6 congress: the first branch. clicker question which of the following institutions do you trust the...
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6Congress:
The First Branch
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Clicker Question
Which of the following institutions do you trust the most?
A.CongressB.The presidencyC.The Supreme Court
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Institutional Approval Ratings
Gallup – September 5–11, 2011• Do you approve or disapprove of the way
Congress is handling its job?Approve – 15%Disapprove – 82%
• Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as president?
Approve – 43%Disapprove – 49%
• Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job?
Approve – 46%Disapprove – 40%
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Congress is the First Branch• The U.S. Congress is more independent and powerful than legislatures in other industrialized democracies
• It is no accident that the makeup and powers of Congress are outlined in Article I of the Constitution and that Article I is, by far, the longest Article of the Constitution
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The Powers of Congress:Article I, Section 8• Congress is given a vast array of powers:– Power to tax and spend– Power to raise an army/navy and declare war– Power to regulate commerce– Power to coin money (regulate the currency)– Power to make all laws “necessary and proper” (elastic clause)
• Today, presidents play a bigger role in each of these areas
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Congress and Representation• Congress is the most important representative institution in government
• A member’s primary responsibility is to their constituency – the district making up the area from which an official is elected
• Good representation encompasses a wide variety of activities
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How Members Represent Their Districts
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Forms of Representation
• Agency Representation – The type of representation according to which representatives are held accountable to their constituents if they fail to represent them properly
• Delegate – Legislators see themselves as perfect agents of others; they have been elected to do the bidding of those who sent them to the legislature
• Trustee – Legislator votes based on what he/she thinks is best for the constituency
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House and Senate:Differences in Representation• Congress is a bicameral legislative assembly – composed of two chambers, or houses
• The Senate is smaller and more deliberative
• The House is larger, and thus power is more centralized and the process is more organized
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House and Senate:Differences in Representation
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The Electoral System:Who Runs?• Because members of Congress are agents, electoral considerations are very important
• To win, candidates need:– ambition– money– name recognition / strong political base
– charisma / strong personal organization
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The Electoral System:Incumbency• Incumbency – holding a political office for which one is running – is a huge advantage in congressional elections
• Some of the advantages include:– casework– patronage– pork-barrel legislation– early money– name recognition
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Turnover in the House of Representatives
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The Power of Incumbency
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Money in Congressional Elections• One of the big reasons congressional incumbents are so safe is that they raise and spend more money than their opponents
• In part, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as campaign donors only want to give to those they think can win and incumbents usually win … so they get more money
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House and Senate Campaign Expenditures
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The Electoral System:Congressional Districts• Every 10 years, House districts must be re-apportioned among the states and lines must be re-drawn to reflect population changes
• There is a lot at stake in how these lines are drawn as voters can be arranged so as to give an advantage to one political party. This is called gerrymandering
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Changing Apportionment of House Seats By Region
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Problems of Legislative OrganizationCooperation among many members is difficult for several reasons
– Matching Influence and Interest: Each member has particular priorities but one vote on every issue
– Imperfect Information: Legislators cannot be experts on every policy area
– Compliance: Monitoring legislative deals and legislative outcomes requires collective effort
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Legislative Organization:Parties• Members organize themselves into party coalitions in the House and Senate called a caucus (Democrats) or a conference (Republicans)
• Members choose leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Whips)
• Members empower party leaders to influence the agenda and manage legislation
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Legislative Organization:Committees• Members also organize themselves into standing committees divided by policy jurisdiction
• There are similar jurisdictional committees in the House and Senate
• Committees have gatekeeping authority – the right to decide if a change in policy will be considered
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Legislative Organization:Committees
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Legislative Organization:Staffers and Agencies• Each member of Congress has a large staff that provides assistance on everything from writing legislation to correspondence with constituents
• Congress has also created staff agencies like CRS, GAO, and CBO to provide non-partisan policy advice to members
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Clicker Question
Which of the following institutions serves as a solution to Congress’s collective action problems?
A. Party leadershipB. CommitteesC. Congressional staffersD. all of the above
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• Bills must first be introduced by a member of Congress and referred to committee(s)
• Most bills die in committee• Some are referred to a subcommittee, are amended, and are reported out to the full chamber
How a Bill Becomes a Law:Committee Deliberation
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• Bills reported out of committee first go to the Rules Committee, which determines the rules under which the bill will be debated on the floor where the majority rules
• The Rules Committee may provide– a closed rule – prohibits the introduction of amendments
– an open rule – permits the addition of amendments
How a Bill Becomes a Law:Debate in the House
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• The Senate has a tradition of unlimited debate
• It takes three-fifths of the Senate (60 votes) to invoke cloture (end of debate)
• Recently, greater partisanship has meant the minority frequently uses the filibuster — a delaying tactic in which senators do not allow debate to end — to kill legislation
How a Bill Becomes a Law:Debate in the Senate
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• To become a law, a bill must be passed in exactly the same form in both chambers
• Frequently, the two chambers send the bill back and forth until one chamber passes a version passed by the other
• Sometimes, a conference committee is appointed with members from each chamber to work out differences
How a Bill Becomes a Law:Reconciling Bills
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• The president may veto legislation and Congress may only override the veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber
• Presidents generally use the threat of a veto to shape legislation and try to avoid the embarrassment of having a veto overridden
How a Bill Becomes a Law:Presidential Action
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How a Bill Becomes a Law
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Unorthodox Lawmaking:Health Care Reform Act• Getting legislation through this long process sometimes requires unorthodox procedures
• The Health Care Reform Act is a good example of this:– Multiple referrals to committees– Use of reconciliation to pass changes to the bill that couldn’t overcome a filibuster
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The Distributive Tendency in Congress• Building the super-majority coalitions in Congress necessary to pass legislation leads to a distributive tendency in legislation
• This means that bills are frequently designed so as to distribute policy benefits as widely as possible
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How Members Decide
• Constituency – Members care about what constituents will think on Election Day
• Interest Groups – Groups educate the public, mobilize constituents, and make campaign donations
• Party Voting – Members listen to party leaders more today than 50 years ago
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Party Unity on the Rise
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Widening Ideological Gap Between Parties in Congress
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Causes of Increasing Partisanship in Congress• Greater power for party leaders:– Committee assignments– Access to the floor– The whip system– Logrolling– Increasing power and visibility for the president
• Gerrymandering
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Beyond Legislation:Other Congressional Powers• Advice and Consent (Senate only)
• Ratification of Treaties (Senate only)
• Impeachment
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American Government, 12th EditionCopyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company
THE MEDIAN VOTER IN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
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American Government, 12th EditionCopyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE HOUSE
AND THE SENATE