CongressChapter 10CHAPTER 10 CONGRESSIn this chapte.docx

Congress
Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10: CONGRESS
In this chapter you will:
Learn what Congress does.
Reflect on how well Congress represents the people.
Examine the internal workings of Congress.
Consider the importance of skilled congressional leadership.
Think about the problems that face Congress—and some
possible solutions.
Introducing Congress
Two Houses, Different Styles HOUSE
Congress is bicameral—comprising “two houses.”
The House of Representatives includes 435 members, divided
among the states based on population size, along with six
nonvoting delegates from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, Guam, and other U.S. territories.
All 441 House members serve two-year terms, and each
represents a district of around 700,000 people.
The majority party elects the Speaker of the House to control
which issues reach the floor and to advance their legislative
agenda.

Two Houses, Different Styles (cont.) SENATE
The Senate is made up of 100 members, two from each U.S.
state, each elected for a six-year term.
Legislative hold: An informal way for a senator to prevent a bill
or other measure from reaching the Senate floor. The action
effectively halts Senate proceedings on that issue, sometimes
for weeks or longer.
Filibuster: Rule unique to the U.S. Senate that allows any
senator to hold the floor indefinitely, and thereby, to delay a
vote on a bill to which he or she objects.
Cloture: When 60 senators vote to end a filibuster.
The House and Senate Each Have Unique Roles
The House of Representatives
All budget measures must originate in the House.
The House holds the power to impeach public officials—
including the president—for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The House and Senate Each Have Unique Roles
(cont.)
The Senate
After the House impeaches (or indicts) an officeholder, the
Senate holds a trial and decides whether to remove him or her.
The president negotiates treaties with other countries, but the
Senate must approve them by two-thirds majority.

The Senate also has sole power to review presidential
appointments—the Constitution calls it “advice and consent.”
Constitutional Powers
of Congress
Congressional Representation
Does Congress Reflect America?
Congressional caucuses (groups of House or Senate members
who convene regularly to discuss common interests and may
share political outlook, race, gender, or geography) are on the
rise.
Congressional Representation
Trustees and Delegates
Do the Right Thing.
The trustee view of representation holds that representatives
owe us their best judgment; if we don't like their decisions, you
can vote for their opponents next time.
Do What the People Want.
The delegate view of representation holds that a legislator
should take voting instructions directly from his or her
constituents.

Getting to Congress—and Staying There
The Permanent Campaign
Members spend as much time raising money as they do on
committee meetings or floor action.
Reapportionment is the reorganization of the boundaries of
House districts, a process that follows the results of each U.S.
census. District lines are redrawn to ensure rough equality in
the number of constituents represented by each House member.
Getting to Congress—and Staying There
Home Style: Back in the District
Most members leave Washington on Thursday evenings and
only return on Monday evening or even Tuesday morning,
unless House or Senate votes are scheduled on a Friday or
Monday.
Annual Average Salaries by Profession
Congress at Work
The City on the Hill
541 Congress members, 22,000 staff members, 250 Capitol
police officers, the U.S. poet laureate, and thousands of
lobbyists work within and around the Capitol building.
The schedule mentioned earlier makes it very difficult for
Congress members to get to know one another.

The tortured legislative process is further complicated by the
lack of personal relations.
Congress at Work
Minnows and Whales: Congressional Leadership
Lyndon Johnson, serving as Senate majority leader in the 1950s,
divided colleagues into “whales,” who could influence landmark
legislation, and “minnows,” who dutifully followed others.
Congress at Work
House Leadership
Democrats and Republicans each choose a party leader from
their ranks.
The majority party votes its leader into the top post in
Congress: Speaker of the House. (Paul Ryan)
Simultaneously serves as the public face of the House, its chief
administrative officer, a political spokesman, and a party leader
Presides over the chamber on special occasions
Rules on procedural issues, chooses members for committees,
assigns legislation to committees, and “maintains order and
civility”
Sets the House’s agenda and determines which bills are
considered and when
Congress at Work
House Leadership (cont.)

The House majority leader is the second in command, acting as
the majority party’s floor manager, negotiator, and
spokesperson. (Kevin McCarthy)
The number-three position is the majority whip, who is
responsible for party discipline, ensuring that Republicans vote
the way the leadership wants. (Steve Scalise)
The minority leader leads the minority party (Nancy Pelosi)
She is joined by the minority whip in trying to thwart the
majority party. (Steny Hoyer)
Congress at Work
Senate Leadership
Senators elect a majority leader but he or she does not formally
preside over the chamber.
The vice president presides over the chamber but appears there
only for very important votes (since the VP can break a tie) and
ceremonial occasions.
The president pro tempore is the majority-party senator with the
longest Senate service and has presiding authority at certain
formal occasions.
Senate whips from both the majority and minority parties serve
the same functions as in the House.
The best that majority leaders and their team can muster is to
influence which policies will be considered on the Senate floor,
and in what order—though that is usually done in consultation
with the minority leader.

