Legislative Politics Unit 2
Circumventing the Ban on Earmarks
- "Lettermarking" - lawmakers writing letters to administrators to urge that home-based projects be funded • "Phonemarking" - lawmakers calling administrators to request money for home-based projects
Other major components of the budget
- 1) Tax expenditures - $1 trillion consumed by indirect spending (i.e., tax expenditures) such as tax credits, subsidies, deductions - 2) Interest on the national debt - $234 bill in 2014, projected to be $800 billion in 2024. By 2020, interest payments may surpass all discretionary pgms other than defense. • NOTE: Review the Budget Glossary in Congress and its Members, pp. 406-407
Backdoor Spending Techniques
- 1) contract authority permits agencies to enter into contracts that subsequently must be covered by appropriations - 2) borrowing authority - allows agencies to spend money they have borrowed from the public or the Treasury - 3) entitlement programs grant eligible individuals and governments the right to receive payments from the national government
Select/Special Committee Purposes:
- 1) to accommodate concerns of individual members - 2) to provide an access point for interest groups (e.g. elderly, Native Americans, etc.) - 3) provide additional oversight and investigation of issues (e.g. Benghazi) - 4) coordinate consideration of issues that overlap the jurisdictions of several standing cmtes
Senate Floor Procedures: Normal Routine
- 1. Unanimous consent on how to debate/amend a bill - 2. Opening statements - 3. Amendments, handled per the unanimous consent agreeement - 4. Roll call vote on passage
During the 113th Congress (2013-2015):
- 8,913 public bills and joint resolutions were introduced - Only 296 (3 percent) become public laws, many naming post offices and federal buildings
Shortcuts for minor bills: Suspension of the Rules
- A motion that simultaneously suspends House rules and enacts (or rejects) the measure. - In the 113th Congress (2013-2015), 75% of bills and joint resolutions reached the floor via suspension of the rules. - A measure does not have to be reported from committee before the full House takes it up. - Only 40 minutes of debate allowed, no amendments permitted, and requires a two-thirds vote for passage. - The majority leadership does not usually schedule bills for suspension of the rules unless it's confident of a two-thirds vote.
Standing Committees
- A permanent entity created by public law or House or Senate rules - Vary widely in rules & procedures, staff arrangements, modes of operation, etc. - Process the bulk of Congress' daily & annual agenda - Of the thousands of measures introduced in each Congress, the standing committees will select a few hundred that they decide are worthy of floor debate. Of those hundreds, fewer still actually are reported favorably out of committee. - Size and ratios (the number of majority and minority members on a panel) • In the House, they're usually established by the majority leadership, and often are in line with the majority/minority ratio in Congress • In the Senate, sizes and ratios are usually negotiated by the majority and minority leaders.
Criteria for whether a bill should be created:
- A problem exists - It can best be resolved by enactment of a federal law, as opposed to administrative agencies, state govt, or local govt taking action - The proposed solution ameliorates rather than exacerbates the problem - House Republicans recently adopted a rule: in the bill document must provide a statement that explains the Constitutional authority that Congress has to address the problem.
Where Bills Go #2: Mark-Ups
- After hearings- they mark up or amend the bill. - To increase transparency, House Republicans adopted rules that require committees to make their markups available online at least 24 hours prior to the markup meetings. - Votes during markups are required to be publicly available within 48 hours - After a subcommittee's hearings, it sends its recommendations to the full committee. The full committee may conduct its own hearings and markups, ratify the subcommittee's recommendations, take no action, or return the matter to the subcommittee for further study.
How Assignments Are Made: Formal Criteria
- Assignments need not be based on seniority - Examples of rules • Senate GOP: Two Republicans from the same state should not serve on the same committee • Senate Democratic rules: The "Johnson Rule" - Since 1953, all Senate Dems must be assigned to one major cmte before any party member receives a second major cmte. In 1965 the Republicans followed suit.
Senate Calendars
- Calendar of Business - for public and private bills reported by the committees - Executive Calendar - for treaties and nominations
House Floor Procedures: General Debate
- Debating the merits of the bill. In committee of the Whole, it's usually limited to 5 mins. In the full House, it's 1-2 hours, though major legislation can be much longer.
