Chapter 4: Congress

Representation, Organization, and

Legislation
The Constitution and
Congress
 Section 4.1
The Constitution and
Congress
• Article I describes the Legislative Branch –
Congress
• Compromise among delegates at Constitutional
Convention
• Bicameral structure:
– Lower house – House of Representatives (large
states appeased)
– Upper house – Senate (small states appeased)
 Section 4.1
The House of
Representatives
• “The people’s branch” – only branch originally
directly elected by voters
• Close and accountable to people
– Elected every 2 years
• More inclusive than the Senate
– Requirements not as strict
• More strictly structured than the Senate
– Debate time limited
 Section 4.1
The Senate
• More stable branch
– Insulated (protected from emotions and whims
of voters)
– Elected every 6 years (staggered so that 1/3 up
for election every 2 years)
• Originally selected by state legislatures
– “Billionaire’s club”
• Seventeenth Amendment replaced election by
state legislatures with direct election by voters
 Section 4.1
The Powers of Congress
3 broad categories:
• Lawmaking
– Most important power is to pass laws in areas of national policy
• Budgeting
– Sets the federal budget by appropriating funds for agencies and
programs
– Pork barrel spending: allocation of monies to projects within districts
or states
• Narrow focus (not for NATIONAL purposes)
– Logrolling: members of Congress trade votes to get their earmarks
passed
• Oversight
 Section 4.1
The Powers of Congress
Pork barrel spending

Example: The Gravina Island

Bridge, commonly referred to as
the "Bridge to Nowhere", was a
proposed bridge to replace the
ferry that currently connects the
town of Ketchikan, Alaska,
United States, with Gravina
Island, an island that contains
the Ketchikan International
Airport as well as 50 residents.
 Section 4.1
Exercising Checks and
•
Balances
War making:
– Congress – declares; Senate – ratifies treaties
• POTUS – commander-in-chief and negotiates treaties
• Judicial authority:
– Congress – creates lower federal courts, sets number of justices; Senate –
“advice and consent” over nominees
• Executive nominations (ambassadors, bureaucratic heads,
cabinet secretaries):
– Senate – “advice and consent”
• Impeachment (removal of federal officers):
– House of Representatives – charges (simple majority); Senate – holds trial
and convicts (2/3)
Politics of Congressional
Elections
 Section 4.2
Constituency: The Boundaries of
Representation
• Constituencies – bodies of voters in an area who
elect a representative or senator
• Members of the House of Representatives serve in
single-member districts (winner-take-all; plurality)
– There is one seat for one Congressional district
• Senators serve a state in staggered elections
– No two Senate seats from the same state will be up for
grabs in the same election
– There is unequal representation in the Senate
 Section 4.2
Apportionment in the House of
Representatives
• 435 seats must be divided among 50 states
(Capped by Reapportionment Act of 1929)
• Each state is apportioned seats based on population
determined by the census every ten years
– Population trends and shifts change the apportionment
– Apportionment: process of determining the number of
representatives for each state using census data
• Each state is guaranteed one representative no
matter how small
 Section 4.2
Redistricting and Gerrymandering
• Redistricting: states redraw the boundaries of the
electoral districts
– State legislatures in charge
• How does this make the process more political?
• Gerrymandering: the intentional use of redistricting to
benefit a specific interest or group of voters
 Section 4.2
Partisan Gerrymandering
• Increase representation of one
party at the expense of another
– Only 40 seats in House are
competitive
• Districts may be drawn into
strange shapes
– “packed” districts
– “cracked” districts
 Section 4.2
Racial and Ethnic
Gerrymandering
• Drawn to increase likelihood of electing members
of racial and ethnic minorities
– Majority-minority districts: majority of voters of
minority ethnicity within a district
• Does this lead to Congressional representation that
takes the needs of minority groups into account?
• In class activity – Gerrymandering Task Sheet
Exercise
 Section 4.2
14th Amendment
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
 Section 4.2
In Class Activity
Required DOCS:
SCOTUS
Shaw v. Reno
Baker v. Carr

