Chapter 6: Congress (Representation & Institutional Structure)

what makes our congress distinctive from others?

• most just accept or ratify presidential decisions but congress actually governs and makes demands and has a say → exec cannot govern alone

  • illustrates institution principle → institutions sharing power

what two major powers does congress have

• force/foreign policy

• money

  • 
    

how does congress have power over foreign policy?

• declare war

• regulate commerce

• regulate armed forces and installations

  • usually ceded to president, but technically supreme - exec would have to follow

How does congress have power over money

• creating and collecting taxes

• managing debt and bankruptcy

• duties

• borrowing or coining money

• how money is allocated for general welfare and defense

• interstate commerce

• federal lands

• patents and copyrights

  • regulating militia

what are two powers that the senate in particular holds?

• approving treaties (2/3 vote)

• approving ambassadors

Necessary and proper clause (Article 1, Section 8)

• congress can make laws necessary and proper to execute the powers laid out in the constitution im

impact of congress on the presidency

many things that are now considered presidential powers

two key facets of congress’s behavior

representation and power

• w/o power, cannot represent ppl

  • withpout ppl, power isnt doing what needs to - no support

REPRESENTATION

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direct constituency

• members of congress represent their direct constituency, not their party or leaders or congress itself

two rep styles

1) delegate: does what constituents want

2) trustee: does what they think is best

descriptive representation

being representative of a group without formally representing their interests (ex: minorities identify with reps of their minority, and signifies importance of majority minority districts having ppl who represent them)

agency representation

constituents can “fire” representatives who arem’t serving their best interests → incentive to serve constituent demands

congress is NOT descriptively representative of ____

the entire us population - more male, white, wealthier, older, etc

founder’s INTENDED different purposes for house and senate

• house = “people’s house”, directly elected and closely representing what THEIR constituents want

  • Exclusive power for money (spending and tax) bills

• Senate = elite and propertied interests (the minority)

  • appointed by state legislatures (now, direct popular election)

differenced today between house and senate

• House

  • centralized, rules, and specialized

    • committee policy areas

    • agenda set by committee proposals

  • responsive to local issues (2 year electio cycle)

  • more party affiliation

• Senate

  • more deliberative and less specialized

    • represent HUGEEE groups of people

    • longer 6 year terms

  • supposed to be calm compared to reactive house

    • now more partisan even tho wasn’t supposed to be

election system - 3 factors

• who runs → based on financing and fundraising capacity

• incumbency advantage

  • committee asignments build expertise and track record with helping

  • seniority makes them valuable within the legislature

  • redistricting

ow principles of politics apply

1) institution principle

• shapes what actors ca do and how power is distributed → clear impacts on relationships between house and senate and congress and president

2) rationality principle

• ppl behave in self interested and strategic ways

  • ex: legislators will do what they have to in order to get reelected

patronage

congress members trying to get benefits for their community (part of agency representation)

pork barrel legislation

reps get federal project and funds that will benefit their district

policy principles:

• rationality: helps them get re-electives

• collective action: legislators help each other by vote trading

• institution: works through specific institutional paths like provisions inserted into other legislation

• policy principle: geographic distribution

  • history principle: when congress has bad behavior, legislature restricts it - learning from history

franking privelege

• example of congress trying to help itself

  • constituents get mail to inform them of public affairs (but really just self publicity and doesn’t count as campaign spending)

incumbent fundraising advantages

• get to spend money throughout their term rather than just election season, especially if they’re part of the majority party bc there is incentive for donors to support of they want a favor

sophomore surge

incumbents get more votes during their second election

what is the net effect of incumbency

• preserves the status quo bc ppl can’t compete

  • less female representation bc incumbents are male and usually women can compete most for open seats

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS AND REDISTRICTING

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reapportionment

every 10 years house seats (435) reallocated among states by population based on census

• fast growing states get more reps

redistricting

state legislatures redraw district lines, usually governed by majority party

race’s impact on redistricting - 1982 voting rights act amendment

• encouraged districts with majority racial minorities to increase representation in congress

  • questions - more representation but also dilutes minority inflouence in districts around so THOSE reps arent thinking about minority issues

primary v. general election

• redistricting makes safe seats party by party so primary is most important election instead of general election

  • contributes to partisanship as ppl vying for winning primary - ie democrats acting more liberal and republicans acting more conservative

