Delegate Model of Representation: The philosophy that legislators should adhere to the will of their constituents. Trustee Model of Representation: The philosophy that legislators should consider the will of the people but act in ways they believe best for the long-term interests of the nation. Politico Model of Representation: The philosophy that legislators should follow their own judgment (that is, act like a trustee) until the public becomes vocal about a particular matter, at which point they should follow the dictates of constituents Conscience Model of Representation: The philosophy that legislators should follow the will of the people until they truly believe it is in the best interests of the nation to act differently Symbolic representation: The job members perform when they speak on behalf of the groups to which they belong; especially their demographic group.
Bicameral Legislature: A legislature composed of two houses. The House historically reflected the idea that average citizens should select leaders who would follow their wishes rather closely. Yet the other chamber of the legislature, the Senate, allowed state legislatures to pick senators
Sets the length of terms for House members (two years) and specifies the basic qualifications for service. House members must be 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and a resident of the state where they are elected. Begins with the method of selecting a senator. Originally, the Constitution stated that each state legislature would select its two U.S. senators. This changed with ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.
Rotation: The staggering of senatorial terms such that one-third of the Senate comes up for election every two years. Rotation ensures that the Senate’s membership can never be changed all at once just because the public has become outraged over some issue, and assures stability for state representation.
For the most part, Congress has left these election processes to the states. But after the Fifteenth Amendment, and in defiance of its intent, many southern states imposed poll taxes, literacy tests, and excessive residency requirements to keep African Americans from voting.
Art. 1 Section 8 was controversial because of the necessary & proper clause, or elastic clause . Elastic clause (necessary and proper clause): A statement in Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution that grants Congress the power to pass all laws “necessary and proper” for carrying out the list of expressed powers.
Reapportionment: The process by which seats in the House of Representatives are reassigned among the states to reflect population changes following the Census (every 10 years). Redistricting: The process of redrawing legislative district boundaries within a state to reflect population changes.
At-Large Districts: Districts encompassing an entire state, or large parts of a state, in which House members are reelected to represent the entire area. The redistricting process has also been used to minimize the representation of minority groups.
Gerrymandering is the drawing of legislative districts for partisan advantage. Positive gerrymandering has been used to create majority-minority districts wherein the majority of the population within an electoral district is made up ethnic minorities.
Baker v. Carr (1961): Supreme Court case that set the standard that House districts must contain equal numbers of constituents, thus establishing the principle of “one person, one vote
Baker v. Carr (1961): Supreme Court case that set the standard that House districts must contain equal numbers of constituents, thus establishing the principle of “one person, one vote
Standing committees are the permanent structures that perform the detailed work of a legislature, such as drafting bills for consideration Subcommittees: Specialized groups within standing committees. Most of the day-to-day lawmaking and oversight of Congress occurs at the subcommittee level.
Select committees are temporary and are created to deal with a particular issue or problem. They disappear either when the problem is resolved or, more likely, when the congressional session ends. They serve primarily in an investigative role and cannot approve legislation or move it forward. Conference Committee: A committee of members of the House and Senate that irons out differences in similar measures that have passed both houses to create a single bill Joint committees are composed of members selected from each chamber. The work of these committees generally involves investigation, research, and oversight of agencies closely related to Congress. Permanent joint committees, created by statute, are sometimes called standing joint committees.
Referral The 1946 act required that all legislation be referred to a committee Hearings: Committee sessions for taking testimony from witnesses and for collecting information on legislation under consideration or for the development of new legislation. Markup the actual language of the bill is hammered out The Rules Report: the Rules committee provides rules regarding the consideration of the legislation and its debate and whether or not amendments will be allowed which helps streamline the process and make things fair. Oversight the responsibility of Congress to keep a close eye on the federal bureaucracy’s implementation of federal law.
Orientation function: The job of familiarizing new members of Congress with the procedures, norms, and customs of the chamber. Voting Cues: Summaries encapsulating the informed judgment of others in the legislature; members of Congress rely on these to streamline the decision-making process. Whips: Assistants to House and Senate leaders, responsible for drumming up support for legislation and for keeping count of how members plan to vote on different pieces of legislation.
Speaker: The presiding officer of the House of Representatives, who is also the leader of the majority party in the House.
Congressional caucuses are also sometimes called coalitions, study groups, and task forces. In brief, they are informal, voluntary groups of legislators who have enough in common to meet regularly. The goal is to share information and strategize on policy matters. Party unity scores: measures of party unity based on a gauge of how often members of the same party stick together. Since 1954, there has been a clear pattern of greater unity, echoing what many see as an increasingly polarized Congress.
First, the election of 1824, leading to the so-called Corrupt Bargain, reinvigorated party spirit in the United States, and partisanship soon intensified in both houses of Congress. Second, Henry Clay of Kentucky had been elected speaker in 1823 and he was aggressive, outspoken, ambitious, and highly partisan. Since the 1820s, the winner of these internal elections has always been a member of the majority party.
