ew gov and congress i hate gerrymandering
Day one:
Structure:
Each rep represents 700,000 ppl now??
After each census, each rep is reapportioned.
Senate is significantly smaller than house of reps
VP is president of the senate
2 chambers operate super differently, bc/ of the intrabranch check
Meeting of congress:
Both houses meet for a term of 2 years
Begins on january 3rd of odd-numbered years
20th amendment to constitution (1933)
2024 elections held on nov 5, 2024
119th congress began term on jan 3, 2025
Congress must meet “at least once in every year”
Each term comprised of 2 sessions
Terms end with adjournment, sessions have recesses
Special sessions
President can call congress during emergencies, hasnt happened in ~75 yrs
“Lame duck” period
Congressional session held between election day and the beginning of the newly elected congress
Outgoing members still have the power to influence policy
Change in party control of congress?
Privileges of congress:
Salaries:
$174K-223.5K per year
Benefits include pensions. Health coverage
Office allowances
Travel allowances
Franking privilege
Immunity
Cannot be arrested during congress business
Cannot be sued for libel/slander during congress business.
Day two:
House of reps:
Initiate revenue bils
Impeach executive and judicial officials
Choose president if neither receives majority in electoral college
Senate:
Trial of impeached officials
“Advice and consent”
Approve presidential appointments
Exec department heads, federal justices
Simple majority
Ratify treaties negotiated by pres (⅔ vote)
Choose VP if neither candidate wins in electoral college
Congressional oversight
Supervising:
Developing new legislative proposals
Ensuring administrative compliance with legislative intent
Monitoring
Evaluating programs and performance
Ensuring policies reflect public interest
Review
Detecting waste
Investigating scandal and failure
Elections for senate:
constituents=whole state
Staggered 6-yr terms
⅓ of senators every 2 yrs
State legislatures originally elected/chose members
“Millionaires club”
17th amendment:
Ratified 1913
Pop election of senators
Still millionaire’s club?
Elections for house:
Directly elected by people
Elections every 2 years
Midterm elections
Non-presidential election
Voter turnout
Party of president (typically) loses seats
Incumbency effect:
advantages:
Name recognition
Credit claiming
Casework (?)
Visibility/media exposure
Fundraising
Campaign experience
Voting record
Franking privilege
GERRYMANDERING
Disadvantages:
Mistrust of government
Unpopular political party
“Held responsible”
Congressional appointment and house districts
Congress established number of reps for house at 435 (1911)
Each state with at least one rep
5 have only one
Reapportionment: every 10 yrs based on national census
Redistricting: states draw congressional districts, must be relatively equal
Malapportionment: districts with uneven population distribution (baker v carr, 1962)
Day 3:
Gerrymandering: the manipulation of voting district lines to give one party an advantage over another.
Reapportioinment: the redistribution of the 435 seats in the house of representatives
Eldrich gerry–gerrymandering
Strats:
“Packing”:
Concentrate the support of the opposing party in a few districts, give up a seat or 3 to preserve a majority for the party in power.
“Cracking”:
Disperse the opposing party support throughout the state to dilute strength
Day 4 (performance task!!):
Possible goals of legislation:
Distributive:
Distribution of goods/services for general public
I.e. highway construction project
Redistributive
Ie social security
Using staxes on one segment of population for entitlements on another segment
Regulatory
Mandates and limits on groups and individuals
Ie clean air and water act
constituent/beaurocratic
Establish executive agencies
Ie the department of homeland security post 9/11
“I’m just a bill!”
Who can suggest a bill??
Legislators
President's agenda
Interest groups
Commissions
Individual citizen
Only a member of congress can actually introduce a bill.
Revenue bills must start in the house
Introducing a bill:
House of reps
Handed to clerk of the house or placed in the “hopper”
Introduced and assigned a number
H.R. 1, 2, etc etc.
Senate
Handed to the presiding officer or introduced to the floor
Introduced and assigned a number
S. 1, 2, etc, etc
Committee actions on a bill:
MOST BILLS DIE HERE!
Committe referral
Bills assigned to committees who refer to appropriate subcommittees
Subcommittees eventually refer bill back to the committee
Hearings and testimony
Table
Motion to kill a bill in committees
“Markup”
Committees read and add amendments to bills
Fulll committee vote
“Report out” to whole house and senate with recommendation
House’s discharge petition
Used when committee wont pass popular bill
Requires absolute majority.
***Ranking member: the most senior member of the minority party***
House rules committee:
Once a house bill is reported out by committees it must be assigned a house rules committee before it reaches the house floor for debate and voting
Sets rules, restrictions, and times on bills furing floor debate with input by speaker of the house
Pro bill: CLOSED RULE:
Severe limits on floor table
No amendments
Bill proponents tend to prefer closed rule
Anti bill: OPEN RULE:
Allows floor debate
Allows amendments
Time consuming and can change bill drastically
Better for bill opponents.
