Patterson ch11

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Chapter 11

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Congress as a Career:
Election to Congress
Using incumbency to stay in Congress
The service strategy: taking care of constituents
Campaign fundraising: raking in the money
Redistricting: favorable boundaries for incumbents

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Congress as a Career:
Election to Congress
Pitfalls of incumbency
Disruptive issues
Personal misconduct
Turnout variation: the midterm election problem
Primary election challengers
General election challengers: a problem for senators
A new threat: super PACs

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Parties and Party Leadership
Party caucus—closed session
Party unity in Congress
Parties are the strongest force within Congress
Heightened unity seen through roll-call votes in recent
decades

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Parties and Party Leadership
Party leadership in Congress
House leaders
 Speaker of the House
 House majority leader
 House majority whip

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Parties and Party Leadership
Speaker of the House
Elected by the House membership
By default, a member of the majority party
Said to be the second-most-powerful official in Washington
Develops party issues
Persuades party members
Can speak first during debate
Recognizes speakers during debate
Influences House Rules Committee

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Parties and Party Leadership
Senate leaders
Majority party leader is the most powerful senator
The vice president presides over the Senate; however, has
power only to cast tie-breaking vote
Senate president pro tempore presides over the Senate in the
vice president’s absence
 Largely an honorary position held by the majority party’s
senior member

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Committees
and Committee Leadership
Committee types: standing, select, conference
Committee jurisdiction
Bills introduced must be referred to the proper committee
Committee membership typically mirrors the party ratio
of the body
Committee chairs
Typically senior members of the majority party
Committees and parties: which is in control?
The power of subcommittees: “little legislatures”

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How a Bill Becomes a Law
Committee hearings and decisions
Most work on legislation is done in committee
From committee to the floor
Rules for debate are defined
Leadership and floor action
Debate, changes, and vote by full membership
Conference committees and the president
Reconcile differences between similar legislation
President signs, vetoes, or uses pocket veto

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Congress’s Policymaking Role
Lawmaking function of Congress
Makes laws authorizing federal programs
Broad issues: fragmentation as a limit on Congress’s role
 The president typically has the more prominent role.
Congress in the lead: fragmentation as a policymaking
strength
 Ability to deal with narrow problems, but not broad ones

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Congress’s Policymaking Role
The representation function of Congress
Representation of states and districts: focus on the local
Representation of the nation through parties: focus on the
big issues
The obstacle of partisan divisions
Oversight function of Congress
Sees that executive branch carries out the laws faithfully
Done primarily by committees
Demanding task that can’t be done adequately

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Congress: An Institution Divided
Pro (advantages):
Culturally representative of nation
Diverse interests represented
Cons (disadvantages):
National interest subjugated to special interests
Disproportionate influence of the minority