Congress

1
Congress

• Chapter 6

2
Todays Congress Overview

• Congress occupies the center stage in national
  policy making.
• Electoral politics influences almost everything
  members of Congress do, collectively and
  individually.
• The majority party, through party leaders,
  directs and dominates the action in the House and
  Senate.
• The rules and organizational structures the House
  and Senate adopt have a deliberate and crucial
  effect on power and policy making.
• It is always easier to stop things from happening
  in Congress than to make things happen.

3
Congress in the Constitution

• The basic structure of Congress is the product of
  the Great Compromise at the Constitutional
  Convention.
• The compromise attempted to balance the demands
  of large states for national representation
  versus that of the small states for protection of
  states rights.
• The Framers created a bicameral legislature with
  distinct features of each chamber being designed
  to resolve the conflict.

4
The Compromise

• A House of Representatives, with seats allocated
  by population and members elected by the
  citizenry, and
• A Senate composed of two members from each state
  chosen by the state legislature.
• Not only did the institutional structure resolve
  the conflict of large versus small states, it
  also produced a solution to the debate over the
  appropriate degree of popular influence on
  government.

5
More Compromise

• A two year term for the House was a compromise
  between the annual elections advocated by many
  delegates and the three year term proposed by
  James Madison.
• A short tenure would keep this chamber close to
  the people.
• The Senate would be more insulated (and hopefully
  stable and dispassionate) from momentary shifts
  in the public mood by virtue of a longer term (in
  addition to their selection by state
  legislatures).

6
Qualification Differences

• Qualifications for office also reflected the
  Framers concept of the Senate as the more
  mature of the two chambers.
• The minimum age for the House members was set at
  25 years, whereas it was set at 30 for the
  Senate.
• House members were required to be citizens for at
  least 7 years, whereas for senators it was 9
  years.
• Both were required to reside in the state they
  represented.

7
Qualifications for Office Holding

• The property-holding and religious qualifications
  included in many state constitutions were
  explicitly rejected, as was a proposal to forbid
  a members reelection to office after serving a
  term.
• The Articles had included a reelection
  restriction, but the Framers thought it had
  weakened Congress by depriving it of some of its
  most effective members.

8
Powers of Congress

• The Constitution established a truly national
  government by giving Congress broad power over
  crucial economic matters.
• Article I, Section 8, sets out the enumerated
  powers of Congress (ex. impose taxes, regulate
  interstate and foreign commerce).
• At the end of this list they added a clause
  authorizing Congress to make all Laws which
  shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
  Execution the foregoing Powers. We refer to
  this as the necessary and proper (or elastic)
  clause.

9
The Necessary and Proper Clause

• This clause has provided the single most
  extensive grant of power in the Constitution,
  giving Congress authority over many different
  spheres of public policy.

10
Other Areas of Congressional Authority

• Congress was given significant authority in
  foreign affairs as well.
• Only Congress may declare war, raise and finance
  an army and navy, and call out the state
  militias.
• The Senate was granted some special powers over
  foreign relations. In its advise and consent
  capacity, the Senate ratifies treaties and
  confirms presidential appointments.

11
Other Areas of Congressional Authority

• The Senate also approves presidential
  appointments to the Supreme Court and top
  executive branch positions.
• To a degree, the Framers envisioned the Senate
  acting as an advisory council to the president.
• Also reflects the Framers belief that the more
  aristocratic and insulated of the two houses
  would keep a steadier eye on the countrys
  long-term interests.

12
Achieving Balance

• In distributing power between the House and
  Senate, the delegates sought a proper balance of
  authority. Much debate was given to which chamber
  would have the authority to raise and spend
  money.
• The final compromise required that bills raising
  revenue originate in the House, with the Senate
  having an unrestricted right to amend them.

13
Achieving Balance

• Finally, the president was used as a means to
  further the balance of power by giving the
  executive branch the authority to recommend new
  laws and call Congress into special session --
  and, most important, the power to veto laws
  passed by Congress, killing them unless
  two-thirds of each chamber votes to override the
  veto.