House floor debate:
Presided by the speaker of the house or designee
Time and debate onn a bull is limited by the rules committee
Committe of the whole: FINISH AT HOME
Senate floor debate
The senate has unlimited debate
Amendments
RIDERS are allowed
Amendments must be germane only on budget and appropriations bills
FILIBUSTERS:
Only in senate
A bill could be killed by means of filibuster
CLOTURE:
Debate can be ended with 60 votes, prevent filibusters
HOLDS:
Only in senate
Designed to stall or prevent a bill from being voted on
Anonymous or public
Earmarks
Expenditures for specific districts/ states, determined on appropriations-based legislation. Could be important, broad impact
Reshaping rivers, for example.
“Pork barrel”
Pass appropriations and/ or projects for one’s specific district/state. Non-vital, limited reach
“Bring home the bacon”
Building monuments, for example.
Logrolling
Reciprocal support on bills
“Running in the same direction”
“You do something for me, ill do something for you”
Voting on a bill:
QUORUM/QUORUM CALL
A majority of members must be present to vote, conduct business
218 in House, 51 in the senate
NO PROXY VOTING
House of reps:
Electronic vote: each member has a card.
Insert card, press button to vote! Easy as that
Roll call
Teller vote
Senate
Roll call
Voice vote, division vote
They dont have the little machine :(
Finalizing a bill:
Once either chamber passes a bill, it is ENGROSSED and sent to the other chamber for passage
Both chambers must pass an identical bill
Conference committee:
Amendments and riders from house and/or senate versions of a bill
Joint committee of house and senate members iron out differences
Resulting bill sent to house and senate for vote
Another place for a bill to die!
To the president/ beto power:
Presentment clause
President signs the bil into law after 10 days
If congress is still in session
Signing statement
Presidential veto power
Congress may override a veto by ⅔ vote
WRITE MODELS HERE, NOTES IN GC
Textbook notes:
4.1: constitution and congress
There was some really shady business happening in wisconsin involving state legislators and a law firm acting behind the democrats’ back
The republicans drew boundary maps for campaigning i think?? And that helped them win or something i feel like im missing something
Now with computers, candidates can pick their constituents, rather than the other way around
Key differences btw/ the chambers:
Bicameral legislature made as a compromise btw/ big and small states @ constitutional convention
House of reps is directly voted by their district voters.
2 yr terms keep them close and accountable. Theyre not in office for much longer if they slip up
Senate supposed to me more insulated from public “passions” and generally more stable in legislation
Generally need more life and political experience than reps.
Shanged to direct popular vote in the 17th amendment (1913)
Congress’s powers:
Budgeting process:
Since congress appropriates funds for lots of stuff, they have a lot of say in policymaking
Can refuse funding
Congressional Budget Office: provides info and estimates of the likely budgetary consequences of funding the agencies and prgrms funded by congress
Pork barrel spending: legislation that directs specific funds to projects within disctricts or states
Logrolling: trading of votes on legislation by members of congress to get their earmarks passed into legislation
Earmarks: the allocation of money to specific projects in states or congressional districts
A defense for it: without them the federal agencies woud be too strong
Another one: eliminating them takes away the incentive for parties to cooperate to pass appropriations
Anothernother one: taking them awat removes almost all of the leverage that party leaders have to make congress run.
Oversight: efforts by congress to ensure that executive branch agencies bureaus and cabinet departmental as well as their officias, are actung legally and in accordance with congressional goals.
Checks and balances:
Sets number of justices for the supreme court and constitutes tribunals, whatever those are.
The Senate has to approve most presidential nominees to high up positions.
Obv can impeach the president
4.2: politics of congressional elections
Constituencies: a body of voters in a given area who elect a representative or senator.
Process for division of districts is tricky
No 2 senate seats are up for grabs in the same election, unless someone like retires or dies
Appointment in the house of representatives:
Appointment: the process of determining the number of representatives for each state using census data
Each state has 1 or more congressional districts, one seat per district
“Winners and losers” per state by census
Redistricting and gerrymandering
Redistricting: states’ redrawing of boundaries of electoral districts following each census
Some states redistrict between censuses, if something really noticeable changes in the politics
Gerrymandering: the intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or group of voters.
Partisan gerrymandering: drawing of district lines into strange shapes to benefit a political party (see the scheming from 4.1)
Gerrymandering comes from an 1812 cartoon of a senate district in Massachussetts created by governor Gerry.
Congress behavior and voting has become more polarized and aggressive as a result
Majority-minority district: a district in which voters of a minority ethnicity constitute an electoral majority within that electoral district
Malapportionment: the uneven distribution of the population among legislative districts, as seen in baker v. carr (1962)
The advantages of congressional incumbents:
Incumbency: being already in office as opposed to running for the first time
Incumbency advantage: institutional advantages held by those already in office who are trying to fend off challengers in an election
Challengers rly rly need 2 things: experience and money. Those are the best things to win a district over
Incumbents are generally favored because of their ease with the political atmosphere and their experience and knowledge of local topics
Incumbents also have a higher name recognition which is a big advantage
4.3: The organization of congress
Much of congress revolves around political parties and their own agendas.
