 Make law (good law???)  Check the executive branch

 Represent wishes/interests of constituents  Make good laws  Oversee the executive branch

Let’s talk about their incentives.

 Patriotism  Power and ego  Policy goals  Political career ambition

Or write good laws? Or check the executive branch?

 Choose people of good character  Strict anti-corruption rules

 Choose people of good character  Strict anti-corruption rules  Align their personal interests with the interests of their constituents by forcing them to go before the voters on a regular basis to keep their job

 Must get re-elected to further any other goals  Must act in ways that will get them re- elected

 Assume that members of Congress only want to get re-elected. Is that a valid assumption?  Does this assumption hold for both marginal and safe districts?

 Assume that Ideology and issue positions are normally distributed in the population  In a winner-take-all system, candidates will try to get one more vote than the other candidate by moving toward the center.  Goal is to win over the “median voter”

 Advertising—create a favorable image  Credit claiming—especially particularized benefits  Position-taking  Allocation of staff/time resources while in office  Make sure campaign resource balance favors him/her

Pleasing the constituents is a big part of those efforts.

 Offices, committees and parties serve members’ electoral needs How?  Committees allow specialized credit claiming  Equal access to particularized benefits for credit claiming  Not much true discipline in roll call voting (why?)

 Asked, “when members of Congress cast a vote on a bill, who do they listen to?”  Answered it by asking members themselves

DeterminativeMajor importance Minor importance Not important Constituents7%31%51%12% Fellow MC’s5%42%28%25% Party leaders0%5%32%63% Interest groups1%25%40%35% Administration4%14%21%61% Staff1%8%26%66%

 Potential opponents (“Instigators”)  BOTH Attentive and Inattentive publics

 Attentive Publics: citizens who know about an issue and have firm preferences about how Congress should act  Inattentive Publics: have neither firm policy preferences nor knowledge of what Congress is doing

(And when will she pay attention to the “attentive publics”?)

 When the inattentive public might notice what they do.  Which is?  When voting on bills that get a lot of media attention  When voting on symbolic issues  When their vote might be difficult to explain (Avoid a “string of votes”)

 On votes that are complex  On votes that are not covered by the media  On tax and regulatory bills more than spending bills  On committee votes  On procedural votes  They can also affect how hard a member works

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Raising MoneyBetter campaign, more votes

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Raising MoneyBetter campaign, more votes CampaigningMore votes

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Raising MoneyBetter campaign, more votes CampaigningMore votes Visiting the districtAdvertising  more votes

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Raising MoneyBetter campaign, more votes CampaigningMore votes Visiting the districtAdvertising  more votes Communicating with constituents Advertising  more votes

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Voting constituent interests on the floor Vote with constituents when they might notice, don’t miss too many votes  don’t antagonize a potential opponent

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Voting on the floorVote with constituents, don’t miss too many votes  don’t antagonize a potential opponent Introducing billsLook like you’re working hard, without putting in all that much effort  placate active publics

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Voting on the floorVote with constituents, don’t miss too many votes  don’t antagonize a potential opponent Introducing billsLook like you’re working hard, without putting in all that much effort  placate active publics Working in committee Can be a lot of effort, might be able to claim credit for some piece of a bill, someday  one more line on the website???

BehaviorElectoral Reward (More reward, more expectation they do it!) Overseeing the executive Placates extremely attentive publics; extreme publics, but electoral reward???

 Some selective incentives to do so Prestige in institution for legislating Particularized rewards for working on committees  Fewer rewards for: Checking to see if laws are faithfully executed Researching to see if policies have desired results Narrowly tailoring laws to avoid giving discretion to the executive branch

 Be an ombudsman  Expresses constituency preferences, not necessarily national preferences (common good)  Pass legislation that contains particularized benefits  Pass legislation that will not impose large, direct costs on constituents

 Pass legislation that embodies a good “end” even if means are poorly tailored to achieve it  Serve inattentive publics/median voter on high profile issues  Serve attentive publics/interest groups on low profile issues  Express symbolic policy preferences, not necessarily follow through  Not check and/or balance the executive branch

Hint: You should think about what you now know about the roles that Congress (and various actors within Congress), interest groups, the media, and others, play in policymaking.