Domestic Policies: Regulatory Policies
- Designed to protect the public from the harm or abuse that might result from unbridled private activity - Ex. The Food & Drug Administration monitors standards for food and tests drugs for purity, safety, and effectiveness
Two types of federal spending:
- Discretionary • Under the jurisdiction of the House & Senate Appropriations committees - Mandatory (entitlements) • Under the purview of the authorizing committees of each chamber.
Party Committees
- Do not make policy, but they do provide advice on scheduling, study substantive and political issues, distribute policy papers, track votes on issues, and discuss and implement party policy. - Maintain websites that party members and staff can access for information.
Party Caucus responsibilities
- Elect leaders - Approve committee assignments - Provide members with services - Debate party & legislative rules and policies - Develop message themes - Allow members to vent their frustrations - Discuss outreach programs that appeal to voters - In general, the Democratic caucus and Republican conference are useful forums where their members can discuss issues and forge party unity.
House Whips
- Encourage party discipline - Serves as a liaison between the party leaders and the rank-and-file party congressional members - Count votes. (Accurate vote counting is a whip's most important skill.) • Each member's choice recorded as: Yea, Leaning Yea, Undecided, Leaning No, or No • Whip teams are often large (60 members or so) to ensure that it can reach every congressperson in their party to deliver the votes when it counts - Whips mobilize winning coalitions on behalf of partisan priorities.
The Challenge of Entitlements
- Entitlements - the real force behind the escalation of federal spending - 3 big entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security
Implementing Policy
- Federal agencies are tasked with working out how to implement the legislation. - Congress uses its oversight role to ensure the agencies are implementing the laws adequately. Congress will often: • Require regular reports from agencies • Consult with congressional committees • Adjust funding or revise the law to make corrective action
Multiple Referrals
- House and Senate usually refer a bill to a single committee. - But the Speaker has the ability in some cases to refer legislation to multiple committees and identifies a primary committee that shepherds the legislation through.
Informal Party Groups
- Hundreds of informal party groups exist, mainly to emphasize their particular party priorities.
Where Bills Go #3: Reports
- If a full committee votes to send the bill to the House or Senate, staff prepares a report, subject to committee approval, describing the purposes and provisions of the legislation. - Reports emphasize arguments in favor of the bill, summarizing staff research. - A congressional staff aide: "A good report, therefore, does more than explain - it also persuades."
Earmark reform
- In 2007-2010, reforms required: • Public disclosure of lawmaker requesting an earmark • Name and location of the intended recipient • Certification that neither the member nor spouse had a financial interest in the earmark - In 2011-12, the House GOP banned all earmarks. In 2011, President Obama in his SOTU address said he'd veto legislation that had earmarks.
Criteria used during voting for leaders:
- In the Senate, seniority still has some influence, though less than in previous decades - Geographic diversity - As more women serve in Congress, gender diversity may become an important consideration
Joint Committees
- Include members from both chambers - For study, investigation, oversight, and routine activities - Unless defined in statute, the Speaker appoints House members and the Senate's presiding officer appoints the Senate members
President of the Senate
- Is actually the Vice President of the United States - Except for ceremonial occasions, seldom presides over the Senate - Can vote only to break - not make - a tie - Provided for in the U.S. Constitution
Adopting Policy
- Laws often embody ideas whose time has come • Examples: Social Security (1935), Medicare (1965) - Actions such as House & Senate floor votes and Presidential bill signings add legitimacy to the legislation
Senate Majority Leader
- Leader of the Senate - Head of the majority party in the Senate - The party's leader on the floor - Elected biennially by secret ballot of their party's Senators - Sits on one or more Senate committees
House Minority Leader
- Like his/her Majority Leader counterpart: • Serves as principal strategist and spokesperson for the party • Reviews pertinent legislative issues • Coordinates his/her party's chamber actions with the party's floor managers • Urges his/her party members to support or oppose bills • Articulates to the outside world what his/her party stands for and is trying to do - More often in a reactive position, criticizing the majority party's initiatives and developing alternatives to them - Craft a strategy to win back majority control of the House
Unanimous Consent Agreements in the Senate:
- Limit debate on a bill, any amendments, and various motions - Functional equivalents to special rules set by the House Rules Committee. But they must be approved by unanimous consent of the Senators
Formulating Policy
- Members of Congress conduct hearings, ask staff to develop committee reports.
