Unit 6 Congress

Congress Chapter 12

The Constitution and the Legislative Branch
Article I creates a bicameral legislative branch of government.
The upper house is called the Senate in which each state receives two representatives.
The lower house is called the House of Representatives which is apportioned by population .
The Senate has a 6 year term with 1/3 of the seats up for reelection every two years .
House members serve 2 year terms.

Powers of Congress Taxation Lawmaking Declare War Regulate Commerce Spend Money Create Courts Make all laws "necessary and proper" to carrying out the enumerated powers Levy taxes for the general welfare EXPRESSED POWERS “WRITTEN IN CONSTITUTION” IMPLIED POWERS- ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 18- not specifically written, but through the language, it is clear, that power is given.

The Representatives and Senators
The Job
Salary of approximately $160,000 with generous retirement benefits
Office space in D.C. and at home and staff to fill it.
Travel allowances - (critics often call these junkets ) and mail privileges ( franking privilege).
But, there’s often 10 to 14 hour days, lots of time away from the family, and lots of pressure from different people to “do the right thing.”

Profile of the 110 Congress 2007-2009 “The Members”
House Senate Democrats 233 49
Republicans 202 49
Independents 0 2
Women 70 14
Blacks 42 1
Hispanics 24 2
Lawyers - 40% overall- Average age - 55 Re-elected - 96% House and 93% Senate
College educated - over 90%
Religion - predominantly Protestant but also heavily Catholic

Profile of the NEW 111 Congress 2009-2010 “The Members”
House Senate Democrats 254 56
Republicans 173 40
Independents 0 2
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/house/votes.html
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/senate/votes.html
The Electoral Shift:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/05/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_RECAP.html

Congressional Elections
Who Wins Elections?
Incumbents : Those candidates already holding office, especially in the HOUSE.
Most win by more than 60% of the vote
Figure 12.1

Congressional Elections
The Advantages of Incumbents
Advertising :
The goal is to be visible to your voters.
Frequent trips home & newsletters are used with the franking privilege
Credit Claiming :
Service to individuals in their district in TWO ways:
Casework : specifically helping constituents get what they think they have a right to.
Pork Barreling : federal projects, grants, etc. made available in a congressional district or state.

$1,000,000 for Brown Tree Snake research. $681,000 on latrine additions at Fort Harrison, Montana $3,000,0000 for projects and New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park $4,200,000 for wood utilization handicrafts $473,000 to study human nutrition research including low-fat snack foods $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

According to one taxpayer advocacy group, Congress compiled 8,341 ‘pork barrel’ items in 2002, costing taxpayers $20.1 billion

How Congress is Organized to Make Policy
The House
435 members, 2 year terms of office.
Initiates all revenue bills, more influential on budget.
Limited debates.
More centralized, more hierarchical
Party line voting is more common, party loyalty is more important
The Senate
100 members, 6 year terms of office.
Gives “advice & consent”, on appointments and treaties.
Are more influential on foreign affairs.
Unlimited debates. (filibuster)
Less centralized
More prestigious
From Table 12.3
American Bicameralism
Bicameral : Legislature divided into two houses.

The House
Lead by Speaker of the House - elected by House members.
Presides over House.
Major role in committee assignments and legislation.
The Senate
Officially lead by Vice President.
Really lead by Majority Leader - chosen by party members.
Must work with Minority leader.
Congressional Leadership

Party Selection
Democratic party
vote on Speaker of the House
Vote on Majority Leader
Vote on Majority Whip
Republican party
vote on Minority Leader
Vote on Minority Whip
House Clerk
Class will select this person
3 MINUTES

House Leadership
Most important is
Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi-D-CA
Presides over the meetings when in session
Plays a major role in making committee assignments.
Appoints or plays a key role in appointing party’s legislative leaders.
Exercises substantial control over which bills get assigned to which committee.
Recognizes people on the floor for speeches

House Leadership
Majority Party
Majority Leader – leads majority party, #2 most powerful person in House [Steny Hoyer-MD]
Whip – organizes, Majority party [James Clyburn-SC]
Does a lot of arm twisting, deal brokering, and deal breaking to get things done
Minority Party
Minority Leader – leads minority party (6 th most powerful person) [John Boehner-OH]
Minority Whip – organizes, leads Minority party (most powerful member of minority party) [Roy Blunt-MO]
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt

KEY House Committees
House Committees:
Rules - Chaired by Louise Slaughter. (D-NY) This committee is the most powerful committee in either house. It decides if, when, and how long a bill will be debated .
Ways & Means - Chaired by Charles Rangel (D-NY) this committee considers all revenue raising bills (tax)
Appropriations- Chaired by Dave Obey-(D-Wisconsin) this committee has to approve all spending bills.

