CHAPTER 6 Congress lecture notes Today s Congress An Overview Congress occupies center stage when it comes to policy making electoral politics influences almost everything that members do both collectively and individually the majority party through party leaders directs and dominates the action in the House and the Senate the rules and organizational structures that the House and the Senate adopt have a deliberate and crucial effect on power and policy making it is always easier to stop things from happening in Congress than to make things happen Qualification Differences House Senate minimum age 25 years citizenship 7 years minimum age 30 years citizenship 9 years both are required to reside in the state that they represent however they do not have to live in the district although in practice they usually do Areas of Congressional Authority House Senate bills dealing with raising revenue must begin in the House by tradition spending money starts in the House deals with advice on and consent of treaties confirms presidential appointments of ambassadors justices and members of the cabinet The Electoral System two choices made by the Framers of the Constitution have profoundly affected the electoral politics of Congress page 1 members of Congress and the president are elected separately members of Congress are elected from states and congressional districts based on the plurality vote whoever gets the most votes wins some parliamentary systems employ proportional representation which gives a party a share of seats in the legislature matching the share of the votes it wins on Election Day for example if a party s share of votes entitles it to 85 seats then the first 85 candidates on the party s slate go to parliament the voters then choose among parties not individual candidates and candidates do not need to have local connections party leaders in this system are very powerful because they control parliamentary careers by deciding who goes on the list and in what order Congressional elections are held every 2 years all 435 House seats are put up for election every 2 years 255 Democrats 178 Republicans 0 Independents 2 vacancies 57 Democrats 41 Republicans 2 Independents 1 3 of Senate seats are put up for election every 2 years originally members of the House were to be elected by the people every 2 years broad suffrage and short tenure were intended to keep the House as close to the people as possible and members of the Senate were to be elected by state legislatures every 6 years keeping the Senate more insulated from transient shifts in the public mood the Articles of Confederation had included a reelection restriction but the Framers thought it had weakened Congress by depriving it of some of its ablest members page 2 Congressional Districts 1790 Census 1 House seat for every 33 000 inhabitants there were 105 seats total continuing in this pattern there would be over 9 000 seats today membership was fixed at 435 in 1911 when House leaders decided that further growth would impede the House s work districts now have about 700 000 people each federal law may apportion House seats among states after each census but each state draws the lines that divide its territory into the requisite number of districts House Appointment 435 seats based on population seats are given out based on a mathematical formula this is called apportionment every 10 years a census takes place actual enumeration undercounts and overcounts missed in a census homeless people immigrants and college students are often prisoners and people living overseas are often fought over when it comes to whether or not they should be counted as living somewhere Malapportionment prior to 1964 districts were not equal in size within states rural districts small population urban districts large population this is fundamentally unfair because it gives more representation to the rural communities than it gives to the urban communities 1964 Reynolds v Sims state districts must be apportioned based on population 1964 Wesberry v Sanders House the Supreme Court ruled that districts must have equal populations one person one vote page 3 1986 Thornburg v Gingles the Supreme Court ruled that district lines may not dilute minority representation but they also may not be drawn with race as the predominant consideration forced to divide communities of interest Redistricting after the census districts are redistributed amongst the states districts must be nearly equal in population within a state extremely political mostly done by state legislatures and approved by the Governor or the courts if they do not agree some states use non partisan commissions Gerrymandering gerrymandering conscious line drawing to maximize seats for one party or group these tactics sometimes produce bizarrely shaped districts drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give one political party a disproportionately large share of seats for the share of votes its candidates win cracking splitting an area of partisan strength among several districts as possible this makes it hard for the other party to win anywhere packing drawing lines to encompass as many partisans in a district this wastes votes because the ratio of votes for one party vs votes for another party is so disproportionate Redistricting Types and Examples partisan gerrymander one party controls all of the state government basically you try to draw as many districts as possible that make it easy for your party to win because you re trying to win seats for one party your party legal risky because some districts will only end up being about 55 or so for in favor of your party which could cause your party to page 4 lose districts if scandals occur or if your party falls slightly out of favor for one reason or another Example 1 Partisan Gerrymander Democrats in Charge example outcomes and governorship and governorship advantage in the state s congressional delegation Now the Democrats control the state legislature Example 2 Partisan Gerrymander example 1 partisan gerrymander Democrats in charge Republicans in Charge R R R R R before redistricting the Republicans had a 3 2 Before redistricting the Republicans had a 3 2 R R R R R Example 2 Partisan Gerrymander advantage in the state s congressional delegation R R R R R Republicans in Charge D D D D D R R R R R D D D D D Now they want a bigger lead R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D R R R R R D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D Example 1