Bill
- Most legislative proposals are Bills -Bills are designated H.R. (House of Representatives) or S.(Senate), followed by a number assigned in the order in which they were introduced, from the beginning of each 2-year congressional term
Evolution of the Senate's conduct of business: 19th Century and earlier
- No permanent committees or organized senate structure. Leadership flowed from the personal talents and abilities of individual legislators.
Senate Floor Procedures:
- Normal Routine - Holds -Filibusters -Cloture
Senate Minority Leader
- Now usually referred to as the "Democratic leader" or "Republican leader", whichever is in the minority - Elected biennially by secret ballot of their party's Senators - Sits on one or more Senate committees
Evolution of the Senate's conduct of business: 20th century
- Party structures were formed to formalize leadership - 1955 - Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) elevated the role considerably. • LBJ had an inner club of very powerful Senators who were allies • Seniority-ruled, very club-like, relatively closed environment • Junior members were to be seen and not heard
Short-cuts for minor Bills: Unanimous consent
- Passing bills without any debate or amendment. - Only done when the majority and minority floor leadership are confident there is no objection. - Only 5% of lawmaking legislation passed the 113th House by unanimous consent.
President Pro Tempore
- Presides in the Vice President's absence - In modern practice, this is the majority party Senator with the longest continuous service. - Also provided for in the U.S. Constitution
Speaker of the house powers
- Presides over the House, ruling on points of order, announcing votes, referring legislation to committees, maintaining order in the House chamber - Sets the House's agenda of activities - Controls the Rules Committee - Chairs or influences their party's committee assignments - Coordinates policy making with his/her Senate counterparts - Promotes their agenda via media (TV, radio, internet, etc.)
Senators of the majority party
- Serve an hour or so each day as the presiding officer - Helps these newcomers become familiar with Senate rules and procedures -Usually junior members
House Majority leader powers
- Serves as principal strategist and spokesperson for the party - By custom, the majority leader rarely chairs committees. - Meets regularly with committee chairs - Reviews pertinent legislative issues - Organizes the daily schedule - Coordinates chamber actions with the party's floor managers - Urges his/her party members to support or oppose bills - Articulates to the outside world what his/her party stands for and is trying to do
Moral dilemma of Senate Majority leaders
- Should you shun compromise/bipartisanship and oppose the majority's policies to make a clear argument of the need for change during the next election? When does this go beyond partisan battles and harm the country?
House Rules Committee: History
- The House Rules Committee has existed since the 1st Congress, but back then it simply prepared the set of House rules at the beginning and then disbanded. - In 1880, Rules became a permanent standing committee. - In 1883, it began to issue rules that granted bills priority for floor consideration.
House Floor Procedures: Committee of the whole
- The House in another form, under different rules - Quorum is 100 members, not the 218 required for the full House - Debate is limited by the 5 minute rule instead of the 1 hour rule in the full House - Helps expedite consideration of legislation
Evolution of the Senate's conduct of business: Today
- There has been an influx of independent-minded, activist. Senators who expect to be involved in policy deliberation - Staff resources now available to all Senators - External developments, such as the 24-hour news cycle, have broadened the political environment - Now, Senate leaders are expected to serve their members' needs and advance individuals' agendas - Former Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D-WV): • "Circumstances don't permit the LBJ style. ... times and things have changed. Younger Senators come into the Senate. They are more independent. The 'establishment' is a bad word. Each wants to do his 'own thing'."
List of House Calendars
- Union Calendar - for bills that raise or spend money directly or indirectly - House Calendar - contains non-money-related public measures, such as proposed constitutional amendments - Private Calendar - for private bills such as immigration requests or claims against the government
Ranking Minority Members
- Very influential as well, but often reacting to the plans of the majority - Nominating minority conferees - Develop alternatives to the majority proposals - Hiring and firing minority committee staff - Challenge the Chair on procedural and policy matters
Shortcuts for minor bills: Cluster Voting for suspension measures
- When the Speaker announces that record votes on a group of bills debated under the suspension, procedure will be postponed and clustered until later in the day or within the next two days. - Without cluster voting, members would be required to run back and forth to the chamber scores of times throughout the day to vote on issues.
