Policy Making Exam

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Mechanisms

Motivations for corporations to get into lobbying Congress

Mechanism A

Missing out, if their competition does it and they don’t, they are at a disadvantage and will likely be hurt by legislation action that favors their opposition

Mechanism B

Bigger size of corporation puts regulatory spotlight on them, so they need to lobby to resist the almost inevitable regulations

Mechanism C

Corporations that have higher regulations (like chemical companies whose products pollute), or beneftg from government contracts, thus incentivizing them to lobby for favorable policies.

Inside Lobbying

Directly influencing policy makers to change their mind

Outside Lobbying

Changing public opinion to support the corporation more, and therefore decrease public support for regulation, lowering Congressional motivation to regulate

Campaign Financing

Financing the campaign of people who will give more favorable outcomes

Mullins

Wrote on lobbying Congress and what avenues corporations take to spread their influence in policy making

Rich

Wrote on individuals taking litigation against corporations or government offices to sue them and therefore change policy

Purpose 1 of Litigation

Compensate the victim. The victim of whatever crime a corporation has committed is damaged from their actions, and therefore takes compensation as a payment for their damages

Purpose 2 of Litigation

Change the defendants behavior. If the defendant did something that harms people, litigation can stop this behavior so less people are harmed in the future

Lowi

How Congress is organized, committees, party leadership, ect.

Gatekeeping Power

The ability to complete prevent the debate/voting of legislation in either chamber of Congress, especially prevalent in the House

Proposal Power

The ability to determine what version of a piece of legislation is debated and voted on

Agenda Setting

Shaped by leadership, determines what committee gets a bill, who fills committee leadership positions, decides if amendments are allowed

Additional Powers for Congress Leadership

Some of the other powers that leadership in Congress enjoy, allowing them to have more influence over policy

Committee Assignments

Whoever the Speaker appoints to a committee feels an obligation to repay the favor, if they don’t, House leadership may hold a grudge against them; might not reappoint them

Access to the Floor

Leadership determines who can speak on the floor, denying recognition to speak can silence a member of Congress

Whip System

By knowing what members will vote for what, leadership can now who to put more pressure/resources on

Logrolling

Effectively trading mutual support on different legislation to pass more policy

Conditional Part Government

The power of party leadership is determined by only as how powerful the rest of Congress makes them, the theory goes that changing party conditions can change party leadership’s power

Homogeneous Parties

Homogeneous parties give more power to the leadership as everyone has similar ideas of what they want to do, so they promote leaders who will help pass their agenda

Heterogeneous Parties

Different views in the same party means they all want different things, and therefore will not give power to party leadership as they feel leadership will not represent their wishes

Standing Committees

Permanent fixtures in each chamber, they have the power influence the policy in their designated niche, mirrors executive bureaucracy by design

House Rules Committee

Determines what order legislation is debated on, and the rules for debate

Senate Rules and Administration Committee

Housing keeping, and elections and presidential succession

Closed Rule

Limited debate and amendments on legislation, typically what legislation supports want, as it preserves their original ideas, and gives less opportunities of resistance towards it

Open Rule

What bill opposers typically wish for, allows for more debate causing more criticism of the legislation, and amendments that can cripple or stall out the legislation

Grossman and Hopkins

They write that there is party asymmetry, ie the Republican party has a central ideology to follow, whereas the Democratic party is really just a big tent for various social change supporters gather to get their agenda passed

Sinclar

Writes about how policy making changes when the House is hyper polarized, basically saying that traditional avenues for creating policy are sidelined, and instead fast tracks to legislation passage are used

Task Force

Created by the Speaker, allows for the creation of policy that completely bypasses the committee system, meaning no input from the other party

Select Committee

Created by a vote of the House, it is a temporary committee that responds to a crisis, and is a coordinated committee that solves one key issue

Conference Committee

A temporary joint session of Congress with members from both chambers to reconcile differences between the House and Senate version of a bill so it can pass through Congress

“Sweetener”

A provision added to an unpopular bill that is very advantageous to pass, so the sweetener makes Congress members vote yes on the whole package to get the sweetener passed

Omnibus Legislation

A large collection of unrelated topics within one bill so that unfavorable things to pass can get passed

Budget Reconciliation

The term for the budget’s special privilege to pass through the Senate without the threat of a filibuster, only part of the legislation if it is added to it in creation of the budget

Cury and Lee

Writes that even though we assume Congress today to be extremely partisan with very little compromise, the opposite is the case, as almost all legislation needs support from both parties to pass

Why lawmaking is still bipartisan

The filibuster in the Senate almost requires at least some bipartisan support, as 60 members or more of the same party is very rare, lawmakers still need to get things passed to win reelection, so they have to compromise

Howell

Writes that the president’s ‘power to persuade’ is hugely overstated, and the little power the President has over law making is from other means instead

Powers of Persuasion - State of the Union Address

Required by the Constitution, causes the salience, or importance in debate of issues to rise after it is given by the president

Powers of Persuasion - Media

President’s can influence the media, changing public opinion and therefore increasing support for their proposals, can create attention where none exists

Formal Agenda Setting Powers of the President

Budget, president proposes the budget, trade, trade legislation is fast-tracked through Congress, and Congress delegates much of its power to regulate trade to the president instead

Presidential Honeymoon

The term for describing how Congressional approval and willingness to go along with the president is highest in the president’s first year

Ally Principle

The idea that Congress is more willing to delegate power to the President if that President shares their policy goals

Variation of Delegation

Congress can choose to delegate broad or narrow powers to the President, usually dependent on how much of a concern is going on

Birkland

Writes about agenda setting, who can set the agenda, and what changes when certain issues change what part of the agenda they’re

Agenda Universe

Any policy that could possibly be implemented

Systemic Agenda

Not under consideration, but politically possible

Institutional Agenda

Bill has been introduced and assigned to a committee

Decision Agenda

Will be voted on in the near future

Horizontal Venue Shopping

Each branch of government, so going to Congress for a law, Executive for an executive order or changed enforcement, or the courts to win a litigation

Vertical Venue Shopping

Going to each level of government to find one that can help you, local, state, federal

Three Streams to Make a Window of Opportunity

Political stream, a political party (more specifically their policy) is dominant, so like in a united government with a cohesive party, problem stream, the problem is deemed fixable by the government, policy stream, there is a policy “solution” available

Face 1 of Power

Power is exercised when the making of a decision from party A that affects party B

Face 2 of Power

A’s strong resistance to even considering a policy that B wants prevents them from proposing it in the first place what’s the point if it won’t pass?