14
The Electoral System

• Two choices made by the Framers of the
  Constitution have profoundly affected the
  electoral politics of Congress
• Members of Congress and presidents are elected
  separately.
• Members of Congress are elected from states and
  congressional districts by plurality vote that
  is, whoever gets the most votes wins.

15
Separate Elections

• While we elect our president and congressional
  representatives separately, parliamentary systems
  elect a legislature which then determines who
  will be the chief executive (the prime minister
  or premier).

16
Single Member Districts/Plurality Winners

• They also employ a proportional system, which
  gives a party a share of seats in the legislature
  matching the share of votes it wins on election
  day.
• Thus voters choose among parties, not individual
  candidates, and candidates need not have a local
  connection.
• Members of Congress are elected from states and
  congressional districts by plurality vote that
  is, whoever gets the most votes wins.

17
Congressional Districts

• After the first census in 1790, each state was
  allotted one House seat for every 33,000
  inhabitants for a total of 105 seats.
• Total membership was finally fixed at its current
  ceiling of 435 in 1911 when House leaders
  concluded that further growth would impede the
  Houses work.
• However, the size of each states delegation may
  change after each decennial census as
  state/region populations shift.

18
Congressional Districts

• Federal law may apportion House seats among
  states after each census, but each state draws
  the lines that divide its territory into the
  requisite number of districts.
• This has been the focus of a number of Supreme
  Court cases, as politics has intruded into the
  process of drawing districts.

19
Redistricting and the Law

• In 1964 the Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v.
  Sanders that districts must have equal
  populations.
• In Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) the Court ruled
  that district lines may not dilute minority
  representation, but neither may they be drawn
  with race as the predominant consideration.
• Within these limits states can draw districts
  pretty much as they please.

20
Redistricting and the Law

• If one party controls the legislature and the
  governorship, it may attempt to draw lines to
  favor its own candidates. This is called
  gerrymandering.
• The constitutionality of this practice has been
  challenged in court, but without great success.
• In Davis v. Bandemer (1986), the Court held that
  a gerrymander would be unconstitutional if it
  were too unfair to one of the parties, but as yet
  no districting scheme has run afoul of this vague
  standard.

21
Redistricting and the Law

• The Thornburg decision required that legislative
  district lines not discriminate, even
  unintentionally, against racial minorities.

22
Redistricting and the Law

• North Carolina legislators carved out two
  majority African American districts that
  eventually came before the Court.
• The Court decided in 1993 that such irregular
  districts went too far and in 1995 that districts
  could not be drawn solely to benefit one race.

23
Election of Senators

• The 50 Senate constituencies entire states
  may not change boundaries with each census,
  though they vary greatly in size of population.
• Sen. Feinstein of CA -- 34 million people.
• Sen. Enzi of WY -- 494,000 people.
• Average U.S. House member represents 647,000
  people.
• Nine largest states are home to 51 percent of
  total U.S. population.
• Leads to unequal representation. Does this matter?

24
Election of Senators

• Until the ratification of the Seventeenth
  Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state
  legislatures.
• Most Americans had long since concluded that this
  method of selection was undemocratic and
  corrupting. Charges of bribery.
• But it was not until the peak of Progressivism
  that senators were convinced to agree to a
  constitutional amendment providing for their
  popular election.

25
Congress and Electoral Politics

• The modern Congress is organized to serve the
  goals of its members.
• Primary goal Keep their jobs!
• Thus a career in Congress depends on getting
  elected and reelected again and again.

26
The Advantages of Incumbency

• The decline in party loyalty among voters offered
  incumbents a chance to win votes that once would
  have gone routinely to the other party's
  candidate.
• Moreover, when they realized their advantage,
  they sought to increase it by voting to give
  themselves greater resources for servicing their
  districts.
• More money for staff, travel, local offices, and
  communications.

27
The Advantages of Incumbency

• Their service orientation has been one of the
  reasons for their high return rate to office.
• So why are incumbents so worried about reelection
  all the time?

