GVPT170 Institutions 12 03 2013 20 59 00 Contemporary Congress Overview Occupies the center stage in domestic policymaking The majority party and its leaders direct and dominate the action Influence of electoral politics o Although meaningful differences between House and Senate Internal rules and organizational structures have a deliberate and critical effect on policymaking o Solving collective action problems It is always easier to stop things from happening than to make things happen Graph on slide Generally speaking the American public hates Congress as an institution but likes their member of Congress Representation Descriptive vs Substantive o Descriptive The people who are in Congress what do they look like Demographics The people should look like the population as a whole o Substantive political views and value to what degree do they share the views of the public Trustee vs Delegate o Trustee a member of Congress who does what he she thinks is best not necessarily if it s consistent with what we want o Delegate do whatever we want since we put them there Congressional Districts House 435 o 2 year terms o representation population based o average district population roughly 647 000 Senate 100 o 6 year term staggered o representation state wide o California 37 million people Wyoming 560 000 people These differences have consequences o What Term length House members do case work focus energy on people Senate members generally more mindful of statewide issues US House Districts Reapportionment Redistricting o State controlled o Two qualifications o Determining state representation based on population o U S Census every 10 years 1 Equally populated Wesberry v Sanders 1964 2 Contiguous geographic regions can t draw a district scattered in multiple areas district has to be connected in someway o Gerrymandering manipulate the boundaries to favor one type of party Incumbents Partisan Racial Cracking vs packing Packing concede a state and pack as many Cracking split up delude The Electoral System Members of Congress and president are elected separately Single member winner take all districts plurality wins o Promotes a two party system o Makes drawing district boundaries critical o Promotes focus on local interests Individually responsive but collectively irresponsible Congressional Elections Candidate centered centuries Costly campaigns o House 6 7 figures o Contrasts party centered elections of 19th and early 20th o Senate 7 8 figures Drop off and roll off effects o Drop off effect every 4 years presidential election congressional election up for reelection every 2 years people are more likely to show up when president is on the ballot o Roll off effect people tend to vote for big offices on the ballot but not everything else Split ticket voting o Often leads to divided government o A person who votes for different parties across different offices divided government phenomenon Incumbent advantages o Incumbent those who hold office now and are up for reelection o Opposite to open seat o Often win reelection o Why are they successful Name recognition Informational advantage Institutional advantage e g franking Franking member of congress can send out fliers to constituents for free with taxpayers money Casework constituency service Credit claiming Campaign money in short they are successful because they work hard at reelection GVPT170 Institutions Cont d 12 03 2013 20 59 00 o procedural coalitions electoral benefit and overcoming o policy specialization division of labor and electoral benefit o Exist to facilitate decision making The lawmaking process presents many opportunities BLOCK Congressional Organization and Procedure 1 The Legislative Process o how a bill becomes a law 2 Parties collective action problems 3 Committees How Bills Rarely Become Laws Parties and committees legislation Basic Problems of Legislative Organization Need for information Coordination Resolving conflict solving collective action problems Legislative Organization congress has developed two institutions to cope with these problems they are not in the constitution o parties o committees Why two parties o Legislative rationale for two parties Brand name Democrat vs Republican Secure policy change Form coalitions o Decisions formally made by majority vote Rally members to compromise towards a brand name to Join a party because to a large extent you agree with make decisions the members o Powerful incentives for members to join and maintain permanent coalitions Partie can serve individual interests E g reelection Party Organization in the House Much more party centric Speaker of the House o Chief assistants Majority leader and majority whip Rules Committee o Tool of the majority party E g controlling procedural rules to consider bills time o If you can control the rules committee you can suppress the limits etc minority party By restricting debate by deciding what bills get to the floor you maintain control Party Organization in the Senate More collegial and less formal Minority party has greater influence o Most structured business by Unanimous Consent Agreement o Filibusters Way that one member of the Senate can block the entire business of the chamber talk as long as you want in order to block a bill you don t want to go through Resources of Majority Party Leadership Controlling the Agenda especially in the House Committee Assignments Campaign Money Perks offices staff size etc in short the majority party has tools to ensure loyalty because parties help members reach individual and collective partisan goals Congressional Committees purpose of Committees o Collective benefit facilitate legislative process E g information procedural hurdles etc o Personal benefit Electoral incentives E g pork barrel legislation policy specialization proportional to party control Fixed memberships o Division of labor o Policy specialization o Electoral benefit logrolling The idea that committees serve their jurisdiction If you pass my project I ll support a project of yours that only benefits you I ll scratch your back if you scratch my back Fixed jurisdictions o Dictating in large part where bills must go not all committee assignments are equal o Some deal with business that is much more important revenue bills tax legislation more influence One Final Note on Congressional Procedure Authorization vs Appropriation bills o Authorization bills permission Authorize some sort of project E g 20 000 CAN be spent money must be