Congress at Work - Senate
President of the Senate (Mike Pence)
President pro tempore (Orrin Hatch)
Senate Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell)
Senate Minority Leader (Chuck Schumer)
Congress at Work
Committees: Workhorses of Congress
As instruments of policy making, House and Senate
committees are center stage; party leaders or presidents
sometimes struggle to overcome their decisive influence.
Committee chairs are appointed by leaders in each chamber.
However, traditional norms of seniority often mean that the
longest-serving committee member from the majority party
becomes chair.
Committees:
Draft legislation
Sponsor hearings
Oversee the executive branch
Draft the federal budget
The Enduring Power of
Committees
Committee system is another way American government

separates powers
Congress winds up with multiple centers of authority
Process slow and hard for public to follow
Standing committees provide a main avenue for favored services
Appropriations Committee decides how funds spent
Committee system makes Congress more efficient but difficult
to pass major legislation or to address large problems
Congressional Committee Types
House and Senate
Permanent Committees
Congress at Work
The Enduring Power of Committees
Committees enable Congress to devise fairly sophisticated
legislative solutions to the many issues competing for attention.
Congress at Work
Leadership and Assignments
The Speaker assigns members (and chairs) to each committee,
and members compete fiercely to join the most influential

committees.
Legislative Policymaking
Congressional lawmaking can be boiled down to five words:
Complex process. Difficult to win.
Drafting a Bill
Anyone can petition Congress to consider a bill, but only
members of the House and Senate have the right to introduce
one.
All legislation needs at least on primary sponsor.
Bills can have any number of cosponsors
The more cosponsors a bill has the more likely it is to pass
Anything can be introduced as legislation.
Art to bill drafting
Assistance from Congressional Research Service
Submitting the Bill

The congressperson’s document is submitted, numbered and
notated with the his or her suggestion for committee referral,
followed by printing that night and distribution the next day.
Senate typically introduces bills as legislative day opens.
Noon on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
Document placed in flat wooden tray beside bill clerk; clerk
writes a number on the first page, notes the senator’s suggestion
for committee, and places it in a tray: A bill is born!
House
Representative hands proposed legislation to the clerk, bill
delivered to Speaker’s office, assigned a number and referred to
committee.
Committee Action
The House leadership assigns each bill to committees with
authority (or jurisdiction) over the area affected by the proposed
legislation; the committees have several major tasks.
Hold Hearings on Policy Topics. Hearings usually feature
witnesses who submit testimony, make oral presentations, and
answer questions from members of Congress.
Prepare Legislation for Floor Consideration. Members and
committee staff assess and revise each bill that comes before
them.
Committee Action (cont.)
Markup Session: A gathering of a full committee to draft the
final version of a bill before the committee votes on it.

Vote. Following markup, the committee holds a vote on whether
to report a bill to the full House or Senate.
Kill Legislation. Of the more than four thousand bills referred
to the forty House and Senate standing committees each year,
about one in eight sees any action at all.
Exercise Oversight. Once legislation passes, House and Senate
standing committees monitor the executive branch, making sure
cabinet departments and agencies perform their roles properly.
Floor Action Senate
After committee approval, a bill goes to the Senate floor, but it
may take a long time to achieve consideration as leaders rarely
call up a bill until they think they have the votes to win.
Must receive unanimous consent, agreement by all senators, to
be brought to the floor
Legislative Policy Making
Floor Action House
Majority party leader exerts control over what issues make it to
the floor
May have to rewrite a bill to get it through
House Rules Committee issues a directive about what type and
how many amendments permitted

