Political Science 320B Prof. P.

Quirk Lecture 06 October 1(begins) Preliminaries

-- exam date: Oct 22. -- term paper: working on docs. No preliminary plans due. -- seating chart --paper assignment delay --keep following shutdown --PQs pin

Participation assignment: Is there a solution? What? We will come back to this?

Structures: The Presidency, Congress, Bureaucracy, and Courts

Major features of US Political System Stressing comparisons to Canada and other Parliamentary Systems.

Overview: Here are the main features. How US is different than most.

Separation of powersnot Parliamentary system.

Executive and Judicial Branches.

Legislative,

Full bicameralismHouse and Senate roughly equal. Federalismstates independent, but weaker than the Cdn provinces. Two-party system, with same two parties in all regions. (Many areas in
effect one party control.)

Weaker political partiesMembers of Congress independent.

(Boehner defeat on deficit deal.) [No edit needed from last year.] Separation of Powers Three branches of federal government Legislative Executive Judicial Each is independent (theoreticallynot always in practice) President and Congress are separately elected. Both have roles in the legislative process Federal judges are appointed for life. Doctrine of checks-and-balances. Each branch has power to block action by the other (details later). Supposed to keep other in place. One problem with separation of powers: It doesnt take into account political parties. They can reduce effect of separation, or increase it. 1) With unified control, parties may cause two branches to act like

one team rather than act independently. Congress often did not check the Bush administration, and Obama administrationesp. in periods of unified control. Controversy over presidential signing statements. Bush claimed power to ignore provisions of laws. 2) With divided control, institutions may not cooperate at all.

Legislative branch Congressthe most powerful national legislature of any major country, by far. Bicameralism: Senate and House of Representatives. - both play full role in the legislative process. Organization of each chamber: Senate 100 members, two from each state elected for staggered six-year terms Structures: Party organization in each party Majority party presides over Senate

Committees for each area of policybudget, foreign affairs, military, agriculture, health, homeland security, etc. House of Representatives (House) 435 members, allocated to states by population elected to two-year terms, all elected at same time. Structures ( parallel to the Senate) Dem and Republican Party organization (majority party presides) Committee System Conference committees Ad hoc committees appointed from both houses to reach agreements on specific provisions of bills, if they have been passed by House and Senate in different forms. (Often not used nowadays.)

House versus Senate significant differences. House: Majority party controls the agenda. House acts by majority vote. Therefore, the majority party can rule, if it is unified. (E.g., Republicans now.) Senate: individual members have the right of unlimited debate. They can filibuster to block action. Exceptions: -- unanimous consent agreement. -- certain measures: budget, conference bills -- cloture procedure ends filibuster (60 votes to invoke) Mere majority cannot rule. Must have 60 votes to act. Must negotiate

with minority party, gain consent of some members.

Executive branch The president elected for a four-year term, with limit of two terms; vice president, elected togetherbecomes pres if pres disabled The Executive Office of the President White House staff Office of Management and Budget
National Security Council

Other staff agencies Cabinet departments (same as ministries) Independent agencies Main powers in the legislative process Legislation must be passed by majority vote by both houses of Congress and signed by the president. The president can veto a bill passed by Congress. Congress can override the presidents veto: -- both houses must pass the measure by a two thirds vote. This is rare. To sustain a veto, the president only needs one third +1 member from either house.

Administrative agencies Agencies develop regulations to implement laws (much as in any other country). The president appoints top leadership of agencies. But Congress also influences them: Senate confirms appointments (top levels) Congress holds hearings on agency performance can shape the budget, potentially reward or punish can threaten legislation, change agencys authority Actions by agencies can often be appealed to the federal courts. Federalism Basic idea: the 50 states are independent governments, not creations of the federal government. -- original Constitution gave most powers to the states. But federal power has grown through changing interpretation. For example,Federal power to regulate interstate commerce has been defined very broadly. -- federal government plays a larger role than in Canada -- for example Medicare and Medicaid; most environmental policy. -- most areas of domestic policy have shared power, federal and state. Recent, conservative court has been pulling back federal power. E.g. ruled that an endangered species of fish, in one small stream, was not in

interstate commerce. 5-4 vote, narrowly upheld Obamas health care reform. Elections Federal elections occur every two years. Every four years it is a presidential election. Other years, it is a midterm election. All House members (435), every election. One third of senate (33 or 34), each election. President (with vice president), every second election (four years). Midterm elections (e.g. 2010, 2014) are often viewed informally as referenda on the presidential administration. Separate Elections, illustration: Structure of the ballot: [put checks in the blank spaces] President and vice president ____ Obama and Biden (Dem) ____ Romney and Ryan (Rep) US Senator ____ xxxxxxxxxxx (Dem) ____ xxxxxxxxxxx (Rep) US House of Representatives ____ xxxxxxxxxxx (Dem) ____ xxxxxxxxxxx (Rep) Also on same ballot: Governor, State House, State Senate, State Attorney Genl, State judges (some places), County Commissioner, Mayor, City Council Members, School Board, Park Commission, (some places) initiatives or referendaand more!

