POLS 1200 Midterm 1 - Important Processes

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 1: Draft & Introduction

Anyone can draft a bill (interest groups, citizens, executive branch), but only a member of Congress can formally introduce it in the House (dropped into the hopper) or Senate.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 2: Committee Referral

The Speaker of the House or Senate Majority Leader assigns the bill to a standing committee based on subject jurisdiction; leaders can kill a bill by referring it to a hostile committee.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 3: Subcommittees & Hearings

Committees assign bills to subcommittees for expert testimony, research, public hearings, and detailed line-by-line editing known as "markup."

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 4: Committee Action & Reporting

The full committee votes to report the bill favorably to the floor, table it, or let it die in committee (pigeonholing); a House discharge petition signed by 218 members can bypass committee blockades.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 5 (House Only): Rules Committee

In the House, the Rules Committee sets the floor debate conditions: Open Rules (allows amendments), Closed Rules (no amendments, fast vote), or Modified Rules (specific amendments only).

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 6 (Senate Only): Unanimous Consent & Holds

The Senate relies on Unanimous Consent Agreements (UCAs) to set debate terms; any single senator can place a procedural "hold" on a bill to stall floor consideration.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 7: Floor Debate & Voting

The full chamber debates, amends, and votes on the bill; House debates are strictly time-limited by the Rules Committee, while Senate debates allow unlimited discussion unless stopped.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 8 (Senate Special): Filibuster & Cloture

Senators use extended debate (filibuster) to block votes; invoking Cloture (Senate Rule 22) requires a 3/5 supermajority (60 votes) to end debate and force a final vote.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 9: Conference Committee Reconciliation

Because a bill must pass both House and Senate in identical language, a temporary Conference Committee of key members from both chambers reconciles differing versions into a single compromise bill.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 10: Final Chamber Approval

Both the House and Senate must vote to pass the exact compromise bill produced by the Conference Committee without any further floor amendments.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 11: Presidential Action Options

The President can: (1) Sign the bill into law, (2) Veto the bill (returning it with objections), (3) Allow it to become law without signature after 10 days while Congress is in session, or (4) Pocket Veto it.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Step 12: Veto Override Mechanics

If the President vetoes a bill, Congress can override the veto with a 2/3 supermajority vote in BOTH the House and Senate, making the bill law without presidential approval.

How a Bill Becomes a Law - Institutional Bias

The multi-stage process creates dozens of "veto players" and procedural hurdles, resulting in exceptionally high transaction costs that strongly favor the political status quo over legislative change.

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Core Problem

The Articles of Confederation created an unworkable central government that could not collect taxes, regulate interstate trade, enforce national laws, or defend against uprisings like Shays' Rebellion.

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Great Compromise (Connecticut)

Resolved representation battles between large and small states by creating a bicameral legislature: a population-based House of Representatives and a Senate with equal representation (2 per state).

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Three-Fifths Compromise

Resolved North-South disputes over taxation and congressional representation by counting three-fifths of the enslaved population toward a state's official total population.

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Commerce & Slave Trade Compromise

Granted Congress authority over interstate and foreign commerce, while prohibiting federal interference with the transatlantic slave trade until at least 1808.

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Electoral College Compromise

Settled debates over whether Congress or direct public vote should select the chief executive by creating an independent body of state electors.

Framers Settling on the Constitution - Federalist vs Anti-Federalist Rift

Federalists (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) argued for a powerful national executive and central finance system; Anti-Federalists demanded state sovereignty safeguards, culminating in the Bill of Rights.

Failures of Articles - Financial & Tax Paralysis

The central government lacked direct taxation power, relying on voluntary requisitions from states, leading to federal bankruptcy and unpaid revolutionary war debts.

Failures of Articles - Executive & Judicial Absence

There was no independent national executive to enforce laws passed by Congress and no national court system to resolve legal disputes between states.

Failures of Articles - Legislative Stagnation

Passing major federal legislation required approval from 9 of the 13 states, while amending the Articles required a unanimous 13-state vote, creating impossible transaction costs.

Failures of Articles - Economic & Trade Chaos

States issued competing currencies and imposed internal tariffs against neighboring states, triggering economic depression and interstate trade disputes.

Failures of Articles - Domestic Security Weakness

Shays' Rebellion (1786) exposed the federal government's complete inability to raise an army to restore domestic order, terrifying political elites into institutional reform.

President's Role in Policymaking - Expressed Constitutional Powers

Formal Article II powers include Chief Executive, Commander in Chief, issuing pardons, making treaties (with 2/3 Senate approval), nominating federal judges, and vetoing legislation.

President's Role in Policymaking - Delegated Authority

Congress routinely passes broad statutory frameworks that delegate authority to executive agencies, expanding the President's regulatory reach over the economy and society.

President's Role in Policymaking - Inherent & Executive Orders

Presidents claim broad inherent powers under the "Take Care Clause," issuing Executive Orders and Executive Agreements that hold force of law without prior legislative enactment.

President's Role in Policymaking - Agenda Setting & Budgeting

The 1921 Budget and Accounting Act required presidents to submit an annual federal budget proposal, turning the chief executive into the primary national agenda-setter.

President's Role in Policymaking - Skills & Political Capital

Presidential effectiveness relies on Richard Neustadt's concept of informal power: the personal skill to bargain, persuade politicians, leverage high public approval, and build congressional coalitions.

Electoral College Mechanics - Allocation Formula

Each state receives electors equal to its total congressional representation (House seats based on population + 2 Senate seats); Washington D.C. receives 3 via the 23rd Amendment (538 total).