28
Because

• The incumbency advantage does not accrue
  automatically to officeholders it stems from
  diligent use of the many resources that come with
  holding office.
• Incumbents win reelection because they work so
  hard at it.
• They work to discourage opponents (more difficult
  for senators to do and they are more vulnerable
  to defeat).
• They are highly responsive to their
  constituencies (but members of the Senate are
  more readily associated with controversial and
  divisive issues).

29
The Incumbency Advantage

• Members of Congress solicit and process casework
  (requests from constituents for information and
  help in dealing with government agencies).

30
The Incumbency Advantage

• Although senators engage in many of the same
  constituency-building activities, they have not
  been as successful in keeping their jobs.
• Three times more likely to lose their seats than
  House incumbents.
• Why?

31
The Senate Disadvantage

• States more populous and diverse than
  congressional districts -- most senators unable
  to develop the personal ties to constituents that
  House members do.
• States more than districts have balanced party
  competition.
• Senate races attract more experienced,
  politically talented, well-financed challengers.
• States have media markets that make it easier for
  challengers to get their message out.
• Senators more readily associated with
  controversial and divisive issues.

32
National Politics in Congressional Elections

• National forces have always been a component of
  congressional election politics and are still
  important.
• In general, congressional candidates are
  advantaged when their presidential candidate
  wins.
• Today, presidents may have shorter coattails
  (metaphor for the capacity of a successful
  presidential candidate to pull the party's other
  candidates into office) than they did in the
  nineteenth century, but they are still
  significant.

33
National Politics in Congressional Elections

• In midterm elections the president's party almost
  always loses congressional seats, but the size of
  its losses depends in part on the performance of
  the national economy and the president.
• Losses are fewer if the economy is strong and the
  president is popular.
• Although the Democrats lost seats in 1994, as
  Clinton's approval rating sagged and voters had
  doubts about the economy, they actually gained
  seats -- against many predictions -- in 1998.
• Clinton's public approval rating was 20 points
  higher and the economy was booming in 1998.

34
Representation versus Responsibility

• Different electoral processes produce different
  forms of representation
• Party centered here legislators represent
  citizens by carrying out the policies promised by
  the party and are held responsible for their
  party's performance in governing. So they work to
  ensure the success of the party in government.
• Candidate centered here there is more incentive
  to be individually responsive rather than
  collectively responsible.

35
The Electoral Logic of Congressional Members

• Electoral logic induces members to promote
  narrowly targeted programs, projects, or tax
  breaks for constituents without worrying about
  the impacts of such measures on spending or
  revenues.
• We see the manifestation of this logic in
  behavior such as logrolling the legislative
  practice in which members of Congress agree to
  reciprocally support each other's vote-gaining
  projects or tax breaks.

36
The 1994 Move to Party Politics

• A noticeable shift away from the
  candidate-centered toward a more party-centered
  electoral politics was evident in 1994
  (Republicans drove this shift) and in 1996
  (motivated by Democrats).
• In each case the party coordinated efforts
  (generally motivated by party officeholders) to
  inject national issues into the campaign and
  present a unified agenda for change.

37
Balancing the Needs of the Many with the Needs of
the Few

• Electoral incentives make legislators hesitant to
  impose direct costs on identifiable groups in
  order to produce greater but more diffuse
  benefits to all citizens.
• At times congressional majorities have been able
  to solve this dilemma by
• Delegating authority to the executive branch or
  state governments
• Framing their choice in a way that highlights
  credit for the general benefits while minimizing
  individual responsibility for the specific costs

38
Balancing the Needs of the Many with the Needs of
the Few

• In broader language, members must seek to make
  the electoral payoffs from disregarding special
  interests to benefit a broader public outweigh
  the costs.
• An essential ingredient for success with this
  strategy is that the issue must be important to
  many voters.

39
Who Serves in Congress?

• Congressional members are not representative of
  the public at large.
• Most are college graduates (39 have law
  degrees).
• Many have business backgrounds, but most come
  from professional fields in general.
• Only a few have blue collar backgrounds.
• Most held prior elected office.
• Women and racial minorities continue to be
  underrepresented. Do you think this makes a
  difference?

