Howard Yin

January 14, 2016

AP GOPO
Pattersons Outlines
Chapter 11: Congress Balancing National Goals and Local Interests
Congressional elections have a local orientation and usually result in the
reelection of the incumbent
Leadership is Congress is provided by party leaders, including the Speaker of
the House and the Senate majority leader
The work of Congress is done mainly through its committees and
subcommittees, each of which has its own leadership and its own designated policy
jurisdiction
Congress lacks the central direction and hierarchical organization required to
provide consistent leadership on major national policies, which has allowed the
president to assume this role. On the other hand, Congress is well organized to
handle policies of narrower scope
Two parties have become more polarized
Congress policy-making relies on 3 major functions: law-making,
representation, and oversight
I.
Congress as a Career: Election to Congress
A.
Using Incumbency
to Stay in Congress: Service
Strategy and Taking Care of
Constituents
1.
An
incumbent promotes his or
her reelection prospects by
catering to the constituency
2.
Fed
eral spending projects are
often derided as pork (porkbarrel spending) by
outsiders, but are embraced
by those who live in the
state or district
3. Incumbents also respond to their constituents
individual requests, a practice known as the service strategy
4. Congressional staffers spend most of their time
not on legislative matters but on constituency service and public
relations-efforts that pay off on Election Day
B. Campaign Fundraising: Raking in the Money
1. Incumbents also have a decided advantage
when it comes to raising campaign funds
2. Incumbents past campaigns and constituent
service enable them to develop mailing lists of potential contributors
a) They also possess an edge with
PACs. Most PACs are reluctant to oppose an incumbent unless
the candidate appears beatable

3. Open-seat election: a race without an

incumbent
C. Redistricting: Favorable Boundaries for House Incumbents
1. House members, not senators, have a final
electoral advantage when it comes to reapportionment/redistricting
every 10 years
2. The party that controls the state legislature
typically redraws state legislatures; gerrymandering is when the party
redraws the boundaries in a way that favors its own candidates
D. Pitfalls of Incumbency
1. Disruptive Issues
a) When voters are angry about
existing political conditions, they are more likely to believe that
those in power should be tossed out of power
2. Personal Misconduct
a) Members can fall prey to
scandal, including sex scandals, peddling, and other forms of
misconduct
3. Turnout Variation: The Midterm Election
Problem
a) Midterm electorate is
substantially smaller than that of the presidential electorate
b) People who vote only in the
presidential election tend to have a weaker party ties and are
more responsive to the issues at the moment
c) Pattern emerges: 21/25 of the
last midterm elections, the Presidents party has lost House
seats
4. Primary Election Challengers
a) If and when incumbents who hold
politically moderate views are confronted with a strong
challenger from the extreme wing, they stand a strong chance
of losing
b) Strong partisans are more likely
than party moderates to vote in primary elections
5. General Election Challengers: A Problem for
Senators
a) Senators often find themselves
running against a high-ranking politicians, who have the voterbase, campaign organization, fundraising ability, public
recognition, and credentials to mount a strong campaign
b) House incumbents have less
reason to fear these challengers
(1) A house seat is
typically not attractive enough to induce a prominent
local politician to risk taking on the incumbent
(2) This situation
changes when voters are deeply unhappy with the way
government is performing
6. A New Threat: Super PACs

II.

a) If incumbents appear vulnerable

during a race, contributors may target the race and donate
money to the challenger
Parties and Party Leadership
A. US Congress is a bicameral legislature
B. Party members in each chamber meet to elect their party
leaders at the start of each two-year congressional term
C. Party members also meet periodically in closed session, which
is called a party caucus, to plan strategy, develop issues, and resolve policy
difference

D.
y Unity in Congress

Part

1. Political parties are the strongest force within

Congress; they are the greatest source of unity and division
2. Partisan divide has intensified since the mid1980s, partly as a result of changes in the composition of the parties
(both parties used to have conservative and progressive wings)
3. Large majority of Democrats are liberal, and
large majority of congressional Republicans are conservative
a) Each party has found it easier to
achieve party unity
b) Heightened level of party
unity can be seen by looking at the party distribution
on roll-call votes today, most roll-call votes are
divided along party lines
E. Party Leadership in Congress
1. Members of Congress depend on themselves
for reelection, which gives them the freedom to selectively back or
oppose the partys position on key votes
2. House Leaders
a) House of Reps is presided over
by a Speaker, elected by the vote of its members, determined
by the majority party
b) The Speaker of the House is
sometimes said to be the most powerful national official

