Chapter 4

Congress 

Secret Invitation to the Map Room

In Wisconsin republicans used a secret process to redraw district boundaries, but republican senators signed secrecy pledges to review maps. They followed rules for entering the map room and talked about the maps, a spreadsheet showing the partisan effect of the final map.

4.1 The Constitution and Congress

  • bicameral legislature which is a system where congress is composed of two chambers, House of Representatives and Senate, they have different roles and different powers

What are the key differences between the chambers?

  • bicameral legislature: House of Reps and Senate

  • Created to balance the power between small and large states

  • Both chambers must agree to pass laws

The House of Representatives

  • Representative have to be at least 25 years old, state resident, and us citizen for 7 yrs

  • The constitution did not bar women but the states did

  • Madison believed that the House is open to all regardless of background

  • States had property qualifications for voting and office

Senate 

  • Senators are elected for a 6 year term, but run for reelection every 2 yrs 

  • Senators are more insulated from the public

  • Must be 30 and citizen of the US for 9yrs and must live in state they represent

  • The constitution does not limit the number of terms a senator can serve

What are the powers of Congress?

The powers of Congress generally fall into three areas: lawmaking, budgeting, and having oversight of the federal bureaucracy and other public officials

Legislative Authority

  • Congress most power is the ability to pass laws in areas of national policy 

  • They have the power to issue presidential executive order, constitution , and administrative regulations 

  • Congress is authorized to legislate in economic policy, national security, foreign policy and other policy areas

The Budgeting Process

  • Congress passes laws in national policy areas and issues executive orders 

  • It influences the president by funding or not funding proposals

  • Creates and agency involving authorization and appropriation 

  • The CBO estimates budgetary impacts

  • Pork barrel spending allocates money to local projects 

  • Logrolling is trading voted for earmarks ( but were banned in 2011)

In Defense of Earmarks

  • Earmarked fund specific local projects

  • They are popular locally but often criticized nationally 

  • The house banned them in 2011

  • Without them congress loses leverage and incentive for cooperation

Oversight 

  • Congress uses oversight to ensure laws are implemented correctly 

  • It oversees the federal bureaucracy and other branches

  • This task is challenging because the government is so large

What do checks and balances do?

  • It declared war, ratifies treaties, and confirms nominees

  • Congress can impeach officials; the House issues articles , the senate convicts

  • Impeachment is controversial but it never goes through

  • Johnson and clinton were impeached but acquitted and Nixon resigned before impeachment

4.2 Politics of Congressional elections

  • Constitution sets boundaries for framework but they can be altered with a process called redistricting to change the sway of a vote

What are the boundaries of Representation

  • The constitution sets rules for dividing voters into constituencies

  • House districts change with population shifts 

  • States handle redistricting based off population

Constituency and the Senate 

  • The senate represents the states there are 2 for each state and it is composed of 100 members 

  • Made to equally represent the individuals of the citizens 

Apportionment in the House and redirecting and Gerrymandering  

  • The house of representatives is made up of 435 members based on state population

  • Apportionment allocates seats after each census

  • States redraw district boundaries with population changes

  • States in the south and west often fain seats while northern states and midwest lose seats

  • Redistricting happens every 10 yrs or when politically motivated

Partisan Gerrymandering 

  • Gerrymandering is redrawing district boundaries to benefit a specific political party

  • Partisan gerrymandering maximized the number of districts won by a political party by concentrating opposing party supporters in a small number of districts

  • Primary voters are more ideologically extreme than the electorate resulting in more polarized voting behavior in congress 

Racial and ethnic Gerrymandering 

  • Racial gerrymandering creates districts to increase minority representation

  • Majority minority districts have majority of minority voters

  • This can help elect minority candidates but not always improve representation

Supreme court and congressional district boundaries 

  • Scotus required districts to have equal population leading to one person one vote

  • Racial considerations in drawing district are more unconstitutional (shaw v. reno)

What are the advantages of Congressional Incumbents?