40
Who Serves in Congress?

• After the 2000 elections the Senate included
  thirteen women and one Native American the House
  included fifty-nine women, thirty-six African
  Americans, and nineteen Hispanics.
• Congress remains overwhelmingly white and male
  because white males still predominate in the
  lower-level public offices and private careers
  that are the most common steppingstones to
  Congress.

41
The Basic Problems of Legislative Organization

• While the Constitution outlined a basic framework
  for Congress, throughout two centuries the
  institution has evolved into a complex mix of
  rules, procedures, and customs.
• To understand the House and Senate, one must
  understand what representatives and senators want
  to accomplish and what obstacles they have to
  overcome to achieve their goals.

42
The Basic Problems of Legislative Organization

• To exercise the powers conferred on them by the
  Constitution, the House and Senate had to solve
  some basic problems
• How to acquire information
• How to coordinate action
• How to resolve conflicts
• How to get members to work for common as well as
  personal goals.

43
The Need for Information

• A legislator cannot regulate the the stock market
  or attack environmental pollution without having
  key information related to these areas.
• Congress has attempted to solve the problem by
  utilizing division of labor and specialization as
  tools.
• By becoming specialists (or employing them) in
  policy areas, and by creating a support
  foundation of information gatherers and
  interpreters, they can make more informed
  decisions.

44
Coordination Problems

• Coordination (trying to act in concert) becomes
  more difficult (and necessary) the greater the
  groups workload and the more elaborate its
  division of labor.
• As Congress has grown, it has had greater need
  for traffic management.
• Congress has used its party leaders to act as the
  traffic cops giving them power to manage the
  business of legislating and control over the
  agenda.

45
Resolving Conflicts

• Legislation is not passed until the majorities in
  both houses agree to its passage.
• Many of Congresss rules, customs, and procedures
  are aimed at resolving or deflecting conflicts so
  it can get on with the business of legislating.
• Norms of collegiality.
• Parties are ready made coalitions.

46
Collective Action

• The problem what members do to pursue individual
  goals may undermine the reputation of their party
  or of Congress as a whole.
• The tension between individual and collective
  political welfare -- the standard prisoners
  dilemma -- pervades congressional life.
• The committee system, however, gives members
  individual incentives to work for collectively
  beneficial ends. How?
• Seniority rules automate decisions as to who
  serves on committees, etc. This minimizes the
  time and effort members might spend competing for
  these positions.

47
Collective Action

• In trying to meet its many challenges, Congress
  must cope with another pressing problem high
  transaction costs.
• The costs of doing politics.
• Congress has organized itself to reduce those
  costs that can be reduced.
• One way is the use of fixed rules to automate
  decisions.
• What is an example?

48
Organizing Congress

• The two most crucial institutional structures
  created to exercise Congresss constitutional
  powers are
• the party system, and
• the committee system.
• Without them it would be difficult to overcome
  the barriers to effective collective action.

49
The Parties

• Decisions in the House and Senate are made
  generally by majority vote.
• This reality creates powerful incentives for
  members of Congress to both join and maintain
  durable coalitions (political parties).
• These tend to arise when people realize that it
  is in their best interests to cooperate despite
  their disagreements.
• Party coalitions are assembled and maintained by
  party leaders. And members are required to
  relinquish some of their freedoms so that leaders
  can maintain the coalition.

50
Development of Congressional Parties

• Parties began to form in the very first session
  of the first Congress.
• Two coalitions (or factions), one led by Hamilton
  (who advocated a strong national economic
  development plan) and the other led by Jefferson
  and Madison who opposed the plan, formed.
• Both realized that in order to prevail they must
  win over more support in Congress, so they
  attempted to recruit and elect like-minded
  individuals to Congress.
• These factions soon had names Hamiltons
  Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans
  (Democratic-Republicans).

51
Development of Congressional Parties

• When the House and Senate divided into parties,
  congressional and party leadership merged.
• This leadership was stronger in the House as its
  collective action problems were more acute.
• Elected by the reigning majority, the Speaker of
  the House became the majoritys leader and agent.
• The centralized authority of the Speakership
  reached its peak under Speaker Reed, Republican
  from Maine, who was given tremendous authority
  that he used to influence House activities.
• At this time the Republican Party was not
  factionalized service in the House had not yet
  become a career.

