Ap gov Chapter 11: Congress
the Speaker's formal powers
- Presides over the House when it is in session - plays a major role in making committee assignments , which are coveerted by all members to ensure their reelection -appoints or plays a key role in appoiinting the party's legislative leaders and the party leadership staffexcersises substantial conntrol overr assigning bills to committtess
the Speaker's informal powers
-clout inside and outside Congress - often serves as a national spokesperson for the party if the party differs from the Presidency. -
Standing committees
. Senators average three committees and seven subcommittees. Committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas.. Each house has its own. Today the typical representative serves on two committees and four subcommittees
Why aren't there more women in congress
2012 women won 46 percent of the House races in which they competed and 61 percent of the Senate races. Women constitute only about a fifth of Congress. This is because fewer women than men become major party nominees for office. Women with children are significantly less ambitious about running for office Women's decisions to run are more sensitive than are men's to their perceptions of the odds of winning, women are less likely than are men to run when they perceive their odds to be poor. however, they are more likely than men to run when they detect a political opportunity. Voters appraise women candidates higher than male candidates on non-policy characteristics such as integrity, competence , collaboration and problem-solving skills. Women encounter a 3 percent vote deficit relative to their male counter parts when quality advantage is taken into account. Male independent voters are equally supportive of male and female candidates when women have a quality advantage. When candidates have the same quality male independents are 23% less likely to vote for female than male candidates , thus to win, women must be more qualified on average than their male opponents.
Congress population
535 members of congress 100, 2 from each state, are from the house and the other 435 people are from the House of Representatives.
Caucus (congressional)
A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristic Many are composed of members from both parties and from both houses . There are nearly 500. The goal of all is to promote the interests around which they are formed. Caucuses press for committees to hold hearings, push particular legislation and pull together votes on bills they favor.
American Bicameralism
A legislature divided into two houses . The U.S. Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are bicameral. The result of the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention.. By this the Constitution set up yet another check and balance. No bill can be passed unless both House and Senate agree on it.
bills
A proposed law, drafted in legal language, that anyone can raft but only a member of the House or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration.
Seniority system
A simple rule for picking community chairs in effect until the 1970's the member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled the chamber became chair regardless of party loyalty , mental state or competence
Filibuster
A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation use their right to unlimited debate to prevent the Senate from ever voting on a bill. Sixty embers present and voting can halt a filibuster on legislation. Raises profound questions about American democracy, it is used by a minority, to defeat a majority. Allows a senator who opposes a bill to engage in unlimited debate as a way to prevent the Senate from voting on that bill.
weak opponents
Advantage for incumbents, more likely to face weak opponents, b/c the advantages of incumbency scare off potentially effective opponents
under representation in Congress
African Americans make up 10 percent of the House (13% with the total pop. ) and only 2 A.A. in the Senate. There are 29 Hispanics in the House and 3 in the Senate, although Hispanics compose of 17 percent of the population. Asian and Native Americans are also Underrepresented. Women may be the most underrepresented group (they account for more than half the population but for only 19 members of the House and 84 voting representatives and for 20 senators.
The Speaker of the House
An office mandated by the Constitution, the speaker is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers and is second in line after the VP to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant. The most important leader in the House. Holds the only legislative office mandated by the Constitution.
The Members
Attractions to the job: power(make key decisions about important matters of public policy), salary of $174,000, and receive generous retirement and health benefits.
Stability and Change
Because incumbents usually win reelection, this provides stability in the membership of Congress which allows representatives and senators to gain some expertise in dealing with complex questions of public policy
The Committees and Subcommittees
Committees regularly hold hearings to investigate problems and possible wrongdoing and to oversee the executive branch. They control the congressional agenda and guide legislation from its introduction to its send-off to the president for his signature.
Understanding Congress
Congress is elite , it is responsive to the public , open to influence , support their party but also tries to do what is constitutionally right for reelection.
legislative oversight
Congress's monitoring of the executive branch bureaucracy and its administration of policy performed mainly through committee hearings.
Conference committees
Congressional committees formed when the Senate and the House pas a particular bill in different forms . party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back a single bill.
Caucuses" The Informal Organization of Congress
Informal networks of trust and mutual interest spring from numerous sources such as friendship, ideology and geography Representation of interests in Congress more direct with informal groups.
credit claiming
Involves enhancing their standing with constituents through service to individuals and the district.