PROBLEMS OF LEGISLATIVE ORGANIZATION

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why is it so difficult?

there are a lot of stakeholders that different representatives need to make happy, esp 3 main ones

who are those 3 main stakeholders

1) campaign funders like donors, pacs, party officials bc capaigns are so expensive

2) electoral coalitions, the voters that elected them since those are the ppl that they need to keep happy

3) their own preferences, either for private gain or public interest — personal goals

why is it hard to work together as legislators

1) their different constituents will have different priorities so puts them at odds

2) different opinions on the same issue (varying levels of interest or priority) but also how to fix it with regulatory, market based, or do nothing approaches

manufacturing legislative concensus

how members internally negotiate with each other to build support for their ideas and agenda

• institution principle: cooperation, coalition building, and compromises possible through rules and procedures (ex: agenda power, division of labor, etc)

what can be so bad about financial drivers to legislative prioroities

contribution driven access distorts legislative perceptions of what constituents want, even when they believe that constituent opinion is important to focus on

• agency representation not at best bc skewed perception of what constituents are looking for

why are organizational structures needed?

there are three main problems that legislatures are dealing with

1) matching influence and interest

2) information

3)compliance

matching influence and interest

• egalitarian - cannot put “more votes” towards subjects care more about and such

  • creates pressure to do vote trading or logrolling (making deals, if you support me i support you)

  • aka influence and interest don’t match bc no matter whether they care or not, still only get one vote

information

ppl vote for policy instruments rather than a specific outcome (ex: vote for a mandate on xyz rather than result that they want)

• need information to make the right choice and gather information

compliance

• ensuring that legislation is implemented as intended by working with exec and judges

  • need and institution for this bc impossible for people to manage it all by themselves

what is the result of this?

each problem has some sort of institutional fix in the structure of congress

1) matching influence and interest → committee system → can dedicate more time to issues you care more about by being on the committee (institutionalized logrolling)

2) information → committee staff, specialization, expert committee structure → staff feed needed info to members through division of labor

3) compliance/implementation → committees and monitoring beaurocracy → committees look over implementation under their jurisdiction

PARTY LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION

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what are the function of parties?

• coalition building

• cooperation and compromise

• help with collective action

house leadership structure

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democratic caucus/republican conference

every two years to elect leaders and decide party policies

Speaker of the House

majority party’s elected leader (in addition to majority leader)m

minority leader

minority party’s elected leader

whips

count votes and get members to vote particular ways on key votes, tell leaders abt member voting intentions

Committee assignments

• technically leader driven (back in day used to enforce discipline)

  • used to get more influence on topics of more interest (given that can only have one vote normally and only get so much influence on topucs of importance to you)

senate leadership

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president pro tempore

ceremonial

• most senior majority party senator

majority and minority leader

elected by party causus/conference, really powerful

• pick conferences

• get to set the legislative agenda

leadership PACS

created for interest groups to curry favor with powerful leaders through donating funds, used to get obligation from members that funds are given to

how do party leaders get strong

homogeneous party that gives leaders lot of power for shared agenda

• partially cause for polarization

THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM

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party leadership v. committee system

• hierarchy from top to bottom

• division of labor → splitting up the work

TWO MAJOR WAYS THAT CONGRESS IS ORGANIZED

history of committee structure

• all members of congress used to be generalists who participated equally in all policy

  • in War of 1812, made specialist groups to focus more on particular groups of policy → institution remains till today

standing committees

• permanent

  • fixed membership, rules, officers, staff, offices, and jurisdiction (paralleling executive departments)

jurisdiction

pros:

• policy specialists

mehs:

• disproportionate influence over bills on that topic

• agenda power by passing on legislation

• concerns about whether serving common good or their own districts

  • issues that could fit in multiple committees

gatekeeping authority

committee decides whether bills die or see the floor

• can also entirely alter it or write amendments or ignore it through proposal power

committee authority

• conference committee: if house and senate pass diff versions and need to figure it out, managed by og committees.