52
The Importance of Consensus

• The degree of consensus within a party continues
  to affect how much authority party members are
  willing to delegate to party leaders.
• When there is broad and deep agreement, there is
  more cohesion among the coalition. Conformity
  costs are not as high in this circumstance and
  the benefits to the party of surmounting
  coordination and other collective action problems
  tend to be viewed positively.

53
The Importance of Consensus

• Over the decades, there has been significant
  variation in the coordinating ability of parties
  in Congress.
• Since the 1950s there has been a decline and
  resurgence of congressional partisanship.
• As they have become more unified, they also
  become more polarized along ideological lines.
• Republicans grew more conservative.
• Democrats became more liberal as their partys
  conservative southern members were gradually
  replaced in Congress by Republicans.

54
Party Organization

• The majority party in the House is lead by the
  Speaker of the House, whose chief assistants are
  the majority leader and the majority whip.
• The minority party has a minority leader and
  party whips to lead them.
• The Rules Committee is, in effect, also a tool of
  the majority party.
• Party members give House party leaders resources
  for inducing members to cooperate when they are
  tempted to go their own way as free riders. These
  resources take the form of favors they may grant
  or withhold (committee assignments, direction of
  the legislative agenda).

55
Party Organization

• For the minority party in the House, legislative
  leadership is less important because the partys
  legislative role is modest.
• When the party balance is very close, minority
  leaders can sometimes influence legislation by
  forming alliances with more moderate members of
  the majority party.
• When it is not, minority leaders have two
  options
• Cooperate, exert some influence, and get little
  credit
• Oppose and attack and position party for future
  elections.

56
Parties and Party Leaders in the Senate

• Senators have never delegated as much authority
  to their leaders as have representatives.
• The norm of equality (ambassadors from their
  states to the national government) led them to
  retain wider freedoms of individual action.

57
Parties and Party Leaders in the Senate

• Under the Constitution, the vice president is the
  presiding officer of the Senate.
• The designated president pro tempore presides
  when the vice president is absent.
• Neither office is a real leadership role in the
  Senate.
• And it was not until the 19th century that
  senators delegated some authority to party
  leaders. The positions of majority leader and
  minority leader were not formalized until 1913.

58
Parties and Party Leaders in the Senate

• Party leadership in the Senate is more collegial
  and less formal than in the House.
• The minority party has greater influence in the
  Senate because so much of that bodys business is
  conducted under unanimous consent agreements
  negotiated by party leaders.
• These agreements, which can be killed by a single
  objection, might govern the order in which bills
  are considered and the length of debate allotted
  to them.
• In general, party leaders in both chambers can
  lead only to the degree that their members allow
  them.

59
Other Groups in Congress

• Although parties are by far the most important of
  Congresss coalitions, other groups have formed
  as well
• Ideological groups (House Progressive Caucus,
  Mainstream Conservative Alliance)
• Demographic groups (Congressional Black Caucus,
  Caucus for Womens Issues)
• Bipartisan regional groups (Western Caucus,
  Northeast Agricultural Caucus)
• Bipartisan economic groups (Steel Caucus, Textile
  Caucus)
• Issue groups (Pro-Life Caucus, Pro-Choice Caucus)

60
The Committee Systems Evolution

• The first Congresses delegated authority to
  committees sparingly.
• The first Congresses would turn into a Committee
  of the Whole. Here the entire body would act as a
  committee with more flexible rules. Here they
  would frame a piece of legislation, elect a
  temporary committee to draft the bill, then
  debate and amend the bill line by line.
• After that they would rise as the House and vote
  on the bill.
• This was a very cumbersome process.

61
The Committee Systems Evolution

• For this reason by 1809, the House created ten
  permanent committees to which it delegated more
  work. By 1825, 28 were in place.
• Transaction costs were further reduced by having
  committees appointed by the Speaker rather than
  elected.
• As the Speaker emerged as leader of the majority
  party, appointments to committees became partisan
  with the best positions becoming rewards for
  party loyalty and bargaining chips for those
  pursuing the office of Speaker.

