Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
CHAPTER 6
Congress
Key Objectives
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6.1
The Nature and Style of Representation
Differentiate between the various ways legislators represent the
interests of their constituents.
6.2
Congress and the Constitution
Identify the key constitutional provisions that shape the way
Congress functions.
6.3
Organizing Congress: Committees
Establish the importance of committees in organizing the
legislative process.
12.
6.4
Organizing Congress: Political Parties and
Leadership
Assess how political parties and leaders manage the legislative
process while advancing their own initiatives.
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Key Objectives
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6.5
Organizing Congress: Rules and Norms
Show how the rules and norms of behavior help ensure a more
orderly, efficient legislative process.
6.6
How a Bill Becomes Law
Outline the process by which a bill becomes a law.
6.7
Who Sits in Congress?
Determine whether members of Congress mirror America’s
demographic diversity and why this matters.
6.8
Are Americans Losing Faith in the “People’s
Branch”?
Compare the state of congressional ethics with Americans’
perception of the legislative branch.
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The Nature and Style of
Representation
6.1
Differentiate between the various ways legislators
represent the interests of their constituents.
• A republic is a democracy in which
representatives speak and act on behalf of
the citizens
– Trustee Model
– Delegate Model
– Politico Model
– Conscience Model
• Symbolic representation
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6.1
The philosophy that legislators should
adhere to the will of their constituents
is represented by which model?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Trustee Model
Politico Model
Delegate Model
Conscience Model
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6.1
The philosophy that legislators should
adhere to the will of their constituents
is represented by which model?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Trustee Model
Politico Model
Delegate Model
Conscience Model
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Congress and the Constitution
6.2
Identify the key constitutional provisions that
shape the way Congress functions.
• Article I describes both the structure and
the function of the bicameral legislature.
• This bicameral body would be composed
of a House of Representatives and a
Senate.
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Who Can Serve in Congress?
6.2
• Art I, Sec. 2: House members
– Length of term
– Age, citizenship, and residency requirements.
• Art. 1, Sec 3: Senators
– Establishes the method for selecting senators
– Age, citizenship and residency requirements
– Length of term, dividing the Senate into
classes for the purpose of rotation.
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6.2
House of Representatives
• 435 members
• 2-year term, with no limits on re-election
• Qualifications for office
– 25 years of age
– US citizen for at least seven years
– A resident of the state they represent
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6.2
Senate
• 100 members
• 6-year terms, in staggered rotation
• Originally selected by each state legislature,
changed by the Seventeenth Amendment
• Qualifications for office
– 30 years old
– A US citizen for at least nine years
– A resident of the state he or she represents
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6.2
Which of the following is not true about
members of the House
A. Members must be at least 30 years old.
B. Members must be a US citizen.
C. Members must reside in the state they
represent.
D. Members must win election in their state.
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6.2
Which of the following is not true about
members of the House
A. Members must be at least 30 years old.
B. Members must be a US citizen.
C. Members must reside in the state they
represent.
D. Members must win election in their state.
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6.2
Congressional Elections
• Article I, Sec. 4 outlines the election process but
Congress has intervened
– Fifteenth Amendment
– Voting Rights Act of 1965
– National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter
Law)
– Help America Vote Act of 2002
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6.2
Functions of Congress
•
•
•
•
Represent constituents
Make laws
Provide oversight
Serve as a check on the Executive and
Judicial branches
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6.2
Lawmaking
• Article I, Section 7 addresses how a bill becomes
law and also specifies the checks and balances
between the two houses of Congress and
between the other branches of the government.
• Article I, Section 8, lists the expressed powers of
the legislative branch, but
also includes the controversial necessary and
proper clause.
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6.2
Reapportionment
and Redistricting
• Following the decennial census, Congress is
reapportioned based upon population shifts
between the states
• Reapportionment has significant economic and
public policy consequences
• After the Congress is reapportioned, the burden
then falls upon states to redraw electoral
boundaries within their respective states
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6.2
Redistricting
• In the early years, many states used at-large
districts
• The idea of changing legislative districts in
response to population shifts stems from the
American idea of geographic representation
• Redistricting can be problematic
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6.2
Gerrymandering
• Gerrymandering is the
creation of oddly shaped
districts as a means of
shaping the results of
future elections in those
districts
• Packing involves lumping as many opposition
voters as possible into one district
• Cracking involves splitting up voters thought to
favor the opposition so that they do not make up
a majority in any district and thus cannot win in
any district.
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6.2
In Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court
determined that
A. The creation of majority-minority districts is
constitutional.
