1. 6 Congress: The First Branch

2. Clicker Question Which of the following institutions do you trust the most? A.Congress B.The presidency C.The Supreme Court

3. Institutional Approval Ratings Gallup – September 5–11, 2011 Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job? Approve – 15% Disapprove – 82% Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as president? Approve – 43% Disapprove – 49% Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job? Approve – 46% Disapprove – 40%

4. Congress is the First Branch The U.S. Congress is more independent and powerful than legislatures in other industrialized democracies It is no accident that the makeup and powers of Congress are outlined in Article I of the Constitution and that Article I is, by far, the longest Article of the Constitution

5. The Powers of Congress: Article I, Section 8 Congress is given a vast array of powers: –Power to tax and spend –Power to raise an army/navy and declare war –Power to regulate commerce –Power to coin money (regulate the currency) –Power to make all laws “necessary and proper” (elastic clause) Today, presidents play a bigger role in each of these areas

6. Congress and Representation Congress is the most important representative institution in government A member’s primary responsibility is to their constituency – the district making up the area from which an official is elected Good representation encompasses a wide variety of activities

7. How Members Represent Their Districts

8. Forms of Representation Agency Representation – The type of representation according to which representatives are held accountable to their constituents if they fail to represent them properly Delegate – Legislators see themselves as perfect agents of others; they have been elected to do the bidding of those who sent them to the legislature Trustee – Legislator votes based on what he/she thinks is best for the constituency

9. House and Senate: Differences in Representation Congress is a bicameral legislative assembly – composed of two chambers, or houses The Senate is smaller and more deliberative The House is larger, and thus power is more centralized and the process is more organized

10. House and Senate: Differences in Representation

11. The Electoral System: Who Runs? Because members of Congress are agents, electoral considerations are very important To win, candidates need: –ambition –money –name recognition / strong political base –charisma / strong personal organization

12. The Electoral System: Incumbency Incumbency – holding a political office for which one is running – is a huge advantage in congressional elections Some of the advantages include: –casework –patronage –pork-barrel legislation –early money –name recognition

13. Turnover in the House of Representatives

14. The Power of Incumbency

15. Money in Congressional Elections One of the big reasons congressional incumbents are so safe is that they raise and spend more money than their opponents In part, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as campaign donors only want to give to those they think can win and incumbents usually win … so they get more money

16. House and Senate Campaign Expenditures

17. The Electoral System: Congressional Districts Every 10 years, House districts must be re-apportioned among the states and lines must be re-drawn to reflect population changes There is a lot at stake in how these lines are drawn as voters can be arranged so as to give an advantage to one political party. This is called gerrymandering

18. Changing Apportionment of House Seats By Region

19. Problems of Legislative Organization Cooperation among many members is difficult for several reasons –Matching Influence and Interest: Each member has particular priorities but one vote on every issue –Imperfect Information: Legislators cannot be experts on every policy area –Compliance: Monitoring legislative deals and legislative outcomes requires collective effort

20. Legislative Organization: Parties Members organize themselves into party coalitions in the House and Senate called a caucus (Democrats) or a conference (Republicans) Members choose leadership (Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, Whips) Members empower party leaders to influence the agenda and manage legislation

21. Legislative Organization: Committees Members also organize themselves into standing committees divided by policy jurisdiction There are similar jurisdictional committees in the House and Senate Committees have gatekeeping authority – the right to decide if a change in policy will be considered

22. Legislative Organization: Committees

23. Legislative Organization: Staffers and Agencies Each member of Congress has a large staff that provides assistance on everything from writing legislation to correspondence with constituents Congress has also created staff agencies like CRS, GAO, and CBO to provide non- partisan policy advice to members

24. Clicker Question Which of the following institutions serves as a solution to Congress’s collective action problems? A. Party leadership B. Committees C. Congressional staffers D. all of the above

25. Bills must first be introduced by a member of Congress and referred to committee(s) Most bills die in committee Some are referred to a subcommittee, are amended, and are reported out to the full chamber How a Bill Becomes a Law: Committee Deliberation

26. Bills reported out of committee first go to the Rules Committee, which determines the rules under which the bill will be debated on the floor where the majority rules The Rules Committee may provide –a closed rule – prohibits the introduction of amendments –an open rule – permits the addition of amendments How a Bill Becomes a Law: Debate in the House

27. The Senate has a tradition of unlimited debate It takes three-fifths of the Senate (60 votes) to invoke cloture (end of debate) Recently, greater partisanship has meant the minority frequently uses the filibuster — a delaying tactic in which senators do not allow debate to end — to kill legislation How a Bill Becomes a Law: Debate in the Senate

28. To become a law, a bill must be passed in exactly the same form in both chambers Frequently, the two chambers send the bill back and forth until one chamber passes a version passed by the other Sometimes, a conference committee is appointed with members from each chamber to work out differences How a Bill Becomes a Law: Reconciling Bills

29. The president may veto legislation and Congress may only override the veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber Presidents generally use the threat of a veto to shape legislation and try to avoid the embarrassment of having a veto overridden How a Bill Becomes a Law: Presidential Action

30. How a Bill Becomes a Law

31. Unorthodox Lawmaking: Health Care Reform Act Getting legislation through this long process sometimes requires unorthodox procedures The Health Care Reform Act is a good example of this: –Multiple referrals to committees –Use of reconciliation to pass changes to the bill that couldn’t overcome a filibuster

32. The Distributive Tendency in Congress Building the super-majority coalitions in Congress necessary to pass legislation leads to a distributive tendency in legislation This means that bills are frequently designed so as to distribute policy benefits as widely as possible

33. How Members Decide Constituency – Members care about what constituents will think on Election Day Interest Groups – Groups educate the public, mobilize constituents, and make campaign donations Party Voting – Members listen to party leaders more today than 50 years ago

34. Party Unity on the Rise

35. Widening Ideological Gap Between Parties in Congress

36. Causes of Increasing Partisanship in Congress Greater power for party leaders: –Committee assignments –Access to the floor –The whip system –Logrolling –Increasing power and visibility for the president Gerrymandering

37. Beyond Legislation: Other Congressional Powers Advice and Consent (Senate only) Ratification of Treaties (Senate only) Impeachment

42. American Government, 12 th Edition Copyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company THE MEDIAN VOTER IN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

43. American Government, 12 th Edition Copyright © 2012 W.W. Norton & Company DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE