The First Branch of Government The United States Congress

3 types of behavior Advertising –Nobody’s senator but yours Credit claiming –Has to be credible –Pork barreling; casework Position taking –Inherently costly

A Map of Congress

Congress is bicameral Bicameral (House and Senate) –different time perspectives –different rules and norms

Senate and House Senate –6 year terms –100, prestige –More moderate –generalists –Individuals senators are powerful House –2 year terms –435 –More partisan –specialists –Most individual Reps are not important

Bicameralism: Two Equal Chambers House 435 members Citizen representation 2 year terms Hierarchical Partisan Committees and leaders dominate Speaker and Rules Committee Senate 100 members State representation 6 year terms Collegial Less partisan Members matter more Filibuster

Effect of Bicameralism Fragmentation –Geography –435 and 100 people sharing power What would policy be like if Congress was unicameral and elected in at large elections?

Congressional Staff Authorized Budget per Legislator –House = $570,000 –Senate = $2.3 million free mailings to districts. 54$ million in 1946; $2.2 billion in % increase controlled for inflation. House Staff 870 in 1930, 7,400 in 1993

How a Bill Doesn’t Become a Law— Congress as a law- defeating, not lawmaking institution

What does Congress do?

subj.html 21 bills on defense economics 27 bills on taxation only 46 Major Bills Enacted Into Law This Congress

Congressional Committees W. Wilson, Congress in Committees is Congress at work What do Committees do –Hold hearings –Write legislation –Exercise oversight

Committees International Relations Committee Agriculture Committee

Features of Committees 19 committees, 84 subcommittees Division of labor Fixed membership Fixed jurisdiction, like a monopoly Manage flow of legislative business Importance of seniority

Committee Membership Determined by Political Parties Guided by members’ seniority and preference Preferences based on constituency needs to better chances of reelection

Policy Consequences of Committees PROs –more opportunities for credit claiming –Facilitate specialization serve institutional policy needs Cons –reinforces fragmentation –Encourages log-rolling

Congressional Leadership Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist (R-TN) Majority Whip: Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Minority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-SD) Minority Whip: Harry Reid (R-NV) House Speaker: Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Majority Leader: Tom DeLay (R-TX) Majority Whip: Roy Blunt (R-MO) Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Minority Whip: Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Leadership and Parties Party caucuses –Elect leaders and committee chairs –structure the workings of Congress –Develop common policy positions –Weaker in senate than House

Leadership powers Control committee appointments Refer bills to committees Control Rules Committee

Party Discipline and Voting US Congress –rose to near 70% in 1996 UK Parliament --90% German Bundestag -- 98%

Institutional Design of Congress Institutions are designed by members who want to get reelected. Staff Committees Leadership/political parties

Evaluating Leadership More useful for what they are not than what they are –1994 Freedom to Farm Act No Sanctions Do not do anything to undermine the electoral needs of members

Informal Norms Seniority and seniority system Specialization institutional loyalty reciprocity (log rolling)

Criticisms of Congress Process –Lengthy and inefficient –Favor policy minorities Results –Members focus on getting constituency benefits, NAFTA –Process of bad legislation- ESEA, EDA

Why do we hate congress, but love our senator/representative Evaluate Congress by collective standards Evaluate Senator/Representative in representative term Standards are mutually exclusive

Representation vs. Lawmaking Congress plays two important roles –Lawmaking or getting things done –Representation or Legitimacy- airing points of view

Impact on Institutions Congress is a reelection machine. Mayhew-- "If a group of planner sat down and tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members' electoral needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."