Essay

1. Compare and contrast the Textbook Congress with the modern legislative process. Identify three steps in the process and outline the Textbook Congress process and then the way the process changed. Be sure to explain why the change occurred and who stood to gain or lose with the change. Provide examples when necessary.

2. Why did the Textbook Congress fade away? Identify at least four causes and elaborate on why these changes in American politics forced changes in the legislative process. Provide examples when necessary.

3. Describe how the amendment process has changed from the Textbook Congress to the modern legislative process. Be sure to explain changes, and provide concrete examples from, each chamber.

4. What are the consequences of irregular order on Congress and American politics? Who gained and lost power? What attributes characterize the modern legislative process and what does that mean for a bill as it moves through the modern legislative process? Be specific and be sure to include examples when necessary.

5. We have discussed at length how the era of irregular order came to be and what changes have come about. How might the era of irregular order come to an end? What would need to change to reshape member behavior toward a different legislative process? Would that process be more similar to the Textbook Congress or something entirely new? Why or why not?

Short Answer

1. Why did congressional Republicans decide to start running their campaigns as individuals instead of as partisan teams in the 1950s? How did this change member behavior in Congress?

  • Their party was perceived as electorally weak
  • They began caring less about legislating because it did little compared to raising their profile in obtaining reelection

2. Following the series of Supreme Court decisions that led to more regular redistricting of congressional districts what changes occurred within districts and how did that shape member behavior in Congress?

  • These changes implicitly forced congressional districts to become more heterogeneous
  • Members now needed to be involved in multiple policy areas to meet the more varying demands of their constituents and that meant getting involved in policy areas for committees they were not appointed to

3. The American Political Science Association stepped into politics fueled by concern for the way the major political parties were operating. What did they suggest should happen to improve democracy?

  • Called for more internally homogenous parties so voters had clear choices and could reward or punish members for their actions in office

4. The Subcommittee Bill of Rights empowered subcommittee chairs and brought about what three major changes?

  • Named jurisdictions
  • Power to hire staff
  • The ability to hold hearings and markups with the approval of the full committee chair

5. What happens if a bill receives a joint referral and both committees report the bill, but not an identical bill?

  • The Rules Committee decides which of the bills (or which combination of the bills) is the legislative vehicle for floor debate

6. Identify three reasons, other than enhancing their own power and influence, why party leaders might want to avoid the committee process and use an ad hoc committee or task force instead.

  • A bill cuts across too many issue areas to yield useful information via a committee process
  • A bill may be opposed by committee chairs or the majority of a given committee
  • Some policy problems require quicker action than the committee process can provide

7. Self-executing rules are powerful tools of irregular order in the House. Identify three different things that can be accomplished via a self-executing rule.

  • Prescribe the automatic adoption of an amendment
  • Combine two bills for the purposes of debate on the floor
  • Deem some other legislation as being automatically passed

8. What are the differences between King of the Hill rules and Queen of the Hill rules?

  • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
  • King of the Hill rules consider the last alternative to receive a majority vote, even if it does not receive the greatest number of votes, as the alternative that is considered passed by the House
  • Queen of the Hill rules consider the alternative with the highest number of votes, so long as it is at least a majority, is the alternative that is considered passed by the House

9. Complex Unanimous Consent Agreements are similar to restrictive rules in the House. Which of these two mechanisms of irregular order is more powerful and why?

  • Restrictive rules are more powerful because complex UCAs still only require a single senator to object to it to cease it.

10. By filling the amendment tree the Senator Majority Leader is doing what?

  • Offering the maximum number of amendments to a bill to disallow other senators from amending it

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following helped stall civil rights legislation?

a) The House Rules Committee would only report queen of the hill rules on civil rights legislation

b) Speaker Rayburn opposed the legislation

c) Senators worked to filibuster civil rights legislation

d) Both a and c

2. What event most helped increase the stature of the president relative to Congress?

a) Terrorist attacks of 9/11

b) Vietnam War

c) The APSA’s release of their report on parties

d) The election of Newt Gingrich

3. Multiple referral takes many forms, which of the following describes the referral wherein a bill is sent to one committee, which is given a specified amount of time to work on the bill, and then goes to a second committee where the process repeats.

a) Sequential

b) Joint

c) Split

d) Long-Term

4. In the mid-19th century Henry Clay used what aspect of irregular order to broker a peace during the lead-up to the Civil War?

a) Discharge petition

b) Commissions

c) Complex unanimous consent agreement

d) Omnibus bills

5. Which Supreme Court case struck down the malapportioned districts by instituting a one person, one vote standard.

a) Buckley v. Valeo

b) Baker v. Carr

c) Citizens United v. FEC

d) Wesberry v. Sanders

6. One of the main duties of Congress is to fund the federal government. In the past few decades they have failed to fulfill that duty and therefore have had to rely on what tactic of irregular order to fund the government?

a) Self-executing rules

b) Fast-track authority

c) Continuing resolutions

d) None of the above

7. In the 1990s Newt Gingrich helped convince Republicans they could govern if they had control. This began an era characterized by what?

a) Rapid policy changes that were opposed by the president

b) Intense electoral competition where either party could be in the majority following the next election cycle

c) An influx of dark money into the political system

d) Intense oversight of issues favored by the Republican Party

8. Many aspects of irregular order threaten the power of committee chairs, but members are less concerned because committees are mandated to be part of the legislative process in ___________ of the Constitution.

a) Article I, Section 2

b) Article I, Section 4

c) Fourth Amendment

d) None of the above

9. If a committee refuses to act on a bill individual members do not have many options, but they can always use which irregular order tactic to send their bill directly to the floor?

a) Continuing resolution

b) Discharge Petition

c) Queen of the Hill rule

d) Filibuster

10. Representative Wilson has been a policy expert in defense weapon procurement for years. She has written a broad bill that he thinks would benefit from multiple referral, and specifically, she thinks different parts of his bill should be examined by members with different areas of expertise. What type of referral is she hoping for?

a) Sequential

b) Joint

c) Split

d) Poly

11. Which of the following have the least formal power in solving policy problems?

a) Gangs

b) Commissions

c) Task Forces

d) Each of these has about the same amount of formal power

12. During the Textbook Congress the House Rules Committee, if it chose to report a bill, issued what kind of rule?

a) Queen of the Hill

b) Restrictive

c) Self-executing

d) Open

13. King of the Hill rules do which of the following?

a) States that the last alternative to receive a majority vote, even if it does not receive the greatest number of votes, is the alternative that is considered passed by the House

b) Allows the executive branch to negotiate trade agreements that Congress must approve or reject in total

c) States that the alternative with the highest number of votes, so long as it is at least a majority, is the alternative that is considered passed by the House

d) None of the above

14. In avoiding conference committees party leaders have instead engaged in a process known as “ping pong” negotiations. Which of the following best describes this process?

a) Party leaders cede negotiations to executive branch officials who decide which members of Congress can submit changes

b) Committees, appointed by party leaders in each chamber, submit changes in a disjointed manner

c) Party leaders bargain directly between the two chambers

d) None of the above

15. Some members of Congress dislike Fast-Track Authority because it reduces their power in negotiations. What specifically does it prevent Congress from doing with deals presented via Fast-Track Authority?

a) Members are not allowed to debate the deals on the floor

b) Members cannot amend the deals

c) Only one committee is permitted to amend the deals

d) Both a and c

16. The elimination of what procedural motion led to the creation of the filibuster in the Senate?

a) Motion to table

b) Motion to recommit

c) Motion to vacate

d) None of the above

17. It’s 1970 and the Senate is about to vote on a cloture motion. Every senator is present and intending to vote. How many votes are needed to enact cloture?

a) 60

b) 50

c) 75

d) 67

18. If a senator notifies her party leadership that she will object to a give Unanimous Consent Agreement it is known as what?

a) Placing a hold

b) Filibustering

c) Signing a discharge petition

d) Overruling a motion

19. Filling the amendment tree in the senate works because the Senate does not allow what?

a) Third-degree amendments

b) Second-degree amendments

c) Non-germane amendments

d) Both a and c

20. Which of the following allows for people who are not members of Congress to join?

a) Task Forces

b) Gangs

c) Commissions

d) None of the above

21. Representative Wallace is trying to gain signatures for a discharge petition. He knows that signatures are visible once a member signs and so he is targeting influential members first. What proportion of House members does he need to sign his petition for it to take effect?

a) 2/3

b) 1/4

c) 1/3

d) 1/2

22. Partisan polarization has slowed the pace of congressional action and this has led to an increase in power of who?

a) The president

b) Committee chairs

c) Individual members

d) All of the above

23. Irregular order rewards what type of behavior?

a) Policy expertise by members

b) Deliberative floor debate

c) Legislative efficiency

d) All of the above

24. After the norms of regular order began to fade away members were left with the process known as irregular order, which is best defined as which of the following?

a) Processes that emphasize the importance of order, committees, and issue expertise

b) Processes that emphasize reciprocity among members

c) Processes that emphasize efficiency and centralized power around majority party leaders

d) Processes that highlight the importance of fundraising and primarily serving corporate interests

25. In Congress, gangs are defined as which of the following?

a) Official groups of members and nonmembers who meet to investigate particular problems and are sometimes empowered to write legislation

b) Informal groups formed by members as a bottom-up approach to solving policy problems

c) Group composed of negotiators from the House and Senate tasked with reconciling differences in the same bill passed by both chambers

d) None of the above

26. In 2011 the Senate voted to makes holds public if they last longer than how many days?

a) 2

b) 5

c) 14

d) None of the above

27. To overcome a hold, the Senate Majority Leader might do what?

a) File a cloture petition

b) Fill the amendment tree

c) Force the senator who placed the hold to object to a unanimous consent agreement

d) Either a or c

28. Of all the influences and causes of irregular order, the process could not have changed without approval from who?

a) Members of Congress

b) The President

c) Federal judges

d) All of the above

29. When this type of rule is adopted it not only sets the parameters for floor debate of a bill, but it also allows some other action to be taken. What is the name of this rule?

a) Chairman’s rule

b) Double rule

c) Sequential rule

d) Self-executing rule

30. The availability of what helped cement candidate-centered campaigns?

a) Corporate fundraisers

b) Radio and television ads

c) Interest group scoring

d) Funding from political parties

31. In the mid-20th century ___________________ helped forge a national identity and national standards for acceptable behavior.

a) Local political party clubs

b) Regional newspapers

c) Broadcast journalists

d) More competitive presidential campaigns

32. If President Trump plans to negotiate a trade deal with six or seven different South America nations he is likely to pursue what aspect of irregular order to make sure the deal is more easily negotiated?

a) Fast-track authority

b) Continuing resolution

c) Gangs

d) Split referral

33. Compromise was a keystone feature of the Textbook Congress, but over time, and many presidents, the issue of _____________ proved too contentious for even regular order to resolve.

a) Space exploration

b) Education policy

c) Land-use policy

d) National debt

34. In what decade did Congress first implement multiple referrals?

a) 1980s

b) 1970s

c) 2000s

d) 1990s

35. The previous-question motion does which of the following?

a) Send a bill back to committee

b) Forces a re-vote on the last rule to be on the floor

c) Forces a re-vote on the last bill to be on the floor

d) Procedurally terminates debate

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 7

Chapter Outline

  1. The Committees
    1. Committees divide up the policy areas for which Congress is responsible.
      1. There are 36 today in total.
      2. The committee system has endured many changes but through it all it has remained a critical part of how Congress operates.
    2. Just like any other large organization or business every single staff member cannot weigh in on every decision that is made. Therefore, every single member of Congress need not weigh in on every decision made in developing a proposal in every policy area.
    3. Committees are not mentioned in the Constitution, but each chamber developed its own legislative process.
      1. As the role of the federal government grew so did the need for a committee system.
        1. “It is hard to imagine any representative or senator having the time, energy, or inclination to master the details of hundreds of thousands of pages of legislation or review countless volumes of testimony supporting or opposing changes in child-care legislation, flood relief, highway construction, defense spending, and international trade policy.”
    4. Members develop expertise in a given policy area based on their committee assignment
      1. Usually linked to constituent needs
  2. The History of Committees
    1. Early congressional history tells us that committees were initially used only on an ad hoc basis.
      1. They were created to process a single bill.
      2. Broad contours of the policy were worked out on the floor and committees then drafted the language.
        1. If the language was satisfactory the bill was passed and the committee disbanded.
      3. This was a very floor-centered process
        1. When working out policy details on the floor it was known as working in the committee of the whole.
    2. Each chamber developed a standing committee system by 1825.
      1. The House slowly began to rely on a standing committee system
        1. The system formed out of an attempt by Henry Clay to maintain his power as Speaker of the House.
          1. Clay appointed his rivals to chair newly created standing committees.

These committees transcended individuals bills and congresses and had codified jurisdictions.

        1. By 1825, 89% of legislation was processed by committees
      1. The Senate created its standing committee system in one fell swoop.
        1. In the 14th congress the Senate went from 2 to 14 standing committees and during the second session processed 87% of bills via committee.
    1. The development of the committee system was conducted by members, but it was also consistent with the growth of Congress and the nation.
      1. Leading up to 1825 the Senate added 22 members to their original 26.
        1. The House tripled in size from 65 to 212 members
      2. In turn, the House developed their committee system more rapidly than the Senate.
      3. Even today, the House still relies more on committees than the Senate.
    2. Despite being developed by party leaders, the committee system trades off power with party leaders.
      1. Sometimes the party leadership is more powerful and other times it is the committees that reign supreme.
      2. Party leaders can only be powerful if they have the support of their chambers; committees are the repositories of that power when party leadership fades.
        1. As made evident by the Cannon revolt in 1910.
      3. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 reduced the Speaker’s power to ignore committees out-of-step with his agenda.
        1. Accomplished this by restricting the number of standing committees from 48 to 19.
      4. Committee power was further bolstered by the more well-defined committee jurisdictions and the use of the seniority system for awarding committee chairmanships.
    3. Committee chairs under the seniority system were difficult to depose and thus they ruled their policy areas autocratically.
      1. In the 20th century, over time, southern Democrats accrued vast amounts of power.
        1. This, of course, is connected to the opposition against civil rights legislation.
    4. The strong committee system provided the bedrock for the Textbook Congress. This system was upheld by norms that favored committee chairs, which developed over time.
      1. New committee members were treated as apprentices until they acquired expertise.
        1. Even though each member of Congress is in theory equal
      2. Committee members were expected to concentrate on issues that came before their committees and disengage from issues before other committees
      3. Committee members were expected to be available for hours of committee work at the will of the chair
    5. The committee system weakened starting in the 1970s.
      1. Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970
        1. Included the Subcommittee Bill of Rights
          1. Detailed in previous chapters
        2. Committees also lost power to party leaders
          1. Speaker regained the ability to appoint the Rules Committee chair and its membership.

This allowed the Speaker to reassert power over the floor and undercut the influence of committees.

      1. Creation of the House and Senate Budget Committees
    1. In 1995 the committee system was again weakened
      1. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich ushered in new changes and exercised control not seen since Speaker Cannon (bolstered by an electoral mandate in the 1994 elections).
        1. Forced committee chairs to exercise the leadership’s agenda
          1. Or, he went around them via ad hoc committees

These were not unlike the committees used in the early years of the Congress.