Getting to the Floor
Floor procedures in the House and Senate are very different.
Unanimous consent: A Senate requirement that all senators
agree before an action can proceed.
In the House, the majority-party leaders exert more control over
what bills make it to the floor and, once a bill’s language is
confirmed, the House Rules Committee issues a directive
governing the process for the bill.
The Senate allows virtually unlimited consideration on the
floor; amendments of all kinds are allowed.
In both chambers, once bills make it onto the calendar, they can
get stuck there; achieving 100% agreement to allow a bill to
come up for a vote often involves elaborate negotiations.
On the Floor
First, a bill is assigned a floor manager who handles
amendments as they come up and controls the time for debate.
In both House and Senate, floor action involves amendments,
procedural moves, and eventually a final vote.
The Vote
Voice vote: A congressional vote in which the presiding officer
asks those for and against to say “yea” or “nay,” respectively,
and announces the result.
Roll call vote: A congressional vote in which all members’

votes are recorded, either by roll call (Senate) or electronically
(House).
Conference Committee
If different versions of a bill pass—and technically a single
comma in a 500-page bill counts as a “difference”—a
conference committee must reconcile them.
Presidential Action: Separated Powers Revisited
No bill becomes law until the president signs it.
Presidents can also veto legislation.
To deny or override a veto, both chambers need a two-thirds
majority: at least 67 senators and 291 members of the House
have to say no to the president.
Why Is Congress So Unpopular?
Partisan Polarization in Congress.
Since the 1990s, parties in Congress have been digging in
against each other, with fewer and fewer members willing to
look for middle ground or vote with the other side.
Partisan polarization in Congress
Congress has grown more partisan.
The parties themselves are more ideologically consistent.
This makes for sharper conflict, but it also gives people clearer
choices.

Why Is Congress So Unpopular?
Partisan Polarization in Congress.
Divided Government. This occurs when each party holds at least
one of the three nationally elected branches: the presidency, the
House, or the Senate.
Does divided government lead to more gridlock?
Political scientists disagree. Some argue that it does not;
“divided we govern,” they insist.
Others argue that recent developments—the growing ideological
purity of the parties, the regular use of the filibuster—means
that divided government now represents an inability to solve
America’s problems.
Some Popular Reforms —
And Their Limits
Limit Lobbyists
As James Madison concluded, perhaps the solution to the
problem of interests really does lie in more interests being
represented and not less.
And Their Limits
Educate the Public
Many Americans do not know their House member’s name,

cannot begin to explain how a bill becomes law, and don’t even
know how many senators come from each state.
Perhaps a better educated public would be more sympathetic.
And Their Limits
The Real World of Democracy
Democracy, as carried out in the people’s branch, is messy and
difficult.
Conclusion: Congress and the
Challenge of Governing
As our individual needs have become better supported,
Congress has grown less capable of solving bigger societal
problems.
Congress, as an institution, does some important things very
well, and others not very well at all.
In the past, the Congress has proven capable of remarkable
collective achievements.
Our national legislative branch, our representatives in Congress,
must continue to fulfill their democratic duties—and be
rewarded by the public for doing so—if we are to approach the
goal of living in freedom together.
Public Approval of Congress
Compared to Other Institutions

Constitutional Powers of Congress
Average Division of Time
of a U.S. House Member
Annual Average Salaries by Profession
Congressional Committee Types
House and Senate Permanent Committees,

113th Congress
Module 1
Required Reading
Baicker K, & Chandra A. (2008). Myths and Misconceptions
about U.S. Health Insurance. Health Affairs, 27(6), w533-43.
Retrieved from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Blumenthal D. (2006). Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance in
the United States – Origins and Implications. New England
Medical Journal, 355(1), 82-88. Retrieved from ProQuest on
11/21/2012.
Bodenheimer, T. (2005). High and Rising Health Care Costs.
Part 1:
Seeking an Explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 142 (10),
847-854. Available
at: http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=718406
Choudhry, N., Rosenthal, M. & Milstein, A. (2010). Assessing
the Evidence for Value-Based Insurance Design. Health Affairs,
29 (11), 1988-1994. Retrieved from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Claxton, G. (2008). How Private Health Care Coverage Works:
A Primer. A Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Report.
Available
at http://www.kff.org/insurance/upload/7766.pdf (Retrieved
11/21/2012)
Eibner, C., Hussey, P., & Girosi, F. (2010) The Effects of the
Affordable Care Act on Workers’ Health Insurance
Coverage. New England Journal of Medicine, 363 (15), 1393-
1395. Available at Trident University Online Library.
RAND Corporation. (2010). US Health Care Today: Coverage.
Available at http://www.randcompare.org/us-health-care-
today/coverage#current-levels-of-coverage (Retrieved

