CONGRESS

Overview of Congress  Term of Congress lasts two years  Term begins on Jan 3 rd of every odd-numbered year  We are in the 114 th congress ( )  Adjournment: end of a term; date must be agreed upon by both houses  Two regular sessions per term: periodic recesses (not to be confused with adjournment)

Overview of Congress  Bicameralism: two-house legislature  House of reps’s designed to be closer to the people/more responsive  Members elected directly by the people  Elected from smaller districts rather than large (senate)  Revenue bills (tax bills) must originate in the house

U.S. Representatives  Qualifications:  25 years of age  Citizenship for 7 years  Resident of State  Terms of office: Two years. Entire body up for reelection every two years -- A more "responsive" (and potentially "radical") body  Term limits passed by some states, but ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court (US Term Limits v. Thornton, 1995).

Overview of Congress  House of Reps: Size  Determined by Congress: 435 since 1911  Members elected by districts, not states  Number of rep’s a state has determined by pop.  Demographic trends show increase in Sun Belt state representation

Idaho U.S. Representatives Raul Labrador: 1 st district Mike Simpson: 2 nd district

U.S. Senate  Designed to be more removed from people  Members originally indirectly elected by state legs.  Members elected on an at large basis

U.S. Senate  Qualifications  30 years of age  Citizenship for 9 years  Resident of State  Terms of office: Six years. 1/3 up for reelection every two years -- Staggering of terms ensures a more stable body. No term limits allowed here, either.  With a smaller size, the Senate has been a more informal body with less need than the House for as many strict procedures

Idaho U.S. Senators Mike Crapo - Sr. Senator James Risch – Jr. Senator

The Evolution of the Senate  Escaped many of the tensions encountered by the House  Smaller chamber (100 member)  In the 1800s balanced between slave and free states  Size precluded need of a Rules committee  Previous to 1913, Senators were elected by the state legislature, which caused them to focus on jobs and contributions for their states

The Evolution of the Senate  Major struggle in the Senate about how its members should be chosen; resolved with Seventeenth Amendment (1913)  Filibuster another major issue: restricted by rule 22 (1917), which allows a vote of cloture (60 votes)  Nonstop debate to kill a bill  A threat of a filibuster is almost as good as a filibuster itself, it places pressure on a bill’s sponsors to change parts of the bill  Especially effective at the end of a term

Overview of Congress  Compensation:  Members set own salaries (27 th amendment prevents salary raises from taking effect until the following term) $174,000  Other perks: staff, travel allowance, office space, franking privilege, insurance  Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) - Staff salaries from LegiStorm Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) - Staff salaries from LegiStorm  Legislative immunity: cannot be sued for something they say while on congressional business  Cannot be arrested/detained while going to or from a session of Congress

Who is in Congress?  The beliefs and interests of individual members of Congress can affect policy  Overrepresentation of white, male, Protestant, upper-middle class lawyers in their 50s  House is slowly changing  Senate is slower to change

Incumbency  By the 1950s membership in Congress became a career  Relatively few seats are seriously contested in the House. Most are “safe seats”  There are charges of a “Permanent Congress”  Reelection rate in House 90% (96% 2008)  Reelection rate in Senate 80% (90% in 2008)  The counter to this charge is that retirements open up seats to new members and the reelection rates don’t take this into account (scandals too!)

Incumbency  Advantages:  Franking privilege  Staffers  Patronage  Name recognition  Casework  Money: esp from PACs Congress

Special incumbency advantage for House members  GERRYMANDERING!!!  Reapportionment: the redistribution of the 435 seats in the House on the basis of changes in state populations  1. number of Rep’s per state is determined by population  2. Census conducted every 10 years  3. census will show population changes in states: these changes must be reflected in state representation in House: if a state gains significantly in population it will probably gain seats/ if state loses population or does not gain as much as other states, it will probably lose seats

Special incumbency advantage for House members  If a state has a change in the number of seats its district boundaries must change  This is known as redistricting, and is usually carried out by the party in power of the state legislature  A form of redistricting is gerrymandering: redrawing boundaries to favor the party in power of the state legislature

Special incumbency advantage for House members  Effects of gerrymandering:  The party in power STAYS in power  “safe” seats are created for incumbents, leading to further difficulties for challengers  Strangely-shaped districts  “majority-minority” districts created by racial gerrymandering

Special incumbency advantage for House members  Supreme Court redistricting requirements  Districts must be as near equal in population as possible  Baker v. Carr 1962: “one man, one vote” principle applied to state legislative districts to correct overrepresentation of rural areas  District lines must be continuous  Racial gerrymandering is prohibited (Shaw v. Reno, 1993)

Do Members Represent Their Voters?  Member behavior is not obvious  So they vote according to constituents, congressional leaders or own beliefs?  Representational View (delegate) : members vote to please their constituents in order to secure reelection  Applies when constituents have a clear view and legislator’s vote is likely to attract attention  Correlation found on roll call votes and constituency opinion for civil rights & social welfare but not foreign policy  Can’t predict when legislator will adhere to this philosophy  Does not mean he/she won’t win in other ways

 Organizational view (partisan): where constituency interests are not vitally at stake, members primarily respond to cues from colleagues  Party is the principal cue, with shared ideological ties causing each member to look to specific members for guidance  Party members of the committee sponsoring the legislation are especially influential Do Members Represent Their Voters?

 Attitudinal view (trustee): the member’s ideology determines his or her vote  House members are ideologically more similar to the “average voter” than are Senators  Senate less in tune with public opinion, more likely to represent different bases of support in each state 1950s to early 1960s: conservative institution dominated by southern senators Mid-1960s to late 1970s: rise of liberal senators and increasing decentralization 1980-present: rise of ideologically-based conservative Republicans Do Members Represent Their Voters?

What does a legislator really do?What does a legislator really do? (17:35) What kinds of services should legislators perform for their constituents? Are there services that legislators should not provide? What is it that constituents want from legislators?

A Polarized Congress  Members are increasingly divided by political ideology  A generation ago, the “liberal” faction included Republicans and the “conservative” faction included Democrats  Since 1998, Congress has been polarized along ideological and partisan lines  Attitudinal explanation of how Congress votes has increased in importance  Organizational explanation is of decreasing importance

A Polarized Congress  Polarization among members on the basis of political beliefs greater than that of voters  More likely to challenge, investigate, or denounce one another  Less likely to negotiate over legislation or to reach compromise settlements