        1. Was given wide latitude in naming committee chairs and sometimes disregarded seniority in naming chairs
        2. Revised the names and jurisdictions of committees to suit the Republican agenda
          1. Example: Education and Labor committee became Education and Workforce.
      1. The power exercised by Gingrich has not waned since.
  1. The Committee System of Today
    1. While the committee system has changed over time its purpose has remained the same.
      1. Committees are to recommend legislation to their parent chambers, which usually exercise deference.
        1. Even members of the original ad hoc committees were expected to specialize (if they were not already experts).
    2. Only when committees became institutionalized with stable membership and jurisdictions did they obtain their most important power known as gatekeeping.
      1. Gatekeeping is the power of the committee to control whether the chamber ever even considers a bill that has been referred to the committee.
      2. In the 114th Congress…
        1. 87% of House bills
        2. 85% of Senate bills
        3. Died in committee
    3. Jurisdictions
      1. The outline for which committees are assigned which issues
      2. The House establishes jurisdictions as one of its first actions upon convening a new congress
      3. Senate jurisdictions continue from one congress to the next unless explicitly amended
      4. Allows for a division of labor
      5. Can make it difficult for a member to have influence unless they belong to the given committee
        1. Once a bill comes to the floor members are expected to defer to committee decisions
    4. Why do members accept a system where they are often losing power?
      1. There is simply too much legislation introduced for Congress not to divide up the responsibility of handling it and processing it through the legislative process.
      2. And, on balance, it empowers members to deal in-depth with issues of concern for their constituents
      3. In fact, political scientists agree that the committee system helps members accomplish not only Mayhew’s proximate goal of reelection but also other goals developed by Fenno.
        1. Reelection, good policy, and influence
          1. The latter two work to produce the first goal.
          2. Committees allow members to

Gain funds for district projects

Support policies constituents support

Shape policy is an ideological direction their constituents favor

Gain influence among their peers by becoming experts in a policy area

    1. Committees also tend to be large and members serve on many
      1. Some committees in the House have more than 50 members
        1. Example: House Appropriations Committee has 51 committee members, 12 subcommittees (each with no more than 16 members)
        2. Of course, Senate committees are smaller
      2. This means that the idealized level of expertise is difficult to attain
      3. Debate is also usually awkward and compromise is difficult to reach
      4. The subdivision into subcommittees makes sense then
        1. Each has fewer members and a more narrow jurisdiction
      5. House: 20 standing committees
      6. Senate: 16 standing committees
    2. Authorizing Committees
      1. Congress has two basic functions: to legislate and to conduct oversight
        1. Legislate
          1. Used to study issues, develop new policies, and craft legislation
          2. Responsible for authorizing these new programs or agencies
        2. Oversight
          1. Stems from the vagueness in many federal statutes and the disjoint between writing and implementing laws
          2. Conduct hearings and investigations to gather information and determine how well federal agencies are implementing laws

Call expert witnesses

Summon agency officials to defend their decisions

          1. Results in…

New laws

New reporting requirements for agency officials

Cutbacks in the authorized level of funding until their performance is considered to have improved

        1. Even if authorizing committees write new laws, create agencies, and stipulate targets for funding they cannot allocate federal funds for their programs.
    1. Appropriations Committees
      1. Put simply, the committees that decide how the national government spends its money.
      2. As discussed previously, the legislative process is meant to be deliberative and slow.
        1. A critical piece of this process is the separation of authorizing and appropriating committees.
          1. Not to mention each chamber has an appropriations committee of its own
      3. These committees do not simply accept, reject, or amend funding suggestions from authorizing committees.
        1. Instead, their own subcommittees, which roughly parallel the jurisdictions of the authorizing committees, hold their own hearings, conduct their own investigations, and independently determine which federal programs should be continued and at what funding level.
        2. Occasionally money will be allocated for projects without authorization, in those cases projects, the project would only be appropriated the funds pending authorization, ready to be released as soon as the authorizing committee gives its permission for the project to be started.
      4. How are authorizing committees relevant at all?
        1. Appropriations committees may not include money…
          1. Beyond authorized levels
          2. For programs not included in a previous authorization bills
          3. Or authorize new programs on their own
        2. Members may object through a point of order on the floor if the appropriators overstep their mandates
      5. Of course, while appropriators are cautious it is not uncommon for authorizers to ask for support in including authorizations in appropriations bills.
        1. This would of course be vulnerable to a point of order.
        2. In the House, as we know, the Rules Committee can dictate the terms of debate.
          1. Put another way, they can prevent points of order from being raised.
      6. While either committee can act independently, the process works best when they work together.
    2. Taxing Committees
      1. Any revenue raising committees
        1. Taxes, tariffs, etc.
      2. Bills regarding raising revenue must originate in the House
      3. Different names in each Chamber
        1. Ways and Means Committee
          1. House of Representatives
          2. Also assumes jurisdiction over entitlement programs

Social security, Medicaid, etc.

        1. Finance Committee
          1. Senate
      1. While there are two distinct committees and bills must originate in the House, they perform very similar functions
    1. Budget Committees
      1. Prior to the 1970s, Congress took its lead in developing the federal government’s budget from the president.
        1. After an extended conflict with President Nixon Congress passed the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
          1. Centered budget making in Congress
          2. Created the House and Senate Budget Committees

Primary responsibility is to produce the concurrent resolution on the budget

Establishes the framework by which the federal government raises and spends money

Does not require the president’s signature

Takes into account both spending and revenues by establishing limits on how much Congress can spend.

Has jurisdiction over supplemental budget requests

Usually result from unforeseen events in the budget

Examples: military interventions or natural disasters

No restrictions on Senate membership

House membership does have restrictions

Republicans can only serve 4 two-year terms in any successive six-term period

Democrats are limited to 3 two-year terms in any five-term period.

The chair and ranking members are limited to 4 two-year terms

Can be granted extension by the entire House of Representatives

          1. Created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Tasked with supplying economic information to Congress in an unbiased, nonpartisan way

Oversight performed by Budget Committees

    1. Other Committees
      1. Rules Committee
        1. House committee that shapes debate on the floor and holds gatekeeping power over all bills before they come to the floor.
        2. Hears arguments from each bill’s advocates and opponents and then determines
          1. When—and if—a bill proceeds to the House floor
          2. What—if any—amendments may be offered
          3. How long debate may last
          4. What parliamentary objections may be considered
          5. Which members will control the allotment of time for discussion
        3. Presents House Resolutions (H.Res.), which are normally called the rule that outlines the parameters for debate on that particular bill only.
          1. This allows the House to ignore its standing rules during debate of that bill
        4. Rules issued by the committee are very influential and can determine whether a bill will pass or not based on how much uncertainty is left to the floor.
        5. If a rule is defeated it is sent back to the Rules Committee along with its accompanying bill
          1. The Rules Committee then decides whether to take it up again
        6. Has become a central player in determining legislative outcomes in the House
        7. The majority party usually has twice as many members on the committee
          1. Speaker has much more power in naming members than they do for other committees.
        8. Senate Rules Committee
          1. Due to the individual power of senators the Senate Rules Committee serves a different role.
          2. Considers, drafts, and debates new proposed rules for the Senate
          3. Responsible for the physical space on the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol
          4. Its jurisdiction is similar to that of the House Administration Committee.
      2. Ethics Committee
        1. Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution makes each chamber the sole judge of the qualifications of its members
          1. Each chamber also reserves the right to punish their members

With a two-thirds vote the chamber can expel a member

Happened 5 times in the House and 15 times in the Senate

        1. Handles all inquiries into members’ behaviors
        2. House and Senate committees have several features in common
          1. Equal membership between Democrats and Republicans
          2. Staffer explicitly (by rule) nonpartisan
          3. Functions include the roles of investigator, prosecutor, and judge
          4. Deliberations take place behind closed doors

To preclude the possibility of damaging persons who may ultimately be found innocent

          1. Members do not want to serve on this committee

It involves investigating their friends and colleagues!

Party leaders tend to draft members onto the committee with promises of short terms of service and favorable committee appointments in the future

          1. Serve as advisors to members who seek guidance

Such as on the propriety of accepting gifts, taking expensive personal trips, or including certain kinds of material in their official communications

          1. They make recommendations to their parent chamber (like the other committees)

This means only the full chamber can actual punish a member

        1. Ethics decisions reached by one chamber are not subject to the opinion of the other chamber.
      1. Select Committees
        1. Deals with issues that arise and do not fall neatly into the jurisdiction of a standing committee.
          1. Though sometimes members convince the chamber that a standing committee should address the issue
          2. Only exist for a limited amount of time

Usually defined in the legislation that creates them

        1. Each chamber gets to decide for itself what issues warrant a select committee
          1. Examples: Senate has created select committees for Intelligence and Ethics whereas the House has not
      1. Joint Committees
        1. Committees where members from both chambers serve together
        2. There are currently 6 such committees
        3. Made up of equal membership from each chamber
        4. Example:
          1. Joint Economic Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation review, comment on, and occasionally conduct hearings into matters of economic and tax policy, including the decisions of organizations like the Federal Reserve Board (“the Fed”).
  1. The Makeup of the Committees
    1. Congressional committees are at the center of institutional power and therefore it is in the interest of the majority party to control them.
      1. The committees generally work to advance the agenda of the majority party.
    2. The majority party has more seats on each committee than the minority party, usually in rough proportion to the full membership in the chamber.
      1. Some committees that are central to the controlling the agenda have more significant advantages
        1. Example: 2018 House Republicans had 55% of House seats
          1. Rules Committee: 69% Republican
          2. Ways and Means: 58% Republican
          3. Appropriations: 60% Republican
      2. Because of its smaller size, committee ratios in the Senate tend to be less disproportionate.
        1. Example: 2018 Senate Republicans had 51% of Senate seats
          1. Most committees were divided so Republicans had one more seat than the Democrats
    3. The ratios and size of committees are the result of tense negotiations between party leaders at the start of each congress.
      1. They can be adjusted if membership changes.
    4. Committee Leadership
      1. In committee each member gets one vote.
      2. The committee chair has the ability to control the proceedings almost entirely
        1. Committee staff report to them
          1. This allows chairs to have superior information about the policy problem and the potential solution alternatives
        2. Control whether a bill is referred to subcommittee
          1. Where subcommittee chairs retain power, subject only to direction of the full committee chair
        3. Decide whether a bill gets a hearing
          1. How long the hearings will be
          2. How many hearings will be held
          3. Which witnesses are called

Including whether the minority party gets any time to call witnesses

        1. Produce a chairman’s mark
          1. That is, a version of the final bill the chair hopes to see emerge.
          2. Most legislation that comes out of committees adheres to some version of this mark

They can threaten uncooperative members with not considering their bills if they do not support the chair’s preferences

        1. Unless party leadership intervenes, they have great influence over who is appointed to conference committees
      1. Committee chairs do not have absolute power
        1. Recall the use of discharge petitions
          1. While these often fail but have succeeded frequently enough to be seen as a legitimate check on power
        2. Committee members in both chambers play a role in structuring subcommittees
          1. House: Majority party committee members may vote on how many subcommittees to establish and the extent of their jurisdiction
          2. Senate: Committee chairs consult with majority party committee members before making decisions about subcommittee number and jurisdiction
      2. Chairs have been selected via the seniority system during the Textbook Congress and beyond.
        1. That is, the most senior majority party member chairs the committee
        2. There have been exceptions, of course. The seniority system is a norm, not a rule.
          1. Sometimes chairs are replaced simply because they are elderly.
          2. As the power of party leadership grows so have violations of the seniority system

Usually due to policy disagreements

        1. The entire caucus membership of the majority party determines chairs at the start of each congress
        2. The more violations to the seniority system there are the less sacrosanct the system is
          1. Republicans, with Newt Gingrich in the 104th Congress set the path for violating norms and after a few congresses Democrats followed suit.
          2. This means that chairs, who once held almost complete control now serve with less control and less job security.
      1. In 1995 Republican instituted term limits for committee chairs
        1. Three congresses, that is, six years
        2. Increased opportunities for party leaders to appoint chairs
        3. Members can serve beyond their term limit with a waiver from the party conference, but these occur sparingly
        4. Democrats retained the term limits when they took over in 2006, but removed them in 2008
      2. Ranking Member
        1. The minority party’s counterpart to the chair
        2. Usually the most senior minority party member
        3. Technically determined by the party’s full membership
        4. Do not exercise nearly the power of committee chairs but can be thought of as chairs in waiting.
        5. When the Republicans came back in power in 2011, they not only reinstituted the term limit on committee chairs, but also decided to count the years of service as ranking member as part of that six-year window.
    1. Committee Assignments
      1. Competition for committee assignments is fierce.
        1. Not all committees are created equal in that some of them have more power and more prestige in the legislative process.
          1. Appointments to these such committees are coveted in part because journalists and constituents perceive members of these committees as the most important members of Congress.
        2. Members can make all the difference in their reelection campaigns by obtaining assignments to committees that handle issues crucial to their state or district.
          1. Agriculture for districts rich with farmers
          2. Defense for districts that have military bases
        3. Committees can also serve as a critical way for forming connections with campaign donors or interest groups that can provide volunteers for reelection efforts.
        4. Of course, as mentioned previously in the book, some members come to Congress with personal concerns about an issue or cause and they might seek membership to the committee with jurisdiction over that issue
      2. Members who determine committee assignments weigh many factors
        1. Special expertise
          1. Doctors assigned to committees dealing with healthcare
        2. Advancing the party’s agenda
          1. Though this is an inexact science at best
        3. Concern for reelection
          1. If a member sees appointment to a certain committee as being critical for reelection this can matter greatly
        4. Regional representation
          1. If a member from New England can claim no other New Englanders are on a given committee that will help their chances
        5. Racial or gender balance
          1. As Congress becomes more diverse this concern is more easily met
      3. Members, especially in the House, must wage aggressive informational campaigns about their interests and desires for committee appointments.
        1. This can include phone calls, personal visits, letters, and even tweets and Facebook messages from influential outsiders to those senior members who make the ultimate committee assignment decisions.
        2. It is a balancing act though, some members resent outside pressure or overly aggressive campaigns
      4. The parties and the chambers implement different procedures for filling their available committee positions, but the general approach is similar.
        1. Committees are placed into categories according to their importance.
        2. The most important members from both parties in both chambers review applications and interview the members
        3. The committee assignment decisions are then made.
        4. The decisions, finally, are subject to the approval of the entire party membership.
      5. House Republican Committee on Committees membership
        1. Elected party leadership
        2. Other institutional roles
          1. Chief deputy whip
          2. A shared appointment between the chairs of the Appropriations, Budget, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Rules, and Ways and Means Committees

Given temporarily to the chair who has the most direct connection to the committee seat being decided.

        1. Regional representatives (19 members)
          1. Elected by their respective subgroups
        2. Class representatives
          1. 2 from the sophomore class
          2. 2 from the freshmen class
          3. Elected by their respective subgroups
        3. As a sign of the importance and contention of making committee assignments, the House Freedom Caucus, a subset of the most conservative Republicans, demanded changes to the selection process prior to endorsing Paul Ryan’s ascendency to the speakership.
      1. Steering and Policy Committee (House Democrats)
        1. Elected party leaders
          1. Party leader

Appoints 24 members

          1. Assistant leader

Appoints 9 members

          1. Party whip

Appoints 9 members

        1. Regional representatives (12 members)
        2. Ranking members or chairs from Appropriations, Budget, Energy and Commerce, Rules, and Ways and Means committees
      1. Fewer paths exist to serving on the assignment committees in the Senate.
        1. Senate Democratic Steering Committee
          1. Senate Democratic Leader

Appoints 17 members

Considers several factors including regional diversity, seniority, and policy expertise

        1. Senate Republican Committee on Committees
          1. Made up of 9 members because Senate Republicans have a more formulaic criterion for filling committee vacancies that relies mostly on seniority.
        2. Both committees are composed of decisions made by the party leaders and subject to a vote of the entire party, so the members are usually attuned to the needs of the leadership and party.
      1. Obtaining a cherished committee seat often takes time
        1. Some years there may no opening on Ways and Means or Finance.
        2. And, the cost for moving up to a better committee is that all seniority gained on a previous committee is lost
    1. Staff
      1. Committees have staffers assisting members in committee work. There are two broad categories of these staffers
      2. Support staff
        1. Help the committee with its logistic functioning
      3. Expert staff
        1. Advise members on various policy alternatives
      4. Some of these staffers, along with those who work for party leaders, are considered some of the most powerful people in Congress.
      5. A committee’s staff size usually corresponds to the committee’s importance and breadth
        1. Examples: 2015
          1. House Appropriations: 158 staffers
          2. House Budget: 36 staffers
      6. Without regard to the size or the importance of the committee, the majority party usually hires about 2/3 of the staff for the committee and the minority party hires the remaining 1/3.
  1. Ranking the Committees
    1. The two chambers use different names and include different committees in their chambers’ hierarchies.
      1. House of Representatives
        1. Exclusive
          1. Committees with broad jurisdictions that perform fundamental government functions
          2. These committees are Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means

In 1995 Energy and Commerce was added

In 2005 Financial Services was added

          1. Serving on these committees severely restricts service on other committees
        1. Nonexclusive
          1. More specific policy jurisdictions
          2. Sometimes call constituency committees

Because their narrow jurisdictions make them valuable for members whose constituencies care disproportionately about a given issue

          1. Includes almost all other committees

Examples: Armed Services, Agriculture, or Transportation.

