Congress

Measures of Congressional Health

Productivity: number of significant bills, gov. shutdowns, and typos in bills

Organization: Staffers spend just 2 years there, staff wages continue to decline, Congress underfunds its own instrumentalities

Why is Congress Underperforming

electoral interests cut against substantive representation

Congress

bicameral legislature of the house (435 members) and the senate (100 members and VP as tie breaker)

Congress General Distinctions

Function: house originates spending bills, senate approves treaties and nominations

Character: house is more centrally controlled, less professionalized, and features more limited debate

Rules of Congress

Congress’ members make up the rules about things like the number of members, committees, voting rules, and the power of leaders like the Speaker of the house

Purpose of Congress

Symbolic Representation: Congress should reflect the sentiments and background of the US population

Substantive Representation: the laws Congress passes are consistent with the preferences of the public

Oversight: Congress gathers information about how well the laws they’ve passed are working

Develop Leaders: members of Congress go on to serve in the executive branch

Why Congress Underperforms

it is in the members’ and parties’ short-term interest to underperform 

Committees

Delegation, first mover advantage, and information assymmetry

Negative Agenda Control

the power to prevent bills from coming to a vote, a power held by the speaker of the house

Endogenous Rules

institutions play by rules that are arrived at, often because they’re in everyone’s collective interest