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

 Section 4.2
Baker v. Carr (1962)
• BACKGROUND:
– A registered Republican challenged Tennessee’s
congressional district boundaries, which had not been
changed since 1901 – district populations were unbalanced
• QUESTION:
– Was the drawing of congressional districts a political process
that should be left to the states?
• MAJORITY DECISION:
– No, SCOTUS required Tennessee to redraw districts with
roughly same number of constituents
– Malapportionment is unconstitutional
– “One person, one vote” principle
 Section 4.2
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
• BACKGROUND:
– North Carolina produced two majority-minority districts
approved by the Department of Justice. A group of white
citizens protested.
• QUESTION:
– Did North Carolina’s majority-minority districts violate the
Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause?
• MAJORITY DECISION:
– The court rejected North Carolina’s plan because they
produced oddly drawn districts and used race to segregate
voters into separate districts
– States can use race as a consideration, but not as a main
Section 4.2
Gerrymandering and Shaw v. Reno
 Section 4.2
Incumbency Advantage
• Incumbent: person who already inhabits the
office (as opposed to running for the first time)
• Incumbency advantage: institutional
advantages held by those already in office who
are trying to fend off challengers in an election
– Greater in the House than Senate
• Why might an incumbent lose?
 Section 4.2
Maximizing the Advantage
• Incumbents advertise their experience and show
off their position-taking/credit claiming
• Franking privilege: free use of mail for
communications with constituents
• Name recognition
– “The devil you know…” (What do the markets think?)
• Casework: ability to use the office to aide
constituents with federal services
• All of these help to face challengers and win
The Organization of
Congress
 Section 4.3
Political Parties in Congress
• Majority party: party with the most seats in each
chamber
• Minority party: party with the second-highest
number of members
• Formal structure of Congress revolves around
political parties and party leaders
• Compared to other democracies, party discipline is
weak
• Party leaders work with their members to set
 Section 4.3
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
• Only House leadership position described in
Constitution
• Leader of the entire House (chosen by election of
House members)
• Normally member of majority party
• Most powerful member
• Second in line of succession to the presidency
• Raises money for party members via PACs
Section 4.3
Other House Leadership (Not in
CONSTITUTION)
• Majority Leader: second-in-command, assists the
Speaker
– Sets agenda for majority party
• Majority Whip: collects information about how individual
members are planning to vote, corralling their support on
key votes and setting party strategy in Congress
– Assists the majority leader
• Minority Leader: leader of the party with the second-
highest amount of seats
– Coordinates minority party activity
• Minority Whip: same idea as majority, but for minority
 Section 4.3
Senate Leadership
• Official leader Constitutionally is the Vice President
– President of the Senate
– Casts tie breaking vote
• President Pro Tempore presides over the chamber’s proceedings
when the VP is not present
– Has no official power
– Junior senators oversee day-to-day proceedings
• Senate Majority Leader (most power)
– Head of the party with the most seats
– Most powerful one person in the Senate, but not as powerful as Speaker
– Shapes legislative agenda
• Minority leader: leader of the opposition party in Senate
 Section 4.3
Congressional Committees
• Created to divide the workload of legislating
– Divide and conquer
• Committees and subcommittees are where the
work of Congress is done
• “Congress in committees is Congress at work”
 Section 4.3
Committee Membership and
Leadership
• Membership is determined by party leaders and
reflects the ratio of party membership in each
chamber
– For example: if Senate is 60% republican and 40%
democrats, committee membership will reflect 6:4 ratio
• Committee Chair: head of committee, set the
agenda, member of majority party, terms limited
• House committees larger than Senate
• Assignments based on constituents, fund-raising
 Section 4.3
Types of Committees
• Standing
– Permanent, divided by policy area and where most of the work gets done
– Examples: Ways and Means, Judiciary, Budget
• Joint
– Members of both chambers sit
– Focus public attention on an issue, gather information for Congress
• Conference
– Members of both chambers sit
– When there are differences between House and Senate versions of a bill
• Select
– Temporary and normally for investigations
"I'm Just a Bill"
Section 4.4
“I’m Just a Bill”
• Making a bill is a step
by step process
• Thousands of bills get
introduced into each
Congress, but most die
 Section 4.4
The Lawmaking Process