          1. Members usually serve on at least a couple of these committees.
        1. Exempt
          1. Committees where service on them is not taken into consideration when seeking other committee assignments
          2. Two exist:

Ethics

Select Intelligence

      1. Senate
        1. Super A
          1. Armed Services, Finance, Appropriations, and Foreign Relations
          2. Republican senators cannot serve on more than one of these committees, and Democratic senators cannot serve on more than one of the first three (listed above).
        2. A
          1. The non-Super A important authorizing committees
          2. Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Energy and Natural Resources
        3. B
          1. Committees with smaller portfolios
          2. Budget, Rules and Administration, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Veterans’ Affairs, Special Committee on Aging, and the Joint Economic Committee
        4. C
          1. The remaining committees
          2. Ethics, Indian Affairs, and ad hoc committees
    1. The top committees in each chamber can be explained by three differences between the chambers
      1. Rules Committee is a B committee in the Senate because they do not have the same sweeping power to shape rules of debate in the Senate.
        1. Of course, this is linked to the individual power of senators in objecting to UCAs
      2. The Senate’s power to ratify treaties elevates the role of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
      3. Due to presidential ambitions of senators they often seek appointments to committees dealing with the military or foreign leaders
        1. That is, Armed Services or Foreign Relations
    2. Most members of Congress like to boast to their constituents about their prized (and, thus, influential) committee assignments. But they also like to brag about constituent-specific assignments as well.
  1. The Committees at Work
    1. Because their jurisdictions, memberships, and histories differ, each committee functions a bit differently. But there are broad contours we can sketch still.
    2. In Committee
      1. It is not uncommon for hearings to take place with only two or three members present and rotating in and out as their prescribed roles play out.
        1. This is due to the constraints on members’ time
      2. Members decide whether and when to attend committee hearings based on the benefit it will bring.
        1. Personal interest in an issue or constituency concern can both lead to members attending a hearing.
        2. But if an issue is niche or unrelated to concerns of a member and their district they may choose to do other things instead.
        3. Members of the minority party often have little incentive to take part in committee meetings unless important ideological, partisan, or constituency-related issues are to be considered.
      3. Less attention is paid to committee work and therefore members feel more flexible in acting in committee.
        1. This can mean less risk for supporting a party position.
        2. It can also mean the member might vote differently if the bill reaches the floor.
      4. While minority party members sometimes choose not to participate in activities where they are bound to lose or not be given time to participate, there is no rule about precluding minority party members from participating.
        1. To a large extent the participation of the minority party depends on the personal relationship between the chair and ranking member.
      5. Members of the minority party frequently try to amend the bill while it is in committee.
        1. Due to the restricted nature of floor debate committee deliberations are often a more thorough airing of concerns.
        2. Even if the minority successfully amends the bill the chair can still stop the bill from going forward in the legislative process.
    3. To the Floor
      1. Because committees exist partially to divide up the work of Congress members often defer to those members of their party who participated in the hearings and markup discussions and who may have a greater sense of the issues at stake.
        1. This process is known as signaling
          1. More precisely, Member A watching how Member B votes.
      2. Members not wanting to rely on signaling might instead rely on the committee report attached to every bill reported from committee.
        1. This report summarizes provisions of the bill and arguments in favor and opposition of the bill.
      3. Committee leaders (i.e., the chair and ranking member) manage the floor time for debate on the floor.
        1. While amendments on the floor is permitted the floor managers tend to resist amendments at this stage.
      4. Even after floor consideration, the committee leaders retain power so long as a conference committee is used to resolve the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills.
      5. If the bill passes and the president signs it the committee leaders will be the faces in the photo at the signing ceremony.
        1. And, they might even get one of the pens!
    4. Oversight
      1. Both chambers have a committee that is tasked with being the primary committee of oversight.
        1. House: Oversight and Government Reform Committee
        2. Senate: Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee
        3. Of course, committees of jurisdiction for a given scandal or issue can also claim oversight responsibilities in addition to these two committees.
      2. Conducting oversight frequently serves multiple purposes.
        1. Rooting out corruption and government inefficiency
        2. Scoring political points
          1. Especially in the House of Representatives
          2. Especially when the House majority is the opposite party of the president.

Twice as many investigations occur during this time.

This increase in oversight is less of concern than the decrease in oversight when the House and president are of the same party.

Turning a blind eye to corrupt or bad behavior is never good for the country or for retaining majority-party status.

      1. Party polarization has made passing laws increasingly difficult.
        1. This has in turn led to disproportionately more oversight hearings.
  1. Conclusion
    1. While the power of committees has waxed and waned and while committee chairs exercise their powers differently, Woodrow Wilson’s observation is as true today as it was when he made it more than one hundred years ago.
      1. “It is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work.”

Lecture Suggestions

  1. If time allows it might be useful just to show a short clip or two from a recent committee hearing. It is useful for contextualizing what a committee hearing’s process is and how they are not really set up for debate, but instead for investigations and interviews of witnesses.
  2. When discussing the weakening of the committee system and Gingrich’s reforms it might be useful to then speak about the most recent few speakers and how they have continued Gingrich’s weakening. Bringing in some of the information from the first few pages of the previous chapter would serve this goal well.
  3. When discussing oversight it could helpful useful to further detail that the primary oversight committees are not the only committees performing oversight. Students are likely to ask in what cases those committees conduct oversight compared to the committees of substantive jurisdiction.

Class Activities

  1. Jurisdictions!
    1. Before class begins, go to Congress.gov. Either navigate to the “Top 10 Most Viewed Bills” list or pick a few bills before class begins.
      1. https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Most-Viewed+Bills
    2. Print out the list of committees provided with this textbook.
      1. See image bank PowerPoint for this chapter, slide 2.
    3. At some point in lecture (possibly when defining jurisdictions, but also possibly when discussing how clear jurisdictions) inform the class that you will be reading out bill summaries and having them guess which committee in the House and/or Senate should take control.
    4. Split the class into small groups and give them a copy of the committee list printed out earlier. Ask them if they have any questions about committees that may not be entirely obvious (e.g., Ways and Means)
    5. Read the first few lines of the bill summary and then give the students a few minutes to pick a committee.
      1. Example: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392
    6. Call on groups at random and see what the consensus is, then inform the students whether they were right or wrong and what committee it ended up in.
      1. The actions page for the bill has the information for committee referral under the “All Actions Except Amendments” filter.
        1. Example: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/392/all-actions-without-amendments
    7. Repeat this for as many bills as you like.
    8. Ideally this will stoke some conflict among the students about what the proper referral should be and that will highlight how sticky referral is and why jurisdictions matter a lot to committee chairs.
  2. The Important Committees
    1. When it comes time to discuss the Exclusive Committees in the House and the Super A Committees in the Senate write those two categories on the board and draw a line under each.
      1. The point of this activity is to get the students thinking about what committees a member might want to serve on and why. Once they understand why a member might desire an appointment to one committee over another, the entire concept of the committee system is likely to make more sense to them.
        1. The important committees are mostly tied to critical constitutional duties Congress must perform and that is an important takeaway as well.
    2. Say a few words, if you have not already, about the fact that some committees are more coveted than others.
    3. If you would like, you can provide the students with a list of the committees in Congress.
      1. See image bank PowerPoint for this chapter, slide 2.
    4. Prompt the students to suggest committees that are likely to be the most coveted.
    5. As you call on students, ask them to explain their reasoning. Before you write their suggestion on the board, prompt the rest of the students to agree or disagree with the suggestion. Call on one or two students who agree or disagree and ask them to explain why.
    6. Continue until the board is filled.
      1. If you want, you can write the incorrect suggestions somewhere else on the board and note what category they fall into. This might help contextualize the incentives of members as well.
  3. Campaigning for an Appointment
    1. After discussing the committee assignment process broadly and some of the things the committees who make the appointments look at split the class up into small groups.
    2. Inform the students that they need to design a campaign to get their committee assignment of choice. Assign each student a politician with a few basic facts about them and their districts/states.
    3. If necessary, provide the students with a list of the committees in Congress.
      1. See image bank PowerPoint for this chapter, slide 2.
    4. Give students a good amount of time to do this, probably about 20 minutes.
      1. Prompt them that they can write social media posts, press releases, personal notes to the committee, etc.
      2. Their materials should highlight the criteria that best suit the member and their district.
    5. Collect the materials for grading at a later time. Go around the room and ask for someone from each group to note a few things they chose to highlight and why.
    6. Engage in a conversation about how critical the right committee assignment can be for members, especially those from moderate states or districts.

Discussion Questions

  1. Does the committee system benefit members in pursuit of their goals? Are they giving up too much power?
  2. Are members better off with party leaders or committee chairs wielding the most power? Why?
    1. How does the level of partisan polarization change things?
  3. Is the seniority system an effective way of selecting committee chairs?
    1. What other alternatives might there be?
  4. Should there be term limits for chairing a committee?
  5. Would you rather serve on an authorizing committee or an appropriations committee? Why?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/chrg

Transcripts from committee hearings published by the federal government.

LINK

Access any committee report for any bill reported in a given congress.

https://www.congress.gov/help/field-values/current-committees

Explore the history of active and terminated committees. Complete with links to current activity in any given committee.

Essay

1. Characterize the history of committees in Congress. When and why did Congress adopt committees? Has the role of committees been the same throughout history? Did the committee system develop uniformly in both chambers? Be specific and provide context when possible.

2. Is a committee system necessary for the proper functioning of Congress? Be sure to explain what the committee system does for the legislative process and for individual members. Address any tensions between the use of a committee system and any other way of processing legislation. Support your answer with examples when necessary.

3. The committee system, when in use, can be quite restrictive on the power of individual members of Congress since they are expected to mainly work in the policy area congruent with their committee. Why do members accept a system where their power is restricted?

4. Compare and contrast the roles and duties of the House and Senate Rules committees.

5. Describe the seniority system including how is came to exist, what allowed it to persist, what members held the power and any decline it has had. Be specific and include context and examples to make sure your answer is complete and clear.

Short Answer

1. Which chamber of Congress developed a committee system first and why?

  • House of Representatives
  • Membership had tripled in size
  • Henry Clay wanted to maintain his position as Speaker of the House

2. The committee system was the bedrock of the Textbook Congress. In which decade did the system first begin weakening and what change caused this weakening?

  • 1970s
  • Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970; also known as the Subcommittee Bill of Rights
  • Committee chairs lost power to subcommittee chairs and party leaders

3. When do the House and Senate establish committee jurisdictions?

  • House: As one of its first actions upon convening a new congress
  • Senate: Jurisdictions continue from one congress to the next unless explicitly amended

4. One of Congress’ most important jobs is conducting oversight. What is oversight and what does it involve?

  • Conducting hearings and investigations to gather information and determine how well federal agencies are implementing laws
  • Involves calling expert witnesses or summoning agency officials to defend their decisions
  • Results in new laws, new reporting requirements for agency officials, or even cutbacks in the authorized level of funding until their performance is considered to have improved

5. In what ways are Appropriations Committees limited?

  • They cannot include money beyond authorized levels
  • They cannot include money tor programs not included in a previous authorization bills
  • They cannot authorize new programs

6. After receiving funding suggestions from the Authorizing Committees, the Appropriations Committees do what?

  • Using their own subcommittees, which roughly parallel the jurisdictions of the authorizing committees, they hold their own hearings, conduct their own investigations, and independently determine which federal programs should be continued and at what funding level.

7. What is the purpose of the Congressional Budget Office and how was it created?

  • To supply economic information to Congress in an unbiased way
  • Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

8. Select Committees deal with issues that do not neatly fall into existing standing committee jurisdictions. Who decides when these committees formed?

  • Each chamber decides what issues deserve a select committee

9. Who decides committee membership ratios and what do those ratios usually correspond with?

  • The ratios and size of committees are the result of tense negotiations between party leaders at the start of each congress.
  • The majority party tends to have more seats on each committee than the minority party, usually in rough proportion to the full membership in the chamber

10. Unlike in the House, committees dealing with what types of issues tend to be more prestigious in the Senate? Why are these issues of special interest to senators?

  • Foreign affairs
  • Military and defense
  • Many senators have presidential ambitions
  • The Senate retains the right to approve treaties with other countries

Multiple Choice

1. Both chambers of Congress developed standing committee systems by what year?

a) 1825

b) 1816

c) 1809

d) 1778

2. Speakers of the House over time had attempted to ignore committees that were out-of-step with their agenda. The chamber responded in turn by restricting the number of standing committees from 48 to 19 by passing what legislation?

a) Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946

b) Cannon Reform Act of 1900

c) Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970

d) Contract With America Reform Act of 1994

3. Which of the following did NOT enhance the power of committee chairs in Congress?

a) More well-defined committee jurisdiction

b) Subcommittee Bill of Rights

c) The development of the seniority system

d) All of the above enhanced committee chair power

4. Which of the following was NOT a norm developed during the Textbook Congress that favored committee chairs?

a) New committee members were treated as apprentices until they acquired expertise

b) Committee members were expected to designate one staffer from their offices to serve the chair of their primary committee

c) Committee members were expected to concentrate on issues that came before their committees and disengage from issues before other committees

d) Committee members were expected to be available for hours of committee work at the will of the chair

5. Committees have existed since the first session of Congress. During the earliest years of Congress every bill passed through which committee?

a) Committee on Floor Debate

b) Rules Committee

c) Joint Appropriations Committee

d) None of the above

6. ______________ is well known for exercising intense control, and not bowing to the power of committee chairs, during their time as Speaker of the House.

a) Joe Cannon

b) Newt Gingrich

c) Thomas Reed

d) All of the above

7. In the early years of Congress committees were meant to do what?

a) Hold broad debates about wide ranges of issues and publish their findings in local newspapers

b) Pass legislation directly into law

c) Recommend legislation to their parent chambers

d) Review the behavior of members and expel any wrongdoers

8. When a member watches how another more experienced and involved member votes on an issue it is known as what?

a) Signaling

b) Logrolling

c) Vote Buying

d) Committee Masking

9. Gatekeeping is best defined as which of the following?

a) A meeting among prestigious committee chairs to determine which programs will be funded for the upcoming fiscal year

b) The power to control whether the chamber ever considers a bill that has been referred to the committee

c) The ability of Congress to withhold funds from White House programs

d) The term describing members ability to still walk onto the chamber floor after they are no longer members of Congress

10. About ____ bills died in committee during the 114th Congress.

a) 50%

b) 93%

c) 85%

d) 78%

11. The outline for which committees are assigned which issues is known as what?

a) Policy Direction

b) Jurisdiction

c) Seniority System

d) Committee Rule

12. Political scientists agree that the committee system is effective, in one way or another, for attaining which of the following goals?

a) Good public policy

b) Reelection

c) Influence

d) All of the above

13. Authorizing Committees do which of the following?

a) Study new issues, develop new policies, and create new federal programs or agencies

b) Create new tax policy

c) Investigate claims made against members of Congress

d) Establish the framework by which the federal government raises and spends money

14. Before new federal programs can be established the program must be funded by the Appropriations Committees. But, before the program can be funded, what must first occur?

a) New revenue must be generated

b) Approval from the president must be obtained

c) The program must be authorized

d) Public polling must be conducted

15. Bills regarding raising revenue must originate in the House and those bills are generally delegated to which committee?

a) Ways and Means

b) Finance

c) Taxation and Oversight

d) Budget

16. North Korea has declared war on the United States and members of Congress are under pressure to quickly allocate money to fight. Senator Watkins has submitted a supplemental budget request to fund additional defense spending. Which committee has jurisdiction over such requests?

a) Senate Finance Committee

b) Senate Budget Committee

c) Senate Rules Committee

d) None of the above

17. Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 did NOT do which of the following?

a) Centered budget making in Congress

b) Created the Congressional Budget Office

c) Created the House and Senate Budget Committees

d) Banned the White House from writing any future federal budget documents

18. Membership on the House Budget Committee is limited, but members can be granted extended membership in what way?

a) Approval from the House Budget Committee chair and every single subcommittee chair

b) Support from the membership of the House Budget Committee

c) Approval from the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader

d) Support from the membership of the entire House of Representatives

19. Which committees handle inquiries into the behavior of members?

a) Ethics Committees

b) Approiations Committees

c) Joint Committees

d) B Committees

20. What happens if a rule, sent to the floor by the House Rules Committee, is defeated on the floor?

a) It is sent back to the Rules Committee along with its accompanying bill and can be taken up again at the discretion of the Rules Committee

b) It is sent back to the Rules Committee along with its accompanying bill and cannot be taken up again until the next Congress

c) It is sent back to the Rules Committee along with its accompanying bill and it can only be taken up again with 2/3 support of the House

d) The bill it was directing debate on dies unless the Speaker of the House immediately raises a point of order

