In the news

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In the news

• Franken/Coleman election Franken lead increased
  from 225 votes to 312, out of 2.9 million votes
  cast in the November election, after counting and
  additional 350 ballots. Not clear what happens
  now if Coleman continues to appeal.
• Congress and gay marriage -- D.C. to recognize
  gay marriages from other states, esp. significant
  after Iowa and Vermont. Congress will have to
  allow or deny this decision within 30 days.

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Other budget issues

• The secret budget very little oversight or
  accountability for these lines of the budget.
• The line item veto -- The Line Item Veto Act was
  enacted during the 104th Congress (it was part of
  the Contract with America). The Supreme Court
  ruled it was unconstitutional in June, 1998.
• The act authorized the President to identify
  individual items in legislation that he proposed
  not go into effect. The President had to notify
  Congress of his proposal and provide supporting
  information. Congress had to respond within a
  limited period of time by enacting a law if it
  wanted to disapprove the Presidents proposals
  otherwise, the veto would take effect
  permanently.
• President Clinton used the line-item veto several
  times in 1997 before it was struck down.

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Inside the black budget
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New Deal revisionism and Obamas budget

• One line of the Republicans critique of the
  stimulus bill and Obamas budget is that the New
  Deal didnt work, so government spending cannot
  be the answer to our current crisis.
• Unemployment still high by 1939
• WWII got us out of the Depression, not the New
  Deal
• Democratic response New Deal programs did
  unemployment by more than half, GDP increased by
  63 from 1933-1937 and by 125 from 1933-1941.
• One other logical flaw in the Republican argument
  about lessons drawn from the role of WWII.

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New Deal and WWII GDP from 1929-1949
Source Statistical Abstract of the United States
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Deficit as GDP
8
Links to the Constituency

• PS 426
• April 9-14, 2009

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Links to the Constituency

• Casework, both in Washington and in the district.
  Listening sessions in the district.
• Symbolic legislation naming post offices,
  honoring sports teams, etc.
• Pork barrel policies
• Newsletters
• Town hall meetings
• Public speeches and other events
• Media outreach (press releases, press
  conferences, etc.)
• Member web sites
• Letters of congratulation to constituents
  (graduation, marriage, births, anniversaries)

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Constituency service (Rep. Baldwin)

• How I Can Help I may be able to assist you if
  you have a problem involving federal agencies or
  programs, including the Social Security
  Administration, Medicare, the Internal Revenue
  Service, Immigration and Naturalization, the
  Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), federal
  Workers' Compensation or one of the military
  services.
• What I can do for you My staff and I can help
  in communicating with federal agencies, and
  advocating on your behalf, if you have already
  gone through proper channels yourself and are
  facing difficulties. If you are not sure where
  to turn for help, we are here to help direct you
  to the right agency. Communicating with federal
  agencies can be a frustrating process and my
  office can act as a liaison between you and the
  agency. Also, if you have filed an application
  or petition and time has passed without a
  response, my office will be happy to check the
  status of your case. While I cannot force an
  agency to act in your favor, I can ask for full
  and fair consideration of a claim, for
  expeditious handling of a case or claim, and I
  can point out any failure to follow laws or
  regulations.

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Typical Work Days for Rep. Tammy Baldwin
(Washington D.C.)

• (Votes scheduled throughout the day)
• 900-1000 Briefing hosted by Sen. Clinton
  discussion of the federal marriage amendment,
  hate crimes legislation, the Employment
  Non-Discrimination Act, federal benefits and
  HIV-AIDS
• 1000-1200 Hearing Judiciary Subcommittee on
  the Constitution topic H.J.Res 56, the Federal
  Marriage Amendment (Musgrave Amendment)
• 1200 100 Lunch
• 100-115 Constituent meeting issues
  bankruptcy reform, deposit insurance reform, real
  estate brokerage legislation
• 115-215 Meeting with legislative staff
• 215-245 Prep w/staff for meeting on federal
  marriage amendment
• 245-345 Meeting with other Members on federal
  marriage amendment
• 345-430 Meeting with Swiss Parliamentarians
  and Officials (New Glarus, WI in Wisconsins 2nd
  CD reflects strong, continuing influence of early
  Swiss settlers and is home to The Swiss Center.)
• 430-700 Office Time
• 730 1000 Dinner hosted by Swiss Ambassador
  with Swiss officials and other Members

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Typical Work Days for Rep. Tammy Baldwin (in the
district)

• 800-845 Travel to Jefferson
• 900-945 Welcoming Remarks, Jefferson County
  Grants Workshop presentations on securing
  federal grants
• 945-1000 Military Service Medals Presentation
  to Ft. Atkinson WW II veteran at Jefferson County
  Courthouse
• 1000 -1045 Travel to Madison
• 1100-1200 Office time/Lunch
• 1200 100 Travel to Beloit
• 100 200 Welcoming Remarks, Rock County
  Grants Workshop presentations on securing
  federal grants
• 200 300 Travel to Madison consider
  remarks for evening speech
• 300 600 Office Time research for speech on
  Patriot Act
• 600-645 Dinner
• 645 700 Travel to UW Campus Humanities
  Bldg.
• 700 800 Speak to political science honor
  society on UW Campus personal reflections on
  your life in politics. Q A

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Morris Fiorina Congress The Keystone of the
Washington Establishment

• The argument of Keystone members of Congress get
  reelected through constituency service. Its not
  about policy, its about implementation.
  Protecting the little guy. Albert Wynn in the
  shopping mall. Chris Matthews story about, I
  didnt want to start that high. They have an
  incentive to create an inefficient bureaucracy
  because it serves their reelectoral needs by
  creating a demand for their services. Rep.
  Beilenson there are not 100 members out of 435
  who are serious legislators. Difficulty in
  establishing this empirically direction of the
  causal arrow?