B. Single member districts are constitutional.
C. House districts must contain equal numbers
of voters.
D. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 was
unconstitutional.
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6.2
In Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court
determined that
A. The creation of majority-minority districts is
constitutional.
B. Single member districts are constitutional.
C. House districts must contain equal numbers
of voters.
D. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 was
unconstitutional.
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Organizing Congress: Committees
6.3
Establish the importance of committees in
organizing the legislative process.
• The issues of structure and organization are
also important when considering how policy
change might be accomplished through the
legislative process and how individual citizens
might make a difference
• The Constitution empowers each house of the
legislature to create rules and structure for
operation
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6.3
Standing Committees
•
•
•
•
Members of each committee become experts
Dividing the legislature’s work is efficient
Enhances the representation process
Provides a “safety valve” function for public
debate and controversy
• Offer citizens many points of access into the
legislative process
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Other Types of Committees
•
•
•
•
6.3
Select committees
Conference committees
Joint committees
Standing joint committees
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6.3
What Committees Do
• Referral and jurisdiction
– Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
– By the early 1970s, the House adopted a
process of multiple referrals.
• Hold hearings and conduct investigations
• Markup legislation
• Rules report
• Provide bureaucratic oversight
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The Importance of Committee
Staff
6.3
• “Committee staff spend a lot of their time on
policymaking activities.” “They research issues
and generate information relevant to
administrative oversight; draft bills; prepare
speeches, statements, and reports; organize and
help run committee hearings; and sometimes
engage directly in legislative bargaining.
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Organizing Congress: Political
Parties and Leadership
6.4
Assess how political parties and leaders manage the
legislative process while advancing their own
initiatives.
Parties in the legislatures
– Parties in the legislature serve an orientation function
– Parties set the agenda for the coming session and
establish priorities
– Parties and whips provide voting cues
– Parties organize the committee appointment process
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The Importance of Majority
Status in the House
6.4
• The majority party sets the ratio of party
representation on each committee
• The majority party selects the chair of each
committee and subcommittee
• The majority party is able to vote a member of
their own party as Speaker
• The majority party controls the flow of legislation
to the floor
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Legislative Parties and Change
6.4
• There are numerous partisan-based groups in
Congress, allowing members in each chamber to
come together to promote issues of mutual
concern
• The largest caucus is the party conference, which
is comprised of all members of a political party in
each chamber
• Members of the party are expected to support
other members, particularly on votes for
leadership positions
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6.4
Legislative Leadership
• The Constitution states that each chamber will
have “leaders”
– In the House, a speaker is chosen
– In the Senate, a president is selected
• Leaders were to be impartial, but this didn’t last
long
• Today a hierarchy of leadership now exists for
both parties in both chambers.
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6.4
The Senate Leadership
• The vice president is the president of the Senate,
but can only vote in the case of a tie
• In the vice president’s absence, the president of
the Senate is the president pro tempore
• Majority and minority leaders are the elected
leaders representing the respective parties
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6.4
Speaker of the House
• Specific powers include
– Refers legislation to specific committees
– Presides over floor proceedings
– Appoints members to conference and joint
committees
– Sets rules for debate
– Determines agenda for the floor
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In the House of Representatives
6.4
• Both formal and informal powers can be used.
– Formal powers
•
•
•
•
Referral power
Presiding over floor
Appointment power
Setting rules for debate of legislation
– Informal powers
• Prestige of the office
• Personality of the individual
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6.4
Senate
The majority leader of the Senate has broad
powers, but not as extensive as in the House for
a couple of reasons:
- Internal Senate rules limit the leader’s
power, even over his own party members
-The Senate’s status as the ‘upper
chamber” affords members with more
status
- Senate norms dictate more egalitarian|
treatment of the members
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6.4
The leader of the Senate is called
A.
B.
C.
D.
The speaker
The president pro tempore
The majority leader
The whip
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6.4
The leader of the Senate is called
A.
B.
C.
D.
The speaker
The president pro tempore
The majority leader
The whip
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Organizing Congress: Rules and
Norms
6.5
Show how the rules and norms of behavior help
ensure a more orderly, efficient legislative process.
• The Constitution states that each house establishes
its own rules
– House is larger, with more committees and rules
– Senate is smaller with fewer committees and
rules
• Unanimous Consent
• Filibuster and Cloture
• Holds
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Unwritten Rules of Congress
•
•
•
•
•
6.5
Seniority
Apprenticeship
Civility
Specialization
Reciprocity or logrolling for pork-barrels,
earmarks
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How a Bill Becomes a Law
6.6
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Outline the process by which a bill becomes a
law.