11/21/2012)
Required Website
Kaiser Family Foundation (2009). Health Insurance and Access
to Health Care: the Evidence. Available
at: http://kff.org/interactive/health-insurance-and-access-to-
health-care-tutorial/
Module 2
Required Reading
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Medicare: A Primer.
Available at https://www.kff.org/interactive/medicare-101-
tutorial/
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Medicare at a Glance.
Available
at https://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/1
066-17-medicare-at-a-glance.pdf
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2016). Context of
Medicare Payment Policy. In Report to Congress: Medicare
Payment Policy. Washington: The Commission. Retrieved
from http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-
source/reports/march-2016-report-to-the-congress-medicare-
payment-policy.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Newhouse, J. (2010). Assessing Health Reform's Impact on Four
Key Groups of Americans.Health Affairs, 29 (9), 1714-1724.
Available
at https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/pdf/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0
595
Zarabozo, C., & Harrison, S. (2009). Payment Policy and the
Growth of Medicare Advantage. Health Affairs, 28 (1), W55-
W67. Retrieved from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Required Website
Kaiser Family Foundation (2010). Health Reform and Medicare:
Overview of Key Provisions. Available
at: http://kff.org/interactive/health-reform-and-medicare-
overview-of-key-provisions-tutorial/
Kaiser Family Foundation (2009). Medicare 101: the Basics.
Available at https://www.kff.org/medicare/event/medicare-101-

what-you-need-to-know-2015/
Module 3
Required Reading
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. (2011).
Key Questions About Medicaid And Its Role in State/Federal
Budgets and Health
Reform. http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8162.pdf(Retrieve
d 11/21/2012)
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. (2011). Top
5 Things To Know About
Medicaid. http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8139.pdf (Retrie
ved 11/21/2012)
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. (2010).
Medicaid: A Primer. Available
at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7334-04.pdf(Retrieved
11/21/2012)
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. (2010). The
Medicaid Program at a Glance. Available
at https://reachhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/7235-
04.pdf(Retrieved 11/21/2012)
Mortensen, K. (2010). Copayments Did Not Reduce Medicaid
Enrollees' Nonemergency Use of Emergency
Departments. Health Affairs, 29 (9), 1643-1650. Retrieved from
ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Sommers, B. (2010). Enrolling Eligible Children in Medicaid
and CHIP: A Research Update. Health Affairs, 29 (7), 1350-
1355. Retrieved from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Decker, S.. (2009). Changes in Medicaid Physician Fees and
Patterns of Ambulatory Care. Inquiry, 46(3), 291-304. Retrieved
from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Required Website
Kaiser Family Foundation (2010). Health Reform: How will
Medicaid Change? Available
at: http://kff.org/interactive/health-reform-how-will-medicaid-
change-tutorial/
Kaiser Family Foundation (2009). Medicaid 101. Available

at: http://kff.org/interactive/medicaid-101-tutorial/
Module 4
Required Reading
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2016). Medicare
Payment Basics:
Hospital Acute Inpatient Services Payment System. Available
at: http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/payment-
basics/medpac_payment_basics_16_hospital_final.pdf
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2014). Medicare
Payment Basics: Outpatient Hospital Services Payment System.
Available at http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-
source/payment-
basics/medpac_payment_basics_16_opd_final.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (2010). Hospital Outpatient
Prospective Payment System. The Medicare Learning Network
Payment Systems Fact Sheet Series. Available
at http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/HospitalOutpa
ysysfctsht.pdf (Retrieved 11/21/2012)
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (2009). Acute Care
Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System. The Medicare
Learning Network Payment Systems Fact Sheet Series.
Available
at http://www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/AcutePaymtSy
sfctsht.pdf (Retrieved 11/21/2012)
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2014). Physician and
Other Health Professionals Payment System. Available
athttp://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/payment-
basics/medpac_payment_basics_16_physician_final.pdf?sfvrsn=
0
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (2014). Medicare Physician
Fee Schedule. The Medicare Learning Network Payment
Systems Fact Sheet Series. Available
at https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-
Learning-Network-
MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/MedcrephysFeeSchedfctsht.pdf
Guterman, S., Davis, K., Stremikis, K., & Drake, H. (2010).

Innovation in Medicare and Medicaid Will Be Central to Health
Reform's Success. Health Affairs, 29 (6), 1188-93. Retrieved
from ProQuest on 11/21/2012.
Lesser, C., Fineberg, H., & Cassel, C. (2010). Physician
Payment Reform: Principles That Should Shape It. Health
Affairs, 29 (5), 948-952. Retrieved from ProQuest on
11/21/2012.
Wilensky, G. (2009). Reforming Medicare's Physician Payment
System. New England Journal of Medicine, 360 (7), 653-655.
This item is available in full text via the University library.

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