1. The Organization of Congress
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2. Congress: The First Branch
Called this because the Constitution lays out the powers and structure of Congress in Article I.
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3. The Organization of Congress
The two chambers have evolved to meet the demands of law making
Division of labor created the committee system
Need to organize large numbers of people to make decisions led to the party leadership structure.
Both are more important in the House.
Senate is small enough to operate by informal coordination and negotiation.
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4. The Congressional Parties: The House
Speaker of the House
The presiding office of the House of Representatives; normally the Speaker is the leader of the majority party.
Majority Leader
Speaker’s chief lieutenant in the House and the most important officer in the Senate. He or she is responsible for managing the floor.
Minority Leader
Leader of the minority party who speaks for the party in dealing with the majority.
Whips
Members of Congress who serve as informational channels between the leadership and the rank and file, conveying the leadership’s views and intentions to the members and vice versa.
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5. The Congressional Parties: The House
Party Caucus
Members of parties speak with each other on how to vote on certain issues. Independents (like Bernie Sanders) who align ideologically with a party also are involved in the caucus.
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The Committee System
Since 1989 roughly 6 to 8 thousand bills have been introduced in each 2 year session in the House.
Screening process: division into committees.
Committees do the work before it comes (if it makes it) to the floor for a vote.
Standing committees:
committee with fixed membership and jurisdiction, continuing from Congress to Congress.
Select committees:
temporary committees appointed to deal with a specific issue or problem.
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House Committees
Three levels of importance
Top committees: Rules, Appropriations, Ways and Means
Second level: deal with nationally significant policy areas: agriculture, armed services, civil rights.
Third level: Housekeeping items. Government Reform and Oversight or a narrow policy venue such as Veteran’s affairs.
Members rarely serve on more than one top committee.
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9. How Committees Are Formed
Committee system is formally under the control of the majority party in the chamber.
Each committee has a ratio of majority to minority members at least as favorable to the majority as is the overall division of the chamber.
More important the committee, the more likely it is stacked in favor of the majority.
Seniority
Practice by which the majority party member with the longest continuous service on a committee becomes the chair.
Has been weakened and reformed.
Ex: Republican conference adopted a three-term limit on committee chairs which they enforced in Enforced by Senate Republicans in 1996.
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Purpose of Committees
Why do standing committees exist?
Use committee system to focus on district interests.
Logrolling
Colloquial term given to politicians’ trading of favors, votes, or generalized support for each other’s proposals.
Committees serve knowledge function.
Committees are the tools of congressional parties.
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Caucuses
Caucuses are groups within Congress formed by members to pursue common interests.
300 such groups in the 108th Congress
Congressional Black Caucus
Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition
Sportsmen’s Caucus (funded by NRA and sporting industry)
May be increasingly important actors in the congressional process.
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13. Evaluating Congress: Criticisms
The congressional process is lengthy and inefficient.
The congressional process works to the advantage of policy minorities, especially those content with the status quo.
Members of Congress are constantly tempted to use their positions to extract constituency benefits, even when important national legislation is at stake.
Sometimes, the very process of passing legislation ensures that it will not work.
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14. Why Americans Like Their Members of Congress More than Congress Itself
Congress as a whole suffers from a negative public image.
Irony: it is the national government’s most electorally sensitive institution.
Puzzle: why are members of Congress elected at such a high rate if we are so critical of the institution?
Answer: Americans judge their own representatives by different standards from those which they judge the collective Congress.
Public says they prefer a trustee but demand that their own representative serve them as a delegate.
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16. Reforming Congress: Limit Their Terms?
In the 1990s reform movements proposing term limits swept the country.
In 1997, 21 states had limited the terms of their state legislators.
23 states also tried to limit their congressional members’ terms.
U.S. v. Thornton (1995) ruled such attempts were unconstitutional.
Most believe term limits would accomplish little and potentially do harm.
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