congress chapter 11. congressional elections house members 435: start worry about their next...

CongressChapter 11

• Congressional electionsHouse members 435: start worry about their next election earlier than senators

: two year terms. Result-house is a more sensitive body regarding issues that affect elections.

Framers believed-make the house and its members more sensitive than senators to the opinions of constituents

Requirements: 25 years old, citizen for seven years, residents of the states from which they're elected.

Framers hoped the Senate would act as a check against the House: singlemindedness and passion.

The public has more influence over the house then the Senate. Drawing district lines-each state has two senators who represent the entire state.

House representatives serve districts within states. Population of state determines number of districts.

• Congressional electionsOnly restriction-each state must have at least one house member.

States with the most citizens have more influence in the house.

States with more citizens have stronger voice in the Senate.

Number of districts, determined by national census taken every 10 years.

The process of changing the number of seats within a state is called reapportionment.

There are 435 seats in the House. Each one representing approximately 650,000 citizens.

Congress ordered that state stop creating new districts after the 1910 census.

States have the power to determine what areas are covered by each district, they cannot change the number of districts they have.

When changes to the number of districts are required, states control the redistricting process.

Redistricting is subject to federal review, to determine whether it violates laws against racial discrimination.

•Advantaes of Incumbency

safe seat - for an elected office, is predictably won by one party for the other

safe seats are almost certain to be won by the current officeholder or incumbent.

The vast majority of the House is considered invulnerable to challenge.

In 2006 less than 50 seats were considered winnable by a non-incumbent.

In contrast Senate seats are considered much more vulnerable.

Reasons-opponents are often well-financed, national visibility, public pays closer attention because only one third of the Senate are up for reelection time, two parties can invest more in their candidates.

House elections-more of local affairs.

•Advantaes of Incumbency

Most citizens have a favorable view of their own member of Congress,

they recognize their members name on the ballot, and incumbents benefit from several advantages:

do not have to pay postage on mail to their district,

allowed to send bulk emails anytime,

greater access to the media,

raise campaign money more easily than challengers,

have more campaign experience than challengers,

help constituents solve problems with government and take credit for federal spending in their districts.

In the year 2006 Democrat incumbents did not lose a single seat, Republicans lost at least 15 seats.

•2006 Congressional Elections

Republican Party lost control of both the House and the Senate.

Republicans lost 30 seats in house, including 17 incumbents, lost six seats in the Senate, including five incumbents.

Gains in House produced dramatic change in power.

Nancy Pelosi, becomes first woman ever to occupy the top job-speaker the house.

Every committee gained a new chair in both chambers.

Democrats won the power to set the congressional policy agenda.

Democrats won six governorships: giving them a 28 to 22 edge over the Republicans.

Also won control for state legislatures given them a 23 to 16 edge of the Republicans.

Explaining the results - House Republicans lost at least five seats because of scandals: Tom delay in Texas, marital infidelity, lewed emails, violence in Iraq.


the 2006 election the exit polls showed that many voters had voted against the Bush administration based on the handling of the war.

2/3 of voters said they cast their ballots on the basis of national issues in House races, such as corruption and Iraq.

60% said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of the war

37% of the voters said they had cast their vote to express opposition for Bush.

Many Republicans chose not to campaign with the vice president or the president because of their association to the war in Iraq.


The election became a way to express anger towards the president.

During the election candidates combined to spend nearly $1.2 billion.

Impacts - the day after the election, Donald Rumsfeld, resigned from office.

Acknowledging the public's desire for change in war strategy.

The Republican Party also accepted the resignation of its chairman one day later.

Democrats realized they would be the president's help to pass any legislation, so both parties immediately changed the tone from the election attacks too promising a new spirit of bipartisan national policy.

•Structure of Power in Congress

framers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government.

They worried most about how to keep Congress from dominating the other branches.

Thus they divided the legislative branch into separate chambers.

1913 17th amendment is ratified: Senators are chosen by popular vote now rather than state legislatures.

Framers allowed each chamber to set its own rules for making laws.

House has more rules governing debate and a limited time for debate based on his size.

House members have smaller staffs, less media coverage, not permitted to offer certain amendments to pending legislation.

In contrast, Senate has looser rules governing debate, rarely consider legislation unless all 100 senators agree on the schedule

generally allows members to offer unlimited number of amendments to pending legislation.

