Chapter 13 Congress

Introducing Congress Congressional powers, as granted under the Constitution, are extensive and very clearly defined. America’s Congress is bicameral: the House has 435 members (plus six nonvoting members) who are elected every two years. The 100 senators serve six-year terms. The two houses of Congress reflect different national priorities. Populists appreciate the responsive House; advocates of stability embrace the more deliberate Senate, where rules like the filibuster make it more difficult to pass legislation. Less legislation and more partisanship has Congress watchers debating: Is this a broken branch of government?

Congressional Representation Members of the House and Senate represent Americans in multiple ways. These include: Geographic representation: Constitutional election rules say members must live in the state or district they represent. Descriptive representation: Does the assembly look like the people? Substantive representation: Do members of Congress effectively pursue constituent interests? Along with these different styles of representation, members can act as delegates or trustees. Representatives can faithfully follow what the people want or do as their political experience, instincts, and core principles dictate.

Getting to Congress—and Staying There Members of Congress are always running for office. Fundraising takes up a particularly large amount of time and attention. Members pay special attention to their home style: most go back to their constituency every week—compressing normal congressional business into the period from Tuesday through Thursday. Congress has become an institution of strangers who do not know one another. Most members focus intensely much of the time on reelection.

Congress at Work Congress is a like a small city. Its citizens include the 541 members of Congress, 22,000 staff members, and an army of lobbyists. The city includes its own amenities, traditions, and slang. Congressional leadership in the House includes a Speaker, majority and minority leaders, and ten whips. Successful leaders in the House impose discipline on their party members. The Senate allows far more individual action. Party leaders and whips have fewer institutional tools with which to impose discipline. Congressional committees are the workhorses of Congress. They have proved efficient and adaptable over the years. However, the committee system also fragments Congress, hides action from public view, advantages well-placed constituents looking for individual favors, and makes it difficult to pass major legislation.

Legislative Policymaking Transforming a policy idea into a federal law is extremely difficult. Why bother? Because legislation remains the central act of American domestic government. Important laws have far-reaching consequences. The power of an officially sanctioned law inspires the introduction of thousands of bills in Congress each year. Most proposed legislation (97%) never gets through the process and becomes law. Congressional committees are the central actors in legislative policymaking, holding hearings and marking up (or deleting) bills to prepare them for floor action. Floor procedures are another intricate part of the process. Once passed by both House and Senate, legislation may still face a conference committee, a presidential veto, or both.

Why Is Congress So Unpopular? Congress has grown more partisan. Today, the parties themselves are more ideologically consistent. This makes for sharper conflict, but it also gives people clearer choices. Does divided government lead to more gridlock? Political scientists disagree. Some argue that it does not; “Divided we govern,” they insist. Others argue that recent developments—such as the growing ideological purity of the parties and the regular use of the filibuster— signal that divided government now means an inability to solve America’s problems.

Some Popular Reforms—And Their Limits Some popular reforms propose limiting the influence of lobbying groups in Congress. Others emphasize the importance of educating the public, so that Americans can exercise greater oversight and develop a deeper understanding of the workings of Congress. We would recommend education about the “messy” nature of legislating in a diverse democratic nation.