PS 1 Module 5 Congress

The Irony of the “Electoral Connection”

The individually rational behaviors that members of Congress use to win reelection produce collectively irrational outcomes for Congress as an institution and for the country.

1. Position taking over legislating — Members are rewarded for taking popular positions, not for passing laws. Compromise is risky. The result: gridlock.

2. Collective action problem on spending — Every member wants to claim credit for bringing money to their district. No individual has an incentive to restrain spending. The result: deficits and growing debt.

3. Running against Congress — Members blame "Washington gridlock" and campaign against the institution they are part of. The result: the public hates Congress but reelects their own member (Fenno's paradox).

4. Distorted representation — Members prioritize swing voters, primary voters, and interest groups over the broader public. The result: the electoral connection makes representatives less responsive to most people, not more.

Core idea to remember: Mayhew says members are "single-minded seekers of reelection" using advertising, credit claiming, and position taking. The irony is that these behaviors produce dysfunction, not good governance.

Congress is a “They” not an “It.”

Congress is not a single, unified actor. It is 535 individuals (100 senators + 435 representatives), each with their own goals, constituencies, party pressures, committee assignments, and electoral incentives.

There is no single "Congress" that makes decisions. There are many individual members whose collective behavior produces outcomes — often unintended ones.

1. No unified will — You cannot say "Congress wants X." Different members want different things. This makes it hard for Congress to act decisively compared to the president (who is one person).

2. Collective action problems — Even when a majority agrees on a goal, individual members have incentives to free-ride, defect, or pursue their own interests. Getting 218 House members and 51 senators to agree is structurally difficult.

3. Multiple veto points — Because Congress is many individuals, there are many places where a bill can die: committees, subcommittees, floor votes, filibusters, conference committees. Each member at each point can block action.

4. The president has an advantage — The president is an "it" — one person who can act unilaterally. Congress is a "they" — many people who must coordinate. This is a major source of presidential power.

Motives of members of Congress

Three Motives (Fenno's framework):

1. Reelection — The primary and dominant motive. Members are "single-minded seekers of reelection" (Mayhew). Everything they do — voting, fundraising, casework, constituent services — is shaped by this goal.

2. Good public policy — Members want to make laws they believe are good for the country. This motive matters but is secondary to reelection. Members pursue policy goals when they can do so without endangering their electoral prospects.

3. Power and influence in Congress — Members want to rise within the institution: become committee chairs, party leaders, or influential voices. This requires building relationships, seniority, and expertise.

Advertising

Any activity a member of Congress undertakes to generate name recognition and a positive image among constituents, without communicating specific policy information.

Purpose: To make the member known and trusted. Advertising is about building a brand, not about taking stands on issues. The goal is for constituents to recognize the name and feel favorably toward it.

• Newsletters mailed to constituents

• Press releases and media appearances

• Town halls and district events

• Social media posts

• Sponsoring bills (even if they never pass) just to get the member's name attached

• Casework — helping individual constituents with federal agencies (also counts as credit claiming)

Credit claiming

Definition: Any activity a member of Congress undertakes to generate the belief among constituents that the member is personally responsible for benefits or goods delivered to their district or state.

Purpose: To take personal credit for government action that helps constituents. The goal is to create a direct link in voters' minds between the member and the benefit received. Voters reward the member for bringing home tangible results.

Examples:

• Pork barrel spending — earmarking federal funds for specific projects in the district (bridges, roads, research centers, military bases)

• Casework — helping a constituent with a lost Social Security check, a visa problem, or a veterans' benefits claim

• Announcing federal grants or contracts awarded to local businesses and organizations

• Cutting ribbons at federally funded projects

• Press releases claiming credit for legislation that benefits the district

Position taking

Definition: Any activity a member of Congress undertakes to publicly express a judgment or stance on an issue of interest to constituents.

Purpose: To align the member with popular positions in their district. The goal is not necessarily to pass legislation but to be on record supporting what voters want. Position taking allows members to claim they stand with their constituents, even if the policy never becomes law.

Examples:

• Floor speeches declaring support for or opposition to a bill

• Voting yes or no on legislation

• Issuing press releases about a controversial issue

• Posting on social media about a current event

• Cosponsoring popular bills (even if they will never pass)

• Signing letters or resolutions on symbolic issues

• Holding hearings to draw attention to an issue

Casework

Definition: The assistance members of Congress and their staff provide to individual constituents who are having problems with the federal bureaucracy — lost Social Security checks, visa delays, veterans' benefits disputes, IRS problems, military service issues, etc.

Purpose: To help constituents navigate the federal government. Casework is both a service to the constituent and a powerful reelection tool.

Why it matters for reelection:

1. Highly visible and personal — The constituent receives direct, personal help from the member's office. They remember it.