•Structure of Power in Congress

Each house has its own committee structure, its own rules for considering legislation, and its own record of proceedings, each sets the rules that govern its members.

Bicameral legislature of common in the colonial period because it prevented strong-willed majorities from oppressive individuals and minorities.

Defenders of bicameralism attest to it's moderating influence.

Guarantees that many votes will be taken before policy is finally approved, provides opportunities for bargaining.

•Powers of Congress

enumerated powers: powers that are spelled out in the Constitution.

Include:

power to make war,

the power to lay and collect taxes,

the power to borrow and coin money,

regulate citizenship,

build post offices and postal roads,

establish lower court of the federal judiciary,

power to protect the nation against foreign threats through declaration of war, raising armies, building navies, and

the power to protect the nation from domestic threats I regulating commerce and immigration.


Framers also gave Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for caring out execution of the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof".

This is sometimes called the elastic clause.

Constitution also give Congress the authority to set its own rules.

It also gave Congress important checks on government:

• power to remove the president and judges from office through impeachment.

• House is the authority to charge "high crimes and misdemeanors",

• Senate has a responsibility to conduct the trial to determine guilt or innocence.

• Impeachment requires a majority vote in the house, conviction requires a two thirds vote in the Senate.


Senate has the power to confirm or not confirm many presidential nominations including the Supreme Court.

Senate also is given the authority to "advise and consent" in the making of treaties.

Must be approved by two thirds of the Senate before they can be ratified by the president

House responsibilities-the power to impose taxes.

Although the house as the sole authority to create revenue bills the Senate can freely amend spending bills.

The two year period between congressional elections is called a Single Congress and it is divided into two one year sessions

Although the framers intended the Congress to be the most powerful branch presidential authority has grown throughout the country's history and in many's opinion is now more influential than Congress.

•Congressional Leadership and Rules

many Americans believe Congress is too slow, framers clearly preferred the slow process is a way to protect the people from themselves.

If the framers were alive today they might be concerned over

why so many spending and tax bills are passed into law with so little debate.

They might also complain the many members vote on legislation that they have never read.

They would've expected the members would take their powers seriously enough to think about issues before voting for their passage.

The House of Representatives: because of the houses size it requires more rules.

The house assigns different types of bills to different calendars.

Financial measures like tax appropriation bills are put on a special calendar for quicker action.

They can also speed up wall making by unanimous consent of the members on the floor.


By acting as a committee of the whole, the house is able to operate more informally and more quickly than under its regular rules.

A quorum in the committee of the whole requires only 100 members rather than a majority of the whole chamber, and voting is quicker and simpler.

Members speaking time is limited, and debate may simply be cut off by a majority vote.

The Speaker the House-has more power than the leader in the Senate.

Most powerful leader on Capitol Hill.

The post is always filled for the majority-party, giving the party even more power to enforce its power.

Speaker is second in line to be president after the vice president.

Speaker has the power to recognize members who rise to speak, make rulings on questions of parliamentary procedure, appoint members to temporary committees.

The speaker directs business on the floor of the house.

More significant is the behind the scenes influence of the speaker


Power to name committee chairs, appoint allies to leadership posts, reduce the size of committee staffs, which gives the speaker enormous power to reward and punish its members.

Speakers selected on a vote by the majority party caucus.

The caucus elects party officers, committee chairs, approves committee assignments, and helps the speaker decide what issues will come first.

Speaker is always selected first and therefore is the most important voice in determining these choices.

Speakers are subject to the same ethics rules that affect all members.

Newt Gingrich, removed from office in 1998 after an investigation into his use of funds to help his allies win reelection.

Fined $300,000 for misusing funds and misleading House ethics committee.


Other house officers - the majority leader: helps plan party strategy, confers w/ party leaders, tries to keep members of the party in line.

House minority leader-usually ends up speaker when his or her party games a majority in the house.

Party whips-serve as a liaison between house leadership of each party and the rank-and-file.

Inform members about important bills, prepare summaries of bills, do vote counts for the speaker, exert pressure on the members, try to ensure maximum attendance on the floor for critical votes.


• The house rules committee-most powerful committee in either chamber.

Besides the rules governing what is up for debate on any legislative issue, sets the limit on the number of kinds of amendments that will be allowed.