• oversee implementation, including with oversight hearings → less when unified congress control and president, in that case exec managed more

subcommittees

• full committees powers but scaled down to subjurisdictions, smaller issues to manage

committee chair

• sets agenda w/ party leaders, marks up bills to turn drafts into legislative texts, other administrative actions

• used to be chosen by seniority for experience and minor leadership gripes → now elected by majority party members in full chamber

• chair gets agenda power but not deciding factor, everything needs majority support → gives median member a lot of power

how to make sure that committees don’t go rogue and serve their own interests

• committees dont decide, only recommend

• they want to protect their own reputation

• party leaders control floor time

  • discharge petition

discharge petition

if ppl in the broader body really want a bill (majority of house), bill can be pulled out a committee that is sitting on it

over time, how have power structures changes in the party

• party leaders have more power that committee chairs used to have, and those chairs are more involved in party objectives now

staff system

• manage constituent requests, legislatve drafting, negotiations, liasons + members also communicate through staff → many permanent committee staff as well

• 3 independent staff agencies used for the legislative branch to keep up with information

  • congressional research service

  • government accountability office

  • congressional budget office

congressional caucuses

• informal organizations, voluntary for ppl with similar characteristics

• ideological, economic or policy based, identity based

RULES OF LAWMAKING - HOW DOES A BILL BECOME A LAW

4 step process:

1) committee deliberation

2) debate

3) conference committee

4) prez action

committee deliberation

• bill formally exists when referred to committee, subcommittee first and then full committee but many die w/o action

  • afterwards, rules committee → creates rules for floor consideration

closed rule

severe limits on debate and amendments → bill supporters would want this

open rule

extensive debate and amendments → bill opponents want this

Debate

• mostly controlled by majority party, and debate can end with simple majority

  • less control in senate, unlimited debate

• bill sponsor and lead opponent take up most of time

• unlimited right to propose amendments, anonymous holds to delay bill

• usually bills only on floor when likely passage

filibuster

unlimited debate to block action

conference committee

when house and senate pass differing ersions of a bill and won’t just accept other chamber’s edits

• conference report has to be approved as a straight up or down vote

presidential action

• can sign, or veto bill

• can send back to chamber with objections

• pocket veto → if congress adjourns and prez takes no action, auto die

• can be overriden by 2/3 vote in house and senate

distributive tendency of congress

bills often start with a narrow focus and evolve during negotiations to include provisions that will help more constituencies, partially bc it helps gain support for the bill to put in little benefits

• could have clear benefits in bill or an implicit “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”

• so legislators can claim credit in their districts for getting benefits

• cons:

  • sometimes can spread resources too widely and buying political support

  • result of separation of powers → more checkpoints = more ppl that need to be satisfied

HOW DOES CONGRESS MAKE DECISIONS - INFLUENCES ON THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

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constituency influence

even tho constituents not tracking closely, legislators scared that any deviation from what they want will be “used” later

interest groups

highly influential when mobilizing huge amount of constituents who are asking for something in particular across congressional lines so putting a lot of pressure

• however sometimes cause problem bc congress react too fast to public opinion and bad solution

impact of interest groups and money

• committee proposal powers

• committee gatekeeping power

• committee oversight power

  • less risky than floor votes bc can keep it down low

  • constituent voice more imp on party floor

party vote

a roll call where more than 50 percent of one party votes one way and 50 percent of other party votes opposite way

why does party line voting happen?

1) ideology and background

• republicans rural and suburban

• democrats more liberal on economic issues

• 1980s gap widening

2) party leadership

• party organization has heavy influence

what can party leadership do to convince them:

1) committee assignments

2) access to the floor

3) whip system bc will communicate back to leaders

4) logrolling: party leaders broker huge networks of “ill vote for yours if you vote for mine”

5) presidency: support or opposition to prez is seen a sign of party loyalty, especially given prez administrative program

BEYOND LEGISLATION - ADDITIONAL CONGRESSIONAL POWERS

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advice and consent

president needs senate approval for

• making treaties

• appoint top ecex officers, ambassadors, federal judges

• presidents sometimes use executive agreements to get around this, functionally same as treaty but no senate approval

impeachment

• senate can impeach for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors

  • kind of like a criminal proceeding - house is grand jury and needs simple majority, senate needs 2/3 majority

  • some ppl say can only be for actual crime and some see that its more loose

framers v. now

congress and president supposed to be against each other so no legislative or executive tyranny and congress dominant, but shift to presidental domination

• held accountable by public opinion and interest groups, and operates through distributive tendencies