  • They have name recognition and experience

  • History of providing benefits to their constituents 

  • Easier for them to win due to experience

What experience and money comes to the picture?

  • Campaign money is crucial for advertising events

  • Challengers need money to be taken seriously but need to show that they are serious with getting the money

What advantages are maximized?

  • Name recognition and media coverage

  • Claiming of credit for their work

4.3 The organization of Congress

What political parties are in congress?

  • Congress is organized by procedures, political parties, leaders and committee system

  • The majority party has the most power while the minority is second

  • Both parties control leadership positions but each have tactics to align members with party goals and create legislation

Party leadership in the House of Representatives

  • The speaker controls the house agenda and committee assignments

  • Majority leader assisted the speaker 

  • The senate is led by the VP and holds lots of power while minority leader leads the opposition in the senate

What is the committee system?

  • Committee membership reflects part rations and is determined by party leader

  • Committee chairs hold influence

  • House committees usually have more members and senators serve on more committees

  • Seniority no longer determines chairs party leaders do

  • Republicans have term limits for chairs

  • There are 4 committee types: standing, joint, conference, and select

What are congressional staff and bureaucracy?

  • Staff helps members with policy information, legislation, and consistent needs

  • Staff drafts bills and supports members 

  • The size of congressional staff has grown with the complexity of issues and the size of the country

What is the norm of behaviour? 

  • Members of congress are expected to be respectful and helpful

  • Increased animosity between political parties makes compromise difficult 

4.4 “I’m Just a Bill”

What is the Legislative Process?

  • The legislative process is complicated and multi stepped

  • The framers of the constitution wanted to protect minority rights 

What is the first step to becoming a law?

  • Only congress members can introduce bills

  • Presidents can encourage bill intros but pass both the House and Senate

  • Bills are introduced for various reasons like addressing problems or responding to interest groups.

What does the referral committee do?

  • Committees are very important for the success or failure of a bill

  • Committees involve strategic political calculations

  • Multi-referral is especially used if the bill is large and complex

What action does the subcommittee and committee do?

  • Subcommittee hold hearings to gather information but people may testify during hearings

  • Markup sessions allow changes before reporting to the floor

  • Committee  reports track the bill’s history and intent 

  • A bill can die in the committee they can reject or table the bill

  • A discharge petition can free a bill from a committee that can be deemed unconstitutional

What does the floor consider?

  • Once they have successfully passed out of committee, bills proceed to consideration on the floors of the House and Senate

Consideration in the House of Reps

  • The house rules committee sets debate rules and voting procedures

  • The committee of the whole includes all house members and meets for quicker bill consideration

  • Most house votes are electronic

Consideration in the Senate

  • Senators have more influence in the senate

  • Senator can place a delay on a bill

What is the resolution of the differences between house and senate?

  • Reconcile between the two of the versions 

  • Resolved bills return to each chamber for reconsideration

  • Party leaders negotiate beforehand to avoid surprises

What action does the president take?

  • President can sign the bill into law or veto it

  • POTUS can let a bill become law by not signing 

  • Congress can override a veto with ⅔ vote in both chambers

4.5 Congress and the Budget

  • The budget and accounting act of 1921 set moder federal budget

  • Office of management and budget was created in 1970

  • Congressional act changed budget process 1974

  • The president submits a proposed budget in February

  • federal budget is pre- allocated

What is policy for social insurance?

  • Social security is funded by payroll taxes and provides benefits based on contributions depending on work history and spouses

  • Fixing the shortfall involves political challenges like reducing benefits or raising payroll

4.6 Challenges of Representation

Representatives need to balance the pressure of working in Washington and home life. Tension is made of being effective in congress and being at home

What action does Congress take?

  • Main task is to pass laws in congress

  • Congress members consider constituents and have input of the instreset groups that influence them

  • Influence through elections by campaign promises the threatening future backlash if promised

The problem of Partisanship

  • Elections allow voters to influence representatives

  • Constituent must communicate their preferences and be informed about representatives actions

  • Partisan polarization has increased reducing bipartisan support

  • Partisanship blocks presidential nominations