• Introduction
• Committee Assignment
• Committee and Subcommittee Action
• Floor Consideration
• Resolutions of Differences Between House and
Senate Bills (Conference)
• Presidential Action
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 1:
Introduction
• Only members of Congress can introduce
• Many actors shape the process: interest groups,
executive branch, bureaucratic agencies
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 2: Referral to
Committee
• Bills are assigned to a committee, or multiple
committees, based on policy area
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 3:
Committees and Subcommittees
in Action
• Committees and subcommittees hold hearings to
gather information about a bill
• Markup allows members to make changes
• Committee report follows the bill from committee
to floor
• Staff and hearings have declined since 1970s,
leading to increased dependence on interest
groups for analysis and information
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 4: Floor
Consideration
• Bills proceed from committee to floors of the
House and the Senate
• House has stricter debate rules than the Senate
• Partisanship plays a role the entire way
• Committee of the Whole in the House can
provide a faster means for considering the
complex legislation referred to it
• Roll-call vote: “yea,” “nay,” or “present”
 Section 4.4
How Bills Can Die: House of
Representatives
• Once assigned to a committee it may never come
out
• Discharge Petition: House procedure to get a
bill out of committee (majority vote required)
– Motion filed by a member of Congress to move
a bill to the floor of the House of
Representatives for a vote
• House Rules Committee: sets the rules for
debate, can limit (can refuse to schedule
 Section 4.4
How Bills Can Die: Senate
• Hold: when a senator objects to a bill or part of a bill
– Must communicate reservations to majority leader
– Delays the bill's passage
• Unanimous consent agreements: sets terms for
consideration of a specified bill
– May limit debate time
• Filibuster: using unlimited debate with the intention of
talking a bill to death
– Delay a motion or postpone action
– Cloture: 60 senators vote to end filibuster and proceed to action
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 5:
Resolution of Differences
• Conference committees reconcile
differences between two versions of a bill
• When one version is created, bill goes back to
each chamber for reconsideration
 Section 4.4
Lawmaking – Step 6: Presidential
Action
• If the president signs a bill, it becomes a law
• The president may allow a bill to become a law
through inaction by letting it sit on his desk for
ten days while Congress is in session
 Section 4.4
How Bills Can Die:
President

• Veto: president sends a bill back to Congress

with his objections
– Can be overturned by 2/3 vote in both chambers
Congress and the Budget
 Section 4.5
Setting the Federal Budget

• Federal government covers expenses for fiscal year

(October – September)
– Recent budgets have been trillions of dollars
• Mandatory Spending: spending required by existing laws
that is “locked in” the budget
– Entitlement program: program that provide benefits for those
who qualify under the law, regardless of income
– Interest on federal debt
• Discretionary Spending: spending for programs and
policies at the discretion of Congress and the president
– Military, education, scientific research, agriculture
 Section 4.5
Who Sets the Budget?

• Involves both the President and Congress

• President submits his budget for Congressional
authorization
• Congress produces a budget resolution providing
broad spending goals
• Appropriations committees allocate for specific
programs
• Congress passes, then President signs
 Section 4.5
Taxation, Deficits, and
Debts
• Government takes in revenue via income taxes
• Government spends money via the budget
• Government spending less than government
revenue = SURPLUS
• Government spending greater than government
revenue = DEFICIT
• Over time, multiple deficits = DEBT
 Section 4.5
Congress and Public Policy: Social
Insurance
• Largest piece of the budget pie is on entitlement
spending
• Social Security
– Created in 1935 as old age pension/insurance via
payroll tax
– Designed to be self-funding, but beneficiaries
outnumber contributors
• Under severe financial stress yet one of the most
untouched issues in politics
 Challenges of
Representation
 Ch. 4 Learning
Targets
• 4.1 Describe the differences between the House of
Representatives and the Senate, the functions of each
chamber, and how Congress operates within a system of
checks and balances.
• 4.2 Describe congressional elections.
• 4.3 Compare the authority and rules affecting the
policymaking process in the House of Representatives and
the Senate.
• 4.4 Explain the lawmaking process.
• 4.5 Describe how Congress creates a budget that
addresses discretionary and mandatory spending.
 Section 4.6
How Members Vote
• Delegate Role: main duty of a member of
Congress is to vote the way their constituents
wish
– Voters need to have a preference and to provide this
information to the member for this to work
• Trustee Role: member of Congress makes
decisions using their own knowledge and
judgment
• Politico Role: emphasizes that Congress is a
politicized body; members of Congress balance
 Section 4.6
A Partisan Body
• Recent Congresses are paralyzed by partisanship;
this is known as gridlock (a slowdown or halt in
Congress’s ability to legislate and overcome
divisions)
• This is more common when party control of the
presidency and one or both chambers of Congress
is split (divided government)
• Polarization has led to a lack of bipartisanship
(agreement between the parties to work together
 Section 4.6
Is Congress
Representative?
• Descriptive Representation: Congress
members mirror the makeup of the country
– Argument that Congress needs to have more minority
representation
• Members are older, whiter, wealthier and more
educated than the electorate
• Congress has become MORE representative, but
descriptive representation still not attained