Leadership in the Senate
President is the VP - Dick Cheney R-WY he is there when a tie vote is expected.
VP Cheney has done this 8 times
VP Al Gore broke 4 ties
VP Quayle did not break any ties
In his absence, the President Pro Tempore - Robert Byrd D-WV
since presiding over the Senate is unimportant , the junior senator from the majority party who is present usually presides.

Two most important people, however, in the Senate are:
Majority Leader – Harry Reid (D-NV) leads the party, guides all legislation that goes through the Senate
Minority Leader – Mitch McConnell (R-KY) leads the minority party, works closely with the Majority leader to ensure legislation goes though

Why do the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader have to work so closely together?
Filibuster – Various tactics (usually long speeches) aimed at defeating a bill by preventing a final vote
Cloture – used to limit or end floor debate (especially the filibuster) need 60 votes in the Senate

KEY Senate Committees:
1. Appropriations - Robert Byrd (D-WV)
2. Finance - Max Baucus (D-Montana) parallels the House Ways and Means
3. Judiciary - Patrick Leahy (D-VT)- considers all judicial appointments
4 . Foreign Relations Joseph Biden (D-DE) (Ambassadors and treaties)

The Committees and Subcommittees
Four types of committees:
Standing committees : permanent committees that handle different policy areas. (Finance, Agriculture, Banking, Foreign Policy)
Select committees : created for a specific purpose. (the Senate had a Watergate select committee)
Conference committees
Joint Committees

How do the HOUSE and SENATE work together? Senate House

How Congress is organized to make policy: Committees
Joint Committees: Exist in a few policy areas- made up of House & Senate members.( Economy and taxation)
Conference committees : resolve differences in House and Senate bills.

The Committees at Work: Legislation and Oversight
Most of the real work in done in committees
Committees work on the 11,000 bills every year.
Some hold public hearings and “mark up” (re-writing) meetings.
They control the congressional agenda and guide legislation .
Oversight involves hearings and other methods of pressuring the executive branch into action. (oversight was substantially increased in the 70’s and 80’s as a result of the Johnson Nixon years).
As the size of government grows, oversight grows too.

Getting on a Committee
Members want committee assignments that will help them get re-elected and gain influence.
New members express their committee preferences to the party leaders.
Support of the party is important in getting on the right committee.
Parties try and grant committee assignments.

Getting Ahead on the Committee: Chairs and the Seniority System.
The chair is the most important position for controlling legislation. (they schedule hearing, hire staff, appoint sub-committees, and manage the bills).
Until the 1970’s, chairs were chosen strictly by seniority , this gave an edge to those from “safe districts”
Now, seniority is more a general rule, and members of that committee may choose the chair of their committee.
Robert Byrd D-WV Chair of Appropriations Committee Born 11/20/1917 Been in office since 1959 Longest serving member in the Senate’s history!

Caucuses: The Informal Organization of Congress
Caucus : A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic.
Caucuses pressure for committee meetings and hearings and for votes on bills.
They push for particular legislation
They pull together on bills they favor
Caucuses can be more effective than lobbyists.
Examples include : the Black Caucus, the Congresswomen’s Caucus, the Sunbelt Caucus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucuses_of_the_United_States_Congress

Congressional Staff
Personal staff: Work for the member. Mainly providing constituent service, but they also help with legislation too.
They answer mail, brief legislators, meet with lobbyists, negotiate agreements, write questions to be asked at hearings and a lot more!
Committee staff: organize hearings, research & write legislation, target of lobbyists for information.
Staff Agencies : Congressional Research Service (provides Congress with information, prepares summaries of bills), General Accounting Office (helps with oversight investigations), Congressional Budget Office provide specific information to Congress.