Rules committee can delay consideration of a bill.

closed rule: prohibits amendments altogether or provides only members of committee reporting the bill to offer amendments.

Usually reserved for tax and spending bills.

Open rule: permits debate within the overall time allocated to the bill.

Leading the Senate-Senate has the same basic committee structure.

Procedures are more informal, permits more time for debate, more open fluid and decentralized body.

Senate has 100 separate power centers - is so splintered that the party leaders have difficulty arranging the day day schedule.

Senate is led by the majority leader, elected by the majority party in the Senate.

When the majority leader and the president are from different parties the Senate Majority Leader is considered his or her parties national spokesperson.

The majority leader has the right to be the first Senator heard on the floor.


In consultation with the Senate Minority Leader the majority leader controls the Senate agenda and recommends committee assignments.

The Senate Majority Leader's influence depends on the leaders political and parliamentary skills and on the national political situation.

Majority Leader has substantial influence of the Senate's legislative calendar.

Party machinery and the Senate is similar to the house.

The president of the Senate, the vice president, also has influence over Senate proceedings. Can vote only in the case of a tie.

Senate elects a president pro tempore usually the most senior member from the majority party who acts as a chair in the absence of the vice president.

The president pro tem delegates most responsibility to junior members of the chamber from the majority party.

The Senate is far less structured than the house.

Senators have always operated under rules that give them great power.

They have extended debate which allows them to hold the floor as long as they wish unless the super majority of 60 colleagues that's the end the debate.


The rules also allow individual senators to offer amendments on virtually any topic to a pending bill.

A delaying tactic which is often using the Senate is to place a hold on a bill in order for Senators to prepare for debate.

Has become a powerful device for blocking action on legislation and nominations.

The filibuster-Senators can go on talking until they relinquish the right to talk voluntarily or through exhaustion.

The right to a unlimited debate is known as the filibuster.

They often begin with legislative hold to put a stop to all action

in the past was a favorite weapon of Southern Senators from blocking civil rights legislation.

Typically more effective at the end of a congressional session.

Often times the threat of a filibuster is enough to force a compromise that is satisfactory to the bills opponents


The filibuster can be defeated-through what is known as a cloture. The rules specify 16 Senators to sign a petition asking for cloture. If 60 of the 100 members vote in favor of cloture no Sen. may speak on a measure under consideration for more than an hour.

Once the vote is final, a vote on the measure will be taken after no more than 30 hours of debate.

Most cloture votes fail. Both parties have learned to use the filibuster when they are in the minority.

VP Cheney threatened that the number of votes needed to break or stop a filibuster should be reduced to 50+1 a simple majority.

Ironic because Cheney’s party (Rep) were very upset this year when the Democrats proposed a rule change eliminating the supermajority requirement to break a filibuster

2013 the Senate passed a rule stipulating simple majority is all that is necessary to break a filibuster.

•The Power to Confirm

Constitution is ambiguous with regard to confirmation.

Meant to be a check against the executive.

Step one: process starts with the review of committee to oversee the position.

Nominees appear before committee answer questions.

•The Power to Confirm

Committees approve or disapprove of nominees.

Senate Majority Leader can ask that a nominee be confirmed even on a vote of disapproval.

Most nominees are confirmed. Only nine cabinet secretaries have been rejected since 1789.

• Contentious nominees - George W. Bush: John Bolton for US ambassador to the United Nations.

• Presidents can appoint individuals while Congress is in recess-can only serve until end of the next session of Congress.

• Federal judges: often more controversial because they serve for life.

• Senatorial courtesy -Presidents confer with senators from the state which the nominee originates from.

• Nominees less likely to be approved against the objection of senators from their home states.

•Committees

Congressional committees where the work of Congress is done.

They shape the politics of legislation.

Types of committees- standing committee, special or select committees, joint committees.

Standing committees most important - make laws and represent constituents:

four types: authorizing committees, appropriations committees, rules and administration committees, revenue and budget committees.

Authorizing committees-pass laws that tell government what to do. Make basic decisions on who gets what, when, and how from where

are approximately 15 authorizing committees in the house and 17 in the Senate.

Also responsible for oversight of the federal bureaucracy.

oversee if programs are working well, reduce fraud, waste, or abuse in government agencies.

