A2 Government & Politics Unit:4a, Topic:2 (Legislative Branch)

• Article I of constitution 
• All legislative power 
• Tends to follow a presidential agenda 
• Congress is located in Capitol building in Washington D.C. 
• Most powerful leg. in the world 
• 'Congress shall make no law as befits the framers' desire for limited gov't' 
• Policy-making rather than policy-influencing 
• WHY IS IT SO POWERFUL: 
• It is independent 
• Not dominated by party - contrast to UK 
• Representative assembly - voice of the people
• many enumerate and implied powers 
• BICAMERALISM: 
• two diff. but equally powerful houses - contrast to UK (Commons>Lords) 

• House represents the districts - 435 
• California (53 districts), South Dakota (1) 
• Can gain districts in re-districting (also can be used for Gerrymandering) 
• Senate represents the states (2 per state) - 100 
• Represent the states - because of Connecticut Compromise 1787 - equal representation of the states 
• 17th Amendment - Senators directly elected by the ppl. 1913 
• more democratic legitimacy to role 
• representation has been criticised - e.g. Wyoming (<500,000 pop) and California (37 mil ppl) have same representation 

• Reps - 2 year terms. Need to concentrate on 'folks back home' as up for election so often 
• Highly responsive to wishes of the people 
• Most house members 'vote etheir district' 
• Senators 6 yr terms, 1/3 up for re-election every 2 yrs.  gradual change in members 

Is the Senate more prestigious than the House? 

• Less senators - more well-known
• Serve longer terms 
• Higher wages - Senator - $2.7 mil, Rep (D) = $1.4mil, Rep (R) = $1mil. 50% of all Congressmen are millionaires 
• If you are a Senator - more likely to be Pres. "Washington Insider" - e.g. Obama 
• More bargaining power 
• Unlimited debate power - filibustering 

• BOTH: 
• Leg. power - can override pres. veto 
• Role if the Electoral College is deadlocked
• Oversight 
• Power of the purse
• Power to declare war - last time 1941
• Power to propose/pass const. amend. w/ 2/3 maj. 
• Impeachment process - e.g. Clinton found not guilty at impeachment in '98 + Nixon resigned before indefinite impeachment in 1974 over Watergate 
• HOUSE: 
• House has the power to set financial agenda
• SENATE: 
• Advice + consent - Nixon: "always seemed the Senate gave a lot more advice than consent" 
• Confirmation - e.g. rejection of Robert Bork in 1987
• Ratification - has rejected several negotiated treaties, e.g. Versailles in 1919 and SALT II in '79 

• House chaired by Speaker - John Boehner (R) 
• Rules and limits on debate
• Senate chaired by VP Joe Biden (D) 
• Informal and less rule-bound, trad. of unlimited debate - filibustering 
• BOTH MEMBERS ARE INVOLVED IN: 
• Committees/subcommittees, both ad-hoc and permanent 
• pork barrelling 'brining home the bacon' (adding riders)
• ('log-rolling' (vote trading) 
• Coalition building - gaining maj. of votes
• Caucuses e.g. Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Tea Party Caucus (2009) 
• LEGISLATION: 
• Obstacle course
• Often seen as negative - 'block', 'pigeon-hole', 'veto' 
• Only less than 10% of bills passed 
• Failure often unrelated to merits - e.g. Civil Rights in 1950s, vulnerable to defeat if controversial or opposed by powerful special interests 
• Can be so sign. amend. here - become unrecognisable 
• However, bills can pass easily if big event - e.g. Patriot Act 2001 - after 9/11 

• Initiated by mem. of Congress 
• Most leg. originates from pres. agenda - outlined in pres' State of the Union Address in Jan 
• 'The president proposes, Congress disposes' 
• If the houses have dif. party maj.s can be no guarantee in how leg. will be reacted to, e.g. 2006 and 2010 w/ poor pres-congress relations 
• WHY SO DIFFICULT: 
• First - House standing committee stage - can be pigeon-holed here by chair 
• House subcommittee stage - examined in detail - lobbyist interest or exec. branch official interest - can be sign. amend. - pork+riders  bill can fail at this stage 
• House Rules Committee - seen as gate-keeping "traffic-cop of Congress' - if time on floor is not given to bill - bill dies 
• Floor debate - log rolling here maybe, relatively little party discipline - may fail here
• To Senate - may fail due to filibustering (longest fili. 24hrs Strom Thurmond 1957) Fili can be ended w/ 3/5 supermaj. (60 votes) after 2013 - Democrat's wishes (Repubs. angry)
• Different bill sent back - need to reach a consensus - if not bill dies 
• Back to both chambers for final vote - if not - bill dies 
• President - can veto, no line-item veto after 1998(Clinton), pocket veto (ignore), or sign. Can fail in veto - through congressional override 2/3 maj. in both houses - Clinton only had 2 of his 36 vetos overridden 