Electoral College Mechanics - Winning Threshold

A presidential candidate must win a simple majority of 270 out of 538 total electoral votes to secure the presidency.

Electoral College Mechanics - State Voting Systems

48 states and D.C. use a Winner-Take-All system (plurality wins all state electors); Maine and Nebraska use the District System (2 electors to statewide winner, 1 to each congressional district winner).

Electoral College Mechanics - Contingent Elections

If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, the election goes to the House of Representatives (each state delegation gets 1 vote for President) and the Senate (each Senator gets 1 vote for Vice President).

Electoral College Mechanics - Strategic & Policy Impacts

Candidates focus resources strictly on competitive "swing states" while ignoring safe states, distorting policy choices toward key swing-state interest groups (e.g., ethanol subsidies in the Midwest).

Electoral College Mechanics - Popular vs Electoral Divergence

Because of winner-take-all mechanics, a candidate can win the national popular vote but lose the presidency in the Electoral College (e.g., 2000 and 2016 elections).

Presidential Persuasion - "Going Public" Strategy

A public strategy where the President appeals directly to voters through speeches and media to pressure members of Congress through popular constituency demand.

Presidential Persuasion - Bargaining & Logrolling

A private strategy where the President uses political patronage, promises of campaign support, or targeted federal funding to win votes from reluctant lawmakers.

Presidential Persuasion - Veto Threats

Strategic public or private warnings that a bill will be vetoed unless Congress modifies specific provisions, forcing lawmakers to alter policy during drafting.

Presidential Persuasion - "Honeymoon Period" Leverage

Presidents exploit early months of high public approval to push controversial structural reforms before electoral political capital decays.

Incumbency Reelection Success - Mayhew's Electoral Connection

David Mayhew's core thesis that members of Congress are "single-minded seekers of reelection," tailoring all legislative behaviors toward winning votes.

Incumbency Reelection Success - Three Key Behaviors

Lawmakers engage in: (1) Advertising (building brand recognition), (2) Credit Claiming (taking credit for local projects/casework), and (3) Position Taking (popular policy stances).

Incumbency Reelection Success - Institutional Advantages

Incumbents leverage franking privileges (free official mail), built-in donor networks, staff-driven constituent casework, high name recognition, and gerrymandered districts.

Incumbency Reelection Success - Why Incumbents Still Fear Loss

Lawmakers fear sudden national political "wave" elections, redistricting shifts that redraw boundaries, strong primary challenges from ideological edges, and scandals that expose vulnerability.

Collective Action Framework - Coordination Problems

Occurs when a group shares a goal but lacks an agreed-upon mechanism to act together; solved by designated leadership, institutional rules, or focal points.

Collective Action Framework - Free-Rider Problem

Occurs when individuals consume non-excludable collective goods without paying costs; solved by government taxation, mandatory participation, or offering selective benefits.

Collective Action Framework - Prisoner's Dilemma

A structural dynamic where two rational actors refuse to cooperate due to mutual distrust, yielding worse joint outcomes; solved by binding legal contracts or long-term repeated interactions.

Collective Action Framework - Tragedy of the Commons

Occurs when individuals act independently in self-interest to deplete a shared, finite public resource; solved by government regulation, privatization, or enforced quotas.

Collective Action Framework - Trade-off Costs

Transaction Costs (time and resources to decide) trade off inversely with Conformity Costs (the difference between personal preference and collective outcome); high transaction costs yield lower conformity costs.

House vs Senate Differences - Size & Term Lengths

House: 435 members, 2-year terms, quick electoral accountability. Senate: 100 members, 6-year staggered terms (1/3 up every 2 years), insulated from short-term public passions.

House vs Senate Differences - Representation Base

House: Population-apportioned districts favoring larger states. Senate: Equal representation (2 per state), granting small states disproportional federal leverage.

House vs Senate Differences - Rules & Deliberation Dynamics

House: Majoritarian rule, strict debate time limits set by Rules Committee. Senate: Individualist rights, unlimited debate (filibuster), heavily dependent on Unanimous Consent Agreements.

House vs Senate Differences - Exclusive Constitutional Roles

House: Originates all tax/revenue bills, brings articles of impeachment. Senate: Confirms presidential nominees (judges, cabinet), ratifies international treaties, conducts impeachment trials.

Gerrymandering - Packing Strategy

Concentrating as many voters of the opposing party into a single district to minimize their political influence across neighboring districts.

Gerrymandering - Cracking Strategy

Splitting up a concentrated group of opposing voters across multiple districts to dilute their voting power below majority thresholds everywhere.

Gerrymandering - Electoral & Institutional Effects

Creates safe non-competitive general election seats, empowers radical party primary voters, increases congressional polarization, and decouples seat share from total votes.

Evolution of Presidential & Congressional Elections - Suffrage Expansion

Elections transformed through constitutional amendments: 15th (race), 19th (gender), 24th (banning poll taxes), 26th (18+ voting age), and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Evolution of Elections - Senate Direct Selection

The 17th Amendment (1913) shifted Senate elections from state legislature selection to direct popular election by state citizens.

Evolution of Elections - Nominating System Overhaul

Shifted from party-boss "smoke-filled rooms" to democratic direct primaries and open caucuses following the McGovern-Fraser Commission reforms (1968).

Evolution of Elections - Shift to Candidate-Centered Campaigns

Modern political campaigns shifted focus from party organizations to individual candidates relying on media, independent fundraising, social channels, and political consultants.