The Congress and Its Work Chapter 12 Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Congress: The First Branch Called this because the Constitution lays out the powers and structure of Congress in Article I. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Congress: The First Branch Congress is bicameral: consisting of two chambers. Upper is the Senate; Lower is the House of Representatives. They have roughly equal powers. Supported by staffs and other institutions. Library of Congress, the General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Congressional Parties: The House Speaker of the House The presiding office of the House of Representatives; normally the Speaker is the leader of the majority party. Majority Leader Speaker’s chief lieutenant in the House and the most important officer in the Senate. He or she is responsible for managing the floor. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Congressional Parties: The House Minority Leader Leader of the minority party who speaks for the party in dealing with the majority. Whips Members of Congress who serve as informational channels between the leadership and the rank and file, conveying the leadership’s views and intentions to the members and vice versa. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Congressional Parties: The House Party Caucus A group of members of the United States Congress that meet to pursue common legislative goals. Party Conference What Republicans call their party caucus. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Congressional Parties: The Senate Given that the Senate usually includes two members from each state – an even number – some tie-breaking mechanism is necessary. Constitution provides the vice-president with authority to preside over the Senate and to cast a tie-breaking vote when necessary. President pro-tempore serves as Senate presiding officer in the vice-president’s absence (which is nearly all the time). Ordinarily goes to the most senior member of the majority party. Honorific. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Congressional Parties: The Senate Senate leadership has a structure of whips and expert staff, Senate leaders are not as strong as those in the House. Spend most of their time negotiating compromises. Unanimous Consent Agreements Agreement that sets forth the terms and conditions according to which the Senate will consider a bill; these are individually negotiated by the leadership for each bill. Filibuster delaying tactic- either speaking indefinitely or by offering dilatory motions and amendments. Cloture motion to end debate; requires 60 votes to pass. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Ups and Downs of Congressional Parties Difficult to measure the strength of congressional parties. Power of leadership has varied over time. Parties more powerful when unified. Leadership appears more powerful. Leadership PACs may help leaders influence their party members; sense of obligation if given money. Members may accept some party discipline because it is necessary for attaining policy goals. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

The Organization of Congress The two chambers have evolved to meet the demands of law making Division of labor created the committee system Need to organize large numbers of people to make decisions led to the party leadership structure. Both are more important in the House. Senate is small enough to operate by informal coordination and negotiation. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 The Committee System Since 1989 roughly 6 to 8 thousand bills have been introduced in each 2 year session in the House. Screening process: division into committees. Committees do the work before it comes (if it makes it) to the floor for a vote. Standing committees: committee with fixed membership and jurisdiction, continuing from Congress to Congress. Subcommittees: Formed to tackle very specific tasks within the jurisdiction of the standing committee. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 The Committee System Select or special committees: Groups appointed for a limited purpose and a limited duration. Joint committees: Includes members of both chambers to conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks. Conference committee: Includes members of House and Senate to work out differences between similar bills. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 House Committees Three levels of importance Top committees: Rules, Appropriations, Ways and Means Second level: deal with nationally significant policy areas: agriculture, armed services, civil rights. Third level: Housekeeping items. Government Reform and Oversight or a narrow policy venue such as Veteran’s affairs. Members rarely serve on more than one top committee. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 Senate Committees Senate committee system is simpler than that of the House. Has only major and minor committees Appropriations and Finance are major committees as are Budget and Foreign Relations. Committee power in the Senate is widely distributed. Each senator can serve on one minor and two major committees, and every senator gets to serve on one of the four major committees. Senators less likely to specialize Serve diverse constituencies within an entire state – cannot afford to limit themselves to one or two subjects. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

How Committees Are Formed Committee system is formally under the control of the majority party in the chamber. Each committee has a ratio of majority to minority members at least as favorable to the majority as is the overall division of the chamber. More important the committee, the more likely it is stacked in favor of the majority. Seniority Practice by which the majority party member with the longest continuous service on a committee becomes the chair. Has been weakened and reformed. Ex: Republican conference adopted a three-term limit on committee chairs which they enforced in 2000. Enforced by Senate Republicans in 1996. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 Purpose of Committees Why do standing committees exist? Use committee system to focus on district interests. Logrolling Term given to politicians’ trading of favors, votes, or generalized support for each other’s proposals. Committees serve knowledge function. Committees are the tools of congressional parties. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 Caucuses Caucuses are groups within Congress formed by members to pursue common interests. 300 such groups in the 108th Congress Congressional Black Caucus Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition Sportsmen’s Caucus (funded by NRA and sporting industry) May be increasingly important actors in the congressional process. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law Bill or resolution is introduced by a congressional sponsor and one or more co-sponsors. House Speaker or Senate presiding officer, advised by chambers parliamentarian, refers the proposal to the appropriate committee. Multiple referral: said to occur when party leaders give more than one committee responsibility for considering a bill. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law Once a bill goes to committee, the chair gives it to the appropriate subcommittee. Real work begins here. If subcommittee takes bill seriously it will: Schedule hearings After hearings, markup takes place Revising it, adding and deleting sections, preparing it for report to the full committee. Full committee may repeat the process, or it may largely accept the work of the subcommittee. If supported, the bill is nearly ready to be reported to the floor. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law The chambers diverge in their process at this point. In the House, bills that are not controversial can be called up and passed unanimously with little debate. Somewhat more important bills Fastrack through suspension of the rules Here debates is limited to 40 minute, no amendments are in order, and a two-thirds majority is required for passage. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law In the House, legislation that is especially important goes to the Rules Committee before going to the floor. Rule: specifies the terms and conditions under which a bill or resolution will be considered on the floor of the House. If the Rules Committee recommends a rule, the floor then chooses to accept or reject it. Usually accepted as the Rules Committee anticipates what the floor will tolerate. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law The Senate procedure is a bit simpler. For uncontroversial legislation, a motion to pass a bill by unanimous consent is all that is necessary. More important and controversial legislation requires the committee and party leaders to negotiate unanimous-consent agreements. Complicated bargains analogous to the rules granted by the House Rules Committee. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law So what happens if a majority in one chamber accepts the bill? Nothing. A bill must pass BOTH chambers in identical form. Unless one chamber is willing to defer to the other, the two must iron out their differences. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004 How A Bill Becomes a Law Usual method is a conference committee: here a group of representatives from both the House and the Senate work to create a compromise version. If they can resolve differences, which they usually do, the bill goes back to each chamber for a vote. If the chambers pass the bill, it will then go to the president for his action. If it passes, is the process over? Authorization process is over, but appropriations process may be necessary. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Evaluating Congress: Criticisms The congressional process is lengthy and inefficient. The congressional process works to the advantage of policy minorities, especially those content with the status quo. Members of Congress are constantly tempted to use their positions to extract constituency benefits, even when important national legislation is at stake. Sometimes, the very process of passing legislation ensures that it will not work. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Why Americans Like Their Members of Congress More than Congress Itself Congress as a whole suffers from a negative public image. Irony: it is the national government’s most electorally sensitive institution. Puzzle: why are members of Congress elected at such a high rate if we are so critical of the institution? Answer: Americans judge their own representatives by different standards from those which they judge the collective Congress. Public says they prefer a trustee but demand that their own representative serve them as a delegate. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Pearson-Longman copyright 2004

Reforming Congress: Limit Their Terms? In the 1990s reform movements proposing term limits swept the country. In 1997, 21 states had limited the terms of their state legislators. 23 states also tried to limit their congressional members’ terms. U.S. v. Thornton (1995) ruled such attempts were unconstitutional. Most believe term limits would accomplish little and potentially do harm. Pearson-Longman copyright 2004