•Committees Examples - education and labor committees : set rules governing Pell

Grants and student loan programs: who can apply, how much can they get, where do loans come from, rules regarding default.

Congressional oversight is increasing.

Appropriations committees-decide how much money government will spend on programs and operations. There's one in each chamber. Each committee has one subcommittee for the 13 appropriations bills enacted annually to keep the government running.

Have power to undo or limit decisions of authorizing committees.

Appropriation bills often include earmarks: special projects for individual members such as new highways, university buildings.

Increase incumbency's advantage.

Rules and administration committees- determine the basic operations of their chambers. Example how many staffers do remember get, what's the ratio of majority to minority members on committees.

•Committees

The House rules committee is more powerful than the Senates.

Is responsible for giving each bill a rule, or ticket, to the floor. Open rules and closed rules.

Revenue and budget committees - deal with raising money that the appropriation committee spend.

House Ways and Means committee is the most powerful committee in Congress because it raises and authorizes spending.

Only committee that can raise and authorize spending.

Responsible for making decisions in Social Security and Medicare programs.

•Committees

Choosing committee members - each party controls the selection of standing committee members.

The chair and the majority of each committee are selected from the majority party.

Minority party represented proportionally to membership in chamber.

Four top committees in the house: Appropriations, Rules, Ways and Means, and Commerce.

House members can only serve on one of these four.

Chairs of these four cannot chair other committees.

Members can only serve on 2 other nonexclusive committees.

•Committees

Senate committees : Four “super a” - prestigious committees-Appropriations, Armed Services, Finance, Foreign Relations.

Senators can only serve on two of the of these committees.

They can also serve on two other “A” committees and can also serve on any number of “B” and “C” committees.

House and senate choose committee members in different ways.

House Republicans choose through the Committee on Committees.

Democrats in the house choose through the Steering and Policy Committee of the Democratic Caucus.

Veteran party members dominate committees in both houses

•Role of Seniority

seniority rule - member of maj. party with largest continuous service on committee becomes chair. Gives power to reps. from safe districts

encourages members to stay on committees

encourages specialization and expertise

reduces interpersonal politics caused by competition for chairmanship

1990s House and Senate Repub’s limit chairs to no more than 3 consec. 2 year terms

•Investigation and Oversight

conducts investig. to determine if legislation is necess.,

gather facts relevant to invest.,

assess efficiency of executive agencies,

build public support,

expose corruption,

enhance reputation of members

Oversight power - question exec. branch official to determine agencies compliance, and to see if operating efficiently

•Conference Committees

laws are only passed if the legislation from both houses is identical

conf. comm. are made up of members from both houses

majority parties have more members

bargaining process

often called the “third house”

Caucuses

• informal committees that allow individuals to promote shared interests

• some are for House or Senate members only others are Joint

Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Women’s Issues C., Rural Health C., Cuba Freedom C., Pro-Life Caucus, Urban C.

•Job of the Legislator

has become a more attractive job since the mid 1900s

only 1/10 of the members leave after the end of their terms

has become a full time job

incumbents exploit their advantages

name recog

service to constituents

campaign funding

access to media

franking privilege

•Job of the Legislator

longer workdays, average 70 hours per week

committee & sub-committee work, debates, meeting with citizens & interest groups, raising $

most don’t want to leave

Legislators as Representatives

Congress has a split personality: lawmaking and policy making for the nation

forces reps to balance the interests of the nations against those of their districts or states

Perceive their roles differently : delegates or trustees

delegates : official expected to represent views of constituents

trustee : act and vote independently based on their judgement of the circumstances

•Legislators are Influenced by Colleagues, Staff, Constituents, Convictions, Interest Groups, Party, & Presidents

Colleagues : close friends in Congress

depend on the advice of like-minded colleagues

particularly respected members of the committee that worked on the bill

sometimes motivated to vote a certain way b/c they know a colleague on the other side of the issue

Logrolling - vote trading among legislators (I vote on your bill if you vote on mine)


Congressional Staff - issues are complex, schedules are tight, leads to dependence on input from staff

important to have knowledgable experts on staff to research pending legislation

both houses have = allotment of $ for staff.... which means Senate has much larger staffs

many of whom work in district offices


Constituents - members rarely vote against the wishes of their constituents ..... delegates

they mostly hear from the attentive public - those that pay close attention to public affairs