House Floor Procedures: Recommit and Final Passage
- When the full House reviews and approves the actions of its agent, the Committee of the Whole. - Speaker asks if any member wants a separate vote on any amendment agreed to in the Cmte of the Whole. If not, they will be approved.
Distributive Policies: Pork
- a derogatory term for program benefits or spending specifically designated for members' states or districts
Reconciliation
- a special procedure that is optional when Congress adopts the budget resolution • A means to make changes in federal policies that result in budgetary savings. • Two step process: - 1) Congress adopts a budget resolution that identifies mandatory savings to be found by each committee - 2) Create an omnibus reconciliation bill that incorporates the changes recommended by the committees • Since 1980, has been employed 20 times. • Controversial, since it forces committees to create legislation that reduces spending for entitlements under their jurisdiction.
Senate Floor Procedures: Holds
- allows one or more Senators to block floor action by asking their party leaders not to schedule them.
The Amendment Exchange method
- an alternative to Conference Committees • Sending amendments back and forth between the chambers until the disagreements are resolved. • Allows the interchamber bargaining to take place in secret. Party leaders often exert a great deal of influence in negotiating the final product.
"little legislatures"
- another name for committees - By dividing its members into groups, Congress is able to consider dozens of proposed laws simultaneously
Open Rule
- any lawmaker may propose germane amendments
Authorizations
- before agencies/programs receive money, Congress should first pass authorization laws that do 3 things: - 1) establish or continue (reauthorize) federal agencies/programs - 2) define the purposes, functions, and operations of programs/agencies - 3) recommend (that is, authorize) the appropriation of funds
Committee Chairs
- call meetings and establish agendas, arrange hearings - Hire and fire committee staff - Recommend conferees - Act as floor managers - Allocate committee funds and rooms - Develop legislative strategies - Chair hearings and markups - Function as the committee's spokesperson
Partisan theory
- committees are agents of their party caucuses. Committee members are expected to support their party's programs.
Public Bills
- deal with general questions and become public laws if approved by Congress and signed by the President
Private Bills
- deal with individual matters, such as claims against the government, immigration/ naturalization cases, and land titles. They become private laws if approved and signed by the President.
Pivotal voter theory
- emphasizes the power of the critical members whose votes are necessary to form a majority vote. • Proponents of this theory note that policy outcomes rarely diverge from what is acceptable to the pivotal members of Congress. • If true, then Congress' move toward policy is determined by the distribution of policy preferences in the chamber as a whole, not by the party leaders.
Floor Managers
- focus on specific bills - usually there are two floor managers for each bill and usually they are the chair or ranking member of a committee that reported the bill - Appointed to steer particular bills to a final vote
How Assignments Are Made: Informal criteria
- include party loyalty, geography, substantive experience, gender, electoral vulnerability, and members' own wishes. Example: lawmakers with large military installations in their districts may seek assignment on the Armed Services Committee
Modified rule
- limits and specifies the amendments that lawmakers may offer. Comes in two forms, distinguished by the number of amendments made in order by the Rules Committee: -Modified Open Rule -Modified Closed Rule
Where Bills Go #1: Hearings
- listening to witnesses - an important way for lawmakers to learn and to keep abreast of the policy and oversight issues that come before their committees. - Types of witnesses: bill sponsors, federal officials, interest groups, academics, business leaders, state and local officials, private citizens. Sometimes celebrities. - Committee members can also use hearings to be heard on issues.
Overlapping Jurisdictions
- lots of overlap in policy deliberation by separate committees.
Advances in Coalition Building: Omnibus Bills
- megabills (100s or 1,000s of pages long) the encompass a wide variety of policy topics • Joining several bills in a single package can help garner support • Provisions that could not win a majority of support in stand-alone bills are tucked out of sight • Bundling popular programs with painful spending cuts limits the number of difficult votes lawmakers must cast • Also gives more power to majority leaders, and more leverage against the President • However... incumbents can still be held accountable for the details later, during an election.
Scheduling in the Senate:
- more informal than the house; Individual prerogatives of the Senators are emphasized. • No scheduling duties like the House Rules Committee • Since there is no time limit on Senators speaking, it's almost impossible to establish certainty on scheduling bills.
