Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Congress
• The Representatives and Senators
• Congressional Elections
• How Congress Is Organized to Make
Policy
• The Congressional Process
• Understanding Congress
• Summary

Chapter Outline and Learning
Objectives
• LO 11.1: Characterize the backgrounds of
members of Congress and assess their
impact on the ability of members of
Congress to represent average Americans.
• LO 11.2: Identify the principal factors
influencing the outcomes in congressional
elections.

Objectives
• How Congress Is Organized to Make Policy
• LO 11.3: Compare and contrast the House
and Senate and describe the roles of
congressional leaders, committees,
caucuses, and staff.
• LO 11.4: Outline the path of bills to passage
and explain the influences on
congressional decision making.

Objectives
• LO 11.5: Assess Congress’s role as a
representative body and the impact of
representation on the scope of government.

The Representatives and Senators
LO 11.1: Characterize the backgrounds of
members of Congress and assess their impact
on the ability of members of Congress to
represent average Americans.
• The Members of Congress
• 535 Members – 100 Senators and 435 Reps.
• House members – At least age 25 and U.S.
citizens for 7 years.
• Senators – At least age 30 and U.S. citizens for
9 years.
• All members must reside in state from which
they are elected.
To Learning Objectives

LO 11.1

• The Members of Congress (cont.)
• African Americans make up about 10% of
the House members and 13% of the total
population and 1 Senator is African
American.
• Hispanics make up 5.5% of the House
members and 15% of the total population
and 3 Senators are Hispanics.
LO 11.1

• Asian Americans – 4 House members
and 2 senators.
• Native Americans – 1 House member.
• Females make up more than 50% of the
population, but only 17% of the members
of Congress with 72 in the House and 17
senators.
LO 11.1

• Descriptive representation is representing
constituents by mirroring their personal,
politically relevant characteristics.
• Substantive representation is representing
the interests of groups.
LO 11.1

Congressional Elections
LO 11.2: Identify the principal factors
influencing the outcomes in congressional
elections.
• Who Wins Elections?
• The Advantages of Incumbency
• The Role of Party Identification
• Defeating Incumbents
• Open Seats
• Stability and Change

• Who Wins Elections?
• Incumbents – Those already holding
office.
• In congressional elections, incumbents
usually win.
• House elections – 90% of the incumbents
seeking reelection win and most of them
win with more than 60% of the vote.
LO 11.2

LO 11.2

• Advertising – Ads in newspapers and on
television.
• Credit Claiming – Servicing the
constituency through casework and pork
barrel.
• Position Taking – Voting and responding
to constituents’ questions.
LO 11.2

(cont.)
• Weak Opponents – Not well known or well
qualified and lack experience and
organizational and financial backing.
• Campaign Spending – The typical
incumbent outspent the typical challenger
by a ratio of more than 3 to 1 in
Congressional races in 2008.
LO 11.2

• Role of Party Identification
• Most Congress members represent
constituencies in which their party is in the
clear majority.
• Most people identify with a party, and they
reliably vote for their party’s candidates.
• About 90% of voters who identify with a
party vote for the House candidates of their
party.
LO 11.2

• Defeating Incumbents
• One tarnished by scandal or corruption
becomes vulnerable to a challenger.
• Redistricting may weaken the incumbency
advantage.
• Major political tidal wave may defeat
incumbents.
LO 11.2

• Open Seats
• Greater likelihood of competition.
• Most turnover occurs in open seats.
LO 11.2

• Stability and Change
• Incumbents provide stability in Congress.
• Change in Congress occurs less frequently
through elections.
LO 11.2

How Congress Is Organized to Make
Policy
LO 11.3: Compare and contrast the House
and Senate, and describe the roles of
congressional leaders, committees,
caucuses, and staff.
• American Bicameralism
• Congressional Leadership
• The Committees and Subcommittees
• Caucuses: The Informal Organization
of Congress
• Congressional Staff

Policy
• American Bicameralism
• Bicameral Legislature – A legislature
divided into two houses.
• The U.S. Congress and all state
legislatures except Nebraska’s are
bicameral.
LO 11.3

LO 11.3

Policy
• American Bicameralism (cont.)
• House Rules Committee – The committee
in the House that reviews most bills coming
from a House committee before they go to
the full House.
• Rules Committee is responsive to the
House leadership because the Speaker of
the House appoints the committee’s
members.
LO 11.3

Policy
• American Bicameralism (cont.)
• Filibuster – A strategy unique to the
Senate whereby opponents of a piece of
legislation use their right to unlimited
debate to prevent the Senate from ever
voting on a bill.
• Sixty members present and voting can halt
a filibuster.
LO 11.3

Policy
• Congressional Leadership
• Speaker of the House – An office
mandated by the Constitution and chosen
by the majority party.
• Majority leader – The principal partisan
ally of the Speaker of the House, or the
party’s manager in the Senate.
LO 11.3

