1. The First Branch of Government The United States Congress

2. 3 types of behavior Advertising – Nobody’s senator but yours Credit claiming – Has to be credible – Pork barreling; casework Position taking – Inherently costly http://www.house.gov

3. A Map of Congress

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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 1994. 659% increase controlled for inflation. House Staff 870 in 1930, 7,400 in 1993

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

10. What does Congress do?

11. http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d106/hot- subj.html 21 bills on defense economics 27 bills on taxation only 46 Major Bills Enacted Into Law This Congress

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

13. Committees International Relations Committee Agriculture Committee

14. Features of Committees 19 committees, 84 subcommittees Division of labor Fixed membership Fixed jurisdiction, like a monopoly Legislative Specialization Manage flow of legislative business Importance of seniority http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.html

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

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

17. Congressional Committees W. Wilson, Congress in Committees is Congress at work What do Committees do – Hold hearings – Write legislation – Exercise oversight – http://commerce.senate.gov/public/ http://commerce.senate.gov/public/ – http://energy.senate.gov/public/ http://energy.senate.gov/public/

18. Congressional Leadership House Speaker: Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) http://speaker.house.gov/ http://www.dems.gov/ Minority Leader: John Boehner- http://republicanleader.house.go v/ http://republicanleader.house.go v/ House GOP Conference http://www.gop.gov/web/guest/ home

19. Senate Leadership Majority Leader: Harry Reid (R-NV) Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell (R- KY)

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

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

22. According to Sinclair, why is the House more likely to pass major legislation than the Senate?

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

24. 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

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

26. 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

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

28. 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."