21. How is membership on the Ethics Committees determined?

a) Every member is required to serve on the committee for at least two weeks during their first term

b) Members have to wait years to get a seat because it is one of the most prestigious committees

c) Party leaders tend to draft members onto the committee with promises of short appointments

d) Members who raise the most money for the party are appointed for one-year terms

22. Representative Bainbridge is serving her first term in office and is concerned about some of the language her staff has drafted for a constituent communication. If she wanted advice on whether the language was appropriate she might confer with which committee?

a) House Select Committee on Intelligence

b) House Ethics Committee

c) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

d) None of the above

23. If the Senate Ethics Committee reports on the conduct of a senator and the Senate votes to punish that member what happens next?

a) The president must approve the punishment with his signature

b) The House Ethics Committee begins their investigation of the senator

c) The punishment is carried out

d) The House must vote to concur with the Senate’s decision

24. _________________ are temporary committees that deal with issues that do not fall neatly into the jurisdiction of a standing committee.

a) Standing Committees

b) Joint Committees

c) Authorizing Committees

d) Select Committees

25. Joint Committees consist of members from both chambers serving together. What is the proportion of House/Senate members on these committees?

a) 50/50

b) 45/55

c) 55/45

d) 60/40

26. The version of a bill that the chair of the committee hopes to see emerge and move through the legislative process is known as what?

a) Chairman’s Report

b) Chairman’s Mark

c) Committee Report

d) Committee Resolution

27. Who decides the number of subcommittees and their jurisdictions in the Senate?

a) Committee chairs consult with majority party committee members before making decisions

b) Majority party committee members vote

c) The entire Senate votes to approve every subcommittee at the start of each congress

d) None of the above

28. The chair of a committee is from the majority party, but the minority party gets to select a committee leader as well and that member is known as the _________________.

a) Minority Leader

b) Ranking Member

c) Committee Vicechair

d) Minority Designee

29. Which of the following factors might a member consider before choosing who to appoint to a committee?

a) The member’s chance for reelection based on their potential membership

b) Committee membership of the member’s predecessor

c) The current makeup of the committee regionally, racially, and based on gender

d) Both a and c

30. Committee staffers can be sorted into which broad categories?

a) Chairman’s staff and subcommittee staff

b) Member’s staffs and expert staff

c) Support staff and expert staff

d) Budgeted staff and support staff

31. Service on some House committees is not taken into consideration when seeking other committee assignments. These committees are known as which of the following?

a) Exclusive committees

b) A committees

c) Exempt committees

d) C committees

32. The Senate authorizing committees that do not have restrictions on membership are known as which of the following?

a) Super A Committees

b) B Committees

c) Nonexclusive Committees

d) None of the above

33. Committee assignments for Democrats are determined by which of the following?

a) Steering and Policy Committee

b) Committee on Committees

c) Priming Committee

d) Appointments Committee

34. Which of the following is NOT true of Ethics Committees?

a) Equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats serve on the committees

b) Deliberations are public

c) Decisions by the committees are recommendations to their full chamber, which retains the responsibility of taking any real action

d) Staffers are nonpartisan

35. The Subcommittee Bill of Rights was part of which legislative reforms package?

a) Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America

b) Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946

c) Legislative Reorganization Act of 1990

d) None of the above

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 8

Chapter Outline

  1. Political Parties
    1. Congress is made up of highly individualistic members, but legislating successfully cannot be an individual endeavor.
      1. Members must have a means to build coalitions to allow for legislative victories.
    2. This structural need for collective action begs for a hierarchy and leadership.
      1. Someone needs to decide…
        1. Which bills will be considered and in which committee(s)
        2. When hearings will be scheduled
        3. Which bills reach the floor and in what order
      2. Someone also needs to step up to manage the legislative battles to make sure bills get passed or blocked.
    3. Members form many informal or unofficial organizations based on a variety of attributes.
      1. Region
      2. Economic commonalities (coal, oil, cotton)
      3. Shared policy interests
      4. Religion
      5. Social
      6. Information-sharing
    4. But, many decisions in Congress transcend narrow regional or single-issue concerns and so broader coalitions are necessary. But, how do member select who leads?
    5. Political parties provide this leader-selection function and serve as useful markers for political soul mates and adversaries.
      1. The framers did not envision these organizations and in fact Madison and Washington warned against the factionalism they would cause.
        1. In the end, Madison was instrumental in the development of a political party.
      2. Today, Democrats and Republicans, for the most part, hold somewhat, or substantially, different views on government’s role in society.
    6. In recent years, Democrats tend to favor somewhat greater federal activism whereas Republicans are more reluctant to use the federal government as a problem solver.
    7. On many issues most Republicans come down on one side of an issue and most Democrats come down on another side.
      1. These are the result of natural ideological divisions, which increasingly divide the parties.
        1. Since the late 1990s both parties have become more homogenous.
        2. During the 1980s there still existed sizable proportions of liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats.
      2. But, even when ideological overlap existed the parties were still the organizing principle of Congress.
        1. On the House and Senate floors and in congressional committees and subcommittees, members are divided not by state or region or alphabet or seniority, but with Republicans sitting on one side (the right, when standing at the back of the chamber or committee room facing the front) and the Democrats on the other side.
    8. While seemingly critical, and they are, remember that parties (like committees) were created by members to suit their needs.
      1. When members’ needs change so do the parties. There is variance in the strength of party leaders, for example.
        1. When the parties are internally unified, we expect strong party leaders.
          1. That is, similar preferences among members of the party.
        2. When the parties are internally divided, we expect weak party leaders.
          1. That is, different preferences of different groups where there is difficulty agreeing on a platform.
        3. Example: John Boehner and Paul Ryan in 2015
          1. When Boehner resigned in the face of opposition within the party, Paul Ryan was forced to give up some power in exchange for the role of Speaker.

In particular, the Speaker now has a smaller role in determining committee assignments.

    1. A key guiding principle for understanding political parties is that members have complete and total control over how they structure the political parties to suit their purposes and this in turn illuminates the role the parties have in the legislative process over time.
  1. History of Political Parties in Congress
    1. The Constitution never mentions political parties.
      1. In fact, inasmuch as the framers thought about them, they were viewed, at best, skeptically.
        1. Really, the framers viewed any group that accumulated power skeptically fearing their power would be used to oppress less powerful groups or restrict the liberty of individuals.
        2. Madison never used the word political parties, instead he feared factions that might band together around common economic interests.
        3. Washington, in his farewell address, expressed concern about parties because he feared that their sole purpose would be to maintain political power.
    2. Washington’s farewell address was not warning of some future harm. Under his, very first, administration political parties had formed (albeit limitedly). By the 1796 presidential election, early political parties had clearly formed.
      1. Democratic-Republicans
        1. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
        2. Jefferson beat out Adams in the election of 1800
        3. Dominated Congress and the presidency for the next 20 years
          1. Including the “Era of Good Feelings,” so named because political rivalry was almost nonexistent.
          2. James Monroe did his best to minimize the role of parties but eventually personal rivalries and regional differences became too much to handle.
      2. Federalists
        1. John Adams and Alexander Hamilton
        2. Won the 1796 election to succeed Washington
        3. Did not win more than 30% of seats in either chamber for the next three congressional election cycles
    3. Presidential election of 1824
      1. This disputed election led to the reemergence of parties back into American politics
      2. John Quincy Adams is awarded the presidency by the House, but his party held only a slim margin and remained in the minority in the Senate.
      3. By 1828 Andrew Jackson, now running as a Democrat, vanquished Adams, who now identified as a National Republican.
        1. Herein lies, more or less, the competitive two-party political system we have today.
    4. Even as the parties were taking form Congress remained mostly dominated by individuals.
      1. Henry Clay
        1. His role in establishing the committee system (see previous chapter).
    5. Throughout much of the pre-Civil War period the Senate dominated the House and the presidency.
      1. The House frequently struggled to get itself organized.
      2. Many weak presidents held the White House
      3. The Senate took the leading role in stalling war between the states and temporarily resolving the conflict over slavery.
    6. Rising national tensions coincided with the death of the Whig Party, to be replaced in power by the Republican Party.
      1. The Republican Party dominated until the end of the 19th century when Democrats became competitive.
    7. Competition meant divergence, the Democrats and Republicans were as divided at the turn of the twentieth century as they were at the turn of the twenty-first century.
      1. This conflict provided conditions for strong party leadership.
        1. Senate: Nelson Aldrich (R-RI)
          1. Used his position as Chair of the Finance Committee to control policy and organizational concerns.

He set up what would later become the position of Senate Majority Leader, though the title would not exist for nearly another 20 years.

        1. House: Thomas Brackett Reed (R-ME)
          1. Only served 6 years as Speaker, but accumulated so much power that he became known as “Czar Reed” by critics.
          2. Most importantly, he cracked down on the minority party’s ability to stall legislation they opposed.
        2. House: Joe Cannon (R-IL)
          1. Served after Reed and accumulated even more power.
          2. Served as both Speaker and Rules Committee chair

Exerted more power in the legislative process that anyone up to that point in history, and perhaps ever.

          1. He appointed members to committees and named the chairs.
          2. He wrote the rules for debate on the floor and then carried them out.
          3. His power only lasted so long as a faction of progressive Republicans sided with Democrats on a key procedural vote.
      1. As party competition waned into the 1920s so too did the power of party leaders.
    1. Economic collapse and the Great Depression ushered in Democrats, led by Franklin Roosevelt.
      1. The Democrats were split equally between a north liberal wing and a southern conservative wing.
        1. This split meant party leadership on policy grounds became more difficult, but organizational leadership remained easier.
      2. Speaker Sam Rayburn
        1. Maintained power by devolving most policy decisions to committee chairs while keeping Democrats together organizationally.
          1. The two regional factions of the Democratic Party could not agree on policy, but they could agree that they wanted to be in the majority.
    2. During the Textbook Congress, sufficient balance was achieved between the parties, committees, and individual members to collaborate in the legislative process.
      1. A low point in history for the power of party leadership; committee chairs held the power.
      2. As the committee chairs lost power, party leaders took it back and that gave us, gradually, the modern legislative process.
    3. Increased party competition in the 1980s, with Reagan ascending to the presidency, reinvigorated Republicans in Congress.
      1. Republicans took Senate control, but still waivered in the House. Conservative House Republicans subsequently gained power in districts where Reagan won.
    4. Newt Gingrich then began a crusade to convince Republicans that they should not “go along to get along” but instead confront and ridicule the majority.
      1. This strategy ultimately paid off in their triumphant victory in the 1994 elections.
  1. Political Parties in the Contemporary Congress
    1. Unified Constituencies
      1. Following the Great Depression and WWII Democrats forged an electoral coalition known as the New Deal Coalition.
        1. Made up of…
          1. Southerners
          2. Union members
          3. Catholics
          4. African Americans
          5. Urban residents
        2. Would deliver Democrats to the both the White House and Congress for the next 50 years.
          1. Even as the coalition weakened in presidential contests it held fast in congressional elections.
        3. Civil rights tore at the fabric of the coalition.
      2. In 1964 Democrats had a greater than two-to-one ratio in both chambers and this meant they represented a wide variety of constituencies.
        1. In 1966 Democrats lost 47 seats, mostly in the North where Johnson’s rival, Goldwater, did worse (compared to the South).
          1. The partisan difference between the Democratic and Republican representatives’ districts became even smaller.
        2. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act Democratic senators came from more Republican states than did Republican senators for two congresses.
          1. Meaningful variation only returned in the 1990s
          2. Following the 2018 elections, the Senate Democrats’ states are 16% less Republican than the Senate Republicans’ states.
      3. Political scientists used the normalized vote to measure the underlying partisanship of members’ districts.
        1. Calculated as the difference between the Republican presidential candidate’s two-party vote in the district and the candidate’s nationwide percentage.
          1. Example: 2016 Donald Trump (R)

Received 54.7% of the two-party vote in Texas

Received 48.9% of the vote nationwide

Texas’s Republican presidential vote advantage is then 5.8%

        1. 1960s
          1. Democrats represented districts where, on average, Republican presidential candidates did 5% worse than they did nationwide.
          2. Republicans represented districts where, on average, Republican presidential candidates did 5% better than they did nationwide.
        2. 2018
          1. Republicans represented districts that were almost 29% more Republican than the districts represented by Democrats
      1. Changes in the electoral makeup of districts can tell an institutional story as well.
        1. With districts represented by Republicans becoming increasingly distinct that those represented by Democrats then the difficulty in voting by constituency or by party is rarer.
        2. With less divisions within the parties means the leaders gain more power.
    1. Intense Party Competition
      1. With distinct districts has also come smaller margins of control for the party in the majority.
        1. 1964: Democrats had 130 House seats and 30 Senate seats over Republicans
          1. They maintained large margins into the 1970s
        2. Since Republicans became competitive in each chamber, the majority size has been almost 2/3 smaller in both chambers.
      2. Except for two Congresses—the 80th (1947–8) and 83rd (1953–4)—the Democrats were a majority in the House and Senate from 1933 until 1980.
        1. Republicans understood their only path for influence was through bargaining with the Democrats, but this was easier because moderates existed in both parties.
      3. Republicans achieved majority party status at different times in the different chambers.
        1. Republicans took majority control in the Senate in 1980 on the back of Reagan’s landslide presidential victory.
          1. From 1965-1980 the Democrats, on average, held a 20-seat margin over the Republicans in the Senate.
          2. Maintained control until 1986.
        2. Republicans took majority control of the House in 1994 using Newt Gingrich’s national strategy, the “Contract with America.”
          1. In 1993 Democrats had an 82-seat margin, but in 1994 they were 26 seats deep in the minority.
          2. From 1965-1994, the Democrats held an average of 263 House seats--a margin of 91 seats.
      4. With a few exceptions (only 2008 and 2014), the future majority party in both chambers of Congress is in doubt on the day of the election.
      5. The race to become the majority party has changed Congress’ focus from solving problems to being an arena for electoral politics.
    2. Polarized Parties
      1. Since party competition has intensified Congress has become more polarized every election cycle.
      2. Polarization is commonly measured by examining roll-call votes. The method most commonly used is known as DW-NOMINATE
        1. An algorithm analyzes all nonunanimous votes simultaneously and places the two members who vote most dissimilarly on opposite sides and then orders all other members between the two based on how much they agree with one or the other of the two poles.
        2. Range from -1 to 1, that is, most liberal to most conservative member
      3. The congresses after the 1964 election and into the 1970s were some of the least polarized in modern history.
        1. Mean House Democratic DW-NOMINATE scores were about .5 away from the mean House Republican DW-NOMINATE scores
          1. Similar patterns exist in the Senate
        2. In the 1970s the means start to separate.
          1. By the 113th Congress (2013–4), the divergence between the parties had more than doubled in the House, to 1.10, and had nearly doubled, to 0.93, in the Senate.
        3. In addition to polarization, the parties have also become much more homogenous.
          1. The infusion of Tea Party members in the 112th Congress and the big Blue Dog Democrat losses in 2010 and 2014 exacerbated the divide between the parties.
      4. Polarization seems to be a positive feedback loop where margins shrink, parties increasingly rely on only the votes from their side of the aisle, which in turn propels polarization.
  1. The Structure of Leadership
    1. Leadership in both chambers is exercised formally and informally.
      1. It is not necessarily true that the members holding official positions of authority are always steering the congressional ship.
      2. Leaders are the most influential and visible members of Congress. When they are selected, members have qualities they look for.
        1. Managerial competence
          1. Often demonstrated while serving in lower party leadership positions or leadership positions on committees
        2. Responsiveness
        3. Persuasiveness
          1. To articulate the party’s collective point of view
        4. Forcefulness in confronting the opposition
        5. Innovativeness
        6. Ideological compatibility
      3. Of course, not all leaders have all qualities. But most have most of these qualities.
      4. Since leaders have so much power and influence sometimes the selection of that leader can be seen as the most important decision members make.
    2. Speaker of the House
      1. From a constitutional standpoint, the Speaker of the House is the preeminent leader of the Congress.
        1. After the Vice President, the Speaker is next in line to become president.
      2. The only important position voted on by the entire chamber
        1. In modern times, election of the Speaker is customarily the second vote that a newly constituted House takes.
      3. The Speaker’s formal powers include…
        1. Presiding officer of the House
          1. Responsible for recognizing members wishing to speak on the floor.
          2. Rules on all points of order