62
The Committee Systems Evolution

• The Senate was slower to set up permanent
  committees. But despite their small numbers and
  lighter workload, senators eventually turned to
  standing committees.
• Twelve were established in 1816. By 1841 there
  were twenty-eight. Today there are sixteen.
• In the Senate, the seniority rule became the
  criterion for selecting committee chairs the
  office was rewarded to the majority party member
  with the longest tenure in the committee. This
  avoided intra-party squabbles and kept power out
  of the hands of party leaders.

63
Standing Committees

• The standing committees of the House and Senate
  those that exist from one Congress to the next
  unless disbanded embody Congresss division of
  legislative labor.
• Standing committees have fixed jurisdictions and
  stable memberships, which facilitates
  specialization.
• A member in good standing cannot be forced off a
  standing committee unless his or her party
  suffers large electoral losses party ratio
  determines the partisan makeup of committees.
• Members, however, can leave committees
  generally for a position on a committee
  considered more important and influential such as
  the money committees (e.g., Ways Means).

64
Standing Committees

• Most committees are divided into subcommittees,
  many of which also have fixed jurisdictions and
  stable memberships.
• Each has staffs of experts to help members who
  serve on the committee do their work. Most staff
  report to the chair, however the ranking minority
  members also control a much smaller set of staff
  assistants.

65
Other Committees

• Congress also forms special, select, joint, ad
  hoc, and conference committees.
• In theory most special and select committees are
  appointed to deal with a specific problem and
  then disappear. Most, like the Senates Select
  Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran
  and the Nicaraguan Opposition, end after a year.
• Joint committees are permanent committees
  composed of members from both chambers the
  leadership positions rotate between the chambers
  at the beginning of each Congress.
• These committees gather information and oversee
  the executive but do not report legislation.

66
Other Committees

• In the House, the Speaker occasionally appoints
  ad hoc committees to handle bills that are
  particularly sensitive (the 1989 pay raise bill,
  for example).
• Conference committees are appointed to resolve
  differences between the House and the Senate.

67
Committee Power

• Numerous changes in Congress have negated some of
  the power of earlier committee chairs.
• Particular changes in the late 1950s and mid
  1970s produced a fragmented and decentralized
  committee system that impeded collective action
  because coordination was so difficult.
• What were some of the actions?
• When the Republicans took over the House in 1995,
  they revised the committee rules to ensure that
  the legislative agenda as outlined in the
  Contract with America would move swiftly to
  enactment.

68
Jurisdiction

• In the House, does international trade policy
  fall within the jurisdiction of the Commerce
  Committee or International Relations Committee?
  What are some other conflicts?
• Committees and subcommittees compete for
  jurisdiction over important policy areas.
• Within Congress, the constant pressure to
  multiply standing committees and subcommittees
  arises out of the increasing complexity, volume,
  and scope of legislation and members desires to
  serve as chairs for their own political reasons.

69
Jurisdiction

• Why is it so hard to distribute committee
  jurisdictions more sensibly?
• Changes redistribute power and upset
  long-established relationships among committee
  members, administrative agencies, and interest
  groups.

70
Jurisdiction

• Multiple referrals -- sending bills, in whole or
  piece by piece, to several committees at the same
  time or in a sequence.
• Rules adopted by the Republicans after 1994 do
  not allow the Speaker to assign the same bill, in
  its entirety, to more than one committee at a
  time, but do permit sequential and split
  referrals (different sections of the bill sent to
  different committees).

71
The Money Committees

• In the earliest years of government, revenue and
  spending bills were handled by Ways and Means in
  the House and Finance in the Senate.
• During the 1860s the spending power was
  transferred to a separate Appropriations
  Committee in each house to help deal with the
  financial demands of the Civil War.
• Later, this monopoly of spending power was
  broken, but eventually restored in favor of
  parsimony.

72
Legislative Spending

• Today legislative spending is a two-step process
  in each chamber.
• In step one, the committee with jurisdiction over
  a program authorizes expenditures for it, and in
  step two, the Appropriations Committee
  appropriates the money that is it writes a bill
  designating that specific sums be spent on
  authorized programs.

