1. How do MCs vote in Congress?
Four Determinants of Lawmakers’ Voting
(External and Internal Influence on Legislators)
(Voting Cues for Legislators)
1. Constituency
2. Members’ own (Ideology, Experience, etc)
3. Party
4. Presidency

2. Influences on Member Decisions
I. Constituency: yet, ambiguities in determining
constituent preferences (“Marginality Hypothesis”)
II. Members’ own preferences (ideology, religion, career
background)
III. Party (leadership and general party identification)
IV. President – obviously more influential with own
party (“president as a source of partisan polarization”)
Let’s embarrass their president!
vs. Let’s embrace our president!

3. The Rules of the Legislative Game
The question is “How a bill becomes a law.”
What do you know about legislative process?
I. Rules matter!
II. Rules have evolved over time.
III. Rules are different between the House and Senate.

4. I. Rules Matter! Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-MA):
“The power of the Speaker of the House is the power of scheduling”
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI, the longest-serving House member in history since 1955):
“You take substance and give me the rules,
and I can screw you every time.”
Knowledge of the rules as an important source:
Ex) Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)

5. II. Rules have changed !!! Each chamber of Congress empowered by the
Constitution to enact its own rules
The Article I, Section 5: “each house may determine the rules of its proceedings.”
House rules: majoritarian impulse, more formalities
to keep order, debate limited by a simple majority
Senate rules: egalitarian and individualistic,
eliminated the means to limit debate, much less rule-
based compared to the House

6. II. Rules have changed !!!
“The most remarkable feature of the legislative rules is how much it is stacked __________________ the enactment of new law.”
Legislative process is formally sequenced.

7. 1. Introduction of Bills
Three basic procedural options of bill introduction
1. Introducing legislator’s own bill
2. Incorporating her own ideas into a bill
3. Offering her proposal as an amendment to a bill
Sponsor = a member who introduces a bill, often seeking cosponsors
Cosponsorship and Bipartisanship
“Ends-against-the-middle” coalition?
Drafting: “eye-catching titles” (ex: USA PATRIOT ACT)
 the `Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” Act of 2001

8. 2. Referral of Bills to Committee
Referred formally by the Speaker of the House to appropriate one or more standing committees
In recent Congresses, about one in four important measures (25%) has been multiply referred.
10,703 bills and joint resolutions introduced, but only 417 (4%) became public laws during the 109th Congress
“Gate-keeping power” of committees

9. 3. Committee Action Many options by Committee
Approving the legislation and report it to the floor, with or
without amendments
Rejecting the measure outright
Simply not considering it, or setting it aside and writing a
new bill on the same subject
Most proposed legislation DOES NOT survive committee
consideration
Holding hearings and “markup” session (reviewing the measure line-by-line)
Committee voting and sending the measure to the floor
THROUGH THE RULES COMMITTEE

10. Dolan and Ezra (class reading), p.41 Script of a mock committee markup

11. 4.1. Scheduling (Agenda-setting in the House)
Bill reported from committees and then listed in congressional calendars  scheduling power by the Speaker
Minor legislation vs. major legislation:
treated differently in the House
Minor legislation called up by “motion to suspend the rules”
Ex) more than 900 measures passed under suspension of the rules in the 109th House ( )
Debate limited to 40 minutes, no amendments allowed and a two-thirds majority required for approval
Major or controversial legislation under a special rule by the Rules Committee ( next slide)

12. 4.2. Rules Committee and Special Rules
Basically, a “rule” decides the ____________ of debate and
the ________________ of amendments allowed
Open rule (any germane amendments allowed)
Closed rule (any amendments prohibited)
Modified rule (some germane amendments allowed)
Rules increasingly complex and structured
The Rules Committee
Controlled by the Speaker
Rules Committee crafts a “rule”
Full House must vote on “rule” but defeats are rare due to party-line voting

13. Sinclair 2000, p.97 (special rules in the House)