Introduction
Referral
Committee Consideration
Rules for floor action determined
Floor consideration and action
Conference Committee
Presidential action
Overriding a veto
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6.6
Unorthodox Lawmaking
• Multiple referrals are increasingly common
• There are occasions when bills will bypass
committees altogether
• Increasingly common for each chamber to pass
generic bills, allowing conference committees to
craft the details
• “Ping-ponging” has increased
• Increase in omnibus legislation
• An increase in congressional-executive summits
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Emergency Legislation
6.6
• Occasionally, emergencies arise during which the
legislature is called upon to act quickly and to
condense the process into a few days.
Congress can move quickly, but not nearly as
rapidly as the executive branch can.
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6.6
Making Laws: A Summary
• Only about 400 laws are actually passed out of
over 10,000 bills introduced over a 2-year period
• Most of the laws passed are low-profile, technical
adjustments to existing laws and only a handful
are significant measures
• The road from introduction to presidential
signature is long and difficult
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6.6
A bill offered by one house in one
version and not offered in the same
version by the other house is called a
A.
B.
C.
D.
one-house bill.
single measure.
single-action item.
House measure.
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6.6
A bill offered by one house in one
version and not offered in the same
version by the other house is called a
A.
B.
C.
D.
one-house bill.
single measure.
single-action item.
House measure.
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Who Sits in Congress?
6.7
Determine whether members of Congress mirror
America’s demographic diversity and why this
matters.
• Why are there so few women and ethnic
minorities in Congress?
– Historically, fewer women and minorities have
sought office
– Single-member districts
• Members are still largely, white, male, and
wealthy
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6.7
Gender
• After steady increases in the number of women
serving in Congress, the 112th will see a decline
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6.7
Race and Ethnicity
• Congress has hardly been an diverse body
• Some Americans still find it difficult to vote for
minority and female candidates
– African Americans
• Only five African Americans have ever been elected
to the Senate
• In the House, just over 100 African Americans have
served
– Hispanics
• About 25 members of the national legislature, or
about 5 percent, are of Hispanic descent
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6.7
Income and Occupation
• The national legislature does not reflect America
very well on this front either
• Members of Congress are far better educated
and far wealthier than the average American
• By and large, attorneys and executives in the
business and financial industries make up the
majority of the membership
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Are Americans Losing Faith in the
“People’s Branch”?
6.8
Compare the state of congressional ethics with
Americans’ perception of the legislative branch.
• The gap between perception and reality
– Pervasive media coverage of Congress
– Recent high-profile cases of scandal
– Tighter ethic rules
– Concerns over partisan-based gridlock
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Public Opinion Poll on
Congressional Ethics
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6.8
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6.8
Public trust in government has been
most affected by
A. heightened awareness due to increases in
investigative journalism.
B. the increased role of the Department of
Justice in investigating corruption.
C. an increasingly active Ethics Committee in
the House.
D. the increased level of American education
and a better understanding of how Congress
works.
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What do you think?
Should the Constitution be amended to limit
terms for members of Congress?
YES. Too few people participate in elections
today and limiting terms ensures that
members do not lose touch with the
electorate.
NO. Congressional members that are doing
a good job should be allowed to continue
winning if that is what voters want.
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What do you think?
Is gridlock in Congress a good thing?
YES. This ensures that bad legislation
doesn’t get passed and creates
stability.
NO. It indicates extreme polarization of
Congress and doesn’t allow work to be
done on important issues.
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Credits
176 CREDIT TO COME; 178, left to right: The Granger Collection;
Bettmann/Corbis; AP Images/Kevin Rivoli; Bettmann/Corbis; 179 AP
Images/The Ledger Independent, Terry Prather; 181 AP Images/Seth
Perlman; 188 Chuck Kennedy/KRT/Newscom; 191, left to right: Scott J.
Farrell/Getty Images; Matt Kryger/Indiana Star/PSG/Newscom; 194
Strom Thurmond Photograph Collection, Special Collections, Clemson
University Libraries, Clemson, South Carolina; 196 Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Images; 197 Ron Niebrugge/Alamy; 199, top middle:
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; 199, bottom middle: Larry
Downing/Reuters/Landov; 203: AP Images/Michael Dwyer; 209, top to
bottom: AP Images/J. Scott Applewhite; CREDIT TO COME; Strom
Thurmond Photograph Collection, Special Collections, Clemson
University Libraries, Clemson, South Carolina; AP Images/
Carolyn Kaster
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