2. Nonpartisan goodwill — Casework is not ideological. Helping a constituent with a bureaucratic problem builds trust and positive feelings regardless of party affiliation.

3. Multiplier effect — The constituent tells family, friends, and neighbors. The member's reputation for being helpful spreads through word of mouth.

4. The "thank you" effect — Grateful constituents are more likely to vote for the member and to donate to their campaign.

Incumbency advantage

Definition: The structural edge current officeholders have over challengers in elections, resulting in very high reelection rates.

1. Name recognition — Voters already know who they are; challengers must build familiarity from nothing.

2. Free mailings — They can send constituents newsletters and updates at taxpayer expense.

3. Staff and casework — Paid staff help constituents with federal problems, creating personal loyalty.

4. Fundraising — Donors prefer proven winners, giving them a massive money advantage.

Standing committee

Definition: A permanent legislative committee in Congress that considers bills and oversees policy in a specific issue area.

Key characteristics:

1. Permanent — They exist from Congress to Congress, unlike select or special committees.

2. Jurisdiction — Each has a defined policy area (e.g., Agriculture, Judiciary, Armed Services).

3. Gatekeeping power — Most bills die in committee. The committee decides whether a bill reaches the floor.

Why they exist: The division of labor allows members to develop expertise, hold specialized hearings, and efficiently process the thousands of bills introduced each session. Without committees, the full chamber would be overwhelmed.

Rationale for committees

Definition: The reasons Congress organizes itself into specialized subgroups to process legislation.

Three rationales:

1. Division of labor — Congress cannot process thousands of bills on the floor. Committees allow specialization and parallel work.

2. Information and expertise — Members develop deep knowledge in specific policy areas through hearings, staff, and repeated exposure. This improves the quality of legislation.

3. Gatekeeping and efficiency — Committees filter out bad or low-priority bills so the full chamber only considers what has been vetted. Not every bill needs a floor vote.

Speaker of the House

Definition: The presiding officer and most powerful member of the House of Representatives, elected by the majority party caucus and confirmed by a full House vote.

Key powers:

1. Controls the agenda — Decides which bills reach the floor and in what order. Can kill bills by refusing to schedule them.

2. Assigns committee memberships — Decides which members serve on which committees, which party members chair committees, and can reward or punish members through assignments.

3. Rules Committee control — Appoints members to the Rules Committee, which sets debate time and amendment rules for floor consideration. This gives the Speaker enormous procedural power.

Additional powers: Recognizes members to speak, refers bills to committees, appoints conferees for conference committees, and is second in line for presidential succession.

Senate Majority Leader

Definition: The head of the majority party in the Senate, responsible for scheduling floor debate and managing the party's legislative agenda.

Key powers:

1. Controls the calendar — Decides which bills come to the floor and when. Can delay or kill legislation by refusing to schedule it.

2. Controls floor time — Determines how long debate lasts and which amendments get votes (through unanimous consent agreements).

3. No formal committee power — Unlike the Speaker, cannot directly assign committee members or chairs. Power comes from persuasion, negotiation, and scheduling leverage.

Senate Minority Leader

Definition: The head of the minority party in the Senate, responsible for coordinating party strategy and opposing or negotiating with the majority party.

Key powers:

1. Procedural leverage — Can use the filibuster and holds to slow or block legislation, forcing the majority to negotiate or secure 60 votes to overcome.

2. Unanimous consent authority — Can object to unanimous consent requests, forcing roll call votes and delaying floor action.

3. Amendment strategy — Coordinates which amendments the minority offers to force difficult votes for majority-party members, particularly in swing districts or states.

Seniority system

Definition: The informal norm in Congress that committee chair positions and other leadership roles go to the majority-party member with the longest continuous service on that committee.

Why it exists:

1. Reduces conflict — Avoids bitter fights within the party over who gets chairmanships. The rule is clear and automatic.

2. Rewards experience — Members with the most years on a committee have the most expertise and institutional knowledge.

Consequence: Protects incumbents and safe-seat members from safe districts (who tend to accumulate seniority). Members from competitive districts who lose or retire get replaced by new members who start at the bottom. This makes committees more ideologically extreme than the chamber as a whole.

Filibuster

Definition: A procedural tactic in the Senate that allows a single senator or a minority to delay or block a vote on legislation by extending debate indefinitely.

How it works:

• A senator takes the floor and speaks continuously, or simply signals intent to filibuster

• To end debate and force a vote, 60 senators must vote for cloture (Rule XXII)

• Without 60 votes, the bill is blocked

Why it matters:

1. Super-majority requirement — Effectively requires 60 votes to pass most major legislation in the Senate, not just 51

2. Gives power to the minority — Even a minority party with 41+ seats can block anything the majority wants

3. Creates gridlock — Makes it far harder to pass legislation compared to the House, where simple majority rules

4. Shapes legislative strategy — Majority must either negotiate with the minority, use budget reconciliation (which is filibuster-proof but limited), or accept failure

Cloture rule

Definition: A Senate procedure to end debate and force a vote on a pending matter, requiring a super-majority threshold.

