Congress
US Government POS 2041
Ch. 10
Congress: the dominant branch of gov
Highlights
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Congress is the key national representative &
decision making body in Washington
 Founders intended it to be the most dominant of
the 3 branches
 Congress exercises supreme control over the 2
most powerful aspects of the nation:
1. Power over money
2. Military (war)
Recent Perception
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Congress is not able to represent fairly &
exercise power responsibly
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Congressional members’ activities are influenced
by their electoral considerations
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In order to gain re-election, Congress provide
services & patronage to their Constituents
Who can Serve
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Congress = 25 years old, a citizen for at least 7
years. Stands for elections every 2 years
Senate = 30 years old, a citizen for at least 9
years. Stands for election every 6 years
Members must reside in state which they
represent
Constituency: district ( electoral district as well
as members) that a Congress member
represents
Congress depends on a…
complex internal organization consisting of 6
dimensions:
 Parties
 Committees
 Staff
 Caucuses
 Rules
 Presidency
Inner Workings
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House leader selected by majority party &
becomes the House Speaker
Leader of the senate is the VP
Committee system assumed pivotal powers
House Rules Committees controls deliberations
& debates
Filibusters still occur
Committees, seniority & rules limit members’
representation of their constituents
House Reps & Senators
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House of Reps
435
Election every 2 years
Leader of the House
of Reps is selected
from the winning party
caucus
3rd in line behind Pres
& VP
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Senate 100
Elected every 6 years
Majority leader Harry Reid is
selected from the winning party
Senate majority leader
manages legislative process
Schedules debates on
legislation
He is accountable to House
Speaker- John Boehner
House leader is “President for the
time”, because he chairs the
Senate in the absence of the VP.
Pro Tempore
Leaders of the Houser and Senate
How Congress decides on Legislation
Influenced by
 Constituency preferences
 Interest Groups
 Party discipline
Iron Triangle
Interest Groups
Maintaining Party Discipline
Favoring Committee assignments
 Allotting floor time for debate for one bill in
exchange for specific vote or another
 Creating coalitions
 President can muster support by
championing certain legislations
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Other powers of Congress
Oversight, Advice & Consent on
appointments
 Treatises
 Impeachment
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Senate vs House
Senate is smaller & discourages
specialization with less power concentrated
in the leadership
 House is specialized in its functions
 House is larger & more centralized &
organized
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Senate vs House
Assigns more powers in the hands of its
leadership – more centralized
 No leadership as such of the Senate
compared with Congress.
 VP is formally the presiding officer & has
the tie breaking vote
 House has narrow constituency
congressional districts
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Senate vs House
Senate has broad constituency- whole
states
 House is less prestigious than senate
 For the House power is vested in leaders
and committees
 For Senate power is more evenly
distributed
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Acting for Representation: Sociological vs.
Agency Representation
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Sociological representation = the elected
representative person reflects the racial,
ethnic, gender, religious or educational
backgrounds of their constituents
Assumption is that these similarities in
composition on both sides promotes
good representation
Therefore the composition of a
legislature should mirror its society
Agency Representation defined
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When the rep represents the constituent
regardless of make up/backgrounds of
the constituents
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But when the constituent has the power
to hire/fire reps who represent them
Keep in mind that we have a 2 party
system
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Demographic Composition of Congress
Congress is not a sociologically
representative body
 Largely Protestant, followed by Catholics &
Jews which sort of mimics the religious
make up of the population
 Under representation of minorities &
women, disabled
 Women currently are 17% of Congress
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Make up of Congress
African Americans & women, Hispanics are
increasing their representation
 Large percent of congress are from legal,
politicians or business backgrounds
 Although reps do not reflect the diversity of
their constituent, they do represent their
interests
 Risk of not doing so – not being re elected
 Still constituent do not have strong views
on every issue
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Demographic Make-up of Congress
Electoral Connection: Who gets elected & what
they do are influenced by 3 factors:
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Who runs for office?
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Voter’s choices are restricted by who decides to
run for office
Parties ensure that qualified candidates run
Incumbency: Incumbents provide constituents
with services which ensure their re election
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Regular communications
Incumbency tends to preserve status quo
Favors male candidates
Redistricting & Apportionment
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Reapportionment: Reassignment of the seats of the
House of Representatives on the basis of changes in the
population of the state
 Completed every 10 years bases on census
 Redistricting: Redrawing of district boundaries
 Hence some states lose seats, while others gain seats.
Based on pop changes
 Redistricting tends to be political & favors the ruling
party at the time because it oversees the redrawing
 Apportionment process of (re) allocating congressional
seats
 435 was set in 1929. 3 assigned to D.C.
Gerrymandering
The process of redrawing congressional
boundaries for purpose of favoring a
political party, an incumbent or specific
group
 Benefits vs disadvantages
 How might it affect an incumbent?
 Racial representation?
 Majority/minority district?
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Direct Patronage = Pork barrel
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Congress member are able to provide
patronage to constituents – local projects, new
initiatives not always needed, but ensures re
election of the reps.