Policy
• Congressional Leadership (cont.)
• Whips – Party leaders work with the
majority leader or minority leader to count
votes beforehand and lean on waverers for
votes on bills favored by the party.
• Minority Leader – The principal leader of
the minority party in the House of
Representatives or in the Senate.
LO 11.3

Policy
• President of the Senate – The Vice
President
• Vice presidents can vote to break a tie.
• Modern vice presidents are active in
representing the president’s views to
senators.
LO 11.3

Policy
• Despite their stature and power,
congressional leaders cannot always move
their troops.
• Power in both houses of Congress is
decentralized.
• Leaders are elected by their party
members and must remain responsive to
them.
LO 11.3

Policy
• Committees and Subcommittees
• Standing committees – Subject matter
committees that handle bills in different
policy areas.
• Joint committees – Few subject matter
areas with membership drawn from House
and Senate
LO 11.3

Policy
(cont.)
• Conference committees – Formed when
the Senate and the House pass a bill in
different forms to iron out the differences
and bring back a single bill.
• Select committees – Created for a
specific purpose, such as the Watergate
investigation.
LO 11.3

Policy
(cont.)
• More than 9,000 bills are submitted by
members in the course of a two-year
period.
• Every bill goes to a committee, which has
virtually the power of life and death over it.
• Legislative oversight – How the
Congress monitors bureaucracy.
LO 11.3

Policy
(cont.)
• Committee assignments help members get
reelected, gain influence, and make policy.
• New members express committee
preferences to party leaders.
• Those who have supported their party’s
leadership are favored in the selection
process as parties try to grant committee
preferences.
LO 11.3

Policy
(cont.)
• Committee Chairs – Dominant role in
scheduling hearings, hiring staff,
appointing subcommittees, and managing
committee bills on the floor.
• Seniority System – Members who have
served on the committee the longest and
whose party is the chamber majority
become chair. To Learning Objectives
LO 11.3

Policy
• Caucuses: The Informal Organization
of Congress
• Caucus (congressional) – A group of
members of Congress sharing some
interest or characteristic.
• Caucuses are composed of members from
both parties and from both houses and
their goal is to promote the interests
around which they are formed.
LO 11.3

Policy
• Congressional Staff
• Personal staff – They provide constituent
service and help with legislation.
• Committee staff – They organize
hearings, and research and write
legislation.
• Staff Agencies – CRS, GAO, and CBO
provide specific information to Congress.
LO 11.3

The Congressional Process
LO 11.4: Outline the path of bills to
passage and explain the influences on
congressional decision making.
• Bill
• A bill is a proposed law drafted in legal
language.
• Anyone can draft a bill, but only a member
of the Congress can introduce a bill.
• About 9,000 bills are introduced in each
Congress.

• How a Bill Becomes a Law
• Bill Introduction – By a member.
• Committee Action – Subcommittee
hearings and committee rewrites.
• Floor Action – Votes, debates, and
amendments offered.
• Conference Action – Compromise bill to
iron out differences.
• Presidential Decision – Sign bill into law
or veto bill. To Learning Objectives
LO 11.4

LO 11.4

• Presidents and Congress: Partners
and Protagonists
• Party, Constituency, and Ideology
• Lobbyists and Interest Groups
LO 11.4

• Presidents and Congress: Partners
and Protagonists
• Presidents attempt to persuade Congress
that what they want is what Congress
wants.
• Presidents have many resources to
influence Congress.
LO 11.4

• Party Influence – Party leaders cannot
force party members to vote a particular
way, but many do vote along party lines.
• Polarized Politics – Differences between
Democrats and Republicans in Congress
have grown considerably since 1980.
LO 11.4

(cont.)
• Constituency Opinion – On the
controversial issues, members are wise to
vote based on their constituency’s opinion.
• Member Ideology – The dominant
determinant of a member’s vote on most
issues is their ideology.
LO 11.4

• Lobbyists and Interest Groups
• 35,000 registered lobbyists represent
12,000 organizations seeking to influence
Congress.
• The bigger the issue, the more lobbyists
will be working on it to influence legislators’
votes.
• Congress can ignore, reject, and regulate
the lobbyists.
LO 11.4

Understanding Congress
LO 11.5: Assess Congress’s role as a
representative body and the impact of
representation on the scope of
government.
• Congress and Democracy
• Congress and the Scope of
Government

• Congress and Democracy
• Not representative – Leadership and
committee assignments.
• Congress does try to respond to what the
people want, but some argue it could do a
better job.
• The 535 members of Congress are
responsive to the people when they make
clear what they want.
LO 11.5

• Congress and Democracy (cont.)
• The central legislative dilemma for
Congress is combining the faithful
representation of constituents with making
effective public policy.
• Congress tries to be both a representative
and an objective policymaking institution.
LO 11.5

• Congress and the Scope of
Government
• More policies by Congress means more
service to constituencies.
• More programs that get created, the bigger
the government gets.
• Contradictory – Everybody wants
government programs cut, but just not their
programs.
LO 11.5

LO 11.1
Summary
• Congress has proportionately more whites and
males than the general population, and
members of Congress are wealthier and better
educated than the average American.
• Although they are not descriptively
representative of Americans, they may engage
in substantive representation.