73
Budget Reform

• Budgetary self-control in Congress eroded as
  institutional change took place.
• One of these changes was the erosion of the
  impoundment constraint.
• Congress had come to rely on the president to
  impound -- refuse to spend -- some of the funds
  authorized and appropriated by Congress in order
  to keep spending totals from reaching
  unacceptable levels.
• When Nixon turned this into a partisan weapon,
  Congress passed a law which subjected
  presidential impoundment authority to their
  control.
• Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

74
Budget Reform

• Congress also established a Budget Committee in
  each chamber to oversee the coordination of
  taxing and spending policies.
• It instituted procedures and timetables for
  setting budget targets, and reconciling bills
  with budgetary targets.
• This new system was designed to keep Congress
  fiscally responsible.

75
Budget Reform

• But its unintended consequence was that budget
  deficits grew as partisan politics produced goals
  that were not reconcilable lower taxes and
  maintaining popular domestic spending programs.
• Budget confrontations continued until a booming
  economy made it possible for an agreement to be
  reached. But the emergence once again of a slow
  economy revived conflict.
• In budgeting, politics continues to dominate
  process.

76
Congressional Staff and Support Groups

• As Congresss workload has expanded, so has its
  staff.
• Personal staff assistants manage members offices
  in Washington and at home. They draft bills,
  suggest policy, write press releases, do
  casework, and so on.
• Members receive additional help from several
  specialized research agencies the General
  Accounting Office and the Congressional Research
  Service.

77
Congressional Staff and Support Groups

• The CBO provides Congress with the economic
  expertise it needs to make informed fiscal
  decisions and to hold its own in conflicts with
  the presidential administrations OMB. Also helps
  members with economic information about their own
  states.

78
Making Laws

• Congresss rules and structures the parties and
  committee systems are designed to enable
  majorities to make laws.
• The lawmaking process, however, presents
  opponents of a bill with many opportunities to
  sidetrack or kill legislation.

79
Introducing Legislation

• Only members may submit legislation to the House
  or Senate.
• Proponents of bills often try to line up
  cosponsors both to build support (by sharing
  credit) and to display it (increasing the chances
  for legislative action).
• The parties and the president (with the
  cooperation of congressional friends) also use
  legislative proposals to stake out political
  positions and to make political statements.

80
Assignment to Committee

• After a bill is introduced, it is assigned a
  number and referred to a committee.
• Once a bill has been referred to a committee, the
  most common thing that happens next is NOTHING.
• Most bills die of neglect.
• If a committee decides on further action, the
  bill may be taken up directly by the full
  committee, but more commonly it is referred to
  the appropriate subcommittee.

81
Hearings

• Once the subcommittee decides to act, it (or the
  full committee) may hold hearings, inviting
  interested people to testify in person or in
  writing about the issue at stake and proposals to
  deal with it.
• Hearings also provide a formal occasion for
  Congress to monitor the administration of the
  laws and programs it enacts.

82
Reporting a Bill

• If the subcommittee decides to act on a bill, it
  marks it up drafts it line by line and
  reports it to the full committee.
• The full committee then accepts, rejects, or
  amends the bill (usually in deference to the
  subcommittee).
• If accepted, it is reported out of committee. The
  written report that accompanies it is the most
  important source of information on legislation
  for members of Congress not on the committee as
  well as other people interested in the
  legislation.
• These reports summarize the bills purposes,
  major provisions, and changes from existing law.

83
Scheduling Debate

• When a committee agrees to report a bill to the
  floor, the bill is put on the House or Senate
  calendar.
• In the House controversial or important bills are
  placed on the Union Calendar (money bills) or the
  House Calendar (other public bills).
• Then the bill goes to the Rules Committee to
  receive a rule that specifies when and how long a
  bill will be debated and under what procedures.
• The Rules Committee may require some revision of
  the legislation before allowing it to proceed.