Standing Committee: Subcommittees
- perform much of the day-to-day lawmaking and oversight work on Congress. • Vary widely in their structure/procedures. • Provide even more specialized focus than the Standing Committees
Closed Rule
- prohibits the offering of amendments by rank and-file members
Distributive Policies: Earmark
- spending on members' specific projects in his/her district. Also called "member projects". • Earmarks increased in the 1990s and 2000s, but $ declined after the economic downturn of 2008-09
How Assignments Are Made: Biases
- the committee assignments inevitably generate biases on the policymaking. - Ideological battles often play out in committees. - Committees out of step with the House or Senate majority are more likely to have legislation defeated or significantly revised by floor amendments
House Floor Procedure: Amending
- the heart of decision making on the House floor. - If a bill is under an open rule, its opponents may try to kill it with so many objectionable amendments that it sinks under its own weight.
Appropriations
- the law that actually supplies agencies/programs with public funds - "budget authority" - equivalent to depositing money in a checking account - "budget outlay" - the check written by the Pentagon to the contractors hired to construct the submarines - By custom, the House initiates appropriations bills. It can: • 1) provide up to the amount recommended, but not more. • 2) propose less funding • 3) refuse to grant any funds
Advances in Coalition Building: Media and Public relations:
- using the press, TV, radio, polls, the Internet, speeches - are essential to advance or block legislation • Leaders form messaging teams and "war rooms" to strategize on winning the battle for public opinion • No longer is the 'inside game' - working behind the scenes to pass legislation - sufficient to pass major legislation
Domestic Policies: Redistributive Policies
- when government purposely shifts resources from one group to another. - The most difficult for members of Congress to accomplish. - Examples: - Raising the minimum wage - Increasing taxes on the wealthy
Mandatory Spending
-Entitlements -interest on federal gov. bonds 2/3 of federal spending
"The Nuclear Option"
-Involves establishing a new precedent of the Senate by overturning correct rulings of the presiding officer. • Only requires a majority vote, which means the majority party can enact at anytime.
Cloture:
-Requires 60 votes to end a filibuster - Even if cloture motion is successful, 30 hours of debate time remain before the vote can be taken.
How Assignments Are Made: Seniority
-normally, the assignment panels observe seniority when preparing committee membership lists. - The senior member of the majority party is usually listed first. - Senate Republicans apply it very rigidly; the House Republicans and Senate/House Democrats less so. - Typically, the Speaker upholds the 6-year term limit on committee chairs, but occasionally the Speaker will approve waivers to the limit.
The Committee Assignment Process
1) Each party in each chamber has its own panel to review members' committee requests and to dispense assignments to the standing committees: - House Republican and Democratic Steering Committees - Senate Republican Committee on Committees - Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee 2) Party causes vote on selections by secret ballot 3) Pro forma election by the full House and Senate
Stages of Policy Making:
1. Setting the Agenda 2. Formulating Policy 3. Adopting Policy 4. Implementing Policy
Committee- 5 points
1. Shape the House and Senate agendas. They have negative power (pigeonholing bills referred to them), but they also have positive power in providing the expertise and skill to cope with very complex legislation 2. Differ in their policy-making environments, mix of members, decision making, and ability to fulfill individual members' goals 3. In some cases, they still harbor a culture of bipartisanship 4. Typically operate independently of one another 5. Contribute to policy fragmentation. Since committees work independently but often have policy overlaps with each other, it can be difficult to see the big picture on major policy issues.
Types of Committees
1. Standing Committees 2. Select, or Special Committees 3. Joint Committees 4. Conference Committees
House Floor Procedures:
1.) Adoption of Rule 2.)Committee of the whole 3. General Debate 4.)The Amending Phase 5.) Voting 6.) Recommit and Final Passage
Two theories on what influences the approaches of congressional leaders:
1.) Conditional party government 2.)Pivotal voter theory
In the 90th Congress (1967-1969),
640 public laws were enacted. -Earlier congress passed more bills • Members of Congress understand that most bills they introduce are unlikely, as stand-alone measures, to become law. Many of the ideas in their bills are added as amendments to a larger bill or negotiated into a markup or conference report.
House Floor Procedures: Adoption of Rule
A majority member of the Rules Committee presents the rule for adoption by the House.