(1) Active in
developing partys positions on issues and in
persuading party members in the House to support
them
(2) Also has certain
formal powers, including power to recognize members
and can choose chairperson and majority-party
members of House Rules Committee
3. Senate Leaders
a) Most important party leadership
position is that of the majority leader, who heads the majority
party caucus
b) Somewhat resembles that of the
Speaker of the House-->formulates the legislative agenda
c) Speaker is not the chambers
presiding officer; assigned to VP
Committees and Committee Leadership
Most of the work in Congress is conducted through standing committees,
which are permanent committees with responsibility for particular areas of public
policy
Each standing committee has legislative authority in that it can draft and
rewrite proposed legislation and can recommend to the full chamber the passage or

defeat of the bill it handles

Because there are about 10,000 bills are introduced during each two-year
session of Congress, the amount of legislation is divided amongst standing
committees
In addition to permanent standing committees, Congress also has a number
of select committees that have a designated responsibility but, unlike, the standing
committees, do not produce legislation
I.
Committee Jurisdiction
A. Even if a committees members are known to oppose certain
types of legislation, bills clearly within its jurisdiction-the policy area in which it
is authorized to act--must be sent to it for deliberation
B. Jurisdiction is not always clear-cut. All legislative committees
seek legislative influence, and each is jealous of its jurisdiction, so a bill that
overlaps committee boundaries can provoke a turf war
II.
Committee Membership
A. Each committee has a fixed number of seats, with the majority
party holding most of them. Ratio of Democrats to Republicans on each
committee is approximately the same as the ratio in the full House or Senate
B. Most newly elected members of Congress ask for and receive
assignment to a committee on which they can serve their constituents
interests and at the same time enhance their reelection prospects
III.
Committee Chairs

A. Committee chairs are always members of the majority party

and usually the party member with the most seniority on the committee.
Seniority is based strictly on time served on a committee, not time spent in
Congress
B. Seniority system is not absolute, however, and is applied less
strictly than in the past
IV.
Committees and Parties: Which Is in Control?
A. Committees have been described as little legislatures, each
secure in its jurisdiction and membership, and each wielding considerable
control over the legislation it handles
B. Committees decentralize power in Congress and serve
individual members power and reelection needs; the several hundred
members who serve as subcommittee or committee chairs are ranking
members (term for minority partys committee and subcommittee leaders)
1. After 6 years, a chair or ranking member must
relinquish the post
How a Bill Becomes Law
A bill is a proposed legislative act
Many bills are prepared by executive agencies, interest groups, or other
outside groups, but members of Congress also draft bills, and they alone can
formally submit a bill of consideration by their chamber
I.
Committee Hearings and Decisions
A. Less than 10% of the bills referred to committee will get to the
floor for a vote; the others are killed when committees decide they lack merit
B. If a bill appears to have merit, the subcommittee will schedule
hearings on it
1. In the House, both the full committee and a
subcommittee can mark up a bill-that is, they have the authority to
change its content
2. In the Senate, mark up is usually reserved for
the full committee
II.
From Committee to the Floor
A. If the majority of the committee vote to recommend passage of
the bill, it is referred to the full chamber for action. In the House, the Rules
Committee has the power to determine when the bill will be voted on, and
how long the debate on it will last
B. The Rules Committee also decides whether a bill will receive a
closed rule (no amendments), an open rule (members can propose
amendments relevant to any of the bills sections), or something in between
(only certain sections subject to amendments)
C. In the Senate, the majority leader, usually in consultation with
the minority leader, schedules bills. All Senate bills are subject to unlimited
debate unless a 3/5ths majority vote for cloture (limits debate to 30 hours)
1. Cloture is a way to defeat a Senate filibuster
D. In the House, proposed amendments must directly relate to the
bill's contents
1. In the Senate, however, members can propose
any amendment to any bill. Such amendments are called riders.
III.
Leadership and Floor Action

