Congress The Most Powerful Democratic Assembly in the World – or – the Sapless Branch

“There are really two Congresses, not just one.” --Roger Davidson & Walter Oleszek, Congress & Its Members “It is both a lawmaking institution for the country and a representative assembly for states and districts.” --Thomas E. Patterson

Congress Has a Split Personality

Which Personality Dominates? How popular is the institution of Congress with the American people? How popular are individual members of Congress in their local districts? How often are members defeated when they run for reelection? These facts should provide some pretty strong clues to the original question: “which personality dominates,” lawmaking or representation?

The two sides of the Congress’s personality obviously affect each other. The dominant side dominates! (Duh.) Congress's characteristics as a Representative Assembly significantly shape how well [or how poorly] it handles its job as a National Legislature.

Motivation of Members Why would anyone want to be a member of Congress? What's the first step to accomplishing this goal? Once you're elected, what are your priorities? What kinds of behaviors do you have from which to choose? [Let’s talk about the three that have been suggested by political scientist Morris Fiorina in your reading.]

Fiorina’s Typology of Congressional Behaviors What are they? –Lawmaking –Pork barreling –Casework What are the advantages and disadvantages of each to the reelection of members? How would you want the Congress organized in order to maximize your ability to engage in these electorally useful activities with maximum effect?

How would the members organize Congress if all they cared about were reelection? weak parties so you can say and do whatever your reelection demands; lots of committees and subcommittees to give each member a bit of the lime light and make it easier to claim credit for things; lots of personal staff for constituent service, and committee staff to do the legislative work so your personal staff can do more important things like send a personal letter of congratulation to every high school graduate in the district.

How is Congress actually organized? weak parties so you can say and do whatever your reelection demands; lots of committees and subcommittees to give each member a bit of the lime light and make it easier to claim credit for things; lots of personal staff for constituent service, and committee staff to do the legislative work so your personal staff can do more important things like send a personal letter of congratulation to every high school graduate in the district.

How would Congress organize the government if all they cared about were reelection? lots of distributive programs: government services, pork-barrel projects low taxes lots of bureaucratic decisions to provide opportunities for casework a system that allows individual members of Congress to intervene on behalf of private parties

How is the government organized? lots of distributive programs: government services, pork-barrel projects low taxes lots of bureaucratic decisions to provide opportunities for casework a system that allows individual members of Congress to intervene on behalf of private parties

How would you organize Congress if your purpose were to create an institution that could efficiently enact the laws that the nation needs? Hold national elections dominated by strong political parties with clear agendas Create strong party leaders in Congress with the power to direct the work of the committees Exercise strong party discipline in voting so that the party platform of the winning party could be transformed into public policy

Results "Great individual responsiveness, equally great collective irresponsibility." – Gary Jacobson "A system of surpassing excellence for representing the people and grossly deficient in the means for governing the people." -- James Young

In short... Congress is organized to facilitate member representation of diverse and conflicting constituencies, at the expense of efficient legislation in service of national majorities. But that is exactly what the framers had in mind: remember James Madison’s argument for a large republic as a check against the vice of majority faction.

System Bias of the American Congress “Advantage to the defense” “Subsystem dominance” “Iron Triangles, Policy Subsystems & Interest Group Liberalism” Can you think of more?

Valentine’s Day Special

Term Limits The call for Term Limits is a policy proposal. What do we have to do to reach a reasoned judgment about the wisdom of a policy proposal? –We must anticipate the consequences of adopting the policy and evaluate the relative costs and benefits of each. After all, a good policy is a policy where the benefits outweigh the costs.

Consequences of Term Limits What are the likely effects on voters? What are the likely effects on elections? –Would it favor one political party over another? –Would it affect the quality of candidates?

Consequences of Term Limits What are the likely effects on who serves in Congress? –Would term limits increase the turnover in Congress? –Would term limits make Congress more or less responsive to national moods? –Would term limits advance or retard the election of women and minorities? –Would term limits increase or decrease the the specialized knowledge and experience of members?

Consequences of Term Limits What are the likely effects on power balance in Congress? –Will power be more or less equally distributed among members? –Will members be more or less dependent on staff? –Will members be more or less dependent on lobbyists? –Will members be more or less subservient to special interests? –How will the career motivations of members be affected?

Consequences of Term Limits What are the likely effects on the power balance between Congress and the President? What are the likely effects on the power balance between Congress and the bureaucracy? What are the likely effects on the power balance between Congress and the courts?

If you can answer all these questions – and support your answers with good evidence – then you can write one great policy paper on term limits.