In the autumn of 2013 partisan polarization (differences between the parties in Congress) was at an historic high
Legislators could not agree on a budget, Rep. would not agree to increase the government's revenues and Democrats would no accept cutting expenditures (gridlock)
Members of Congress
Members of Congress come largely from occupations with high status and usually have substantial incomes . Business and law are the dominant prior occupations, other elite occupations such as academia are also well represented.
Requirements
Members of the house must be at least 25 years old, and have been American citizens for 7 years, and senators must be at least 30 yars old and hae been America citizens for 9 years, and that each member of Congress must reside in the state from which he or she is elected.
the committees at work: Legislation
More than 11,000 bills submitted by members in the course of a two year period. Winnowing is essential . Most bills first go to the standing committee (life or death for bill) A new bill that the Speaker sends to a committee typically goes directly to a subcommittee , to hold hearings to see if it is worth their time. Then committee and subcommittees conduct research, line up witnesses for hearings, and write and rewrite bills. A committee's most important output however is the marked up (rewritten) bill itself, which it submits to the full House or Senate for debating and voting.
the house
More than four times as large as the Senate, the House is more institutionalized (more centralized, more hierarchical and more disciplined).
advertising
Most congressional advertising takes place between elections in the form of contact with constituents . The goal is visibility. In recent years, members of Congress have brought communication with their constituencies into the digital age. (Congressional staffers track the interests of individual voter, file the information in a database and then use e-mails or phone calls to engage direct with voters on issues they know they care about) Using taxpayers; money, legislators employ a technology that allows them to call thousands of households simultaneously and deliver a recorded message, inviting people with their districts to join in on a conference and deliver a recorded message, inviting people in their districts to join in on a conference call. Giving them a detailed list of the specific interests of thousands of actual or potential voters by using the database.
the role of party identification
Most members of Congress represent a party which is the clear majority, which gives them another advantage when they run for reelection.. Most people identify with a party and most party identifiers reliably vote for their party's candidates. About 90% of voters who identify with a party vote for the House candidates of their party. State employed advances in technology to draw the boundaries of House districts so that their is a safe majority for one party It is now more common for people to live in communities where their neighbors are likely to have political and other attitudes that are similar to their own.
Whips
Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to the passage of a ill favored by the party. Job is too convey the word party's position to rank and file congresspersons. Count votes before they are cast and lean on any waverers whose votes are crucial to the passage of a bill.
Defeating Incumbents
Reasons for challenging incumbents: 1. challengers are often naive about their chances of winning. They rely on friends and local party leaders who often tell them what they want to hear. 2 Sometimes they receive unexpected help. 3. incumbents can also lose any of their supporters when the boundaries of their districts change. 4. Major political tidal waves occasional roll across the country leaving defeated incumbents in their wake.
Always wins congresspersons friends and almost never makes enemies
Servicing the constituency : by casework and through obtaining federal funds
The Senate : VP's role
The VP's only constitutionally defined job, usually slight their senatorial chores except in the rare case when their vote can break a tie. Modern day VP's are active in representing the president's views to senators.
campaign spending
The average winner in the House spent about 1.6 million dollars, while the average Senate winner spent 11.5 million. Challengers have to raise large sums if they hope to defeat incumbents the more they spend the more votes they recieve. The candidate spending the most money usually wins .
House Rules Committee
The committee in the House of Representatives that reviews most bills coming from a House committee before they go to the full House, responsive to the House leadership, reviews most bills coming from the House . Gives each bill a rule which schedules the bill on the calendar allots time for debate and usually limits the kinds and number of amendments. Reducing the opportunities for the minority to propose change.
Minority leader
The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate.
Framer's of constitution
They conceived of the legislature as the center of policy making in America. Their plan was for the great disputes over public policy to be resolved in Congress not in the White house or the Supreme Court.
Open Seats
When an incumbents is not running for reelection and his or her seat i open their is greater likelihood of real competition for the seat, which is where most of the turnover in the membership happens in Congress as a result of the incumbents not wanting reelection.
unicameral legislature
a legislature that isn't divided. ex. Nebraska's.
casework
activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individuals particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get (helping individual constituents)
Members of Congress engage in three primary activities that increase the probability of their being reelected
advertising, credit claiming, and position taking. (A lack of strong opponents and the high costs of campaigning further ensure their success)
Congressional Elections
are demanding, expensive, and generally forgone conclusions . Men and women may run for Congress to forge new policy initiatives , but they also enjoy politics and consider a position in Congress near the top of their chosen profession . And they may be around long enough to shape policy if they are reelected.
