Goals of Congress 1 Make good public policy 2 Move up in their career more power a More power more good you can do b More power more power 3 Reelection Members of congress begin raising money as soon as they are elected Representatives can act as delegates Delegate The people chose me to act as their spokesperson in Washington They only get to choose someone who will speak for them because they don t vote for congress Member of congress doesn t have a strong opinion but the people back home do Trustee you chose me so I m going to make the decisions because I know more than you I don t need to know what you want because I ll choose what is best If people back home don t know or don t care but member of Congress has strong opinions If member feels strongly people back home feel strongly and they agree no difference between trustee and delegate EASISEST If member feels strongly people back home feel strongly and they disagree what will member of Congress do Vote against people who elected you OR vote for what those people want Most will go with their principles but not what always happens Most issues aren t salient so this doesn t happen very often Not issues that people know or care about Field of forces Cue taking model take cues from others because neither members nor people care or know very much about the issue consult with people 1 Consult with your party 2 Consult with other members of Congress know trust expertise a Usually members of their own party but not necessarily 3 Consult with President a Members very nervous about opposing President 4 Consult with their staff experts 5 Consult with interest groups a Any group that represents a certain point of view b Will come to the members of Congress Speaker of the House Whips whip party in line If you strike a King strike to kill Some committees are very powerful some aren t some are important to certain members of Congress but not others A lot of ways to stop legislation subcommittee committee congress both houses conference committee same wording of bill exactly president 435 members of House 100 members of Senate House each member becomes specialist in only one committee Senate every member is on multiple committees and they are generalist How much time to allow for debate House much less because so many members Senate much less members so unlimited debate Rules Committee House set formal rules Ex allow how much debate time allow amendments or not Senators can filibuster people start to leave and vote is delayed because not enough members to vote Record 1950s filibuster for 23 hours straight