Resolution
A simple resolution, designated H. Res. or S. Res., deals with matters entirely within the prerogatives of one house. • It requires neither passage by the other chamber nor approval by the president and does NOT have the force of law. • Most resolutions deal with the rules of one house. • They also are used: - to express the sentiments of one house, - to extend condolences to the family of a deceased member, or - to give advice on foreign policy or other executive business.
filibuster
A strategy employed in the United States Senate, whereby a minority can delay a vote on proposed legislation by making long speeches or introducing irrelevant issues. A successful filibuster can force withdrawal of a bill. Filibusters can be ended only by cloture. - These were once rare, procedural tactics. In recent years they've become commonplace.
Scheduling in the House
All bills reported from committee in the House are listed in chronological order on one of several calendars. -• There is no guarantee that any measures placed on these calendars will be brought to the floor. • The Speaker determines whether, when, how, and in what order the bills will come up. -Recently, the House Majority Leader has taken up this task, although the Speaker is still the ultimate decider
Drafting
Anyone can draft legislation - Expert drafters in the House and Senate - Executive agencies - Lobbyists and industry groups • Sometimes members will introduce bills just as a courtesy to his/her constituents
Why do Committees exist: Part 1
Committees allow members to develop expertise in a certain policy area (e.g., consumer protection, utility regulation, agriculture, education, veterans' affairs, etc.). - Example: A former teacher may wish to serve to the committee overseeing education policy.
Why do committees exist: Part 2
Committees give individual members the opportunity to help their constituents. By serving on an important committee, a member is able to bring projects and money back to their districts. - By serving on a committee, a member votes on the projects that that committee reviews. Thus, that member has great influence on which projects are reported favorably out of committee. - State legislatures work the same way. (e.g. Water projects for the City of Tallahassee in 2012, 2013) - However, it can create conflicts. Because members gravitate toward the committees for constituency or career reasons, they aren't always the most impartial judges of policies they authorize.
Discretionary spending
Congress can finance whatever it wants through appropriations. Except pay entitlement benefits for individuals. 1/3 of congress' funding
Steve Scalise (R-LA)
Current majority whip
Cut as you go (CUTGO) rule
House requires new mandatory spending to be offset with cuts to existing entitlement programs.
The "Johnson Treatment"
Lyndon Baines Johnson (D-TX) became Senate Majority leader in 1955 and greatly elevated the post. • Probably the most influential majority leader in U.S. history • LBJ grabbed people by their lapels, squeezed their arms and legs, stamped on feet, kicked shins, and leaned on them, invading their personal space... whatever it took to get the desired vote.
House Floor Procedures: Voting
Members insert their voting cards into one of 40 voting stations and vote "yea", "nay", or "present"
Budget Outlays
Money spent in the year, compared to the money allocated.
Bill Sponsors
Only members of Congress can introduce legislation. That member becomes the bill sponsor.
Committee chairs are very..
Powerful - They can kill a bill simply by refusing to schedule it for a hearing - They can convene meetings when a bill's proponents or opponents are unavoidably absent.
Example of Bill Language manipulation:
Sen. Domenici avoided the word "tax" in his bill proposing a charge on waterborne freight, trying to circumvent the Finance Committee, which would have killed his bill. So he used "charge" and "fee" instead.
Pay as you go (PAYGO) rule
Senate rule that all tax cuts, new entitlement programs, and expansions of exisiting programs, must be budget neutral. (offset by additional taxes or by cuts in exisiting programs)
Rescission
The cancellation of previously appropriated budget authority.
Sequester
The cancellation of spending authority as a disciplinary measure to cut off spending above present limits.
Why do committees exist: Part 4
To act as outlets for national debates and controversies. - Committees serve as a forum for public debate. Examples: • Military spending • The war on drugs • Healthcare policy • Regulation of financial institutions • Benghazi investigation
Why do committees exist: Part 3
To more efficiently deal with the HUGE workload. Over a typical two year period, Congress deals with: - About 10,000 bills - Nearly 100,000 nominations - A national budget of nearly $4 trillion (in 2015) - A never-ending barrage of controversial issues
Committee autonomy is far_______ than it was before the 1970's
Weaker. Party leaders push for the party's agenda and enforce party discipline - with or without the committee leaders' cooperation. In short, the balance of power in Congress has shifted from committee chairs to party leaders.