Though these can be overturned by a vote of the entire chamber

          1. In the modern House the Speaker usually designates a majority party member to preside over the House on her behalf, except during important legislative or symbolic events.
          2. By convention the Speaker only votes when her vote would decide a vote or on important symbolic matters.
        1. Exercises much control over committee assignments
          1. Controls the most seats on the party committees that make the assignments.
          2. With consent of her party, appoints all majority-party members to the Rules Committee
          3. Appoints all members of select and conference committees
        2. Oversees all officers of the House
          1. Including Clerk, Sergeant at Arms, and Chaplain
      1. The Speaker has much informal power as well (due in part to the lack of filibuster power in the House)
        1. Legislative leader of the majority party
          1. Especially when House and White House are controlled by different parties.
      2. Speaker of the House is a position above partisan frays.
        1. Both Republicans and Democrats have their own elected party leaders and it is the majority leader of the House who is ostensibly charged with directing that chamber’s day-to-day activities.
      3. Different speakers emphasize different roles.
        1. In modern times, speakers have begun prioritizing maintaining the majority before leading a legislative agenda of maintaining the institution.
    1. Senate Majority Leader
      1. The Senate is the constitutional equal of the House and the Senate majority leader rivals, and often surpasses, the speaker both in political power and in public visibility.
      2. Technically the majority leader is the third-ranking leader in the Senate.
        1. Behind the Vice President, who serves as president of the Senate (i.e., the presiding officer)
          1. Usually does not take an active role except to break ties
        2. And the President Pro Tempore
          1. The longest-serving majority party senator
          2. Assume presiding officer duties in the absence of the VP
      3. In reality, the majority leader is the leader of the Senate.
        1. Like the House Speaker, he sets the agenda and controls the schedule.
          1. Of course, due to the nature of the Senate he must consult with the minority leader more frequently than the Speaker
        2. Their most important formal power is the right to first recognition
          1. That is, if another senator seeks the floor at the same time as the majority leader, the majority leader is always recognized first.
          2. Came into existence with the formalization of the position in the 1920s.
          3. Without the majority or minority leader seeking recognition the presiding officer can recognize any senator seeking recognition at the same time.
      4. Because the Senate is perceived as more prestigious, and the upper chamber, the Senate majority leader is sometimes seen as the de facto leader of the legislative branch.
        1. This includes being better known than the Speaker nationally.
    2. House Majority Leader
      1. The number two, because the Speaker is the leader.
      2. Can wield substantial power because Speakers vary in how much attention they pay to the detail of the House schedule and operation of committees.
      3. Main duties mirror a COO (where the Speaker is CEO)
        1. Keeping tabs on the progress of legislation
        2. Making sure the House operates smoothly
        3. Running the day-to-day legislative activities
      4. Can be a stepping-stone to the speakership, but there are no guarantees
        1. 2015: Boehner resigns speakership, House overlooks Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
    3. The Minority Leaders
      1. Elected by members of the minority party
      2. Serve as the chief spokespeople for the minority’s legislative agenda
      3. Most powerful when…
        1. Their party holds the presidency as well
          1. Only needs to marshal 1/3 of the votes in either chamber to sustain a presidential veto.
        2. Majority’s margin is thin enough that a few majority party defector and a united minority party can determine final outcomes.
    4. The Whips
      1. The floor leader’s deputy in both chambers
      2. Duties include…
        1. Determining how each member is planning to vote
          1. They keep a running head count
        2. Determining what concerns are preventing a member from going along with the majority
        3. Developing a strategy for convincing undecided members to come aboard
          1. Example: Calling personal friends of undecided members, or the president, to try and push them into line.
      3. Since the whip is a partisan position, and we know reelection is the proximate goal, they may even suggest to some members that they vote against the party position to remain consistent with their own expressed views or with their constituents’ preferences.
        1. This is less likely to occur on highly visible or important issues.
      4. Not just a whip counter
        1. They are also the party’s primary legislative strategist and often serve as a leading spokesman for the party.
        2. With their elevated visibility they also often become one of the party’s chief fundraisers.
      5. The job of the whip is a difficult one and truly too much for a single person. Because of this there have developed large whip organizations.
        1. These include deputy whips, regional whips, and assistant whips, with responsibilities for a grouping of states (e.g., the Plains states) or a particular class (freshman).
    5. Conference or Caucus Chairs
      1. Chair the broad organizations of all the party’s members
        1. Republicans: Conference
        2. Democrats: Caucus
        3. Includes all members of the party in the chamber
      2. For Republicans this leader is next in line. For Democrats the next in line is the assistant Democratic leader.
      3. Chair meetings in which important policy questions are put to the party membership as a whole.
        1. These meetings are where leadership battles are fought and committee chairs and ranking minority members are ratified.
        2. Members battle among themselves over strategy and policy positions in these meetings as well.
      4. More mundane duties exist as well
        1. It is their job to keep members informed about legislation as it moves through the legislative process and any upcoming votes.
        2. Or, clerical tasks such as organizing the resumes of prospective staff members.
      5. There also exists a vice chairman and secretary.
    6. Other Elected Party Leaders
      1. From this point party leadership varies by party and chamber.
      2. Next in line for Republicans in both chambers is the policy committee chair
        1. Responsible for developing policy
      3. After the policy committee chair is the conference vice chair
    7. Other Leadership Positions
      1. These leaders, though not elected, also play important roles for both parties.
      2. Democratic and Republican Campaign Committees
        1. Duties…
          1. Fundraising
          2. Candidate recruitment
          3. All candidate support activities
        2. Service provided for incumbent members of Congress and for challengers to incumbents of the opposite party
        3. Operate with their own staffs, hold their own fundraising events, make their own decisions as to which candidates to support and to what extent
        4. Answerable only to the Republicans or Democrats who sit in the House and Senate
        5. House and Senate committees are independent
          1. They may occasionally confer informally but they each work to attain a majority in their respective chamber
          2. Sometimes the two committees actively oppose one another when the Senate committee tries to entice a House member to leave her seat to run for the Senate.
        6. These committees work in concert with elected party leaders to advise them on which strategies might be most helpful in reelecting their own members or in defeating members of the opposing party.
        7. These committees may have less power than is sometimes believed.
          1. Sometimes they endorse candidates and localities view this skeptically.
        8. In only the rarest of exceptions will party committees withhold their endorsement of incumbent members of Congress.
      3. Chairs of research groups, policy committees, and even the senior members of the most important congressional committees may sit as elected or ex officio members of the party leadership.
    8. Leadership Staff
      1. Work on projects that go well beyond local or regional concerns and well beyond the boundaries of a single issue.
        1. Includes legislative and electoral concerns. Sometimes even recommending political tactics.
      2. The infrastructure to support leadership positions has grown much faster than the infrastructure that supports member or committee staff. This underscores their importance compared with committees.
    9. Winning a Leadership Position
      1. Competition is intense and fierce.
        1. Partially due to their influence and power, but also possibly because the types if people who run for office are already exceptionally ambitious
      2. Many strategies exist
        1. Offering support to a potential supporter’s favorite legislation
        2. Try to favorably influence committee appointments
        3. Promise greater or more efficient services
        4. Favorably contrast their own personalities or policy positions with those of an opponent
        5. Contributing money to members’ reelection campaigns or to prominent challengers
      3. Contests have become more personal and less issue based
        1. A result of increasingly homogenous parties and the small electorate (<250 in House and <65 in Senate usually)
        2. Friendships and regional ties are also important for garnering support
      4. Like most campaigns, it is a marathon and not a sprint. Members who are interested are networking, fundraising, and politicking long before a leader steps down.
        1. Similar to presidential campaigns, as soon as a vacancy is announced members who want to win announce their intention to run so they can show strength and support to ward off potential challengers.
  1. The Resources of Party Leaders
    1. Party leaders ultimately want to hold the party line and they have many tools at their disposal to cajole members.
    2. Committee Assignments
      1. Beginning with Speaker Henry Clay, party leaders have manipulated committee assignments to facilitate electoral and political goals.
      2. Leaders can use committee assignments to punish or reward members.
        1. Pelosi skirted the seniority system to reward her “majority makers.”
          1. Skirting the seniority system started in the mid-1990s and has continued over time.

After gaining control of the House in the 1994 elections, the Republican conference adopted a party rule that weakened seniority as a criterion for naming committee chairs.

Enhancing party leader power at the expense of committee chairs.

Allows them to advance their interests

        1. Boehner removed members of the House Freedom Caucus from the Financial Services committee for defections on the floor.
      1. Taking committee appointments from members is risky.
        1. If this is done too frequently then members may fear it could also happen to them.
      2. Power is best used with a light touch
    1. The Power of Party Leaders during Floor Debates
      1. In the House, party leaders still exert much discretion over what happens on the floor via the Rules Committee
        1. Members with good relationships with party leaders can exploit this to shepherd a bill of local, but little national, concern through the legislative process.
      2. Also in the House, party leaders can punish members by minimizing their role in the legislative process.
        1. This is done via the floor manager who can decide who gets the available time.
        2. The decrease in floor time has only increased the power of party leaders.
      3. Power in the Senate is more decentralized and so leaders do not have as much discretion over floor proceedings.
        1. In lieu of rules (from the House Rules Committee) the Senate operates mostly via unanimous consent agreements that are largely negotiated by the Senate majority and minority leaders.
          1. These agreements are increasingly intricate specifying even the minutest procedures for establishing the parameters of floor debate.
        2. Senate leaders have also taken increasing responsibility for organizing or quashing filibusters.
          1. Not only have the numbers of cloture petitions filed increased, but also the majority leader has taken an increasingly dominant role in organizing the opposition to filibusters.
        3. Mike Manfield, Senate Majority Leader in the early 1970s filed between 1/5 and 1/3 of cloture petitions. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader in 2009-2010 filed 95.6% of them.
    2. Conference Committees and Negotiations between Chambers
      1. If the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill, party leaders in each chamber typically appoint members to a joint conference committee to reconcile those differences and provide a single piece of legislation to be voted on (subject to chamber approval of a motion to appoint conferees).
        1. The only restriction on these appointments is that a majority of conference committee members must generally support the bill under consideration and, as such, most members appointed to conference committees also sit on the original committee of referral.
      2. Leaders can use their power to appoint members to these committees to shape the bill’s final outcomes.
      3. Majority party leaders can use the fact that conference reports are not subject to amendment to achieve outcomes that favor the party instead of a particular committee.
      4. Of course, all of this would mean that there was a conference committee at all. Increasingly leaders are avoiding their use altogether.
        1. The number of public laws subject to conference committees dropped steadily from 13% (103rd Congress) to 5% (109th Congress)
        2. Instead, one chamber simply adopts the other’s version of a bill or a bill is amended by each chamber in turn until a final agreement is reached.
          1. Again, decreasing the influence of committees.
    3. Fundraising
      1. Party leaders tend to be prolific fundraisers, but also from safe districts.
        1. This leads them to donate much more to their more vulnerable colleagues via leadership political action committees (LPACs).
      2. Party leaders also work in concert with the party fundraising committees, which also raise a substantial amount of money that can then be targeted to close and important races.
        1. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee serve as members of the party leadership and are directly appointed by the highest-ranking party leader in their respective chambers.
        2. National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairs are elected by the chamber’s party membership, with significant input from party leadership.
        3. Chairing these committees can be a stepping-stone to more powerful positions.
          1. Including both Senate leaders in the 115th Congress.
      3. Leaders have great discretion in deciding on which races they should invest precious campaign resources.
  1. Conclusion
    1. Leaders not only set priorities, determine committee assignments, or appoint members to task forces, but also do the organizing, the strategizing, and the persuading to try to shape the outcome of legislative debate.
      1. Sometimes they go by the book shepherding bills through the traditional legislative process.
      2. Other times they cajole and threaten members or manipulate the clock to get their way.
    2. The issues they are in charge of are high profile and the members in the institution tend to have strong preferences on those issues. But, the work of Congress is to choose between, or find compromise between, these profoundly different visions for America.
    3. Congressional leaders, selected by their peers, play the biggest role in fighting these battles for the direction of the country.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. When discussing the skepticism of parties by the framers and, in particular, Washington’s farewell address it may be interesting to play this short clip from Roll Call that shows a variety of senators reading the farewell address on the floor. This tradition underscores how seriously senators still consider the ideals of the forefathers and that, despite ignoring his words on parties, they are still pondered today. If nothing else, it should bring us all hope.
    1. https://youtu.be/N3c6H0tz82o
  2. If you are interested in spending more-than-average time on the idea of party leaders having limited power and, even in stronger moments, still being accountable to their caucus taking a closer look at the Boehner resignation provides an ideal case study.
    1. Hannity on Fox News has a 10-minte segment on Boehner’s resignation and has an entire panel of House Freedom Caucus members on to talk about why they opposed Boehner’s leadership.
      1. https://youtu.be/p0980nvXBGA
  3. On the topic of fundraising requirements for leaders and beyond, Last Week Tonight has a 20-minute segment that shines light on what types of requirements exist for members to raise money. This clip contextualizes the kind of requirements that leaders can intensify for members who are defectors.
    1. https://youtu.be/Ylomy1Aw9Hk

Class Activities

  1. The Ideal Leader
    1. In discussing leadership selection, write on the board “Ideal Qualities for a Party Leader” and underline it.
    2. Prompt the class to pretend they are a newly elected member of Congress and the time to elect a speaker is coming up. What traits would they want that leader to have?
    3. For each trait that coincides with one listed in book, write it on the board. But discuss each trait suggested in turn and encourage other students to chime in about why a trait might be useful or not for a party leader.
  2. Do We Need Parties?
    1. Split the students up into small groups. Pose the following question, “Do we need political parties in Congress?”
    2. Allow for the students to confer for a few minutes and then go around the room and have each group share their thoughts. Encourage debate among groups.
    3. Once that discussion wraps up, pose one more question, “Let’s assume political parties never formed in Congress. What would take their place in organizing the chamber?”
    4. Repeat step two above.
  3. Measuring Ideology
    1. Discuss the basics of DW-NOMINATE and be sure to emphasize how roll-call votes play into the process.
    2. Ask the class to consider what problems could arise from the use of roll-call votes to measure ideology.
    3. Call on students and frame a discussion around this question.
    4. Either in groups or as a class have the students next come up with other ways political scientists could derive ideology measures.
    5. Collect suggestions, writing them on the board and having the class support and criticize each idea as you proceed.

Discussion Questions

  1. Despite being the highest-ranking position in the House, when John Boehner resigned as Speaker of the House in 2015 the party had to work hard to draft a candidate other than the Majority Leader to fill the role. Given the power and influence we have discussed in this class, why would a member not want to be Speaker of the House?
  2. Why is it that the distribution of preferences within each party determines how powerful party leaders are? What else might impact the amount of power party leaders have?
  3. Of the party leaders discussed in this course thus far, who was most significant and why?
  4. When party leaders are not in power Theriault and Edwards argue that power devolves to the committees. Are the committees the only place power goes to when party leaders are weak?
    1. What if committees were also weak?
  5. Do you think that the party leaders will continue to gain power or at they at their peak? What factors should we look to to make predictions about questions like these?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://history.house.gov/People/Office/Speakers-Intro/

Dig deeper into the history of the Speakers of the House of Representatives.

LINK

Dig deeper into the history of the Speakers of the Senate.

https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction

An expert-run blog that covers American political parties.

Essay

1. Despite countless warnings from the framers about the dangers of political parties they still formed in the earliest years of Congress and persisted until today. Why did political parties form and how have they survived for so long? Provide examples and, if necessary, reference historical events to support your answer.

2. Trace the history of political parties in Congress. Begin either at the year 1800 or the year 1900 and detail events and changes that occurred for the next 100 years. Be sure to explain the significance of each event for the functioning of Congress and the political parties therein.

3. What broad factors shape the way the political parties in Congress today function? Be sure to consider both electoral and institutional factors. Provide examples and historical context when necessary.

4. Compare and contrast the Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader positions. Be sure to discuss their origins, duties, levels of prominence, and any unique challenges one or the other might face.

5. Describe the party leadership structure of the House majority party. Detail each leader, their overall role and duties, and any collaboration they have with other leaders. Be sure to discuss the role of their staff, if applicable, and what actions these members might take to retain their positions.

Short Answer

1. Members form informal or unofficial organizations based on a variety of attributes. What types of attributes might cause members to coalesce? Provide at least four attributes.

