GPOSC 225 1st Edition Lecture 14Outline of Last Lecture Outline of Current Lecture II. Federalist Papers 62 and 63III. ConstituencyIV. Re-approportionmentV. HouseVI. SenateVII. Models of representationa. Trusteeb. Delegatec. PoliticoVIII. 17th AmendmentIX. Committees in Congressa. Structureb. NormsOutline of Current Lecture II. Committee’s ContinuedIII. Types of Committeesa. Standing committeesb. Conference committeesIV. StafV. The legislative Processa. Houseb. Senatec. PresidentVI. Elections and Legislative ProcessVII. Incumbancy advantagesCurrent Lecture - Congress Continued:Committee’s Continued● Categorized by specialization● reciprocity(Those that are not experts refer to those with expertise when looking at bills)● seniority (chairperson is theThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.○ majority party member having ○ served on the committee the longestTypes of COmmittees● Standing Committees - these last, they are permanent with fixed jurisdictions. (aka the committee on banking only deals with banking and finance)○ authorizing committee - these guys set policy. E.g. change the policy or new policy for school lunches. Don’t over estimate their power though because: ○ appropriations committee - is more powerful. In the House this is called the “ways and means” committee. In the Senate: “Appropriations committee”. These committees actually “okay” the spending of money on a program. AKA a gatekeeping committee because they can stop any bill from authorization committees by saying that they don’t have the funds to support it. ■ Always based on projected revenue streams● Conference Committees: Not standing, not permanent, but they recur all the time. THey resolve diferences between diferent versions of a bill passed by the house or the Senate.Staff:The size and responsibility of the personal/office staf in COngress is night and day with what it was prior to 1960’s. Each congress members and each committee have staf. Then there are alsoseparate offices such as the Congressional Research Service (CRS), General Accounting Office (GAO), and Congressional Budget Office (CBO), that are information gathering offices for congress and committees that are separate from committee staf.The Legislative Process1. Introduction and referral (Bill is introduced a congress member to a committee)2. Committee or subcommittee deliberation (They hold Debates, Hearings, and Markup sessions) and then issue a report if the committee approves the bill.HOUSE: Rules committee (Only in the House). Issues the rules that will govern the debate on the bill in the HOuse, otherwise it will never get scheduled. ● Determine how long debate will last - time constraints● Germaneness rule (any debate must be relevant to the topic at hand)● “open” vs. “Closed rule: IF a bill is closed that means no amendments may be proposed at all. Open: only germane amendments are allowed.SENATE: In order to have rules like the House do above, requires a Unanimous COnsent Agreement: which is a negotiated agreement about how the debate will proceed. Must be approved by all 100 (unanimous) which rarely happened. If there is no UCA; there are no rules. IF there is no UCA, regular senate rules apply. This means:● Threat of a filibuster: no restrictions on senators speaking and nowadays you don’t even have to stand to filibuster, simply announce that you are.● Cloture Vote - 60 votes are required for cloture, which stops a filibuster and proceeds to voting on the bill. This is why you may hear about 60 votes needed in the Senate when you think it should be 51. ● Vice President votes when the senate is tied. PRESIDENT: can sign the bill or veto it. He must sign or veto in 10 days, sundays excluded. In 10 days it becomes law unless congress has adjourned before 10 days is up. COngress can override presidential veto if they have 2/3rds vote to pass the bill again.Elections and Legislative Politics Members of congress goals: 1. Get reelected (in order to:)2. Have policy influence and power in their institution3. Therefore they often change their minds because of the electoral windsIncumbency Advantage and Success (Aka, what are the advantages of already being in office?) Many in the HOUSE (15%) face no opponent. Members of Congress are re-elected at extraordinary rates (95%) in the House. Why so few challenges? This is because of Incumbancy Advantages:● non campaign related season advantages (daily life)○ Advertise outside of campaign. Name brand matters because it increases visibility to voters.○ Often talk about the Tuesday Thursday Club. This means that weekends are spentwith constituents, and congress members have access to media especially local media at home. Plus media studios in congress.○ INstitutional advantages: Help wit name promotion, travel subsidies in the congress, mail frank and email, constantly in touch with constituentsCasework (pg 292) - is also known as “constituent service” when a constituent contacts acongress member for help. THis is beneficial because the constituent is usually more satisfied with the congress member, brings electoral benefits. These people also tend to vote at high levels and are likely to talk about it to friends (“secondary