OConnor and Sabato: Chapter 6: Congress

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OConnor and SabatoChapter 6 Congress

• Presentation 6.2 Membership and Organization

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Key Topics

• The members of Congress
• How Congress is organized

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The Members of Congress

• The difficulty of being a member of Congress
• Members must live and support themselves in two
  worlds Washington, DC their state/district
• Members, especially House members, must
  constantly raise money for the next campaign

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1i. Serving Multiple Masters

• Members must keep their constituents happy
• However, they also face pressures from other
  sources
• Lobbyists
• Party leaders
• Colleagues

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1ii. Keeping in Touch

• Most members make a serious effort to stay
  connected to their home state/district
• They send newsletters, hold town meetings, and
  rely on their district staffs to keep them
  updated on the sentiments of constituents
• The average rep has 17 staff members
• The average Sen. has 44 (varies w/ state pop.)

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1a. Running for Office Staying in Office

• The pool of aspirants is pretty large, but only
  535 get to serve as a representative or senator
• Membership in the Republican or Democratic party
  is usually necessary
• Most states discriminate against independents

Vermont has two independent in its congressional
caucusRep. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Jim Jeffords.
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1ai. The Power of Incumbency

• Once elected to office, members enjoy an
  advantage seeking reelection
• Outsiders rarely have the name recognition,
  resources or access to the media necessary to
  mount a successful challenge
• Reelection rate in the House averages 95-98 in a
  normal electoral cycle
• Senates rate is somewhat lower (65-80)

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1aii. Why do Incumbents Lose?

• Redistricting sometimes a members district is
  drawn by a hostile legislature
• Scandal members get caught
• Coattails a popular president sparks
  straight-ticket voting, pulling obscure
  challengers to victory

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1aiii. Profile of an Incumbent Loser

• Victim of a double whammy
• Chandra Levy scandal during a news-slow summer
• District redrawn to include more GOP voters

Gary Condit (D-CA). Picture courtesy
http//www.cnn.com/CNN.
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1aiv. The Term Limits Movement

• Began as a nation-wide movement in the late
  1980s
• Provoked by voter frustration at gridlock
  scandals in Congress and state legislatures
• A major plank in the 1994 GOP Contract With
  America

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1av. Terms Limits cont.

• Many states (including OK) passed term limit
  measures on state legislators
• Supreme Court ruled that state-mandated terms
  limits were unconstitutional
• 104th Congress proposed a term limit amendment
  (fell shy of the 2/3rds necessary votes)

Do you agree with term limits? What are the
advantages and disadvantages?
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1b. What Does Congress Look Like?

• Congress is better educated, more white, more
  male, and richer than the rest of the U.S.
• The Senate is known as the Millionaires Club

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1bi.Women in Congress

• The total number of women elected increased to 76
  in the 108th Congress
• 59 as voting members in the House
• 14 in the Senate

Loretta Linda Sanchez sworn in. Picture
courtesy www.house.gov.
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1bii. Women and Minorities in Congress
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1c. The Representational Role of Members of
Congress

• Who should be represented?
• What obligations do representatives owe to their
  constituents?
• Three different approaches

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1ci. The Trustee Approach

• Member of Parliament
• Believed that representatives should look to the
  interests of the entire country
• Representatives should use their own judgment to
  do whats best

Edmund Burke (1729-1787). Picture courtesy
Encarta.
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1cii. The Delegate Approach

• Derives from diplomacy delegates are empowered
  to speak on behalf of their leaders, but cannot
  go beyond their instructions
• Representatives are constrained to follow the
  direction of their constituents
• Their own judgment and opinions are irrelevant

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1ciii. The Politico Approach

• Few members of Congress follow either the trustee
  or delegate approach
• Under the politico model, representatives act
  like delegates when constituents care about an
  issue, and act like trustees in matters of little
  interest to their constituents

Can a man represent the interests of women? Can a
white person represent the interests of African
Americans and other minorities?
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2. How Congress is Organized

• A new Congress is seated and sworn in every two
  years
• The present Congress is in the 108th session
• Each body has a hierarchical leadership structure

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2a. House Organization
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2b. Senate Organization
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2c. The House of Representatives

• The House has always been much larger therefore
  has always been more tightly organized
• The leadership is composed of the Speaker,
  majority and minority leaders, and the majority
  and minority whips
• Today, deputy whips also play a larger role

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2ci. The Speaker of the House

• Only officer specifically mentioned in the
  Constitution
• Formally elected by the entire House at the
  beginning of each legislative session
• Traditionally, organizational elections are
  straight party-line votes
• Speaker is the leader of the majority party (229
  GOP 205 Dem 1 Independent)

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2cii. The Speaker cont.

