POLS206 LECTURE 8 7 18 13 Congress and the Constitution Known as The First Branch Article 1 of the constitution Has authority to make laws and control funds Also has power to tax spend coin money declare war Congress is the 1st branch of equals and has authority to make laws shared by both chambers Congress is powerful collectively but individual member of congress MC s are usually relatively weak EXCEPTIONS speaker of the house strong Senate Majority Leader somewhat strong individual Congress members especially senators because of fillbuster who ve managed to draw national attention Why is congress collectively strong but individuals are usually weak o There are 535 MC s so collective power is divided many ways Congress is so large that it requires coordination o as we learned coordination issues and collective action problems can be hard to overcome All bills require approval by both houses on exact language o Two chambers make passing legislation a slow process o Also minority is powerful enough in the senate to sometimes block majority fillbuster only in the senate holding the floor by talking congressional action Also unlike the President because of their large number most members of congress are faceless not a lot of media attention to the voting public Because most people couldn t recognize their faces Members of congress have limited celebrity influence for spreading desired messages Most Members of Congress cant just call a press conference and get widespread attention Congress and the Constitution CONTINUED The constitution is designed so congress is collectively powerful o But individual Members of congress are weak o And congress is slow to do most things As a result in crises Congress tends to cede power to President o Who is constitutionally designed to be able to act swiftly decisively in the areas where he is powerful The President usually holds on to power Congress gives him o EXAMPLE THE POWER TO VETO Congress The Public The following is a commonly known truth among people who study American Politics o Americans like their Members of Congress but HATE congress as a whole o House member RE ELECTION rate is 90 Historically Congress is almost ALWAYS the LEAST popular of the three branches Recently Public approval of Congress is horrible even for Congress o Yesterday RCP Congresses Approval Rating average 13 6 which is terrible Remember 3 years ago when BP had that oil spill o After that tragedy BPs approval rating was STILL HIGHER than Congress today Due to low approval o Members of Congress commonly run their election or reelection campaigns against congress WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE THEIR MEMBER OF CONGRESS BUT HATE CONGRESS AS A WHOLE o ANSWER I feel like that they re happy with the area that their Member of Congress represents but dislikes and disagrees with Congress Decisions as a whole Potential reasons why people tend to love their Member of congress but hate Congress as a whole o Relatively low expectations of their Members of congress but high expectations for congress as a whole o Many people see congress as far too partisan especially true independents A PARTISAN IS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF A PARTY But strong partisans may be upset that not enough of their goals are accomplished In part due to deliberative slow passage of most bills especially during divided congress Organization in Congress Organized as a result of The Great Compromise House of Representatives seats allocated by population Senate 2 members from each state All States Equal BICAMERALISM This structure gives a coordination disadvantage for passing legislation but why is this the case But congress does have advantages Congress is independent from the president has significant governing powers Through Veto overrides Congress can pass legislation without the President Congress also provides lots of oversight of government through committees o EXAMPLE House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee is investigating IRS targeting scandal When the Constitution was designed there was debate over how much influence citizens should have in GOVT o House is designed to have more local district focused Popularly elected and closer to people Senate designed to have more national focus even beyond states o Originally elected by state legislature ORGANIZATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES o Smaller more homogenous FILLED WITH THE SAME KIND OF PEOPLE constituencies than Senators o Popularly elected every 2 years o Limited to 435 members in 1911 o Reapportioned and Redistricted on the basis of population changes between states every ten 10 years FOLLOWING THE CENSUS o 700 000 VOTER DISTRICTS ORGANIZATION IN HOUSE LEADS TO o Because House Members have such short terms they re always running for congress o Less trust and negotiation between members more focused on keeping seats o Winning Re Election is central o These House norms have filtered into the senate o RELATIVELY SMALL often compact nature of House Districts makes it easier to elect minorities of all kinds Ethnic especially in Majority Minority Districts Ideological more likely to get extreme views or bizarre views than in larger states Weirdos House Re Districting o State Governments draw House district boundaries Usually gives advantage to party in power during redistricting Supreme Court cases BAKER v CARR 1962 REYNOLDS v SIMS 1964 require districts drawn on basis of population Legislators represent people not trees or acres Chief Justice Earl Warren Gerrymandering o Drawing district lines to maximize number of seats your party can win Jacobson 2009 PG8 o As opposed to drawing them on the basis of natural political communities o Term comes from an old cartoon of a district drawn by Elbridge Gerry GOVERNOR OF MA in 1812 It looked like a salamander some clever person called it a gerrymander o BOTH parties Gerrymander SOME LIMITS TO GERRYMANDERING o Has to be done by population 1 man 1 vote o Some state constitutions LIKE COLORADO prohibit redistricting more than once per decade o SHELBY COUNTY v HOLDER 2013 states Congress can still use preclearance the formula used to determine what states and areas it applied it to is no longer constitutional 2 kinds of Gerrymandering Jacobson 2009 o Partisan To gain partisan advantage towards particular party in a certain area o Racial Aims to create majority minority districts often justified by courts 1986 THORNBURG v GINGALES THORNBURG v GINGALES District lines cant discriminate even by accident against racial