How it works:

• 16 senators — Must sign a petition to invoke cloture

• 60 votes — Required to end debate (3/5 of senators sworn)

Once cloture is invoked, debate is limited to 30 additional hours, then a final vote occurs.

Why it matters:

1. Defines the 60-vote Senate — Creates the effective super-majority requirement for passing most legislation

2. Ends the filibuster, but only if — The majority can marshal 60 votes. If not, the filibuster continues and the bill dies

3. Exception for nominations — In 2013 (nuclear option for lower court nominees) and 2017 (Supreme Court), the threshold was reduced to a simple majority. Legislation still requires 60

4. Shapes bargaining power — The majority must negotiate with the minority because the minority can block without cloture

Budget reconciliation

Definition: A special legislative process that allows certain budget-related bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority (51 votes), bypassing the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Key rule (Byrd Rule): Any provision in a reconciliation bill that is extraneous to the budget can be "struck" on a point of order (requiring 60 votes to overturn). To survive, a provision must:

• Change spending or revenues

• Not increase the deficit beyond the budget window

• Not be merely incidental to the budget

Why it matters:

1. Filibuster workaround — This is the main way major legislation passes when the majority has only 50-52 seats. The minority cannot block it.

2. Limited scope — Only applies to spending, revenue, and debt limit changes. Cannot be used for most policy changes.

3. Used for big bills — Major tax cuts, health care reform (partial), and budget frameworks have passed through reconciliation.

4. Once per budget cycle — The opportunity to use reconciliation is limited, making it a precious resource for the majority party.

Particularized benefits

Definition: Government goods or services that are concentrated on a specific person, group, or district rather than spread broadly across the population.

Why they matter for reelection:

1. Traceable — Voters can clearly see who delivered the benefit and feel personally grateful

2. Creditable — Members can take individual credit for delivering something tangible to their constituents

3. High salience to recipients — The beneficiaries care a lot; the general public barely notices or pays the diffuse cost

Examples:

• A new bridge or highway in a district (pork barrel spending)

• A federal grant to a local university

• A saved military base

• An individual constituent's Social Security check secured through casework

Earmarks

Definition: Line-item provisions inserted into appropriations bills that direct federal funds to a specific project, organization, or district, often bypassing the normal competitive grant process.

Why they are used:

1. Credit claiming — Members can take personal credit for bringing home money and jobs to their district

2. Building coalitions — Leaders use earmarks to buy votes for broader legislation ("logrolling")

3. Casework on a district scale — A form of collective casework that benefits the whole district

What happened to them:

• Banned in 2011 — After scandals (like the "Bridge to Nowhere"), Congress imposed a moratorium on earmarks

• Reinstated in 2021 — Brought back under new rules requiring transparency, member certification of no personal financial benefit, and public disclosure

• Critics argue — They are wasteful spending that corrupts the legislative process

• Defenders argue — They give Congress back its power of the purse from the executive branch and help break legislative gridlock by giving leaders tools to build coalitions

Conditional party government

Definition: A theory that party leadership power in Congress strengthens only when the majority party is internally unified and ideologically distinct from the minority party.

Two conditions needed:

1. Intra-party homogeneity — Majority party members largely agree on policy goals

2. Inter-party divergence — The two parties are far apart ideologically

Consequence: When both conditions are met, the majority party delegates strong agenda-setting and procedural power to its leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader) to advance the party's collective agenda. When parties are internally divided or ideologically overlapping, leadership is weaker and individual members have more power.

Negative agenda control, “Hastert rule”

Definition: The ability of the majority party leadership to prevent bills from reaching the floor for a vote, even if a majority of the full chamber would support them.

How it works:

• The Speaker generally will not bring a bill to the floor unless it has the support of a majority of the majority party

• This means a bill can be killed even if a majority of all members (across both parties) would vote yes, if it lacks enough support within the Speaker's own party

• The Speaker accomplishes this through control over scheduling, committee referrals, and the Rules Committee

Why it matters:

1. Protects the majority party — Prevents the minority party from teaming up with moderate majority members to pass bills the majority party leadership opposes

2. Keeps the party unified — Discourages members from breaking with the party on high-profile votes

3. Shifts power to the median of the majority party — Not the median of the full chamber. This makes legislation more partisan than it might otherwise be

4. Not a formal rule — It is a norm or tradition. Speakers can and occasionally do violate it when necessary (e.g., avoiding a government shutdown)