Chapter 9 Decision Making in Congress The Power To Chose 1 Legislators who exchange their votes for money are committing a federal 2 Public records includes formal meetings markups debates amending Types Of Decisions 1 The primary dilemma facing legislators is how to spend their time and I II crime activities energy A Specializing specialties 1 Senators tend to be generalists and representatives tend to develop 2 Policy Entrepreneurs legislators who have specialized publics for their contributions to specific policies B Timing of Decisions 1 Politics of timing a Early deciders fervent supporters who want to get out front in the debate b Active players delay their commitments inviting bids from various sides of the issue at hand and often gaining leverage over the final language of legislation c Late decisions delay decisions until the very last moment 2 Lawmakers cannot just specialize in specific topics they must be well versed in the multitude of topics constantly being introduced onto the floor 1 The speed at which legislation is introduced varies widely depending on who introduces it Senators or Representatives 2 Neither the Senate or House limit the number of cosponsors of bills 3 Reasons why members introduce ills stake out jurisdiction or for executive agency or special interest group even if they do not favor it C Taking the Lead 1 Constituency interests strongly propel members to participate in 2 Members with formal leadership positions are more likely to be active in 3 Members sometimes forgo participation because of prioritized time D Taking Part committee business committees commitments E Offering Amendments 1 Amendments are the key way to shape legislation 2 Majority leaders who control the agenda often enact special rules to limit amendments so that amendments are more favorable expedite floor action prevent difficult policy issues 3 Amendments are often offered to test the strength of support for the legislation force members to take a stance on issues or to kill the amendment completely F Casting Votes 1 Voting is the central ritual of the legislative body 2 Legislators want a good voting record to show their commitment to constituents 3 Both chambers make voting easier by stacking votes and voting mid week If unable to participate in voting members can announce their views in floor statements or press releases or by pairing the member finds someone on the other side to not vote 4 G What Do Votes Mean worst legislation 1 Members may vote for or against legislation in hopes of better or fear of 2 Free votes when the bill is going in the direction the legislator wants but votes with constituents to make them happy throw away vote has no impact on the outcome 3 Members face a dilemma vote their convictions or vote for appearances H Party and Voting 1 Party affiliation is the strongest factor in voting decisions 2 Party unity votes majority of voting Republicans oppose majority of voting Democrats 3 Party voting is much more common now than in the 1970s or 1980s 4 Political party members vote similarly because they are elected by the same type of constituents 5 Changes in the ideological composition and the constituency base of the parties have contributed to the increased levels of partisanship in the modern Congress 6 Reelection fate is bound in the party s public image and reputation 7 Members almost always vote with their party on procedural motions 8 Majority party leaders use their scheduling powers special rules and key committees to bring up votes at the right time that they will win 9 Minority members stick together to force vulnerable majority party members to vast difficult votes I Ideology and Voting 1 Asymmetric polarization republicans move further right and Democrats move further left In the Congress of today party affiliation and ideological views overlap nearly perfectly 3 Today fewer than one in ten legislators fall into the centrist category 2 J Constituency and Voting 1 There are two main ways constituents control law makers people usually elect lawmakers who mirror their views and members listen to constituents because its politically imperative 2 The ideological cohesion between the two parties stem from the decrease of conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans 3 Lawmakers must calculate the electoral consequences of daily decisions Legislative Bargaining III 1 Collective action problem is the challenge of merging individual goals into group achievements 2 Politicking trade off goals and resources to get results K Implicit and Explicit Bargaining 1 Implicit bargaining legislators take actions designed to elicit certain resources from others 2 Explicit bargaining split the difference compromise easy on quantitative elements L Logrolling 1 Logrolling is bargaining in which members exchange support so that all parties to the deal attain their individual goals 2 Christmas tree bills something for everyone 3 When lawmakers enter into and stand to profit from logrolling they are expected to support the final package regardless of the looks M Bargaining Strategy 1 For bargaining to be successful participants must agree on the need for a legislative product the benefits must outweigh the costs 2 Bargainers often face the dilemma of how broadly or narrowly to frame their issues and how many concessions to yield in effort to secure passage Just how the timing of bills is extremely important for their passage or failure lawmakers time their opinions on issues and the time at which they place their votes Legislators constantly face the dilemma of how to vote on issues on one hand they want to be true to their own convictions and on the other they want to represent the wishes of their constituents making them often wish for free votes While the two parties oppose each other often the parties represent a wide variety of stances just like the constituents they represent The legislative body has moved away from the stereotypical old white male and is now a diverse group who do not follow even the traditional gender stereotypes where males represent Republicans and females represent Democrats Getting bills passed in the gridlocked Congress can be difficult with the lack of bipartisan cooperation to logrolling is really crucial to the passage of bills