CONGRESS AS A REPRESENTATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLYCitizen vs. Professional LegislaturesCitizen LegislaturesProfessional LegislaturesProfessional Legislatures (cont.)Citizen vs. Professional Legislatures (cont.)Parties in CongressCommittee AssignmentsCommittee Assignments (cont.)The Seniority SystemDistributive Politics, Reciprocity, and LogrollingCommittee Power RevisitedInfluences on Congressional VotingParty Polarization in CongressParty Polarization in Congress (cont.)Congress as a Representative Assembly RevisitedCongressional Localism (cont.)Slide 18House vs. Senate ContrastsCONGRESS AS A REPRESENTATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLYTopic #24Citizen vs. Professional Legislatures•We now move beyond the mode of election of members of Congress, and its formal powers, structure, and procedures.–We fill in some content into this structure by looking at the sociology and politics of Congress.•Political scientists distinguish between “citizen legislatures” and “professional legislatures.”–This distinction has been developed primarily in the context of U.S. separation-of-powers institutions, and•it may not apply the same way in parliamentary systems.Citizen Legislatures•In a citizen legislature:–Legislators are “ordinary citizens,”•without ambitions for higher office or a political career.–Political parties play little or no role in a citizen legislature, •which may in fact be officially non-partisan.–Serving in the legislature is a part-time job: the legislature meets •only a few months a year (or less) [e.g., many state legislatures]; or •once a week or so in the evening [e.g., school boards, many county and city councils].–Members receive modest (or no) compensation.–There is still something of as norm of rotation in office,•producing high turnover and low (average) seniority.–The legislature cannot develop strong governing norms and institutions.–The legislature is often small (e.g., school boards, city councils, etc.),•and in particular lacks specialized committees and expertise.•A sample assembly (elected by lot) would many respects be a perfect citizen legislature.Professional Legislatures•In a professional legislature:–Most legislators are ambitious professional politicians.•Some members want to make a career in this legislature legislative body and rise to a leadership position.•Others want to use their position in the legislature as a stepping-stone to higher office.–Political parties play a substantial role in electing members and in internal organization (though less than in parliamentary systems).–Members mostly serve until they are defeated for re-election, seek higher office, or reach old age,•so there is relatively low turnover and high (average) seniority.Professional Legislatures (cont.)•Serving in the legislature is a full time job, –i.e., the legislature is in session most of the time,–Members are paid professional-level salaries, and•have a budget to hire staff assistants.•The legislature is of substantial size and has developed governing institutional norms.–In particular, the legislature has multiple specialized committees:•Senior committee members have high seniority and much experience and expertise on the issues within its jurisdiction.•The committees are assisted by professional staff members with even more specialized and technical expertise.Citizen vs. Professional Legislatures (cont.)•Citizen vs. professional legislatures are ideal types. But we can say the following:•The Antifederalists (and more recently Tea Party activists) favored citizen legislatures, while•the Federalists believed that the national legislature (at least) should have more of a professional character.–Nevertheless, Congress (especially the House)•had many of the characteristics of a citizen legislature for the first 60 years or so,•but Congress has professionalized over time.–Virtually all state legislatures were citizen bodies 100 years ago but many (especially in larger states) have professionalized over time.•Some states have imposed term limits on state legislators to try to retain or revive their citizen character.–Even today many local councils (except in the largest cities and counties) have a mostly citizen character.Parties in Congress•Members are elected under a party label.–The members elected to the House of Senate under given a party label constitute the party caucus in that house,•Though members occasionally switch parties.–The majority vs. minority status of the party caucuses in each house determines which party organizes the house.–Organizational votes are straight party-line votes, so the majority party caucus •elects the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader,•assigns its members to committees, and•designates the Chair of each committee.Committee Assignments•Party alignments on committees are negotiated between party leaders.–They approximately reflect the party balance on the floor.•Each Representative (except the Speaker) is assigned to at least one legislative committee but usually no more than one.•Each Senator is assigned to multiple (usually two, three, or even four) committees,–because the Senate is a smaller body –but has the same array of committees •that are about half the size of their House counterparts.Committee Assignments (cont.)•Each party has institutions for assigning its members to committees, which usually follow the following norms.–Assignments are made only as vacancies occur on committees,•that is, committee members have “tenure in office” in that, once assigned to a committee, they can stay on this committee as long as they choose (or are defeated for re-election, retire, or die).–With respect to committee vacancies, members can formally indicate their preferred committee assignments, •which commonly reflect the nature of their constituencies (as well as their personal interests and commitments).•The assignment process reflects these preferences as much as possible.•A conflict is likely to be resolved on the basis of either seniority or party loyalty.•Thus committee members are to a considerable extent self-selected, so–committees may be (descriptively) unrepresentative of the house as a whole,•and perhaps be made up of “high demand” outliers.The Seniority System•In most general terms, a seniority system means that members of an organization gain prestige, influence,