  • Region
  • Economic commonalities (coal, oil, cotton)
  • Shared policy interests
  • Religion
  • Social
  • Information-sharing

2. Party leaders have not always as powerful as they are in the modern Congress. What condition is most important in determining how strong or weak party leaders are?

  • The level of intraparty agreement on policy issues

3. Characterize the ideological difference that separates the modern Democratic and Republican parties.

  • Democrats tend to favor somewhat greater federal activism whereas Republicans are more reluctant to use the federal government as a problem solver.

4. Why did the framers fear the formation of political parties? Provide at least two reasons.

  • Fear that they would oppress less powerful groups
  • Fear that they would restrict the liberty of individuals
  • Fear that their sole purpose would be to maintain political power

5. What events followed the era of good feelings and how did they change the American political system?

  • The disputed presidential election of 1824 where the House named John Quincy Adams as president. Adams went on to lose in 1828 to Andrew Jackson. These conflicts thus began the competitive two-party political system we know today.

6. Why did the Senate dominate the House and White House for much of the pre-Civil War period?

  • The House frequently struggled to get itself organized
  • Many weak presidents held the White House
  • The Senate took the leading role in stalling war between the states and temporarily resolving the conflict over slavery.

7. Who was Joe Cannon and what impact did he have on the institution within which he served?

  • Speaker of the House who served after Thomas Brackett Reed
  • Built on Reed’s newfound power even more
  • Served as both Speaker and Rules Committee chair
  • He exerted more power in the legislative process that anyone up to that point in history, and perhaps ever.
  • He appointed members to committees and named the chairs.
  • He wrote the rules for debate on the floor and then carried them out.
  • His power only lasted so long as a faction of progressive Republicans sided with Democrats on a key procedural vote.

8. What is the institutional effect of congressional districts becoming increasingly distinct by party?

  • There is less difference between the preferred party position and the preferred district position. Therefore, less divisions within the parties means the leaders gain more power.

9. Selecting party leadership is one of the most important jobs members have in the modern Congress. What qualities do members look for in their leaders? Name at least four and contextualize each to make it clear what value the quality adds to a leader.

  • Managerial competence
  • Responsiveness
  • Persuasiveness
  • Forcefulness in confronting the opposition
  • Innovativeness
  • Ideological compatibility

10. If you were a member of Congress and you wanted to pursue a leadership position, what types of things would you do? Describe at least three actions and why they would be effective.

  • Offering support to a potential supporter’s favorite legislation
  • Try to favorably influence committee appointments
  • Promise greater or more efficient services
  • Favorably contrast their own personalities or policy positions with those of an opponent
  • Contributing money to members’ reelection campaigns or to prominent challengers

Multiple Choice

1. In the modern Congress, the parties come down on two different sides of almost every issue. What tends to be the most important concern driving the divide?

a) Regional concerns

b) Strict punishments from party leaders for defection

c) Ideological concerns

d) Fundraising concerns

2. Political parties are established by which of the following?

a) Article I, Section 6

b) Article I, Section 8

c) Article IV, Section 1

d) None of the above

3. What political party failed to George Washington in the presidency, but still dominated Congress for its first few decades?

a) Federalist Party

b) Democratic-Republican Party

c) Whig Party

d) Democratic Party

4. Which framer was both famous for decrying the role of political parties in the American political system, but also went on to help form one of the earliest political parties?

a) James Madison

b) Henry Clay

c) James Monroe

d) George Washington

5. In which decade did the two modern parties start to become more internally homogeneous?

a) 1990s

b) 2000s

c) 1980s

d) 2010s

6. Committee rooms in Congress organize the seating of members based on what attribute?

a) State

b) Seniority

c) Fundraising record

d) None of the above

7. Where does the “era of good feelings” get its name?

a) The seamless inter-chamber relations in

b) The fact that most prevalent leaders of the time also helped write the Constitution

c) The lack of political rivalry in the political system Congress

d) The high level of public approval for state and local governments

8. Instead of calling them political parties, James Madison referred to these groups banding together around common economic interests as ___________.

a) Coalitions

b) Unions

c) Federations

d) Factions

9. John Adams and Alexander Hamilton joined to form which political party?

a) Federalist Party

b) Republican Party

c) Democratic-Republican Party

d) Antifederalist Party

10. At the turn of the 21st century the two parties were harshly divided. When was the last time in congressional history that the two parties were this intensely divided?

a) 1950s

b) 1900s

c) 1970s

d) 1810s

11. Which prominent party leader would go on to lay the groundwork for the future Senate Majority Leader role?

a) Henry Clay

b) Nelson Aldrich

c) Thomas Brackett Reed

d) None of the above

12. This Speaker of the House held the Democratic Party together by devolving most policy decisions to committee chairs while keeping them together organizationally?

a) Thomas Brackett Reed

b) Joe Cannon

c) Paul Ryan

d) Sam Rayburn

13. The New Deal Coalition delivered control of Congress to Democrats for five decades, but what issue tore at the coalition and started its downfall?

a) Labor union related issues

b) Defense spending

c) Civil rights

d) Tax policy

14. Which of the following was NOT an electoral group part of the New Deal Coalition?

a) Hispanic Americans

b) Union members

c) Catholics

d) African Americans

15. The Textbook Congress was considered _____________________.

a) A high point in history for the power of party leadership

b) A readjustment period in which party leaders clawed back power

c) A low point in history for the power of party leadership

d) None of the above

16. Assume the Republican presidential candidate in 2040 received 64% of the two-party vote in Georgia and 52% of the two-party vote nationwide. Calculate the normalized vote to determine Georgia’s presidential vote advantage.

a) 64%

b) 24%

c) 6%

d) 12%

17. What event finally pushed Republicans to take back control of the Senate in the second half of the 20th century?

a) Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America”

b) Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory for the White House

c) Paul Ryan’s balanced-budget plan

d) Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign

18. The main goal of the Contract with America was what?

a) To further empower subcommittee chairs

b) To convince Americans that the Republican Party could govern if given the majority

c) To implement universal healthcare from the federal government

d) None of the above

19. Political scientists tend to measure partisan polarization in Congress by examining roll-call votes. What method is most commonly used to do this?

a) Normalized vote calculation

b) Standardized roll-call estimation

c) DW-NOMINATE

d) RC-CALCUALTE

20. Gains by the _________ and losses by the _____________ have exacerbated the divide between the two parties in the past decade or so by further homogenizing the parties.

a) Tea Party; Blue Dogs

b) Blue Dogs; Tea Party

c) Tea Party; Freedom Caucus

d) Blue Dogs; Progressive Caucus

21. Which of the following positions is elected by their entire chamber?

a) Speaker of the House

b) Senate Majority Leader

c) Conference/Caucus Chair

d) Both a and b

22. Which of the following is NOT a power of the Speaker of the House?

a) Rules on all points of order

b) Appoints all members of select and conference committees

c) Recognizes members wishing to speak on the floor

d) Chair meetings in which important policy questions are put to the party membership as a whole

23. Despite retaining de facto control, the Senate Majority Leader is the third-ranking member in the modern Senate. Which two positions outrank him?

a) Vice President and Finance Committee Chair

b) President Pro Tempore and Finance Committee Chair

c) President Pro Tempore and Rules Committee Chair

d) Vice President and President Pro Tempore

24. The amount of power the House _______________ has depends very much on how much attention the Speaker of the House pays to detail of the House’s day-to-day operations.

a) Majority Whip

b) Majority Leader

c) Conference/Caucus Chair

d) Conference/Caucus Secretary

25. The Minority Leader’s power is increased when which of the following occurs?

a) The majority party’s margin of control is thin

b) The level of intraparty agreement on policy issues is high

c) Their party holds the presidency as well

d) Both a and c

26. Which party leader, in charge of determining how each member is planning to vote, is viewed as the party’s primary legislative strategist and leading spokesman?

a) Clerk

b) Leader

c) Whip

d) Campaign Committee Chair

27. Which party leader, due to the sweeping nature of their duties, hires a cadre of members who serve as deputies and assistants performing the same job as them but on a smaller scale?

a) Leader

b) Whip

c) Secretary

d) None of the above

28. When a bill comes to the floor the member in charge of directing who is to speak and when is known as what?

a) Floor leader

b) Floor whip

c) Floor manager

d) Floor speaker

29. Which of the following tasks will leadership staff NOT be asked to take on?

a) Tracking legislation as it moves through the legislative process

b) Researching potential electoral ramifications of bills working their way through the legislative process

c) Casework

d) Devising political tactics for floor votes

30. Representative McNamee has been defecting from the party on more roll-call votes than he is allowed recently. What action might the Speaker of the House take to punish him?

a) The House Speaker does not have the power to punish members

b) Revoking one of his committee appointments

c) Instructing the Rules Committee not to report a bill of his to the floor

d) Either b or c

31. Which party leader is responsible for sharing staff with their party and chamber’s campaign committee?

a) Leader

b) Conference/Caucus Chair

c) Whip

d) None of the above

32. Party leaders hold an outsize responsibility for fundraising for the party. How do they fulfill this duty?

a) Donating to their more vulnerable colleagues via leadership political action committees

b) Accepting gifts from foreign agents

c) Coordinating with a party-directed Super PAC

d) Charging other members money in exchange for moving their bills through the legislative process

33. For what reason have leadership contests become more personal and less issue based?

a) Increasingly homogenous parties

b) Small electorate to appease to

c) More ambitious politicians are serving in Congress

d) Both a and b

34. The position of Senate majority was not established formally until the 1920s. What position did it grow out of?

a) Senate Finance Committee Chair

b) Senate President Pro Tempore

c) Senate Rules Committee Chair

d) None of the above

35. Political parties in Congress are structured by _________________.

a) Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution

b) The members who belong to them

c) A tediously negotiated unanimous consent agreement in the Senate and a set of rules adopted at the start of each Congress in the House

d) The House and Senate Rules Committees

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 9

Chapter Outline

  1. External Influences on the Legislative Process
    1. Leaders in Congress frequently defer to the president when it comes to writing legislation.
      1. As the office of the president grows in prominence so does his (or her) voice in the legislative process.
    2. Many actors influence the legislative process, but due to the nature of the checks and balances in our system, Congress too influences them. These reciprocal relationships are the focus of this chapter.
  2. The President
    1. The president is the most important actor outside of the legislative process and sometimes may be more important than most members of Congress.
    2. Influence of the president has not been constant across time, nor is it even constant with a president’s term.
    3. The Legislator in Chief
      1. Even at their weakest presidents exert a great deal of power in the legislative process.
        1. He performs that final act of the legislative process. Signing the bill into law.
        2. Of course, that is not his only option. If Congress is in session and the president does not sign it within ten days (excluding Sundays), the bill automatically becomes law.
        3. Alternatively, the president can pocket veto, but only if Congress adjourns prior to the end of the ten-day period and the president fails to sign it, then the bill dies.
        4. The veto process, unlike its popular portrayal, is the president returning the unsigned bill to the chamber from which it originated with a description of his objections.
      2. While some might believe that a veto is a show of strength by the president, political scientists argue it is instead a sign of weakness.
        1. Effective presidents work with Congress to ensure the bill that passes is something he would sign.
          1. Though little can be gleaned from data on veto frequency by president.
      3. Powerful presidents are involved in every stage of the legislative process.
        1. Use their prestige and visibility to put an issue on the agenda.
        2. His advisors, both inside the White House and in the bureaucracy, assist in the development of legislation on the issue.
          1. Giving speeches and cajoling members of Congress to gain support for the president’s bill.
        3. When the bill is presented to the president he recruits prominent legislative leaders to observe his signing of the bill into law.
          1. He even gives the pen he used the sign the bill to members.
      4. Once the bill is signed, the president directs the bureaucracy on how it should implement the newly created law.
        1. This is frequently done via a signing statement.
          1. Can simply be a message of congratulations to the legislation’s sponsor or a much more consequential message.

Example: Bush signed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 into law despite disagreeing with it.

With his signature he attached a statement arguing some sections were unconstitutional and he would be ignoring them.

          1. Signing statements are equivalent to committee reports or legislator’s remarks on the floor in terms of the legislative history of the bill.

These can all be used by courts or agencies to try to figure out the meaning of a law.

Though courts use signing statements sparingly as they are considered dubious in value.

    1. The Commander in Chief
      1. The formal power to declare war remains with Congress, but presidents retain ample power in conducting war as commander in chief.
        1. Of course, as with his other roles, his power is contingent on his relationship with Congress and the conditions that precipitate military action.
        2. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 nearly every president has sent troops into conflicts without formal declarations of war.
          1. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, and many more countries all had U.S. troops occupy them.
        3. Most presidents view defending the nation from outside attack as their most important fundamental responsibility to the American public.
          1. After the imminent threat subsides it falls to Congress to weigh in on military action.

Yet they infrequently will.

Occasionally, short of declaring war, they will authorize military action or increasing support with additional money or troops.

Or, preclude military action, such as in El Salvador or Nicaragua in the 1980s.

      1. The reality is that for much of the 20th century and early 21st century Congress has delegated de facto war-making authority to the president and Pentagon.
        1. This delegation is not without contention. The War Powers Act authorized Congress to step in and withdraw support from a military action after it has begun.
          1. This act has been opposed by many.

Supporters of a strong presidency

Argue it interferes with the president’s role as commander in chief

Defenders of congressional prerogatives

Argue it puts Congress in the situation of supporting the president or pulling troops from an active combat zone.

          1. Of course, the law has its supporters as well.

Some argue that Congress cannot know as much as the president who is constantly briefed by the pentagon on national security issues.

Others argue that Congress simply cannot act as swiftly as the president in an emergency.

          1. Congress has tried to rewrite The War Powers Act many times, usually failing before the effort ever gets off the ground.
    1. Party Leader
      1. Party politics has greatly reduced the institutional loyalty members have to Congress. This has, in turn, allowed the presidency to increase its powers.
        1. For much of congressional history, representatives and senators considered themselves, first and foremost, members of Congress, their authority spelled out in the first article of the constitution.
      2. The president has increasingly become not only executive branch spokesman, but also spokesman of his fellow partisans in Congress.
      3. Presidents have at least two distinct powers to line up congressional votes.
        1. Copartisans of the president link his popularity with their chances of retaining a congressional majority.
          1. The president’s publicly stated positions have increasingly divided the parties in Congress.

At the end of the Johnson presidency, House Democrats were about 10% more supportive of his positions than House Republicans. There was almost no Senate distinction.

With each president since, the gap has grown. In the first year of Obama’s presidency, the difference was 64 points in the House and 42 points in the Senate.

        1. The media focuses more on the president giving him a clear advantage in appealing to the public.
          1. This media attention can be used to pressure individual members of Congress.

Known as “going public.”

      1. On some issues the president will simply have a monopoly on information.
        1. Foreign affairs and defense are both examples.
      2. Critical to understanding the dynamic between the president and Congress is appreciating whether the government is operating under divided or unified government.
        1. Divided government
          1. When the opposite party of the president has a majority in at least one chamber of Congress

Quickly allows opponents of the president to halt his agenda.

        1. Unified government
          1. When one party controls both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

Allows for the president’s agenda to gain traction.

      1. Some issues will divide Congress from the president for institutional reasons.
        1. The War Powers Act is the best example.
        2. Issues of bureaucratic structure, presidential autonomy over commissions, and agency budgets are other examples.
        3. Decreasing institutional loyalty and increasing partisan polarization have eroded the number of copartisans willing to stand up to the president.
        4. This problem is especially pronounced in eras of unified government.
          1. Congress has less vigorously…

Conducted oversight on the bureaucracy

Scrutinized legislative proposals coming from the White House

Investigated potential executive branch malfeasance

    1. Unilateral Actor
      1. While the legislative process requires the agreement of a majority of 535 members of Congress across two chambers, the president is the ultimate decision maker in the executive branch.
      2. Executive orders
        1. These orders should have their roots within the constitution or in areas for which Congress has directly delegated the president authority.
        2. In practice the president can order just about anything so long as it is not against existing law.
        3. Executive orders do have the force of law, but they are not immutable.
          1. They are subject to judicial review
          2. Congress can pass a law to overturn executive orders
          3. Any future president can change them with an executive order of their own.
        4. Several executive orders have been incredibly important.
          1. Emancipation Proclamation – President Lincoln
          2. Desegregation of the military – President Truman
          3. Works Progress Administration – President FD Roosevelt
          4. FEMA – President Carter
          5. Homeland Security – President GW Bush
          6. Internment camps during WWII – FD Roosevelt
        5. Some are mundane as well.
          1. The establishment of medals or closing the government for Christmas Eve.
        6. All executive orders are printed in The Federal Register.
      3. Presidential Memorandum
        1. Sometimes known as executive actions.
        2. Functionally equivalent to executive orders but are less visible because they are not printed in The Federal Register.
        3. Tend to be used for more mundane issues
      4. Submission of budget to Congress
        1. Congress retains the power to tax and spend, but its delegation of the budget to the president is rooted in the executive branch’s huge array of information gatherers and policy experts.
          1. Starting in the 1920s with the Harding administration the president has submitted a first draft of the national budget to Congress.