A. On major bills, the majority partys leaders (particularly in the

House) have increasingly assumed the lead. They shape the bills broad
content and work closely with the relevant committee during the committee
phase.
1. Once the bill clears the committee, they often
direct the floor debate
IV.
Conference Committees and the President
A. To become law, a bill must be passed in identical form in both
the House and the Senate
B. Each conference committee is formed temporarily for the sole
purpose of handling a particular bill; its members are usually appointed from
the House and Senate standing committees that drafted the bill
1. Conference committees job is to develop a
compromise version
C. If the president rejects the bill through use of veto, bill is sent
back to Congress with the presidents reasons for signing it. Congress can
override a veto by 2/3rds vote of each chamber
D. A bill also becomes law if Congress is in session and the
president fails to sign or veto the bill within ten days
1. However, if Congress has concluded its term
and the president fails to sign or veto the bill within ten days, the bill
does not become law
2. ^ is called a pocket veto
Congress Policymaking Role
I.
The Lawmaking Function of Congress
A. Congress is granted the lawmaking function: the authority to
make the laws necessary to carry out the powers granted to the national
government
B. Broad Issues: Fragmentation as a Limit on Congress Role
1. Congress is structured in a way that can make
agreement on large issues difficult to obtain
2. Congress often has the difficulty taking the lead
on broad issues of national policy
a) Despite increase in party unity in
Congress, House and Senate members are largely free to vote
as they please
3. As an institution, the presidency is better suited
to the task of providing leadership on national issues
a) Whereas members of Congress
often see issues from the perspective of the state or
constituency, presidents have a national constituency and tend
to look at policy from that perspective
b) In the national press, the
presidency gets 2x the news coverage of Congress
4. Presidential leadership means that Congress
will listen to White House proposals, not that it will act on them
5. In lawmaking activities, Congress has the
support of 3 congressional agencies
a) Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) provides Congress with general economic projections,

overall estimates of government expenditures and revenues,

and specific estimates of costs of proposed programs
b) Govt Accountability Office (GAO)
is largest, with the primary responsibility for overseeing
executive agencies spending of money that has been
appropriated by Congress
c) Congressional Research Service
(CRS) is the oldest and conducts research and responds to
information requests from congressional committees and
members
C. Congress in the Lead: Fragmentation as a Policymaking
Strength

II.

III.

1. Congress does not routinely develop broad

policy programs and carry them through to passage
2. Great majority of the hundreds of bills that
Congress considers each session deal with narrow issues
3. Most of the legislation passed by Congress is
distributive--it confers a benefit on a particular group while spreading
the cost across the taxpaying public
The Representation Function of Congress
A. Proper approach to the representation function has been
debated since nations founding; a recurrent issue is whether the
representative should respond to the interests of the nation as a whole or
those of the constituency
B. Representation of States and Districts
1. To be fully effective, members of Congress must
be re-elected from time to time, a necessity that compels them to pay
attention to local demands
a) Most members of Congress, on
narrow issues at least, vote in a way that will not antagonize
local interests
2. Committee memberships roughly coincide with
constituency interests
a) Committees are also the site of
most logrolling--practice of trading ones vote with another
members so that both get what they want
3. If a program has a local element, members of
Congress will often withhold their support unless their locality gets a
share of the money, even if the effect is to make the program less
efficient
4. More constituent groups are not the only groups
that get legislators support; the nations capital is filled with powerful
lobbies
C. Representation of the Nation Through Parties
1. In Congress, disagreements over national goals
occur primarily along party lines
2. As congressional partisanship has intensified,
the publics image of Congress has plummeted
The Oversight Function of Congress

A. Supervisory activity referred to as oversight function of

Congress
1. Oversight is carried through the committee
system of Congress and is facilitated by the parallel structure of the
committees and the executive bureaucracy
B. Congress gets some leverage from the fact that federal
agencies have their funding renewed each year provides an
opportunity for congressional committees to review agency
activities
1. Also gets leverage from its committee
staff interact regularly with the top bureaucrats in the
agencies
2. Nevertheless, because the task is so large,
oversight is not vigorously pursued vigorously unless members are
annoyed or have discovered that a legislative authorization is misused
or abused
C. Congress investigative power is not listed in the Constitution,
but the judiciary has upheld this power as a reasonable extension of
Congress power to make laws
1. Exception in executive privilege (right of the
executive branch to withhold confidential information affecting national
security)
Congress: An Institution Divided
Congress most closely reflects aspects of American culture the
individualism is evident in independence of members of Congress
National legislature structured parallel to economic sectors of society
Congress is sometimes portrayed as a weak institution; the power to prevent
change can be as powerful as the power to accomplish change
Institution designed in a way that the majority could rule, but
only if that majority was exceptionally strong
What was not anticipated was the degree to which members of
Congress would cater to the demands of special interests
Strength of Congress lies in its representativeness, its attention to local
interests, and its function as an arena in which compromise is normally an ingredient
of legislative accomplishment
Weakness lies in the fact that the minority has disproportionate
influence