Inside Congress          Paul Johnson


Outline
Section 1 Representation
Section 2 Law Making
Section 3 Institutions inside Congress
    Subsection 3.1 Standing Committees
    Subsection 3.2 Political Parties


Section 1 Representation

Delegate and Trustee Roles

Longstanding question about representation: 

Should a member of congress be a 

• Delegate

Or a 

• Trustee for the

  – district

  – nation

Who does the MC represent?

• Geographical Constituency

  – All voters

  – Re-election Supporters

  – Core Supporters

• Nongeographical Constituency

  – Party leaders (in and outside of Congress)

  – Campaign donors & Interest groups

What do MCs do?

• Committee Meetings

• Roll Call votes

• Answer requests from constituents

• Raise campaign money

• Travel home: ``keep in touch''

Section 2 Law Making

How a bill becomes a law.

• memorize that graph!

Important Observations

• Many stages; bill must pass ALL

• Each stage has a ``unique context'' of institutions and agents

Exceptions

Not all bills are considered through the standard ``how a bill becomes a law'' mechanism.

1. House Rules committee is an ``optional necessity''

2. Budget process creates separate system.

3. Senate floor or Conference sometimes 'slip things in' without committee approval

House Facts

• House Floor Rules are strict

  – time limits on speeches

  – amendments must be germane

• Special Rules and Calendars

  – Calendar is clogged, many bills never get voted on.

  – ``fast-track'' suspension of rules: 2/3 vote required

  – Rules Committee can propose bill with special rules. 

    ∗ majority require to accept bill

Senate

• Tradition of ``unlimited debate''

  – filibuster

  – Cloture: 60 votes (was 67)

• Non-germane amendments allowed

  – Put ``dial-a-porn ban'' into school funding bill

• ``Unanimous Consent Agreement'' is a workaround

Section 3 Institutions inside Congress

Subsection 3.1 Standing Committees

Standing Committees

Standing Committee: a permanent committee with jurisdiction

-  jurisdiction: topic-based authority

Why are standing committees important?

1. Gatekeeping power

  • 90% of bills die in committee

  • ``discharge'' is rare

2. ``Markup'' process is point-by-point review of bill

3. Oversight of executive agencies

  • sometimes we emphasize ``subgovernments''

2 theories of committee system

1. Distributive theory

  • MCs want to help constituents

  • Committee policy reflects ``outliers'' (unusual MCs)

2. Informational theory

  • Congress wants expertise

  • Committees can't get away with too much 

Subsection 3.2 Political Parties

Parties

• The House and Senate are separate institutions, meaning

  – separate political parties (House Republicans, House Democrats...)

• Terminology: majority and minority parties

• majority uses its voting power to elect its leaders as the officers of the institution

  – Speaker of the House (Constitution: 2nd in line for presidency)

Congress is organized along party lines

• Members on floor are divided by party

• Standing Committee seats are divided among parties

  – Custom: seats are ``roughly proportional''

  – Majority party can control chair in every committee

What do parties do?

Party Caucus: 

• Elect leaders

• Assign committee seats

• Organize & lobby roll call votes

Leaders beg, plead, cajole


Tumultuous Times: Parties and Committees

• Originally used select committees (early 1800s)

• Standing committee system adopted gradually (issue by issue) 
  after 1812

Tyrant!

  • Joseph ``Boss'' Cannon, Speaker 1903-1909

  • Speaker could assign committee chairs

  • Cannon revoked committee chairs from members who ``got on his bad side''

Famous Revolt of 1910

• Members grew disgusted with Canon's power

• Parties adopted a seniority system to choose committee chairs, took power from Speaker

• Seniority was used WITHIN PARTIES

  – committee chair was most senior member of majority party

Famous Revolution of the 1970s

• Seniority problem: out-of-mainstream old farts controlled committees

• Seniority rule abolished

  – Party caucus can vote on chairs

• Subcommittee explosion (& Subcommittee Bill of Rights)

• End result: fragmentation!

Famous Contract of 1994

  Newt Gingrich 
  • led Republicans in 1994 elections.
  • Speaker of House 1995-1998

Gingrich and the Contract

• Does the term limit make sense?

• 2003: Term-limit rules loosened 

  – dropped for Speaker

  – exceptions granted to Chairs