70 % of constituents have not visited, faxed, phoned, e-mailed, or written letter to Congress


Convictions - trustees

influenced by their own experiences and attitudes about the role of government

ideology is a good predictor of congressional voting

closely related to party

their are “mavericks” in both parties that vote against their parties but they are a minority


Interest Groups - exercise their influence in many ways

contributions to campaigns

most $ goes to incumbents

testify before committees

provide info to legislative staff

build public pressure for or against a cause (NRA)

lobbying

interest groups on different sides of issues often cancel each others influence out

most effective when they mobilize public pressure


Party - members generally vote with their party

greater in recent years than in the past

members have become more loyal to party in part because both have shifted more to the L and R

Liberal Dems and Conservative R stick together on most votes


Presidents - many ways to influence Congress

ability to distribute government resources to their friends

help set the legislative agenda

budget and legislative messages

lobby Congress on important issues

shape public opinion in order to pressure Congress

incentives : invitations to special white House dinners and functions which enhances representatives reputations

•Legislative Ethics An effective ethics system prevents violations before they take place

Congress responsible for punishing its own members

are subject to federal prosecution for bribery and other criminal acts

members of Congress can’t accept gifts valued at more that $50 but they can accept larger gifts from family members and FRIENDS - this includes meals, but they can accept meals of any value at large meetings, conventions, discussions and events where admission is free to other members

can accept free travel and expenses for making speeches, attending events - must be related to their official duties

two types of congressional ethics - individual conduct (accepting gifts and taking trips) & institutional conduct (congress as a whole)

Hard to remain ethical when the institution as a whole creates the conditions that foster corruption

•Legislative Ethics After Tom Delay’s scandal - Congress was unwilling & unable to create

tougher rules against the conduct that led to the lobbying scandal

no bans have been placed on free tips, travel on corporate jets, and gifts

minor changes ot reporting of potential conflicts of interest

•Legislative ObstaclesSpeaker refuses to give bill a committee

chair of House Auth subcomm. can refuse to forward it to subcomm

Hous Auth can reject the bill

Chair of H Auth Comm can refuse to schedule hearing

House Auth. Comm rejects bill

Rules Comm can refuse to send to floor

majority of House rejects bill

House approp refuses to provide $

Senate maj. leader refuses to give bill to committee

chair of Senate Auth subcomm rejects bill

chair of Senate Auth Comm can refuse to schedule a hearing

Senate Auth Comm as a whole rejects bill

Senate approp comm refuse to provide $

Senator or Senators can place a hold on bill or mount filibuster

•Legislative ObstaclesMajority of Senate rejects bill, fail to gain enough votes to remove hold

or stop filibuster

•floor leaders in either chamber refuse to schedule the bill

•majority in the Senate rejects bill

•House-Senate conf. comm. fails to resolve differences

•majority of the House cna reject the conference committee agreement

• “ “ “ Senate “ “ “ “ “

•President can refuse to sign bill

•Senate or House can fail to override the President’s decision

•Bill becomes a Law Introduced

House - hopper

Senate- present to a clerk or read it on the floor of the Senate

can offer bills as amendments to other bills

Committee Review

bill is read into the record and then recommended to proper comm

Referral Decision

•referred to single comm unless its complex then maybe more than one

Mark-up

clean up the wording

offer amendments

once done, bill is voted on in the sub-comm and then full comm.

House- then forwarded to House Rules Comm. for a rule that will govern debate

Senate- straight to the full chamber

•Bill becomes a LawDischarge

most bills die in comm. but they can be forced to the house floor with a discharge petition (signed by a majority of the comm membership)

few are successful

Floor Debate and Passage

scheduled for floor action or dropped entirely

most bills that make it this far are passed into law

Senate - often attach riders : unrelated amendments to a bill either to win concessions from their sponsors or to reduce the odds of passage

Once bill passes both houses in identical form they are hand delivered to the President

President can sign, veto, or not sign and it will go into law in 10 days

If he doesn’t sign and the Congress goes into recess before 10 days the bill dies - Pocket Veto

congress chapter 11. congressional elections house members 435: start worry about their next...

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house elections

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number of seats

number of districts

contrast senate seats

safe seats

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