Descriptive representation is
representing the
A. constituents by mirroring their
personal, politically relevant
characteristics.
B. interests of groups.
C. party platform and ideology.
D. none of the above.
LO 11.1

LO 11.2
Summary
• Incumbents usually win reelection, because
they usually draw weak opponents, are usually
better known and better funded than their
opponents, typically represent constituencies
where a clear majority share their party
affiliation, and can claim credit for aiding their
constituents.

LO 11.2
Summary
• Congressional Elections (cont.)
• However, incumbents can lose if they are
involved in a scandal, if their policy positions
are substantially out of line with their
constituents, or if the boundaries of their
districts are redrawn to reduce the percentage
of their constituents identifying with their party.

All of following are true of
incumbents in Congress EXCEPT
A. Most incumbents decide to run for
reelection.
B. Most incumbents’ views on policy
are well known to their
constituents.
C. Most incumbents win reelection
with more than 60 percent of the
vote.
D. Most incumbents have more
campaign contributions to spend
than their opponents. To Learning Objectives
LO 11.2

LO 11.3
Summary
Policy
• House is larger, characterized by greater
centralization of power in the party leadership,
and has more party discipline than the Senate.
• Senators are more equal in power and may
exercise the option of the filibuster to stop a
majority from passing a bill.

LO 11.3
Summary
Policy (cont.)
• Congressional leaders are elected by their
party members and must remain responsive to
them.
• Congressional leaders cannot always depend
on the votes of the members of their party.
• Committees consider legislation and oversee
administration of policy.

LO 11.3
Summary
Policy (cont.)
• Committees chairs have the power to set their
committees’ agendas.
• Congressional Caucuses are composed of
members of Congress who have a shared
interest or characteristic.
• Personal, committee, and agency staff provide
policy expertise and constituency service.

When the House and the Senate pass
different versions of a bill, these
versions are to be reconciled by a
A. Joint Committee.
B. Conference Committee.
C. Select Committee.
D. Reconciliation Committee.
LO 11.3

LO 11.4
Summary
• The process for considering a bill has many
stages.
• Presidents try to persuade Congress to
support their policies, which usually earn space
on the congressional agenda.
• Parties are more homogeneous and polarized
and provide an important pull on members on
most issues.

LO 11.4
Summary
• The Congressional Process (cont.)
• Constituencies have influence on
congressional decision making on a few visible
issues, while members’ own ideologies exert
more influence on less visible issues.
• Interest groups play a key role in informing
Congress and sometimes the threat of their
opposition influences vote outcomes.

Only a member of the can
officially propose a bill.
A. House
B. Senate
C. House or Senate
D. staff
LO 11.4

LO 11.5
Summary
• Congress is an elite institution and responsive
to the public when the public makes its wishes
clear.
• Congress is open to influence, which makes it
responsive to many interests but also may
reduce its ability to make good public policy.

LO 11.5
Summary
• Understanding Congress (cont.)
• Members of Congress often support expanding
government to aid their constituents, generally
in response to public demands for policy, but
many also fight to limit the scope of
government.

Congress tries to be both a
and an objective
policymaking institution.
A. representative
B. disposition
C. direct
D. fragmented
LO 11.5

Text Credits
• David Samuels and Richard Snyder, “The Value of a Vote:
Malapportionment in Comparative Perspective,” British Journal of
Political Science, v. 31, n. 4, October 2001, p. 662. Copyright ©
2001 Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with the permission of
Cambridge University Press.
• “Incumbency Factor in Congressional Elections” adapted from
Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Neimi, Vital Statistics on
American Politics, 2007-2008, CQ Press, 2008. Used with
permission.
• “Incumbency Factor in Congressional Elections” adapted from
VITAL STATISTICS ON CONGRESS by Norman J. Ornstein,
Thomas E. Mann, and Michael J. Malbin. Copyright 1998 by
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INST FOR PUBLIC POLICY RES.
Reproduced with permission of AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INST
FOR PUBLIC POLICY RES in the format Other book via Copyright
Clearance Center.

Photo Credits
• 347: Jewel Sanad/Getty Images
• 360: David Horsey
• 361L: AP Photos
• 361C: Brendon Hoffman/Getty Images
• 361R: Alex Wong/Getty Images
• 367: Getty Images
• 369: AP Photos

Chapter 11

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Chapter 11

More from Sandoval1301

Chapter 11

Editor's Notes