AMERICAN POLITICS CHAPTER 12 AND 15 Chapter 12: The Congress and It’s Work  Congress the First Branch:  Historically the most important power in congress has been the ‘power of the purse’ power to tax and spend and the ‘power of the sword’  power to declare war  The ‘necessary and proper clause’  congress has asserted broad powers through this  Congress is bicameral containing 2 chambers. Upper chamber= senate, Lower chamber = house of representatives.  In other countries, the upper chamber of parliament typically has ceremonial duties & powers much weaker than the lower chamber. However the house and the senate have generally equal powers.  Members of congress have personal staffs that total more than 7000 in the House and 4000 in the senate. And each chamber hires about a thousand staff personnel to support committees; clerical workers/policy experts  additional staff employees support the party leaders who coordinate the flow of bills through the legislative process. all in all about 14000 are employed as congressional staff  also, 1000s of other people work in various agencies of congress ex) General Accounting Office (GAO) oversees the operation of the executive branch.  The Organization of Congress:  the house and senate have an extensive division of labor the committee system as well as a means of organizing large numbers of people to make decisions the party leadership structure.  the constitution says nothing about committees/parties. Both are more important in the house than the senate b/c the house is larger.  the senate can operate more informally because it’s smaller Speaker of the House:  the constitution states there should be a speaker the presiding officer of the house, normally the leader of the majority party.  despite being the partisan leader, the speaker does not ordinarily vote on legislation  until the late 19th century, the speaker was the only formal party leader in the House  Until the turn of the 20th century, the speaker often rivaled the president as the most powerful public official in the US  In 1910 a coalition of Democrats and Republicans in the house revolted against the “Boss” cannon, taking away the speakers powers to make committee assignments and removing him from the rules committee  Party Leadership: House  the Speaker’s chief Lieutenant is the majority leader: chosen by the majority party caucus. The speakers chief Lieutenant in the house and for the most important officer in the Senate. Responsible for the daytoday work necessary to build political coalitions and enact laws  Unlike the speaker, the majority leader votes on legislation  The minority party caucus elects a minority leadercoordinates the minority’s attempts to improve/defeat majority legislation.  the leaders jobs are to maintain “peace in the family” > prevent flourish w/in parties and minor spats/quarrels from developing  the majority and minority leaders are assisted by whips link leadership to the party’s rankandfile. communicate the leadership views/intentions to members and vice versa. Their office is rather large.  Other members participate in party committees ex) Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, The Republican Policy committee > Provide a forum discussing issues and developing a party program/occasionally endorse legislation  When Democrats are the majority, the Speaker chairs the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and appoints many of it’s members. Republicans do the same thing but the elect the chair instead  Democratic members belong to their party caucus elect party leaders, ratify the choice of committee leaders and debate party positions on issues. Republicans do the same but it’s their Party Conference. They approve the slates of committees nominated by the steering committee and sometimes debate policies/ attempt to develop party positions on policies.  Party Leadership: Senate:  The constitution provides for a president pro tempore president of the senate who presides in the absence of the VP (which is nearly all the time). Mainly an honorific role and usually goes to the most senior member of majority party.  the senate’s majority/minority leaders are the true leadership of the chamber  Although senate leadership has a structure of whips/expert staffs, senate leaders are not as strong as they are in the house. they spend most of their time negotiating and to hammer out unanimous consent agreements sets forth the terms and conditions according to which the Senate will consider a bill; these agreements are individually negotiated by the leadership for each bill. These are necessary b/c any senator can delay a bill/resolution through a tradition of filibuster: one or more senators speak indefinitely or offer dilatory motions and amendments.  the only way to silence filibuster is by a cloture  motion to end debate, requires 60 votes to pass.  filibuster means a majority in the senate is not enough.  unanimous consent agreements are one way to avoid filibusters but even these require unanimity > a single senator may place a hold on debate/legislation by refusing to sign on  Ups and Downs of Congressional Parties:  one likely reason for the growth of party power in recent decades is that the congressional parties have become more polarized.  members today are more willing to follow strong leaders committed to party platforms rather than do anything that might help the opposition.  members of congress want to be part of an effective team, not part of a team that voters consider to divided to accomplish anything, as a result they are willing to tolerate constraints imposed on them by leadership  A successful president can help members running for reelection, members of the president’s party thus have an incentive to work together to help him succeed.  The house and senate campaign committees are controlled by the leadership and most members of the leadership have established their own PAC’s. Thus members who cast tough votes w/ the party may receive additional campaign help and in addition are compensated w/ pork barrel spending for their districts  Sticking w/ the party’s leaders increases the odds of real change. Representatives may not like every detail of legislation but they can put together