Stop
Bill making process
What’s the difference between a good bill and a bad bill?
Good bill/Bad bill

The Congressional Process
Presidents and Congress: Partners and Protagonists
Presidents have many resources to influence Congress
(Chief Legislator)
In order to “win” in Congress, the president must win several battles in each house.
Presidents have the power of veto to ultimately influence legislation.

Presidential Success on Votes in Congress They are usually successful early in their term and when their party has a majority in one or both houses. Figure 12.5

Party, Constituency, and Ideology
Party Influence : Party leaders cannot force party members to vote a particular way, but many do vote along party lines.
Differences are sharpest on questions of social welfare and economic policy .
Democrats
traditionally lean towards unions, poverty, unemployment, and aid to cities
Republicans
lean towards business, social conservatism

Constituency versus Ideology
Congressmen sometimes see themselves as trustees
(the people trusted them to use their own personal judgment).
Others see themselves as delegates
(representing their constituency).
Some are partisan
(sticking close to party line)
Some are politicos
(adopting all three styles of leadership)

Constituency versus Ideology
Even legislators who conflict with the views of their constituents tend to be re-elected.
Most constituents don’t know how their member voted on any particular issue. It is difficult for constituents to influence their member.
Most issues remain obscure to the people, therefore legislatures can safely ignore constituency opinion.

Lobbyists and Interest Groups
Lobbyist – attempts to sway the vote of a congressman in regards to one specific issue or cause
There are over 26 lobbyists for every member of Congress - the bigger the issue, the more lobbyists will be working on it.
Lobbyists can be ignored, shunned and even regulated by Congress.
Ultimately, it is a combination of lobbyists and others that influence members of Congress.

Understanding Congress
Congress and Democracy
While it is a representative body, it doesn’t necessarily represent the people, just their interests.
Congress does try to respond to what the people want, but some argue it could do a better job.
Interest groups and presidents exert influence on what Congress does.

Representative Colleagues Constituents Staff Caucuses Part y Interest Groups Political Action Committee s How Members Make Decisions

Legislation :
Bill : A proposed law.
Anyone can draft a bill, but only members of Congress can introduce them.
There are more rules in the House than in the Senate.
Party leaders play a vital role in steering bills through both houses.
Countless influences on the legislative process-presidents, parties, constituents, interest groups, congressional and committee leadership and structure.
Most bills DIE (usually early in the process).

How a BILL Becomes a LAW

Comparing CONGRESSIONAL House and Senate
House
25 years old
7 year citizen
Resident of the state
Elected single member district
Revenue bills must start here
More formal-more rules
Impeachment- they draw up charges.
Senate
30 years old
9 year citizen
Resident of the state
Elected at large
Confirmation body
Filibusters
Less formal
Trial in impeachment

Comparing Legislatures-Federal Verses State (Congress vs. State Legislature)
Federal Government
(Congress)
House- 435
Senate-100
House-2 year terms
25 years old
7 yr citizen
State Government
(TX Legislature)
House-150
Senate-31
House-2 year terms
21 years old
2 year resident

Comparing Legislatures
Federal Government
Congress
Senate
6 year term
30 years old
9 year citizen
Meets every year-2 year “term”
Salary-$160,000 yearly
State Government
TX Legislature
Senate
4 year term
26 years old
5 year resident
Meets every other year-4 month term
Salary- $7200 yearly

Understanding Congress
Congress and the Scope of Government
The more policies Congress works on, the more ways they can serve their constituencies.
The more programs that get created, the bigger government gets.
Everybody wants government programs cut, just not their programs.

Other things you should know…
Reapportionment - done every 10 years after the Census.
Reshuffling the power in the House based on a population change
Redistricting- the majority party in the STATE legislature redraws CONGRESSIONAL district lines.
Sometimes they get GERRYMANDERED - giving them an advantage politically!

How redistricting might look: Mystery state A: 60% Rep and 40% Dem

Version A--three safe Rep districts

Version B--two safe Rep, one safe Dem district 1 2 3

North Carolina-12 th District Eligible voters-412,000 Black-53.3% White 46.7% Why would North Carolina draw a district in this shape? Which party do you think was in control of North Carolina’s state legislature? What are the consequences of gerrymandering?

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Unit 6 Congress

by David Osman on Nov 13, 2008

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Unit 6 Congress — Presentation Transcript