Electoral process Presidential elections. Two stageslots of campaigning and voting! -- nomination of candidates of each party. Largely by primary elections and caucuses in each state--resulting in delegates from those states pledged to the candidates at the national nominating convention. Thus the nominees are chosen mainly by ordinary party voters, not party leaders or members in Canadian sense. A rare arrangement. -- general election determined by electoral votes (EVs). Each state has the same number of EVs as members of Congress (i.e. roughly proportionate to population). Winner of the plurality of the popular vote in the state receives all of the states EVs. Candidate who wins a majority of EVs is elected president. The Electoral College.

Congressional elections Nomination process primary elections within the state or congressional district determine nominees. Again, ordinary party voters decide who is nominated. (Compare to Canadian, party leadership decision.) No national convention or decision for members of Congressstate or district primary and general elections. Winner of a plurality of the vote in a state (for Senators) or district (for House members) wins the election. Many congressional districts are non-competitive (one party wins easily). Often more than 90 percent of House incumbents are reelected. Most Senate races are somewhat competitive. Campaign finance Most money for advertising and other campaign expenses comes from donors. -- organized groups (often business, professional) -- individuals (more likely to be higher income)

Presidential elections have partial public funding, provided candidate does not raise other funds. BUT candidates can opt outraise unlimited amount. Bush 2000, 2004; Obama and McCain (2008) and Obama Romney and did opt out. No one will opt in until system changes. Congressional racesno public funding. Recent development of Super Pacscan raise contributions from corporations, labour unions, or wealthy individuals. They can spend for campaign advertisingno limit on amounts. But they cannot coordinate with the candidate.

What is the impact on policymaking? Do office holders favor contributors? We will discuss.

Policymaking Institutions in the US, Part 2: Processes, Influence, Performance Legislative Process Introduction--A bill begins in either house (or in both at the same time). The bill is introduced by any member (majority or minority). On major bills, it is usually a senior member of the committee with jurisdiction, usually the party with majority in the chamber (House or Senate). The bill may come from the president or may not. It may be part of the presidents program. Consider Obamas health care reform: It was a major part of presidents program, but he did not submit a bill. He just stated some of his requirements, and worked with Congress. Why:

Obama draws a lesson from Clinton experience on health care reform. Clinton submitted a huge complex bill, and it had no strong support in Congress. Referral to committeethe bill is referred to the committee that has jurisdiction over the subject. (Sometimes jurisdiction is controversial or complex; some bills go to more than one committee.) [Here we are dealing with regular order, traditional and accepted practice; but now increasingly not followed. We will mention departures.] Committee hearings if the committee plans to act on the bill, it holds hearings, including testimony from the executive branch, interest groups, other experts, and others. Usually witnesses are called with a variety of views. But committee chair calls the shots and is not required to have balance. Witnesses support or oppose the bill and suggest amendments. Committee markups the committee has meetings to debate and vote on amendments, and then to vote on whether to report the bill to the floor (recommend it). Individual members generally are free to vote on the basis of their own views or constituency interests. However, increasing pressure to vote with the party. Decisions on floor procedure set by Rules Committee in the House, unanimous consent agreements in the Senate. (See above regarding House and Senate differences.) Because of filibuster rule, Senate requires broad support to actusually 60 of 100 senators (the number required to end a filibuster). Floor debate and voting adoption of amendments and passage of the bill require majority votes. Again, individual members generally free to vote as they prefer. Sometimes majority on House or Senate floor comes from parts of both parties.

Conference committeeif both houses pass the bill, with some differences ( e.g. due to amendments), a joint committee of both House and Senate is formed to reconcile differences between the two bills. Drafts a single bill, usually by compromising. Vote on the conference report conference report (and resulting bill) go to House and Senate floor for vote on final passage. No amendments permitted. Conference reports almost always pass. Presidential signature (or occasional vetosee above). The bizarre case of healthcare reform (Affordable Care Act "Obamacare.") Passed the House (easily, with solid Democratic majority) and Senate (with 60 Democratic Senators barely overcoming a Republican filibuster). But the bills differ significantly the House bill more liberal. A Democratic senator (Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts) died and a careless Kennedy family member lost the special election to replace him. Thus Democrats no longer able to overcome a Republican filibuster in order to pass a conference report reconciling the House and Senate bills. Is healthcare reform dead? (No filibuster permitted on conference bill vote; but filibuster permitted on proceeding to consider it!) A Rube Goldberg solution: 1) the House passes the original Senate bill, thus passed by Congress. But both houses make changes through a second bill, a budget measure--not subject to Senate filibuster. The president signs both bills at the same time. Republicans complain--Democrats making substantive law in a budget bill, just to avoid the filibuster. They have a point, but there's nothing they can do about it.