Congress delegated this power because the executive branch was better equipped to speculate on spending levels for programs.

        1. While Congress maintains the right to accept, reject, or modify the president’s budget, the act of moving first in the budget process can give the president great power.
          1. Congress generally begins with the president’s number and then suggests increases or decreases.
          2. Other times the president’s budget is dead on arrival.
        2. The president retains the right to veto spending bills once they make their way through Congress.
        3. In the end, the Congress has found that it operates best in tandem with, not separate from, the White House
      1. The question that remains is how much it can delegate, in the name of efficiency, and yet retain final control over the laws and actions that will affect the people whose representatives they are.
    1. Congressional Powers over the President
      1. Congress plays an important role in how the president carries out his powers.
        1. Congress sets the president’s salary.
          1. But, per the constitution, it cannot be lowered throughout the course of a term.
        2. Congress determines the level of funding that the president and his staff receive.
        3. The biggest check Congress retains is the ability to impeach and remove the president from office.
          1. The House of Representatives is given the task of developing the articles of impeachment.

That is, the case for the president’s removal.

          1. If an article receives the support of a House majority, the Senate tries the impeachment.

The president can either be removed or acquitted.

Removal requires 2/3 support from the Senate.

The House serves as the prosecution

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides

          1. Only two presidents have been impeached.

Andrew Johnson (1868)

Saved from removal from office by one vote

Bill Clinton (1998)

Senate did not even reach a majority vote for removal.

While not impeached, the proceedings for Richard Nixon (1974) would have almost certainly led to conviction.

      1. The president does retain some rights, critically, the organization of his staff.
        1. Congress does not have the ability to restrict who advises the president or how that advice is given.
          1. On several occasions the president has appointed people to his staff knowing they could never be confirmed for cabinet positions by the Senate.

Examples

Susan Rice as Obama’s National Security Advisor

Steve Bannon as Trump’s Chief Strategist

        1. Congress does retain the ability to investigate potential malfeasance even within the White House staff.
  1. The Bureaucracy
    1. Plays an important role at the beginning and at the end of the legislative process
    2. Beginning of the policy process
      1. Essential in helping Congress define problems
        1. Executive branch employees not only implement the laws, but they also monitor their implementation. This means they are often the first to learn when things start to break down.
        2. When alarm bells are ringing about implementation members of Congress can respond with new legislation or by trying to influence bureaucrats to implement existing law in a new way.
        3. Without these alarm bells ringing Congress goes about its regular business of approving budgets, reauthorizing programs, and evaluating presidential nominees.
      2. Repositories of information
        1. Who better to consult about transportation priorities than the Secretary of Transportation whose job it is to know what problems need addressing next?
    3. End of the policy process
      1. The implementation and execution of laws is left to the bureaucracy.
        1. But, Congress could be very detailed in what programs are to be established, who is eligible, etc.
          1. Minimizing the executive branch’s influence
        2. More commonly Congress describes programs and goals and lets federal agencies flesh out the details.
          1. In these cases it could be that the executive branch plays as large a role as Congress in determining how laws come to bear.
          2. The increasing scope of government has only made this more common.
      2. Administrative agencies exercise almost unchecked power in overseeing the implementation of the regulations they have imposed under the authority of federal law.
        1. Administrative law judges, who are technically executive branch officials rather than Article III judges, can revoke licenses to fly airplanes or operate businesses with little recourse for the citizen.
          1. Appeals must be made up the rungs of the federal bureaucracy before the case can be taken to court.
        2. Congress gave them the power to do this.
      3. What should one wonder about such delegation?
        1. Government has grown much larger, as has the population, and Congress’ capacity to react with its small budget and cumbersome decision-making process makes it ill-equipped.
        2. But Congress may also be seriously failing to do its duty.
          1. For example, the framers clearly intended for no American be sent to die in war unless the peoples’ representatives deemed such a sacrifice necessary.
      4. Congress still retains power over the bureaucracy in many ways.
        1. The sole responsibility to determine the structure and funding of the bureaucracy.
          1. Because of this, bureaucrats are always mindful of the preferences of members of Congress.
        2. Retains the power, in the Senate, to appoint cabinet and subcabinet officials within the bureaucracy.
        3. Can impeach appointees
          1. Same procedure as with the president except the Chief Justice does not preside.
      5. The degree to which Congress involves itself in bureaucratic actions is very much dependent on the relationship between Congress and the president and his appointees.
  2. The Courts
    1. Congress, due to the silence of Article III of the constitution, retains many powers over the courts.
      1. Congress establishes the structure of the federal court system.
      2. Congress also determines how much judges and their staffs are paid.
      3. The Senate retains the right to confirm or reject federal judges.
      4. Congress can impeach federal judges
      5. At times, Congress has even weighed in on which cases the court system could hear—an action that courts view skeptically.
    2. Despite having fewer powers the court’s most powerful tool is mighty. That is, the power of judicial review.
      1. That is, the courts can declare laws unconstitutional
      2. Derived from Marbury v. Madison (1803) and NOT explicitly granted in the Constitution!
        1. But is generally accept by the other branches of government and the public.
      3. Congress can, of course, pass a new law rendering the court’s finding moot (in some cases) or it can pass a constitutional amendment.
        1. Both avenues are difficult to achieve
        2. Constitutional amendments require two-thirds approval in both chambers and then ratification by three-fourths of the states.
    3. Judges can also push Congress to act
      1. Decisions can lead to new bills being introduced in response to decisions.
        1. Voting Rights Act; Defense of Marriage Act
    4. At other times, court decisions hinder legislation rather than propelling it.
      1. Term limits are a popular idea and Congress has often introduced bills requiring them. Yet in 1995, the Supreme Court declared that congressional term limits were unconstitutional
        1. They argued term limits added an additional requirement to serving in Congress beyond the age, citizenship, and residency requirements spelled out in the constitution.
        2. To add term limits now, a constitutional amendment would need to be passed.
    5. Judges, too, must mediate the relationship between Congress and the president, and sometimes even the relationship between the Congress, the president, and the court.
      1. Examples:
        1. NLRB v. Noel Canning (2014)
          1. Court decided that it was Congress itself that determined when it was in recess—and thus when the president can make temporary recess appointments without a confirmation vote.
        2. INS v. Chadha (1983)
          1. Court decided that legislative vetoes of presidential action—at least as they were written then—were unconstitutional because they reversed the roles the Constitution established for the executive branch and Congress.
    6. Judges must determine the meaning behind the words of legislation enacted into law.
      1. Executive branch decisions about implementation and enforcement of laws are subject to review by the courts.
      2. If the courts decide in a way that Congress disapproves, members must pass new legislation to clarify its initial language.
      3. All of this is to suggest that Congress may face obstacles erected by both officials in the other branches in getting its preferred policies implemented.
    7. The increasingly important role the courts play in implementing public policy has led to increased politics surrounding judicial nominations.
      1. Only twenty years ago, most appointees faced minimum opposition as typified by the confirmation votes of the liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (in 1993), who only had three votes against her nomination.
      2. Since 2000 no justice has had fewer than 20 votes against their nomination.
      3. Nomination fights have become so contentious that party leaders in Congress have changed the rules.
        1. Harry Reid (2013): Eliminated filibustering of executive branch and federal court nominations (except the Supreme Court).
          1. Making these confirmable with majority support
        2. Mitch McConnell (2017): Eliminated filibustering of Supreme Court nominees.
          1. Making these confirmable with majority support
        3. In both cases, the votes were mostly along party lines: almost all Democrats voted in favor of Reid’s use of the nuclear option; all Republicans voted in favor of McConnell’s rule change four years later.
          1. The filibuster survives for normal legislation, for now.
  3. Interest Groups
    1. Americans with special interests are better organized into groups so that they can coordinate their activities rather than act as individuals petitioning their government.
      1. These interest groups range anywhere from banking institutions, to groups concerned about the environment, to Americans working in the healthcare industry.
    2. Interest Groups as an Extension of Members’ Offices
      1. Interest groups wield their influence in three ways.
        1. Tie their preferences to the interests of a member’s home state or district
          1. Example: Spokesmen for the oil industry or for the farming or ranching communities may attempt to show how proposed legislation may harm, or help, the local economy.
        2. Provide members with expertise.
          1. Members staffs are small, usually limited to fewer than 20 staffers for House members, and this limits the ability of members to process the important economic and social ramifications of the scores of complicated bills they must deal with in every session of Congress.
          2. Enter the lobbyist: with the expert resources of entire industries, or large staffs assigned to a single issue area.

Provide information that members might not otherwise have access to.

Because much of lobbyists’ influence depends on their credibility, members can generally count on them to be truthful.

        1. Becoming part of a legislator’s reelection team.
          1. Critics suggest joining a member’s reelection is akin to buying their vote on interest-group favored legislation.

Of course, this presupposes that

Legislators have no views of their own

Legislators are corrupt

Yet studies have shown that legislators do have very strongly held views on most major issues.

Few legislators have ever been found to have “sold” their votes.

          1. The influence of joining a reelection effort is much subtler.

Lobbyists play on human nature: people are more inclined to listen to the concerns of their friends than to strangers.

So they attend fundraisers, breakfasts, dinners, receptions, and build a connection with members.

As they do this, they move from paid consultants to friendly faces who share the legislator’s interests and concerns.

It isn’t the money that buys influence, it is the relationships.

Almost all research in political science shows the absence of a relationship between receiving money and voting a particular way.

When political scientists find a connection between the two, it is almost always that special interests give to members who have a demonstrated record of supporting their causes; in essence, money follows votes, not the other way around.

    1. Interest Groups and Watchdogs over the Bureaucracy
      1. Like the bureaucracy, the interest group community is constantly monitoring the implementation and execution of the laws.
        1. They inform members when they think the bureaucracy is straying too far from Congress’s intended purpose.
      2. This role is only possible because almost all legitimate interests have a group working on their behalf.
        1. More than 4,000 groups have registered to lobby Congress.
        2. And, of course, interest groups exist on both sides of a given debate.
  1. The Media
    1. While the relationships between Congress and other outside actors inevitably changes over time, perhaps no other change has been as profound as that with the media.
    2. 30 years ago…
      1. Most members had a press secretary who handled media requests.
        1. District requests were filled first
          1. Satisfying the needs of the local newspaper or the local television channel was paramount. Local stories reverberate through the district unlike national stories.
    3. No longer is the news business consolidated into newspapers and television news shows.
      1. This change can go one of two ways.
        1. Members who are quick to adapt to new technological advances are likely to pad their incumbency advantage.
        2. Members who do not adapt run the risk of being defeated by an upstart who utilizes the new media landscape
      2. A well-timed and executed Facebook message can be more effective than knocking on three hundred doors and having ten-minute conversations with those few constituents who are at home and who answer the door.
      3. No longer does the member need the local news to pick up a story for constituents to learn about their legislative accomplishments.
        1. But, local news media do remain important.
          1. Most studies show that the local news is still the primary source of political information for constituents (and voters).
    4. Just as the bureaucracy and interest groups constantly monitor how the laws are being executed, so, too, does the media.
      1. While Congress has a system to handle scandal, when they fail to rise to the challenge the media is happy to step in.
        1. Example: Expose in the Washington Post about the state of Veterans Affairs hospitals.
          1. Although they were slow to act prior to the Post’s exposé, the Bush administration and Congress tripped over themselves to get in front of the scandal by holding hearings and issuing reports.
    5. The media also monitors members personal and professional behavior.
      1. Catching members with their pants down—sometimes literally—is part of what a pervasive and investigative media does.
        1. Example: Vance McAllister (R-LA) infidelity reported by district newspaper.
          1. Eight months later, he finished fourth in the primary election, receiving less than 12% of the total vote.
  2. Conclusion
    1. Even if most of the lawmaking powers of government were given to the Congress, it has little authority on its own.
      1. The branches of government must work together for the federal government to function properly.
    2. Representation is purposefully different between Congress and the presidency.
      1. The president is elected by all Americans whereas members of Congress are elected by subsets of the total population.
      2. The Constitution deliberately created this tension, a jealousy, a rivalry between these two branches of government, to better protect against concentrations of power that might endanger liberty.
      3. Yet both branches are still all working together to serve the same set of people.
    3. Because they command great visibility and have a national constituency, presidents have a significant amount of influence over congressional decisions.
      1. But in the end, it is the Congress that decides.
      2. And it is the Congress that must answer to the public for its decisions.
    4. And yet, even for those who love Congress, it is clear that some issues simply are better handled externally.
      1. As a result, members of Congress are only one set of actors in setting national policy.
    5. Congress still largely defines the relationship it has with the other branches and the structure it has put in place goes a long way to ensuring their compliance with congressional preferences.
    6. The tension created among these internal and external actors make a system dependent on an uninformed and uninterested public function, admittedly, not always perfectly.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. It may be difficult for students to imagine what types of local media stories members of Congress are doing (unless they are regularly watching their local news). Showing a quick story covering a member’s activities will provide useful context and hopefully explain why stories like these still matter so much to members of Congress.
    1. This short (one-minute) clip shows Sen. Heidi Heitkamp allowing local students to assist in her office.
      1. https://youtu.be/uqu-38yOPh4
  2. Make sure that students come to properly appreciate how members of Congress used to perceive the institution. It might be difficult for them to imagine in this hyper-partisan and presidency-focused time but that is all the more reason to dwell on the point of Congress as an institution in conflict with the other branches of government.
    1. The classic article by Donald R. Matthews in the American Political Science Review provides plenty of material for this purpose by going into the norms and mores of the Senate from a few decades ago. Not only is this topic informative it may also intrigue students to perceive members of Congress more like brothers in a fraternity or sisters in a sorority, which is likely a topic that is relatable for many of them.
      1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1952075
  3. Any time we discuss the bureaucracy it can feel like the concept is fuzzy and encompasses so many different types of actors. It is likely useful to have students consider some street-level bureaucrats so that they can contrast those federal workers with the agency heads and cabinet members they are more likely familiar with.
    1. Examples can be found in this great piece from the Oxford Handbook on the American Bureaucracy
      1. http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238958.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199238958-e-11
    2. There is also a short video of Dr. Michael Lipsky discussing street-level bureaucrats.
      1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX1IivgPspA

Class Activities

  1. The Many Hats of the President
    1. Write each of the president’s three major “hats” on the board and draw a line under each one.
      1. That is, Legislator in Chief, Commander in Chief, and Party Leader
    2. There are two ways to proceed from this point…
      1. Have the students start naming powers of the president and under which hat they would fall.
      2. You start naming powers of the president and have the students decide under which hat they would fall.
    3. Procced through as many powers as you would like and then take a step back. In addition to having the students ponder the many roles the president has, stress that some of the roles involve delegated tasks from the other branches of government or the public.
  2. Who Matters Most? – Think, Pair, Share!
    1. Before conducting any instruction tell the students each of the external actors that will be discussed in lecture.
    2. Have each student turn to a partner and ponder which actor(s) they think will have the most influence over the legislative process.
    3. Have a few pairs share their thoughts and engage in any discussion that follows.
    4. Lecture away!
    5. Before the end of class, have the students turn to the partner on the other side of them and pose the same question as before.
    6. In addition to soliciting responses also ask any students whose minds changed to raise their hands and ask them why their view changed.
  3. The War Powers Act
    1. Split the class into two groups, either letting them choose or some sort of random assignment process.
    2. Assign each group either pro-War Powers Act or anti-War Powers Act.
    3. Give the students time to formulate talking points and opening/closing statements.
    4. Have the students send a subset to the front of the classroom to debate.
    5. If necessary, intervene as the devil’s advocate.
      1. An easy and useful way to do this is to pose a scenario of an attack on the U.S.
    6. After the debate concludes, take a poll and see how many students support or oppose the act.
    7. Split the students into new smaller groups and have them consider ways the War Powers Act might be rewritten to better balance the delegation of powers and the need for security.