Ways to Extract Bills from Committee:
With the Senate's approval, a Senator may: - add his/her bill as a nonrelevant amendment - Bypass the committee stage and place a bill on the calendar - Suspend the rules - Discharge the bill from the committee
Cloture
a motion, requiring 60 votes, to end debate and allow a vote to be taken on the legislation
The Senate Appropriations Committee serves as...
an appeals court to the House actions. -The Authorizations & Appropriations process is not mandated in the U.S. Constitution, but has become a tradition.
Waivers
are commonly included in the different types of rules. Waivers set aside technical violations of House rules to allow bills or other matters to reach the floor.
Standing subcommittees: in the senate
four standing committees don't have subcommittees: Budget, Rules and Admin, Small Business, and Veterans' Affairs. Also, due to relatively small workloads, four permanent panels also don't have subcommittees: Indian Affairs, Ethics, Intelligence, and Aging.
Conditional party government Theory
if partisans share common policy views and confront an opposition party with sharply different views, then strong, centralized leadership is favored. Rank and file members will support giving their leaders more power.
Speaker of the House is the only...
leadership position in Congress whose existence and method of selection is mandated by the U.S. Constitution -most visible leader in congress
Informational theory
legislatures create committees to provide lawmakers with the specialized expertise needed to make good policy decisions in a complex world. They form policies that resolve national problems.
Distributive theory
legislatures create committees to give lawmakers policy influence in areas critical to their election. Cmtes allow members to 'bring home the bacon'.
Standing subcommittees: In the house
only three standing committee don't have subcommittees: Budget, Ethics, and House Administration
House Majority Leader is...
responsible for the day-to-day working of the House
House & Senate Leaders are elected by..
secret ballot before the opening of each new Congress. • Although the entire House votes for the Speaker, the election is pro forma. With straight party voting, the majority party elects the Speaker.
Revenues
taxes, custom duties, user fees, etc... -money paid to gov.
National Agenda
the list of subjects to which government officials and those around them pay serious attention
Party Caucus
the organization of all partisans in a chamber is called the caucus -- or in the case of Republicans, the conference.
Concurrent Resolution
• A concurrent resolution, designated (H. Con. Res) or (S.Con. Res), must be passed by both houses but does NOT require the President's signature and does NOT have the force of law. • used to make or amend rules applicable to both houses or to express their joint sentiment. • for example, is used to fix the time for adjournment of a Congress and to express Congress' annual budgeting plan.
The Conference Report
• A conference ends when its report (the compromise bill) is signed by a majority of the conferees from each chamber. • The House & Senate each vote on the conference report without further amendment. - If passed by both chambers, the compromise bill is sent to the President for approval or disapproval. - If either/both chambers reject the conference report (an infrequent occurrence), a new conference may by called or another bill introduced.
Joint Resolution
• A joint resolution, designated( H. J. Res). or (S. J. Res.), requires the approval of both houses and the President's signature, just as a bill does, and has the force of law. • generally deals with limited matters, such as a single appropriation for a specific purpose. • Joint resolutions are also used to propose constitutional amendments, which do not require presidential signatures but become part of the U.S. Constitution when three fourths of the states ratify them.
Referral of Bills
• After bills are introduced, they are referred formally to the appropriate standing committee by the Senate presiding officer or the House Speaker (or House Majority Leader). • The language in a bill can greatly affect which committees it is referred to.
Types of Legislation in Congress
• Bill • Joint Resolution • Concurrent Resolution • Resolution
Bill Co-Sponsors
• Co-Sponsors - additional members of Congress that sign on to a bill to express their support of the legislation - Lots of co-sponsors from both parties suggests that the bill has widespread support. Outside groups often pressure members to be co-sponsors to certain bills that benefit them.
The 1974 Budget Act
• Created the House & Senate Budget committees • Created the Congressional Budget Office - provides econ forecasts, estimates costs of programs • Also created two new processes: - Concurrent Budget Resolution - Reconciliation
Approval by the Chamber
• Each chamber's rules require that all members of standing committees - including chairs - be elected by the entire chamber. Normally, these are approved by voice vote.