• The Speaker presides over the House overseas
  House business
• The official liaison between House and the
  President
• The Speaker usually wields great influence within
  the House
• Expected to insure swift easy passage of
  party-supported legislation

The Speaker is next in the line of succession to
the VP in the event of a presidents death.
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2ciii. Speaker Profile

• Used GOPAC funds to help get GOP candidates
  elected
• Architect of the Contract With America
• Most powerful Speaker in recent history

Newt Gingrich (1943- ). Former GA Rep and
Speaker (1994-1998). Picture courtesy Encarta.
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2civ. The Present SpeakerRep. Dennis J. Hastert
(R-IL)

• Succeeded Bob Livingston
• Little known prior to elevation
• Considered to be a cautious pragmatic politician

Dennis Hastert (1942- ). Picture courtesy
www.house.gov.
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2cv. Other Floor Leaders

• The 2nd in command is the majority leader
• Along with the minority leader, they work closely
  with the Speaker
• The whip count votes discipline party members
• Term originated with the British sport of fox
  hunting
• Whippers were riders who kept the hounds in a
  pack

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2d. The Senate

• The Vice President presides over the Senate but
  is not a member
• Can only vote to break tie votes
• The official chair of the Senate is the President
  Pro Tempore
• Longest serving member of the majority party
• Present Pro Tempore Ted Stevens (R-AK)
• A largely honorary post, although also in the
  line of succession to the Presidency

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2di. The Senate cont.The Majority Leader

• The true leader of the Senate
• Elected by majority party
• Majority leader is much less powerful than the
  Speaker
• The majority party must be more sensitive to the
  sensibilities of the minority party in the Senate

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2dii. Majority Leader ProfileBill Frist (R-TN)

• The first practicing physician elected to the
  Senate since 1928
• A heart and lung surgeon prior to election to the
  Senate in 1994
• Majority leaders must be more solicitous of the
  other party and their own members

Sen. Bill Frist. Picture courtesy http//frist.sen
ate.gov.
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2e. The Role of Political Parties

• The organization of both the House and Senate is
  tied to the parties and their strength in each
  body
• The conference/caucus meets when organizational
  votes are called, and selects each bodys leaders
  
• Leadership, committee assignments, policy, etc.
  all relate to partisan affiliations

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2ei. The Committee System

• Congress in session is Congress on exhibition,
  whilst Congress in its committee rooms is
  Congress at work
• Committee work is critical to the productivity
  effectiveness of Congress

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). Picture courtesy
Encarta.
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3eii. Committees cont.

• Standing Committees the first last places most
  bills go
• Committee members usually play an important role
  in floor debate on the merits of a piece of
  legislation
• Committees are especially important in the House
  of Representatives

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3eiii. Types of Committees

• Standing committees continue from one
  legislative session to the next committees where
  most legislation is referred
• Ad hoc, special, or select committees temporary
  committees created for special purposes (usually
  special investigations)
• Joint committees include members from both
  houses to investigate or conduct special studies
• Conference committees a special joint committee
  that reconcile differences in bills passed by the
  House or Senate

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3eiv. Committees cont.

• Standing committees are very influential
• They can kill bills, amend them completely, or
  expedite their passage to the floor
• Bill can be forced out of a House committee by a
  discharge petition signed by a majority of the
  House membership

Discharge petitions are considered to be a
drastic measure, and members are usually
reluctant to anger powerful committee chairs.
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2eiii. Committee Membership

• Committee membership are to members what stocks
  are to investors
• they seek assignments that will add value to
  their portfolio
• Crucial issue electability
• Representatives are especially desirous of
  committees that give them access to the pork
  barrel

Pork barrel is legislation that allows
representatives to get valuable resources for
their districts, in form of public works
programs, military bases, or roads, bridges, etc.
that will materially benefit their districts.
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2eiv. Membership cont.

• Some members seek committee assignments that will
  help them with wealthy donors (See Billy Tauzin
  profile on Slide 41)
• Other assignments give them influence within the
  chamber (e.g. Appropriations and Budget Committee)

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2ev. Membership cont.The Distribution of
Committee Seats

• In both houses, committee membership reflects the
  party distribution in that chamber
• For example, the GOP has 53 of the seats in the
  House, and therefore get 52 membership on all
  committees
• If a committee had 25 members, the GOP would get
  13 seats
• Guarantees the majority party the outcomes they
  want as long as members vote with the party

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2eiv. Committee Chairs

• Chairperson have a great deal of power and
  influence
• A committee chair may kill a bill simply be
  declining to schedule hearings
• Much of the power of chairs comes from their
  influence over legislation and control of a large
  committee budget

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2ev. Committee Chairs

• Historically, committee chairs were the majority
  party member with the longest service on that
  committee (seniority)
• GOP instituted term limits on committee chairs (6
  years), but given extensive powers to appoint
  subcommittee chairs, call meeting, recommend
  majority members to sit on conference committees

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2evi. Committee Chair ProfileBilly Tauzin (R-LA)

• Chair of the House Energy Commerce Committee
• Accepted 1.5 million from business-related PACs
  in the last campaign cycle

Picture courtesy www.house.gov/tauzin.