Congress is
both out central policy making branch and our principal representative branch.Congress is the center of policy making in the U.S. Critics .argue that congress is too responsive to constituent and to organized interest groups and is thus unable to make difficult choices regarding public policy such as reining in spending.
Select committees
congressional committees appointed for a specific purpose such as the Watergate investigation.
congressional leadership in perspective
congressional leaders cannot always move or sway congress, power in both houses especially the Senate is decentralized.
Joint committees
exist in a few policy areas, such as economy and taxation and draw their membership from both the Senate and the house.
pork barrel
federal projects ,grants and contracts available to state and local governments , business colleges and other institutions in a congressional district .
second way of servicing a constitency
involves winning federal funds for states and districts
Congressional Leadership
leading 100 senators and 435 representatives,
The Congressional Process and Decision Making
members introduce about 11,000 bills in each Congress ( every two years) , Congress is typically a cumbersome decision-making body, Rules are piled on rules and procedures on procedures.
party, ideology, and constituency
party: parties work together for that party's goals fighting against the other (polarization). ideology and polarized politics: distance between parties has been growing steadily (more difficult to reach a compromise) constituency opinion versus member ideology: line between doing what is right for your party or doing what is right based on the constitution.
A common way that members choose to vote or prioritize issues.
people in the house are more concerned with issues that affect them.
Congressional Staff
personal : the avg. rep. has 17 assistants and the avg. senator has 41. In total more than 11,000 individuals serve on the personal staffs of members of Congress. t spend their time on casework They answer mail, communicate the member's views to voters and help constituents solve problems. committee: 2,200 staff members , they organize hearings, research legislative options ,draft committee report on bills , write legislation and keep tabs on executive branch activities . They often have high levels of expertise and can become very influential in policy making. Staff Agencies: Congressional Research Service(responds to more than 250,000 congressional requests) , Government Accountability Office (3,100 employees, reviewing activities of executive branch to see if it is following the congressional intent of laws) , and the Congressional Budget office (focuses on analyzing the president's budget and making economic projections about the performance of the economy, the costs and the economic effects)
presidents and congress
presidents help create the congressional agenda. Presidents ave their own legislative agenda, their task is to persuade Congress to show that his agenda should also be Congress's agenda, they can influence members directly or by the congressional process.
Descriptive representation
representing constituents by mirroring their personal, politically relevant characteristics. If this does not happen a representative or a senator might find it hard to get reelected.
lobbyists and interest groups
seeking to influence congress. . lobbyist can change policies.
In recent years
senators have been raising and spending more campaign funds , sending more mail to their constituents, visiting heir states and districts more often and staffing more local offices than ever before.
The Senate
smaller than the house, the Senate is also less disciplined and less centralized Today, senators are more equal in power than representatives are.
Who wins elections
sometime during each terms, incumbents must decide whether or not to run again (most decide) or to retire voluntarily. Senators usually win by narrower margins. (Senators have less personal contact with their constituencies, they represent entire states, can be held accountable for controversial issues, and they receive more media coverage )
Tasks of Congress become more difficult each year
tasks of a representative or senator : required to make sensible judgments about missiles, nuclear waste dumps, abortion, trade competition with China, income tax rates, the soaring costs of Social Security and Medicare or any number of other issues.
majority leader
the Speaker's principal partisan ally, the majority party's manager in the Senate. The majority leader in each house is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes on behalf of the party's legislative positions.. He/She is elected by his or her party
constraint on effective oversight
the fragmentation of committee jurisdictions, which inhibits Congress from taking a comprehensive view of complex issue areas.
A filibuster is not absolute
the power of the filibuster is not absolute, Sixty members present and voting can halt a filibuster by voting for cloture on debate.
The Framers of the Constitution gave the power to the House to
the power to initiate all revenue bills and to impeach officials
Incumbents
those individuals who already hod office, In congressional elections incumbents usually win. Most win with more than 60 % of the vote. This makes it hard to change seats in congress.
committee chairs
through their leadership of the community , committee chair s have important influence on the congressional agenda. They play the dominant role in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees and managing committee bills when they are brought before the full house
presidential "coattails "
voters supporting congressional candidates because those candidates belong to the president's party
the Framers of the Constitution thought that the Senate
would protect elite interest, counteracting the tendency of the House to protect the interests of the masses. . They gave the Senate the power to ratify all treaties , to confirm important presidential notations, and to try impeached officials.