The Constitution stipulates that the vice president of the United States shall be president of the Senate. Under the Constitution, however, the vice president can vote only to break a tie. President pro tempore ( pro tempore is a Latin phrase meaning “for the time being” and is usually abbreviated to pro tem). Through tradition, this position has become purely ceremonial and is always bestowed on the most senior member of the majority party.
The answer is a mix of formal and informal powers. Speakers of the House refer legislation to committee, preside over floor proceedings, appoint members to conference and other joint committees, and set the rules of how legislation will be debated and how long such debates might last. They establish the floor agenda, meaning that they decide which bills get to be debated and for how long. The speaker can also use the force of personality and prestige to persuade other members of the legislature to go along with his or her wishes
In the Senate, the majority leader’s powers are broad but not as extensive as the speaker’s. Majority leaders have great influence on committee assignments, on the scheduling of floor debate, on the selection of conference committee members, and in picking their own conference’s leaders. Yet majority leaders have less sway in the Senate for several reasons: first, because of that institution’s somewhat different internal rules; second, because of the long-standing notion that the Senate is the “upper chamber,” filled with more experienced and higher-status politicians; and third, because Senate norms dictate a more egalitarian process. In other words, Senate rules protect each member’s right to participate as an individual far more than House rules do.
First, leaders of both parties in the Senate quite often will informally negotiate the terms for debate and amendment of a bill scheduled to be sent to the floor. This is called unanimous consent, because all senators must be in agreement Filibuster: An unlimited debate in which one senator or a group of senators keeps talking without interruption unless three-fifths of the chamber (60 senators) votes to end the discussion. Cloture: A rule declaring the end of a debate in the Senate. Hold: A senator signals to the rest of the chamber that it would be pointless to bring a piece of legislation to the floor, because he or she intends to use delaying tactics to stave off a final vote. A hold can be trumped, of course, with 60 votes for cloture.
Seniority stipulates that the longer a member of either chamber has served, the greater deference and the more power he or she should have Apprenticeship norm. In the past, novice legislators were expected to work hard, get along, be deferential and polite, keep their mouths shut most of the time, and study the legislative process Civility: Regardless of party, ideology, or position on issues, it is expected that members accord each other respect and a high - even exaggerated - level of courtesy. Reciprocity is expected. That is, members are expected to support each other’s initiatives on a “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours” basis Specialization: A norm suggesting that each member has extensive knowledge in a particular policy area. Logrolling means that members reciprocally exchange support, often on earmarks, or what is sometimes termed pork-barrel legislation. Earmarks or Pork-Barrel Legislation is legislation that benefits one state or district; also called particularized legislation .
A bill sponsor, the official “parent” of the legislation will introduce a measure in the House. After a bill is introduced, it is referred to a committee (occasionally, to two or more committees), and from there, it is usually sent to the appropriate subcommittee. Hearings are held, the language is sometimes modified (in the markup process), and if a bill is approved at this level, it is reported back to the full committee. The committee often will simply accept or reject the measure offered by the subcommittee. Any bill approved by a full committee is sent to the floor for full-chamber consideration. In the House of Representatives, however, a required stop is the Rules Committee. There is no similar procedure in the Senate because of unanimous consent. During floor consideration, every member has an opportunity to express support or opposition. Identical versions of a bill must must be approved in both houses, it goes to the president to be signed—or to face a veto. Measures passed in one house but not the other house are called one-house bills. A bill becomes a law when the president signs it. If ten days pass without the president having signed the bill, the bill becomes law. Or the president can veto the bill, sending it back to the Congress. The measure can still become a law if two-thirds of each house of Congress votes to override the veto.
Barbara Sinclair has noted changes in a series of important books and articles, documenting the nontraditional means by which legislation proceeds in today’s Congress.
Members of Congress face particularized constituencies pitting national interests against local ones Because of longer terms of office, the Senate is better situation to deal with unpopular legislation compared to the House no easy answer to the age-old question of whether legislators should be delegates, trustees, or something in between
Many people feel that, at the very least, a legislative body should look like the nation as a whole. According to this viewpoint, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, age, and other demographics matter.
FIGURE 6.5 Occupations, Education, Party Profile, and Gender Composition of the 112th Congress
We might consider an at-large system, under which states that have two or more representatives would have no distinct districts: Voters would vote for at-large candidates, and these candidates would get into the House in descending order according to the number of votes they won.
Roughly 40% of members of Congress serving at any given time are attorneys. Bankers and business professionals make up about the same percentage, and educators (schoolteachers and professors) account for roughly 15%. All other occupational backgrounds, including clergy, farmers, and retired military personnel, have been represented by only 5% of the members. Laborers, small farmers, homemakers, service employees, and other blue-collar workers, who make up a vast majority of the American workforce, have never accounted for more than a tiny fraction of the members of Congress
In one national survey, only 20% of Americans rate the ethics of members of Congress as “high” or “very high”.
FIGURE 6.6 Public Opinion Poll on Congressional Ethics