84
Scheduling Debate

• The Senate does not have a Rules Committee.
• Thus, the leaders of both parties routinely
  negotiate unanimous consent agreements (UCAs) to
  arrange for the orderly consideration of
  legislation.
• UCAs are similar to rules in that they limit
  time for debate, determine which amendments are
  allowable, and provide waivers of Senate rules.
  In the absence of a UCA, anything goes.

85
Scheduling Debate

• There is no limit on how long senators can talk
  or how many amendments they can offer.
• Individuals or small groups can even filibuster
  hold the floor making endless speeches so that no
  action can be taken on a bill or anything else.
  These are difficult to break.
• The Senate requires 3/5s of the Senate (60
  votes) to invoke cloture, which allows an
  additional 30 hours of debate on a bill before a
  vote is finally taken.
• Even the threat of a filibuster can be a potent
  tool.

86
Debate and Amendment

• In the House the time for debate is divided
  equally between the proponents and opponents of a
  bill.
• Each sides time is controlled by a floor
  manager.
• If amendments to a bill are allowed under the
  rule, they must be germane (pertinent) to the
  bill. Riders (extraneous matters) are not
  allowed.
• Floor debates do not change many minds because
  politicians are rarely swayed by words. These
  activities are for the public. Why?
• In the Senate, floor action does more to shape
  legislation. And bills can change on the Senate
  floor more than they can in the House. Here
  amendments need not be germane.

87
The Vote

• The fate of legislation is decided by a series of
  votes rather than a single one. The process is
  complex, as strategic members attempt to
  introduce killer amendments or move to recommit
  before the final vote.

88
How do Members Decide How to Vote?

• They consider primarily their own views, those of
  their constituents, and the advice of
  knowledgeable and trusted colleagues.
• Members rely on the relevant constituency those
  who care, pay attention, and are not securely in
  the other partys camp for their support will
  be affected by how the member handles the issue.

89
The Conference

• Once passed, a bill is sent to the other chamber
  for consideration (if some version has not
  already been passed there). Often, the chambers
  pass differing versions of a bill.
• Reconciliation of these differing bills is the
  job of the conference committee.

90
The Conference

• Each chamber appoints a conference delegation
  that includes members of both parties, usually
  from among the standing committee members most
  actively involved for and against the
  legislation.
• The size of the delegation depends on the
  complexity of the legislation. The House
  delegation to the conference handling the 1300
  page Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 consisted
  of 130 representatives from 8 different
  committees. The Senate got by with a delegation
  of nine from two committees.
• They are supposed to reconcile differences in the
  two versions of the bill without adding or
  subtracting from the legislation. In practice
  they sometimes do both.

91
The Conference

• Once conferees reach agreement on a bill, they
  report the details to each chamber.
• If both chambers approve the report, the bill is
  sent to the president.
• If differences cannot be reconciled the bill
  dies. This outcome is unusual, however. If the
  bill gets that far, it is likely to have enough
  support to make it through.

92
To the President

• Upon receiving a bill from Congress, the
  president has the choice of signing the bill into
  law ignoring the bill, with the result that it
  becomes law in ten days (not counting Sundays)
  or vetoing the bill.
• If Congress adjourns before the ten days are up,
  the bill fails (pocket veto).
• When presidents veto a bill, they usually send a
  message to Congress, and therefore to all
  Americans, that explains why they took such
  action.

93
To the President

• Congressional override of a presidential veto
  requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber. If
  the override succeeds, the bill becomes law. This
  rarely occurs.
• Even the threat of a veto is enough to motivate
  Congress to abandon a particular bill.

94
A Bias Against Action

• It is far easier to kill a bill than to pass one.
• Passage requires a sustained sequence of
  victories.
• Opponents need only win once to defeat a bill.
• Dead bills, however, can be revived and
  reintroduced.
• Defeats are never final, but neither are most
  victories.

95
Evaluating Congress

• Despite all of its faults (and the publics
  general disdain for its occupants), the U.S.
  Congress is the most powerful and independent
  legislature in the world.
• But had Congress not evolved the organizational
  structure and tools to carry out the mandate
  given it by the Constitution, it could not have
  succeeded.
• While we often characterize congressional
  politics as gridlock at its best, the amazing
  fact is that Congress overcomes its collective
  action problems at all.