U'S' Congress Part I

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U.S. CongressPart I
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• You don't spend a lot of time thinking about
  Congress, do you? You're not alone. Many people
  are capable of having a great day without giving
  any thought to the workings of Congress, the
  presidency, the bureaucracy, or the court system.
  You may well be one of them. However, because we
  tend not to pay too much attention to our
  political institutions, it's easy to misinterpret
  what they do and how they do it.

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Congress The Constitution

• Article I of the U.S. Constitution focuses on
  Congress
• Congress is Bicameral
• House
• Senate
• Major Powers Outlined
• Article I, Section 8

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Getting to Congress

• Most people have a negative opinion of Congress
  as a whole and a positive one of their own
  representative.
• Running for Congress requires great motivation
  and commitmentand being in the right state or
  district to get elected.

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Drawing Lines

• Congressional districts are drawn every ten years
  based on the U.S. Census
• This is called Redistricting
• Each state has to have at least 1 district and
  each district within the state must have about
  the same number of people
• 1st House had 65 members increased to 105 after
  1790 census 1 per 33,000 people.
• Currently 435 (Reapportionment Act of 1929)
  about 1 per 635,000 people.

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Drawing Lines

• Redistricting can lead to intense political
  battles between political parties
• Every state has its own procedures
• Governors state legislators usually draw them
• Interest groups lobbyists often get involved
• Often, the courts have the final say, either
  because the governor and legislators couldn't
  arrive at a plan or because there's a question
  about the legality of the new districts.

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Drawing Lines

• States can lose districts as well as gain them
  every 10 years
• This can put long-time incumbents (members
  seeking re-election) against each other
• Because political parties are involved in the
  process redistricting can lead to some
  questionable practices strategies

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Gerrymandering

• Drawing district lines in a way that favors the
  electoral prospects of the party in power.
• Term comes based on Massachusetts Governor
  Elbridge Gerry signing off on a
  salamander-shaped district in
  1811
• Can lead to very odd shaped districts
• Racial gerrymandering is also used

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Running for CongressGeneral Factors to Consider

• Dominant political party in the district
• Constituent background political views
• Timing
• Opponent Are you facing an incumbent?
• Money
• Personal Advantages name recognition, charisma,
  party connections, etc.

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Running for Congress Constitutional Requirements

• At least twenty-five years old to serve in the
  House of Representatives and at least thirty for
  the Senate
• A resident of the state from which you're seeking
  election (not required to be from the district
  you are running in for the House)
• An American citizen for seven years to serve in
  the House of Representatives and nine years for
  the Senate

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Who Makes it to Congress?
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Who Makes it to Congress?
So, what of these apparent inequities between
congressional members and the populations they
represent? If Congress is largely an educated,
professional, white, male and Protestant bastion,
can it function as a representative institution?
The answer depends on how we look at the idea of
representation.
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Congressional Norms

• Specialization
• members of Congress should become experts in a
  legislative field
• Legislative Work
• members of Congress should stay on top of the
  work required by the committee that deals with
  their area of specialization
• Courtesy
• members of Congress should treat each other with
  respect and avoid personal attacks, regardless of
  how much they may disagree
• Institutional Patriotism
• members of Congress should not act or speak in
  ways that would discredit the institution
• Reciprocity
• encourages members of Congress to support each
  other's initiatives, even if there is no direct
  political benefit in doing so

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Congressional Norms

• Logrolling (reciprocity where members trade
  support for each other's pet projects) helps
  members get the kind of projects for their home
  districts that constituents loveand that can
  only help their reelection prospectsalthough
  it's often the case that one member's beneficial
  project is a case of wasteful spending, or
  pork-barrel, to those in other districts who do
  not benefit.

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Congressional Powers

• Enumerated Powers (Delegated)
• Granted specifically in the U.S. Constitution
• Include the powers to lay and collect taxes, to
  borrow money, to regulate commerce, to establish
  uniform rules of naturalization, to coin money
  and regulate the value thereof, to constitute
  courts inferior to the Supreme Court, to declare
  war, to raise an army and navy, to make rules for
  each, and to provide for calling forth the
  militia of the several states
• Implied Powers
• Not specified but considered a natural extension
  of enumerated powers
• Necessary and Proper Clause

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Congress House vs. Senate

• Senate
• Set s (2 per State)
• 100 members
• 6 year term
• Larger constituency
• More prestige
• More flexible rules
• Larger staff
• Must be 30 years old, citizen for 9 years state
  resident

• House
• Proportional Representation
• 435 members
• 2 year term
• Smaller constituency
• Less prestige
• More strict rule system
• Smaller staff
• Must be 25 years old, citizen for 7 years state
  resident

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House of Representatives

• In a simpler time, the first Congresses debated
  important matters as a group, and if legislation
  was deemed appropriate, a committee was
  established to discuss the nuts and bolts.
  However, it didn't take long before the need to
  process a growing workload led to the
  establishment of permanent or standing
  committees. Today, the House has nineteen
  standing committees (the Senate has sixteen), but
  even with that large number, many of the
  thousands of proposals introduced each session
  for consideration never make it to committee.

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Committee Work

• Standing Committees
• Permanent committees designed to address a
  certain topic
• Subcommittees
• Handles the detail work of legislation
• Select Committees
• Temporary committee that offers recommendations
• Rules Committee
• Specific only to the House
• Sets agenda rules on legislation, including
  debate time limit
• Joint Committees
• Combined committee of House Senate members on
  certain topic
• Conference Committees
• Combined committee of House Senate members to
  work out compromise legislation

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Senate

• The early Senate operated like the early House,
  first as a deliberative body then through the
  work of standing committees. Owing to its smaller
  size, it never faced quite the same pressures as
  the House to limit debate or control the flow of
  legislation. So, the Senate doesn't channel
  legislation through a Rules Committee, and
  senators maintain the privilege of unlimited
  debate time. This gives senators a legislative
  weapon not available to their colleagues in the
  House the filibuster. A filibuster can only be
  ended by a vote of cloture.

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Congress at Work

• Working in Committees
• Voting on Legislation
• Budget Making
• Bureaucracy Oversight
• Confirming Presidential Appointments
• Impeachment

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Congressional Leadership

• House of Representatives
• Speaker of the House
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

• Senate
• President of the Senate (Vice President of the
  US)
• President Pro Tempore
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

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Incumbent Advantages

• Name Recognition
• Franking Privilege
• Administrative Staff
• Casework
• Insider Contacts
• PACs, Interest Groups and Lobbyists
• Media Access

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Congress The President

• As the legislative branch of government,
  Congress has its hands in the development of both
  domestic and foreign policy. Of course, because
  power is separated among the branches of the
  federal government, Congress is continually
  engaged in a push-pull relationship with the
  president, sometimes spearheading the national
  agenda and sometimes following the president's
  lead.