POLS 1101 1st edition Lecture 17 Outline of Previous Lecture I Definitions II Weaker Government vs Stronger government III Governor Power Outline of Current Lecture I How is Congress organized II Congress s Goals III Barriers IV Senate Party Leadership Current Lecture I How is Congress organized Congress does not work on an annual budget o The house voted to defund Affordable Care Act last week as part of a continuing resolution to keep government funded Parties o Parties in each chamber run the show o The Parties Majorities enact bills set rules establish procedures choose leaders and decide how to organize their respective chambers The majorities dominate in congress and not so much in Senate o Congressional parties are increasingly unified and polarized along ideological lines o They find consensus on actions in absence of consensus on goals o Try to keep conflict off agenda o Minimize transaction costs Coordination gets more difficult as workload increases and division of labor becomes more complex Committees they make the legislative process more efficient o Within committees you have subcommittees that do most of the work o Committees reduce transaction costs o Each committee deals with different areas that specialize in a certain field o Information is crucial These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute II III IV o Committees are the workhorses of congress o Committee Jurisdictions Substantive Jurisdictions over policy areas Money Spending and revenues Housekeeping printing administration ethics Rules Determines where bills go time for floor debates when they happen Delegation o Members of Congress delegate a lot of their work o But they must be careful who they delegate their work to because the work needs to benefit that congress s constituents Congress s Goals Acquire information they have different divisions to inspect different areas Coordinate action dividing work flow of bills and scheduling debates and votes Resolving conflicts rules customs procedures coalition building o Members of Congress have their own individual goals o Collective action is used to get Congress to work towards common and personal goals Barriers Overcoming personal interests for the common goals Transaction Costs Time pressures effort and bargaining resources Conformity Costs you do not want to support legislation that conflicts with your district s primary interests Committee and party systems Party obstacles o Ensure committee chairs are loyal o Party leadership can punish members for not voting the way they want them to Senate Party Leadership No Rules Committee because there group is smaller so they don t need as many rules Leaders negotiate unanimous consent agreements to regulate legislative process Still know how a bill becomes law how the bill markup process works
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