Discussion Questions

  1. At what stage of the legislative process does the president have the most power and why?
  2. Has Congress delegated too much power?
    1. To whom have they delegated most excessively?
    2. Will it be easy to claw back the powers they have delegated?
  3. How has the president increased his power over the past few decades?
  4. Do lobbyists have too much influence? How could their role be minimized or institutionalized and regulated more effectively?
  5. Should it be more difficult for the president to take unilateral action? Why or why not?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://oversight.house.gov/

Official oversight committee for the House.

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/

Official oversight committee for the Senate.

https://newspapermap.com/

Useful website that can help students locate their own local newspaper.

Essay

1. Theriault and Edwards argue that the president is the most important actor outside of the legislative process and sometimes may be more important than most members of Congress. Do you agree or disagree with their evaluation? If you agree provide support by highlighting the powers or advantages of the presidency. If you disagree, explain why and suggest which actor(s) might instead be the most important external actors.

2. The enactment of the War Powers Act has sparked intense debate for decades. Summarize the arguments on both sides of the debate. Then, pick a side and provide support for your position. Use real world examples if necessary.

3. Consider the powers and responsibilities delegated from Congress to the presidency and the bureaucracy. Has Congress delegated too much, about enough, or too little to these other branches of government? Why has Congress delegated any power at all? Be sure you detail the most important powers or responsibilities that have been delegated. Provide examples when necessary.

4. Many Americans believe that interest groups use money to corrupt politicians and the policy process more generally. Is this true? If so, support this view with evidence from the textbook and class lectures. If not, how do interest groups wield their influence and what role does money have in the process? Be specific and provide examples when necessary.

5. Theriault and Edwards argue that even though most of the lawmaking powers of government are given to the Congress, it has little authority on its own. Do you agree or disagree with their argument? Defend your position and be sure to give proper consideration to the delegation of powers between the branches over time. Use real world examples if necessary.

Short Answer

1. Is the use of a veto by a president considered a show of strength or weakness and why?

  • A show of weakness
  • Effective presidents work with Congress to ensure the bill that passes is something he would sign

2. Does the president have any role in the policy process after he signs a bill into law? If so, what can he do? If not, what limits his abilities?

  • Yes, he does have a role in the policy process.
  • He directs the bureaucracy on how it should implement the newly created law. This task is usually accomplished via a signing statement, which can simply be a message of congratulations to the legislation’s sponsor or a much more consequential message.

3. The president often deploys troops with his authority as commander in chief. If he does so, what options does Congress have in response?

  • Declaring war
  • Authorizing extended military action
  • Ordering the withdrawal of troops
  • Increasing support with additional money or troops

4. How has modern party politics impacted the institutional loyalty of members of Congress and what effect has that had on the separation of powers?

  • For much of congressional history, representatives and senators considered themselves, first and foremost, members of Congress, their authority spelled out in the first article of the constitution. Party politics, however, has greatly reduced the institutional loyalty members have to Congress. This has, in turn, allowed the presidency to increase its powers.

5. What are the two main ways the president can line up congressional votes?

  • Linking his popularity with members’ chances of retaining a congressional majority. Therefore, demanding they align with any positions he takes.
  • “Going public,” that is, using the increased media attention he receives to pressure individual members of Congress to support his agenda.

6. To what extent do administrative agencies have power to oversee the implementation of regulations they impose? How is their authority, if any, carried out?

  • Administrative agencies exercise almost unchecked power in overseeing the implementation of the regulations they have imposed under the authority of federal law.
  • Administrative law judges, who are technically executive branch officials rather than Article III judges, can revoke licenses to fly airplanes or operate businesses with little recourse for the citizen. Appeals of these decisions must be made up the rungs of the federal bureaucracy before the case can be taken to court.

7. What recourse does Congress have if it disagrees with a decision of the Supreme Court that resulted in the striking down of a law they passed?

  • Pass a new law rendering the court’s finding moot (in some cases)
  • Pass a constitutional amendment

8. The courts can both help and hinder legislation making its way through Congress. What role did the courts play with regard to the popular policy idea of term limits for members of Congress? Briefly describe the court’s actions and the current state of affairs for the issue.

  • Term limits are a popular idea and Congress has often introduced bills requiring them. Yet in 1995, the Supreme Court declared that congressional term limits were unconstitutional
  • The Court argued that term limits added an additional requirement to serving in Congress beyond the age, citizenship, and residency requirements spelled out in the constitution.
  • Therefore, to add term limits now, a constitutional amendment would need to be passed.

9. In what three ways do interest groups influence members of Congress?

  • Tie their preferences to the interests of a member’s home state or district
  • Provide members with expertise
  • Become part of a legislator’s reelection team

10. XXX

  • Offering support to a potential supporter’s favorite legislation
  • Try to favorably influence committee appointments
  • Promise greater or more efficient services
  • Favorably contrast their own personalities or policy positions with those of an opponent
  • Contributing money to members’ reelection campaigns or to prominent challengers

Multiple Choice

1. One can characterize the influence of the president as ___________________.

a) Constant throughout much of U.S. history

b) Constant within a president’s term

c) Neither a and b

d) Both a and b

2. What is the process that occurs after the president veto’s a bill?

a) The unsigned bill is returned to the House Rules Committee and can be referred to another committee by the Speaker of the House

b) The unsigned bill is returned to the Senate and the bill can only be considered again if a cloture petition is filed

c) The unsigned bill is returned to the chamber from which it originated

d) The unsigned bill is stamped “VETO” and returned to Speaker of the House

3. If Congress is in session and the president does not sign the bill within ten days (excluding Sundays), the bill _______________.

a) Automatically becomes law

b) Is pocket vetoed

c) Must be acted on before Congress can pass another bill

d) Is sent back to the House Rules Committee

4. Which of the following is a way that presidents thank members of Congress for pushing favorable bills through the legislative process?

a) Donating significant sums to their reelection campaigns

b) Inviting them to observe his signing of the bill into law

c) Giving a member the pen he used the sign the bill

d) Both b and c

5. The president's decision not to sign a bill during the ten-day period following its passage while Congress has adjourned leads to what?

a) Signing statement

b) Pocket veto

c) Veto threat

d) Protracted veto

6. The legislative history of a bill can be used by courts or agencies to figure out the meaning of a law. Which of the following is considered to be part of the legislative history of a bill?

a) Floor speeches given by members

b) Committee reports on the bill

c) Presidential signing statements

d) All of the above

7. The power to declare war is located where in the constitution?

a) Article I

b) Article II

c) Article III

d) None of the above

8. What has Congress done to combat the increasing frequency with which the president deploys troops without a formal declaration of war?

a) Delegated the authority to confirm troop deployments to the Supreme Court

b) Enacted automatic cuts to the Department of Defense budget anytime unauthorized troops are deployed

c) Passed the War Powers Act

d) Created a Joint Committee on Troop Deployment to more effectively respond to these situations

9. What does it mean when a president is “going public?”

a) He is beginning to campaign for reelection

b) He is addressing a joint session of Congress about an issue he cares about

c) He is responding to a scandal publicized by the media or an interest group

d) He is focusing public attention on an issue to pressure members of Congress for their support

10. Which of the following describes the reasoning behind Congress allowing the president to lead on issues of foreign affairs and defense?

a) The president has a monopoly of information on these issues via his Pentagon staffers

b) Members of Congress do not want to defer to their colleagues on the foreign policy and defense committees thus resulting in gridlock on these issues

c) Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution empowers the president to have broad lawmaking authority over issues of foreign policy

d) The Supreme Court ruled that the president is the constitutional authority over these issues

11. Under __________ government the president is likely to see his agenda gain traction and move through Congress.

a) Universal

b) Unified

c) Unanimous

d) Divide

12. Congress may be less vigorous in providing oversight of the modern presidency if which of the following is true?

a) The American public disapproves of the way Congress is doing their job

b) The president and both chambers of Congress are controlled by the same political party

c) The president is in his first 100 days in office

d) Congress is taking part in the appropriations process

13. Which of the following is NOT true about executive orders?

a) They can only be overturned via judicial review

b) They have the force of law

c) They are meant to be rooted in the constitution or areas where Congress has directly delegated the president authority

d) They are printed in The Federal Register

14. The Emancipation Proclamation, desegregation of the military, and the implementation of internment camps during World War II were all accomplished using what means?

a) Presidential memorandum

b) Joint resolution in Congress

c) Executive order

d) Supreme Court decision

15. When Congress delegated the power to write the federal budget to the president members lost the ability to do which of the following?

a) Amend the budget submitted by the president in any way

b) Cut funding below the amounts dictated by the president

c) Write their own version of the federal budget

d) None of the above

16. A majority of House members are displeased with the president and are considering impeachment. What is the first step they can take?

a) Rally senators to their cause to submit articles of impeachment in their chamber

b) Submit articles of impeachment in the House

c) Bring a case against the president to the Supreme Court

d) Put articles of impeachment to a direct vote by the American public

17. Which of the following is NOT a power Congress holds over the president?

a) Changing the president’s salary during his first 100 days in office

b) Removing the president from office

c) Determining funding levels for the president’s staff

d) All of the above are powers of Congress

18. Which of the following presidents was impeached and subsequently removed from office?

a) Bill Clinton

b) Richard Nixon

c) Andrew Johnson

d) None of the above

19. Which of the following allows federal bureaucrats to be critical at the beginning of the policy process?

a) They are quick to discover problems in the implementation of laws

b) They are staffed by experts in a specific policy area

c) They are not allowed to be employed by interest groups

d) Both a and b

20. More often than not Congress ________________________________.

a) Defers to interest groups when specifying the scope of new government programs

b) Is very detailed about the parameters of new programs

c) Describes new programs and goals and lets federal agencies flesh out the details

d) Instructs the Supreme Court to establish parameters for new programs before allowing agencies to weigh in

21. The size and scope of the federal government has, over time, done what?

a) Decreased

b) Increased

c) Remained about the same

d) Fluctuated indistinctly

22. Which of the following is a power Congress holds over the bureaucracy?

a) Undisputed power to hire members of their staff or donors of theirs to agency jobs

b) Confirmation of entry-level bureaucrats

c) Removing bureaucrats from office

d) All of the above

23. Which of following is NOT a power Congress holds over the courts?

a) Retaining the right to cast one vote in each decision made by the Supreme Court

b) Determining how much federal judges and their staffs are paid

c) Confirming or rejecting federal judges

d) Impeachment of federal judges

24. Judicial review was established by which of the following?

a) Marbury v. Madison

b) Article III, Section 1

c) 15th Amendment

d) NLRB v. Noel Canning

25. What rule change did Mitch McConnell oversee as Senate Majority Leader in 2017?

a) The elimination of filibusters for all House and Senate legislation

b) The elimination of filibusters for Supreme Court nominees

c) A requirement that federal prosecutors participate in Senate Judiciary hearings related to Supreme Court nominees

d) The elimination of filibusters for executive branch and federal court nominations

26. In what decade did consistent partisan-fueled opposition to Supreme Court nominees begin?

a) 1960s

b) 1990s

c) 2010s

d) 2000s

27. Why do members of Congress need outside help from interest groups to stay informed about issues traveling through the legislative process?

a) Members have small staffs that are saturated with casework and constituent correspondence

b) Most members spend their time raising money or attending hearings instead of reading bills

c) The sheer number of bills introduced and processed in every session of Congress well exceeds the capacity of individual members’ offices

d) Both a and c

28. What is the primary role that lobbyists play in the legislative process?

a) Donating to a member in expectation that they will change their vote on a bill

b) Relaying constituent concerns from a member’s state or district

c) Providing information that a member might not otherwise have access to

d) Both a and c

29. A lobbyist’s influence depends almost entirely on their ___________.

a) Credibility with policy information

b) Ability to donate to members reelection campaigns at every opportunity

c) Educational background

d) Home town and state

30. Members of Congress are most likely to receive donations from interest groups __________________.

a) Whose views they firmly disagree with

b) Whose views they already align with

c) Who deal with issues the member has never taken a formal stance on

d) Either a or c

31. Which of the following perform oversight and help identify problems for Congress?

a) Federal bureaucrats

b) Interest groups

c) Journalists

d) All of the above

32. Which external actor(s) has seen the largest change over time in their relationship with Congress?

a) Interest Groups

b) The Media

c) The Bureaucracy

d) The Courts

33. When fulfilling media requests members tend to fill which requests first?

a) National media

b) Social media

c) Local media

d) Either a or b, depending on when in the campaign cycle the requests come in

34. Removal of the president from office requires what?

a) Unanimous support from the Supreme Court

b) Support of 2/3 of House members

c) Consent from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

d) Support of 2/3 of senators

35. The federal court system is structured by which of the following?

a) Article III, Section 1

b) Congress

c) Article III, Section 2

d) The Supreme Court’s Proclamation of 1789

Congress: The First Branch

CHAPTER 10

Chapter Outline

  1. The Congress of the Future
    1. For years Congress has looked about the same, but in the past 20-30 years some fundamental changes about how Congress works have taken place.
    2. Congress operates under a partisan model.
      1. Members run as Democrats or Republicans
        1. And only get to compete in the election if they win their party’s primary
      2. The party that wins control elects the party leaders.
        1. These people then decide committee assignments, the flow of legislation, and more.
      3. To a large extent which party you belong to and its status as the majority or not determines how much influence you have as a member and whether your ideas are taken seriously.
    3. The future may be somewhat different.
      1. Partisanship and polarization are not the same.
      2. There will always been disagreements and conflict about the direction of the country. This type of activity is the strength of a democracy.
      3. But partisanship is about more than policy agreement. It adds a dimension of tribal loyalty that elevates defeat of the other team to a goal in its own right.
        1. This goal of defeat makes the development of bipartisan proposal almost impossible.
      4. But, for the government to function there must be a means to come together.
    4. The awareness that compromise is a must for a functioning government is starting to take hold.
      1. About 40% of the electorate now self-identifies as independent, and while they often lean toward one party or the other they are more resistant to overtly partisan appeals and more open to persuasion.
      2. Numerous groups of reform activists have started coming together specifically to combat the effects of extreme partisanship.
        1. Example: No Labels
          1. Claims tens of thousands of supporters.
          2. Has brought together dozens of members of Congress of both parties to discuss possible joint sponsorships of legislation.
      3. Some states have even started making congressional redistricting a nonpartisan process.
      4. Other states have taken partisanship out of the primary process.
        1. There is not yet sufficient evidence to know where such changes increased voter turnout or moved those congressional delegations to the left or the right.
          1. But it still means these members are representing broader swaths of their states or districts.
        2. Similar proposals have been introduced in other states as well
    5. As independence in the electorate grows this could change the grip party leaders have over power and bring Congress back to a more decentralized system.
      1. Instead of being pressured from the party from above or below, reform in the new age of independence could finally take Congress in the direction of true representativeness.
        1. These changes might also alter the internal dynamics of the legislative branch and the ways in which proposed laws are considered and voted on.

Lecture Suggestions

  1. The topic of the future of Congress will be difficult to riff on with only the materials in the textbook. The materials for this final chapter provides just one angle. Your intuition should guide you in discussing potential directions of Congress.
  2. Using up-to-date political attitudes and partisanship will be important as the book ages.
    1. http://www.pewresearch.org/topics/political-polarization/
  3. The Congressional Institute provides ideas for reform of Congress all year round and a quick look at their website might provide a few cutting edge examples to pepper into your lecture.
    1. https://www.conginst.org/congressional-reform-ideas/

Discussion Questions

  1. What part of the modern Congress is most broken?
  2. Will changes in the electorate translate into changes in Congress?
    1. If so, how quickly?
  3. Will congressional reforms necessarily destroy the partisan model?
    1. Or, will it simply revise the system?
  4. Does self-identifying as an independent mean Americans want a nonpartisan Congress?
  5. If you could enact any congressional reform today, what would it be and why?

Web Learning Resources

Link

Description

https://www.brookings.edu/research/improving-the-federal-budgeting-process/

Brookings’ proposal for reforming the budget process.

https://www.rstreet.org/issue/governance/

R Street’s official page on assessing and improving the state of America’s national system of self-governance, with particular attention to Congress.

https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/congressional-capacity-project/

New America’s official page for reforms to increase congressional capacity.

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Created Date:
Aug 21, 2025
Chapter Name:
Congress The First Branch 1e Theriault and Edwards Test bank Docx
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Sean M. Theriault

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