POLS 206 Lecture 16 Outline of Previous Lecture o 11 3 American Bicameralism Congressional Leadership Committees and Subcommittees Caucuses Outline of Current Lecture o 11 4 How a Bill Becomes a Law Presidents and Congress Part Constituency Ideology o 11 5 Congress and Democracy Congress and the Scope of Government Ch 12 The Presidency o 12 1 Great Expectations Who They Are Lecture o Congressional staf Personal Staf Casework Legislative functions Committee Staf 2000 staf members Legislative oversight Staf agencies know for test Congressional Research Service CRS Headed by Library of Congress Get about 5000 requests for information every year Government Accountability Office GAO Investigate if bills are being implemented correctly and whether money is being spent correctly Congressional Budget Office CBO Make economic forecasts Policy predictions Tell congress how much things will cost they can only go buy what is in the bill 11 4 Know figure 11 2 how a bill becomes a law How a Bill Becomes a Law Goes to House and is sent to a committee In committee it can be pigeon holed it is basically dead Can receive a discharge petition to revive it 218 votes in house If passed then it goes to rules committee where debate rules are set and is then sent to House where it is debated If passed it then goes to Senate to repeat the process but without a rules committee Senate doesn t have as many rules on debate If passed it goes to conference committee to iron out diferences and is sent back to both Houses for vote If passed it goes to President for signature or veto Veto it goes back to congress and needs a 2 3 vote to overturn Presidents and Congress Partners and Protagonists President s legislative agenda Persuade Congress Work at the margins but usually win Yet Congress is quite independent Party Constituency and Ideology Party Influence Economic and social welfare policies Polarized politics Parties more internally homogeneous Less likelihood of compromise Constituency opinion vs member ideology Trustees versus instructed delegates Trustee make decisions on what they think is best for us Instructed delegate do what constituents want Politico combines the two o 11 5 Congress and Democracy Democracy depends upon representation Congress unrepresentative Members are elites Leadership chosen not elected Senate based on states not population Obstacles to good representation Constituent service Reelection campaigns Representativeness vs Efectiveness Congress and the Scope of Government Does the size of government increase to please the public Pork barrel spending Contradictory preferences Against large government for individual programs Ch 12 The Presidency o 12 1 Great Expectations Are expectations realistic Ensure peace prosperity and security Power does not match responsibility Cognitive dissonance Americans want a strong leader but fear concentration of power We want government to be small and limited yet solve all social and economic problems Who They Are Basic requirements Constitutionally Natural born citizen 35 years of age or older Resident of the US for previous 14 years White male protestant
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