Members may add earmarks in legislation
which provides benefits to their districts
Private Bill is another way to provide
patronage- provides relief or special
privilege/exemption
Often abused
Building blocks of Congress: how Congress is
organized:
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Consist of political parties
Committee system
Congressional staff
Caucuses
Parliamentary rules of the House & Senate
A Legislature which represents & governs, but
runs along party lines
Party Leadership in House & Senate
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Each party elects its House leaders every
2 years
Democrats do so in a caucus – a closed
meeting
Majority leader is then elected by the
whole House as the Speaker of the
House
Party Leadership in House & Senate
Speaker of the House is elected at the
beginning of each Congress (every 2 years)
 Speaker has much influence:
 Legislative agenda
 Fate of legislation
 Committee assignments (John Boehner)
Party Leadership in House & Senate
 House
majority elects a majority leader in
the House & Senate (Harry Reid)
 Minority leader elected by minority party
 Whips elected to coordinate party’s
legislative strategies
Committee System: Core of Congress which does
most of the work
Committees are essential to the functioning of
Congress
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Rules Committee= determine which bills come
up on the floor for debate
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Standing Committee= permanent and
responsible for legislation which covers
finance, tax, trade, Medicare & Social Security
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20 Standing Committee each with several sub
committees
Committee System
Select Committee = temporary committee
set up to investigate/address issues which
do not fall under jurisdiction of Standing
Com.
 Joint Committees are legislative
committees established by members of
House & Senate
 Four such committees- economic, taxation,
library & printing
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Committee System
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Conference Committees= temporary committees
set up to work out compromise on legislations
between House & Senate
 Committee Chairs: within each committee there
is a hierarchy which works on seniority
 Joint Committees: often temporary committees to
investigate specific concerns. Combine members
from both houses
Staff System: Staffers & Agencies
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In addition to personal staff, other
Congressional & Senate staffers are retained to
deal with administrative, research & scheduling
activities
Staff Agencies are staffers who are responsible
for policy analysis
Include the Congressional Research Service,
Budget Office & Govt
Accountability Office. These help to oversee
the executive branch
Informal Organization: The Caucuses
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Unofficial structure/association of members
who share common interests, social, racial
interests: Eg the Black Caucus
Powers of Congress
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Founders assigned several powers to Congress.
What are they?
1. Enumerated / Expressed Powers as given by
the Constitution, include;
 Collect Taxes
 Coin Money
 Declare war
 Support military
 Regulate commerce with foreign powers and
among states
2. Implied Powers
Congress was also given “all necessary &
proper” powers required to fulfill its
enumerated powers
 That amounts to wide powers for Congress
 One such power is the right to introduce &
make laws
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How a Bill becomes Law: rules governing the
process
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The process of introducing a bill & guiding it all the
way to the president for signature
Committee Deliberation
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First step to passing a law is to draft a bill
Then submitted to appropriate committee for
deliberation
Then to a subcommittee where hearings &
testimony may be held
Then passed up to full committee for vote
Must pass the Rules Committee
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Many bills die in committee
Debate
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Bill is then introduced on the floor of
House & Senate for debate
Speaker of the House & Senate Majority
leader have the power of recognition
during the debate
Rules Committee allots debate time
Senate rules different in that no limit of
debate, hence filibuster which
prevents or delays passing of a bill
Conference Committee
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Reconciling House & Senate Versions of
possible legislation
This stage irons out differences in the
versions from the 2 houses
Then re-submit to the floor to be voted for
again by both houses
Presidential Action
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Once adopted by both houses, the bill moves
on to the president
President may choose to do the following:
 Sign the bill
 Veto it. President’s constitutional power
May be overturned by 2/3 of the House &
Senate
 Pocket Veto the Bill: automatic veto if the
president sits on a legislation during the final 10
days of legislative session
How Congress Decides
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External & Internal factors influence the
decision-making
External: legislator’s constituency, interest
groups & political parties
Internal: party leadership, congressional
colleagues & the President
External Factors
Constituents:
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Congress members spend much time
forecasting what policies constituents like in
order to be re elected
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However, most constituents do not know what
policies or bills their reps support
Interest Groups
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Organized or mobilized interest groups have
big influence in decision making- lobbying,
direct mail campaign
Internal:
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Committee Assignments:
Leaders create support by helping
members secure favorable committee
assignments
Access to floor:
Controlled by party leadership
Internal Cont’d
Whip System:
 Gauges voting intentions of members
 Often signals the prospect of a bill’s
passage
 Logrolling:
 Trade off support between legislators
 Presidency:
 President’s support is critical to party
loyalty
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Resources often relied on to secure party support
include;
Leadership PAC:
 Independent fundraising committees used
to win support of congressional members
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Beyond Legislation: Other powers of
Congress
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Oversight powers:
Congress has control over executive
agencies
How legislation is carried out
Appropriation of money which each unit
can spend
Committees can investigate & bring
charges against fraud, abuse, etc
Other powers of Congress
Advice & Consent: Special Senate Powers
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President needs support of Senate
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To make treaties
Appoint executives
Judiciary appointments
Impeachment: Congress has the powers
to impeach the president
Key Terms
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Constituency: district which a Congress
member represents
Incumbent:
Reapportionment: Every 10 years the 435
seats are reallocated based on census changes
Pork Barrel: Benefits which are directed to one’s
district thru budget process
Majority leader: second in command to the
House speaker. Who is it?
PAC
Key Terms
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Standing Committee: Permanent and
responsible for legislation which covers finance,
tax, trade, Medicare & Social Security
 Filibuster : Tactics of using long speeches by
Senate to prevent/delay bill from being passed
 Cloture requires 3/5th vote of Senate to end
debate 32 hrs after cloture has been invoked
introduced
 Oversight: Congress’s authority over executive
agencies responsible for executing its passed
legislations