3 types of behavior

• Advertising– Nobody’s senator but yours

• Credit claiming– Has to be credible– Pork barreling; casework

• Position taking– Inherently costly

A Map of Congress

Congress is bicameral

• Bicameral (House and Senate) – different time perspectives – different rules and norms

Senate and House

• Senate– 6 year terms

– 100, prestige

– More moderate

– generalists

– Individuals senators are powerful

• House– 2 year terms

– 435

– More partisan

– specialists

– Most individual Reps are not important

Effect of Bicameralism

• Fragmentation– Geography– 435 and 100 people sharing power

• What would policy be like if Congress was unicameral and elected in at large elections?

Congressional Staff

• Authorized Budget per Legislator – House = $570,000 – Senate = $2.3 million

• free mailings to districts.

• 54$ million in 1946; $2.2 billion in 1994. 659% increase controlled for inflation.

• House Staff 870 in 1930, 7,400 in 1993

What does Congress do?

What does Congress do?

• http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d106/hot-subj.html

• 21 bills on defense economics

• 27 bills on taxation

• only 46 Major Bills Enacted Into Law This Congress

More law defeating than law enacting

• How a bill becomes a law– Passed by House & Senate subcommittee– Passed by full committee in House and Senate– Rules committee action in House & Senate– Floor action, vote on passage in House &

Senate– Conference Action– Presidential approval

Congressional Committees

• W. Wilson, Congress in Committees is Congress at work

• What do Committees do– Hold hearings– Write legislation– Exercise oversight

Features of Committees

• 19 committees, 84 subcommittees

• Division of labor

• Fixed membership

• Fixed jurisdiction, like a monopoly

• Manage flow of legislative business

• Importance of seniority

Committee Membership

• Determined by Political Parties

• Guided by members’ seniority and preference

• Preferences based on constituency needs to better chances of reelection

Policy Consequences of Committees

• PROs– more opportunities for credit claiming – Facilitate specialization serve institutional

policy needs

• Cons– reinforces fragmentation – Encourages log-rolling

Leadership in House

• Speaker of the House – Dennis Hastert

• Majority Leader–Tom Delay

• Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi

• Minority Whip– Bonior

Leadership and Parties

Party caucuses– Elect leaders and committee chairs– structure the workings of Congress– Develop common policy positions– Weaker in senate than House

Leadership powers

• Control committee appointments

• Refer bills to committees

• Control Rules Committee

Party Discipline and Voting

• US Congress – rose to near 70% in 1996

• UK Parliament --90%

• German Bundestag -- 98%

Institutional Design of Congress

• Institutions are designed by members who want to get reelected.

• Staff

• Committees

• Leadership/political parties

Evaluating Leadership

• More useful for what they are not than what they are– 1994 Freedom to Farm Act

• No Sanctions

• Do not do anything to undermine the electoral needs of members

Informal Norms

• Seniority and seniority system

• Specialization

• institutional loyalty

• reciprocity (log rolling)

Criticisms of Congress

• Process– Lengthy and inefficient– Favor policy minorities

• Results– Members focus on getting constituency

benefits, NAFTA– Process of bad legislation- ESEA, EDA

Why do we hate congress, but love our senator/representative

• Evaluate Congress by collective standards

• Evaluate Senator/Representative in representative term

• Standards are mutually exclusive

Representation vs. Lawmaking

• Congress plays two important roles– Lawmaking or getting things done– Representation or Legitimacy- airing points of

view

Impact on Institutions

• Congress is a reelection machine.

• Mayhew-- "If a group of planner sat down and tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members' electoral needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."

Two Theories about CongressIn Congress, Pork Stays In Congress, Pork Stays on Menu (Washington on Menu (Washington Post headline) Post headline)

Can Congress pass Can Congress pass legislation that is in the legislation that is in the public interest?public interest?

Fiorina– purposive Fiorina– purposive theoriestheories

Bessette- serious Bessette- serious lawmakerslawmakers

Two Theories about Congress

• In Congress, Pork Stays on Menu (Washington Post headline)

• Can Congress pass legislation that is in the public interest?– Fiorina– purposive theories– Bessette- serious lawmakers