1. Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local Interests
Chapter 11

2. Congress as a Career: Election to Congress
Using incumbency to stay in Congress
The service strategy: taking care of constituents
Campaign fundraising: raking in the money
Redistricting: favorable boundaries for incumbents

3. 330 fig 11-1

4. 332 fig 11-2

5. 333 fig 11-3

6. Congress as a Career: Election to Congress
Pitfalls of incumbency
Disruptive issues
Personal misconduct
Turnout variation: the midterm election problem
Primary election challengers
General election challengers: a problem for senators
A new threat: super PACs

7. Parties and Party Leadership
Party caucus—closed session
Party unity in Congress
Parties are the strongest force within Congress
Heightened unity seen through roll-call votes in recent decades

8. 339 table 11-1

9. Parties and Party Leadership
Party leadership in Congress
House leaders
Speaker of the House
House majority leader
House majority whip

10. Parties and Party Leadership
Speaker of the House
Elected by the House membership
By default, a member of the majority party
Said to be the second-most-powerful official in Washington
Develops party issues
Persuades party members
Can speak first during debate
Recognizes speakers during debate
Influences House Rules Committee

11. Parties and Party Leadership
Senate leaders
Majority party leader is the most powerful senator
The vice president presides over the Senate; however, has power only to cast tie-breaking vote
Senate president pro tempore presides over the Senate in the vice president’s absence
Largely an honorary position held by the majority party’s senior member

12. Committees and Committee Leadership
Committee types: standing, select, conference
Committee jurisdiction
Bills introduced must be referred to the proper committee
Committee membership typically mirrors the party ratio of the body
Committee chairs
Typically senior members of the majority party
Committees and parties: which is in control?
The power of subcommittees: “little legislatures”

13. 346 table 11-2

14. How a Bill Becomes a Law Committee hearings and decisions
Most work on legislation is done in committee
From committee to the floor
Rules for debate are defined
Leadership and floor action
Debate, changes, and vote by full membership
Conference committees and the president
Reconcile differences between similar legislation
President signs, vetoes, or uses pocket veto

15. 351 fig 11-4

16. 355 table 11-3

17. Congress’s Policymaking Role
Lawmaking function of Congress
Makes laws authorizing federal programs
Broad issues: fragmentation as a limit on Congress’s role
The president typically has the more prominent role.
Congress in the lead: fragmentation as a policymaking strength
Ability to deal with narrow problems, but not broad ones

18. 364 fig 11-5

19. Congress’s Policymaking Role
The representation function of Congress
Representation of states and districts: focus on the local
Representation of the nation through parties: focus on the big issues
The obstacle of partisan divisions
Oversight function of Congress
Sees that executive branch carries out the laws faithfully
Done primarily by committees
Demanding task that can’t be done adequately

20. Congress: An Institution Divided
Pro (advantages):
Culturally representative of nation
Diverse interests represented
Cons (disadvantages):
National interest subjugated to special interests
Disproportionate influence of the minority