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Fiorina, cont.

• National and local component of midterm
  elections. All politics is local. What does
  this mean? Why the increase in the national
  component and decrease in the local component?
• Fiorina says that the big problem today with
  Congress is not the over-attentiveness of members
  of Congress to their constituents (through
  service or pork), but that the national debate is
  dominated by the wing nuts of the parties (the
  10 of extremists on either side). Do you agree?
  

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All politics is local

• Politics is still local. Running Scared
  article from last week, Capitol Flight article
  from this week. Are citizen legislators a good
  thing? What are the pros and cons?
• Tip ONeill and people wanted to be asked.
  Also, what have you done for me lately.
• Implications of all the travel home on the
  weekends it breaks down the bonds between
  members and makes it harder to forge legislation,
  especially across the aisle. Hershey retreat
  attempt to address this problem.

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Richard Fenno and Home Style

• Presentation of Self one-on-one presentation,
  issue independence (I am not one of them),
  issue-focused appeals, pork, emphasis on
  leadership.
• Allocation of resources Washington D.C. versus
  the district, both in terms of staff and how
  often to go home.
• Explaining Washington activity how to explain a
  difficult vote. Hang out in the coffee shops,
  hold town hall meetings, use media? Depends.
  Explaining inconsistency is harder flip-flops.
• Changes in home style over the course of a career
  districts evolve and change. Redistricting may
  pose the biggest challenge.
• Linkage between home style and Washington style
  Dan Quayle, Bob Kastenmeier.

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William Bianco and trust

• trust in members based on their home style and
  other member characteristics.
• Members who share certain characteristics with
  their constituents may be granted more leeway on
  voting.
• Members with certain backgrounds may be trusted
  more on specific issues millionaires and the
  pay raise. They dont need it, so people are
  more willing to listen to alternative
  explanations.

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Pork barrel politics

• What is pork?
• Citizens Against Government Wastes (CAGW)
  definition (one of seven criteria). Earmarks
  (appropriation for a specific purpose tucked into
  a larger bill)
• Others argue that it cannot be objectively
  defined Pork is in the eye of the beholder
• Examples the bridge to nowhere in Ketchican,
  Alaska. Ted Stevens and Don Young. The Iowa
  rainforest, non-competitive research grants to
  universities.
• Number of earmarks have exploded in recent years
  4,155 earmarks worth 29 billion in 1994, 15,268
  worth 55 billion in 2005. But in constant ,
  the amount spent has actually dropped.

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Pork barrel politics, cont.

• Arguments against
• Pork rewards special interests at the expense of
  taxpayers.
• Pork produces a biased distribution of spending
• Pork is the currency of corruption
• Pork distorts the competitive market, corrupts
  academia, and impedes scientific research
• Pork may override local priorities
• Pork entrenches incumbents
• Pork contributes to budget deficits

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Pork barrel politics, cont.

• Arguments for
• One persons waste is another persons essential
  spending (ice sled example)
• Necessary grease to the legislative process
  helps pass important legislation
• Only less than 1 of the federal budget
• Arguments against pork are often smokescreen for
  general opposition to government spending.
• Middle-ground reform adopted by Dems in 2007
  more openness and accountability. No more secret
  earmarks. However, stealth pork is on the
  rise. Rather than requiring earmarks, members of
  Congress ask nicely.

22
Frances Lees chapter

• Geography comes into play in terms of serving
  constituent interests more broadly than just
  pork.
• For geography to come into play, costs or
  benefits have to be concentrated by geographic
  area natural gas, coal, and oil agricultural
  products, etc.
• Senate versus House
• Interest groups links to constituency make
  their appeal more compelling.
• Public opinion and salience
• Pork is actually smaller as a of the budget
  today. Also, side-payments are unlikely because
  most margins on important bills are relatively
  large.

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Interest groups and lobbying

• Lobbying strategies insider (gaining access)
  vs. outsider (grassroots lobbying or going
  public). Textbook raises the issue of
  grassroots versus astroturf.
• Problems of insider lobbying Abramoff, Duke
  Cunningham, Ted Stevens. Laws to prevent abuses
  and corruption. Gives interests groups a bad
  name, but they still play an important role in
  politics.
• Litigation using the courts.
• Election politics -- electing sympathetic
  politicians. Likely to have a bigger long-run
  impact than trying to change politicians minds
  once they are in office.

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Race and Representation

• Some of this evidence is the most objective of
  any in the book The racial composition of
  members staff, location of members district
  offices, and racial composition of pictures in
  constituency newsletters did not require any
  subjective interpretation.
• The racial composition of members staff
• Why is this important?
• Differences between white and black members and
  difference/commonality members.
• Location of members district offices
• Finding about the commonality members was most
  interesting.

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Race and Representation, cont.

• Constituency newsletters why are these a good
  measure of racial representation?
• Content of stories
• Pictures in newsletter (maybe at least people
  look at the pictures, even if they dont read the
  newsletter).
• Newspaper coverage examined the racial content
  of more than 11,000 newspaper stories in the
  members districts and in the national
  newspapers. Nearly 4,900 of these stories came
  from African American weekly and daily papers.
• Measured the members point of view (if evident)
  and the topic of the story.
• Differences between African American weeklies and
  daily papers?
• Differences in coverage between white and CBC
  members and types of CBC members.