POS EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE NOTES REVIEW Congress 2 worlds of Congress 1 Lawmaking The world on Capital Hill in Washington D C 2 Representing The world of the districts where members relate to constituents MORE HAPPY with this world No one really approves of Congress How do members relate to constituents Congressional elections are the baseline for the relationship Members are able to go out and make relationships Constituents have direct contact with congressmen and senators so they feel like they can make a difference and seeing the members in their districts makes constituents feel connected Congressional paradox Named after Richard Fenno Fenno s Paradox is the belief that people generally disapprove of the U S congress as a whole but support the congressman from their own district Power of Congressional incumbency and advantages of incumbency ALMOST ALL INCUMBENTS RUN FOR RELECTIONS Almost all win 90 of the time U S senator is more prestigious than being a representative Senators have a larger threat of losing their seat What is an incumbent incumbency An incumbent is the person who previously head a seat in politics and is running for the seat again won the seat again Name recognition relevant experience record of source Electoral advantages of incumbency 1 2 Campaign money 3 Campaign organization 4 Time challengers run a compressed campaign Congressional campaign spending Individuals can only donate 2 500 or RAC Political action committees and 30 800 to a political party Monitored by the federal election committee To get around this people will do something called bundling people can gather many individuals to contribute under an organization or community and present it as one large sum To honor these bundlers many times they get honorary titles Strategic politicians hypothesis Proposed by Kernell and Jacobson Experienced politicians make strategic rational decisions about when to Potential campaign contributes make strategic decisions about when and Appearance of incumbent invincibility defers potential strong run for higher office to whom to contribute challenger Self fulling prophecy Mayhew s Continuous Campaign Single Minded Seekers of Re Election there are 3 basic kinds of activities that Mayhew proposes o Advertising franking privilege Successful members of congress have efforts to get their name and themselves in front of constituents in a positive light Look what I did for you Franking privilege the right by congress to send mail o Credit claiming pork barrel where government officials will designate specific funding to go to their district to make their constituents happy earmarks gives funding to specific projects and gives taxes breaks or exemptions This is when members claim persona responsibility for moving government to do things for the district and constituents They do this by pork barrel and earmarks with federal grants and OR with casework help constituents via staff by dealing with government bureaucracy by making friends and non partisan Fiorina s argument o Position taking This is simply being lucky in the world of Politics The member took the RIGHT position and casted the RIGHT vote on issues that were important to constituents back in their district The members are operating as instructed delegates on these important matters Representation and ir responsibility in Congress Familiar criticism of congress is against members pursuit of partialized benefits These are programs projects earmarks and tax breaks targeted at constituents PORK o Members are always tempted to over produce especially if primary o Individual Responsiveness concern is re election Mayhew little collective responsibility on the part of congress individually produced strategy collective irresponsibility each member pursues a rational o Collective Action Problem to the district but dangers problem of Particularized benefits Credit claiming is defined as acting so as to generate a belief in a relevant political actor or actors that one is personally responsible for causing the government or some unit thereof to do something that the actor or actors considers desirable Credit claiming can include the favors congressmen do for soldiers or essays for high school students These benefits are called particularized benefits Any accomplishment the congressman can take credit for allows him to put his name on it so others will recognize his work Everything the congressman does in order for reelection he will take credit for A wave election is when occasionally many more incumbents lose than is typically in an election year o This is usually a anti party election where constituents are not happy with the political party in power at the time and will vote differently because they did not see results they liked BUT even in this election there is still a vast majority of incumbents that are re elected Wave elections Nature of representation instructed delegate trustee and sociological votes the way his her constituents want Edmund Burke members listens to constituents but vote his her does members share socio demographic characteristics of Trustee Instructed delegate own conscience Sociological constituents NO Features of Congress that enable to work to get done bills passed into law Roles of congressional standing committees subcommittees House Rules Committee and conference committees Committee system this system serves as filters they trap bills prevent overload 90 of bills die in committees This system also provides a division of labor by enabling members to Is a subcommittee of a specific committee that develop an expertise in an area and facilitate information Standing committees permanent legislative panels that last beyond a two year term They consider bills and issues and recommend funding appropriations committee is an example of one Subcommittees specializes on matters and reports back to the committee Members are able to develop expertise in these areas determines whether in which order to schedule their consideration on the floor of the house and also deals with floor resolutions a committee appointed by congress by the House and Senate to resolve disagreement on a specific bill Usually considers all bills from policy and fiscal Conference Committees House Rules Committee composed of senior members of the standing committee in each section of congress that originally considered the legislation HOW DOES ANYTHING GET DONE IN CONGRESS o Complex legislative process o About 5 000 bills
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