Domestic Policies: Distributive Policies
• Govt actions that convey tangible benefits - subsidies, tax breaks, or advantageous regulatory provisions - to private individuals, groups, or firms • Relatively easy to adopt and implement, since they make many interests better off and few (if any) are visibly worse off
Committee Staff
• Handle much of the workload in hearings, markup, and report • Influence can be direct or indirect • In the House, staff is usually divided as 2/3 to the majority party, 1/3 to the minority • In the Senate, staff is usually divided as 60% to the majority party, 40% to the minority • Staff aides are strategically positioned to advance or hinder policy proposals. • They negotiate with legislators, lobbyists, and executive branch officials on issues, bill language, and political strategy.
Policy incubation
• Keeping a proposal alive while it picks up support, or waits for a better climate, or while a consensus begins to form • This can take months (e.g. the Economic Stimulus package from 2009-2010) or many years (e.g. Obamacare)
Modified open v. closed rule:
• Modified open rule - more amendments allowed than under modified closed. • Modified closed rule (commonly called a "Structured" or "Restricted" rule) - few or only one amendments allowed. Rules Committee can review the amendments and decide which will be considered.
Major Bills:
• Most major legislation does not have an automatic green light to the House floor. Before reaching the floor, they need to be granted a rule (a procedural resolution) by the Rules Committee. • These procedural resolutions, called "rules" or "special rules", are how virtually all major bills reach the House floor. • The rules also establish the terms for debating and amending legislation.
Three kinds of presiding officers in the Senate:
• President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • A dozen or so senators of the majority party, typically junior members
Approval by Party Caucuses
• Prior to the 1970s, a chamber's party caucuses simply ratified the assignments • Since the 1970s, chairs and ranking minority members have been subject to secret ballot elections by the party colleagues. • Seniority is still a strong consideration for continuation on committees, but members are more flexible in recent years.
Setting the agenda
• Some emerge from a crisis. Examples: an economic depression, a terrorist attack, or a high-visibility corruption scandal • Others come from the gradual accumulation of knowledge - Agenda items are pushed by policy entrepreneurs - those who invest their time/energy to promote an issue. • Examples: Lawmakers, interest groups, party leaders, etc
Conference Committees
• Sometimes called the "third house of Congress", these bicameral panels reconcile differences between similar measures passed by both chambers. - they have unilateral authority to change legislation at a late stage in the process (e.g. AFTER they've been voted on by the two chambers). • Top party leaders are increasingly taking an active and direct role in determining who should (or should not) be conferees. In other words, the party agendas are playing stronger roles in the final versions of legislation
The Strategic Role of the House Rules Committee
• The Rules Committee is a "traffic cop" for the House floor. - Without a special rule, bills would be taken up in the order they are listed on the calendars, and many major bills would never reach the floor before Congress adjourned. - The Rules Committee can put major bills first in line. - The Rules Committee also sets the conditions for debate and amendment. • A request for a rule for a measure is usually made by the chair of the committee reporting the bill.
Senate Party Whips
• The Senate's whip system is similar to that of the House - Counting votes before crucial votes - Monitoring floor activity - Fostering party consensus
Senate Majority Leader limits
• The individualism of the Senate makes it very difficult to achieve consensus • Any Senator has significant parliamentary powers to delay action: Cloture; filibuster - Thus, to get anything done, Senate leaders must rely on their negotiation and dealmaking.
Senate Minority Leader's Job
• To build party consensus • Craft policy alternatives • Devise tactics to block or modify the majority's initiatives • Also acts as his or her party's representative in any dealings with the President • If the Minority Leader is in the President's party, he/she has the traditional duties of pushing the administration's programs and responding to partisan criticisms of the President • When opposing the President, has to calculate when to cooperate and when to confront the President • Focus on trying to win back control of the Senate.
Concurrent Budget Resolution
• estimates what the federal govt will spend in a fiscal year and at least the next 4 fiscal years. • Recommends what revenues are needed to pay for the expenses. • Identifies estimated deficits (or surpluses) • Provides total amount of outstanding public debt
Select/Special Committees
• temporary panels that typically go out of business after the 2-year life of the Congress in which they are created. • Usually do not have legislative authority (the right to receive and report out measures); they can only study, investigate, and make recommendations.
Resolving House-Senate Differences: 3 options
1. Conference Committees 2. "Ping pong" House and Senate Amendments 3. Combination of the two approaches