Party loyalty/discipline in the US is fairly weak, the pres struggles to get their party behind all of their bills/legislation
Party stuff in the House of Reps
Speaker of the House: the leader of the house of reps, chosen by an election of its members
Always a member of the majority party
Weilds a bunch of power
Political action committee (PAC): an organization that raises money for candidates and campaigns
Made “to make money and to make friends”
House majority leader: the person who is second in command of the house of representatives
Whip: a member of congress, chose by their party members whose job is to ensure party unity and discipline
Minority leader: the head of the party with the second-highest number of seats in Congress, chosen by the party’s members.
Senate majority leader: the person who has the most power in the Senate and is head of the party with the most seats.
Committee system:
Theres no way any one member can be directly involved in any piece of legislation.
Committees is where actual legislative work is done mostly
Committee chair: leader of a congressional committee who has authority over the committee’s agenda.
Types of committees
Standing: where most of the work in congress gets done
Permanent
Divided by policy area
Members spend a lot of time, gain expertise
Joint: both house and senate
Focus on public attention on certain issues
Help party leaders speed things along
Conference: temporary joint committee
Resolves differences btw/ house and senate verts of bils
select/special: used to investigate an issue
Temporary
In response to crisis or scandal
4.4: Bills in congress
WATCH THE SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK VID
The legislative process:
Supposed to be rly complicated so not just any bill is passed
1) Introduction:
First step of a bills life is the formal introduction. Only members of congress can introduce a bill
Interest grps and american public play a role in forming the bill, even if they cant introduce it
It has to pass house of reps and senate before it can become a law
9/10 bills dont become law ever
2) referral to committee:
Ppl are assigned to PACs. not much else to it.
3) committees and subcommittees in action
Legislation is usually sent to subcommittees after being sent to committees to divide and conquer
Hearings are held to figure out more, populus is brought in for this to testify
These are the graveyards of most bills
Can be rejected by vote or by a discharge petition
Discharge petition: a motion filed by a member of congress to move a bill out of committee and onto the floor of the house of reps for a vote
4) floor consideration:
Consideration on the house of reps:
House rules committee: a pwrlf cooittee that determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the house floor, how long the debate will lasy and whether amendments will be allowed on the house floor
Committe of the whole: consists of all members of the house and meets in the house chamber but is governed by different rules, making it easier to consider complex and controversial legislation
Finished by a roll call and yay/nay
5) consideration by the senate:
Hold: a delay placed on legislation by a senator who objects to a bill
Unanimous consent agreement: an agreement in the senate that sets the terms for consideration for a bill
Filibuster: a tactic through which an individual senator may use the right of unlimited debate to delay a motion or postpone action on a piece of legislation
Cloture: a procedure through which senators can end debate on a bill and proceed to action, provided 60 senators agree to it
Holds and fillibusters have become more common because of how split our senate is
Filibusters are a rly silly thing
6) resolution of differences between the house and senate bills
Conference committees tweak out the differences btw different verts of the bill
Thats pretty much it.
7) presidential action
He can sign it or veto it
Veto: the pwr of a pres to reject a bill passed by congress, sending it beach to the originating branch with objections.
4.5: Congress and the Budget
Budget and accounting act of 1921established basis of modern fed budgeting
Office of management and budget (OMB)
The executive branch office that assists the president in setting national spending priorities
Setting the federal budget (steps):
The president’s sproposed budget
Has to be reviewed by committees, assisted by the congressional budget office
Doesnt hold congressional weight, but does hold political weight
Entitlement program: a program that provides benefits for those who qualify under the law, regardless of income
Mandatory spending: spending required by existing laws that is “locked in” the budget.
Discretionary spending: spending for programs and policies at the discretion of congress and the president
Congress acts
Congress produces budget resolution in response to presidential proposal
Committees set smaller budget for smaller sections of gov
Taxation, deficits, and debts:
16th amendment: establishes national income tax
Budget surplus: the ammt of money remaonong when the gov takes in more money than it spends
Budget deficit: the shortfall when a government takes in less money than it spends
The government is borrowing so much money rn its not even funny.
National debt: the total amount of money owed by the federal government.
Social insurance:
Social security act: 1935, created set of prgrms to support americans. Established unemployment insurance & disability insurance. Designed to be mostly self-funded.
Social security= eg of entitlement program, funded by payroll taxes
LOTS of americans benefit from social security
Avg life expectancy has gone up, which means that they get fewer overall benefits than they used to
Ppl are trying to find good solutions, failing kinda
4.6: challenges in representation
Stay home or work at congress? Tricky balance
Also tricky balance of acting with and against constituents
Delegate role: the idea that the main duty of a member of congress is to carry out constituents’ wishes
Trustee role: the idea that members of congress should act as trustees, making decisions based on their knowledge and judgement
Politico role: representation where members of congress balance their choices with the interests of their constituents and parties in making decisions.
Rly hard to decide which issues of constituents are worth energy, good incumbents are able to navigate that well.
Bipartisanship: agreement btw/ the parties to work together in congress to pass legislation
Gridlock: a slowdown or halt in congress’s ability to legislate and overcome division, especially those based on partisanship.
Divided government: control of the presidency and one or both chambers of congress split between the 2 major parties.
Polarization’s been a huge issue recently, and has only gotten worse since the dates on the graph.
Lame duck period: period at the end of a presidential term when congress may block presidential initiatives and nominees.