• "Little fiefdoms" - Fenno + "major obstacles" 
• deal with 11,000 bills each year 
• Oversight! 
• Increase in them is a result of Nixon scandal 
• About 200 Committees/sub-committees 
• Woodrow Wilson - "Congress in its commitee rooms is Congress at work" - 1884 
• WHY SO POWERFUL? 
• Can pigeon-hole, amend, block leg. 
• Permanence, expertise
• Conduct public hearings, extensive oversight 
• Close links w/ fed. departs. 
• Iron triangles (congress, interest groups and bureaucracy) 
• 'blue ribbon' committees are imp. 
• E.g. Taxation (Ways and Means), spending (Appropriations or Senate Rinance) + House Rules Committee blocking leg. 
• HOW IS MEMBERSHIP DECIDED? 
• party committees - membership is according to party strength 

• UK - Disraeli "Damn your principles and stick to your party" 
• US - Would be - "Damn your party and stick to your district" 
• Rare independents (but one - Bernie Sanders from Vermont) - many people are not voted as representing their party, but for themselves - no aid from party
• 'Independent political entrepreneurs' 
• Congress memebrs have their own ideological views - can be seen in the past in cons Democrats - Blue Dog Democrats and moderate Republicans - "Rockefeller Republicans" or RINOs (Repub. in name only) 
• PARTY INFLUENCE 
• Some degree of party unity but not to the levels found in UK Parl. 
• Whips who try and achieve party cohesion whip in House = Kevin McCarthy, Senate = Richard Durbin 
• No carrots to offer or sticks to threaten with - so limited whips 
• Leg. success can depend on persuasion skills of party power brokers e.g. 'Johnson Treatment' 
• Most votes are bipartisan, and there are 'shifting coaltions' Many Blue Dog Democrats today, hardly any Rockefeller Repubs. e.g. Susan Collins 

• Evidence of growing party cohesion since Reagan 
• Since capture of the House in 2010 under the influence of the Tea Party, Repubs. have become more conservative and very cohesive in voting against Obama - espec. on tax cuts and spending+reducing the deficit 
• "Broken Congress"  - transition between two parties who are 'tweedledee and tweedledum' - Anthony Bennett 
• Democrats more ideologically cohesive and lib as a result of Nancy Pelosi 

ROLES IN CONGRESS:

House maj. leader - Eric Cantor (R)

House min. leader - Nancy Pelosi (D) 

Senate maj. leader - Harry Reid (D) 

Senate min. leader - Mitch McConnell (R) 

President pro Tempore of Senate - Patrick Leahy 

• PRESSURE GROUPS: 
• + lobbyists seek access to members of Congress and become active on issues affecting them
• e.g. NRA (National Rifle Association) or AARP (American Association of Retired Association) 
• Don't want to get on the bad site of these groups
• WHITE HOUSE: 
• Can be used to persuade others - esp. Chief of Staff 
• Pres. like Obama "Washington Insiders" can use their knowledge of Congress to aid this 
• Yet if there are external factors that cause problems with this there is nothing to be done, e.g. Obama after Repub. take over of the House in 2011 
• CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUSES: 
• E.g. Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Tea Party Caucus (2009) 
• Vote and act together 

• Usually a very high re-election rate - 
• House - av. 93%, 2012 - 91% 
• Senate - av. 85%, 2012 - 91% 
• Robert Byrd longest serving Senator 51 yrs 
• WHY ARE THEY RE-ELECTED? 
• Have huge resources 
• Already well-known - high visibility rates
• Brought home the bacon well
• Hug campaign war chests from special interests 
• Gerrymandering 
• HOWEVER - CAN STILL BE BEAT: 
• 2010 Tea Party influence, or if they are unpopular or if a huge war chest has been used to defeat the incumbent 

Split districts from 32% in 1980 to 5% in 2012 

• Trustees for the whole nation, not as mere delegates of their constituents 
• Should not appear too concerned with providing benefits to home state/district 
• Re-Election is the 'true test of democracy' 
• Burke - narrow constituency interests is not doing what a representative assembly should be doing 
• SOCIAL BACKGROUND: 
• it is more diverse now than in the past 
• Changing the role of women generally - growth of political action committees 
• (PACs) supporting women - e.g. Emily's List 
• Currently a number of 102 women in Congress from 16 in 1980 
• White people heavily over-rep. in Congress - 96% of Senate = white 
• No one under the age of 40 in the Senate 
• An openly homosexual Repub. has never been elected into Congress, first openly homosexual person to win a non-incumbent election = Tammy Baldwin (D) 
• WHY ARE THEY NOT: 
• 'Ordinary people' scared of running, or not enough money, not a political dynasty e.g. Bushes 

• Congress 9% approval rating, made worse by Congressmen making comments such as "we're not going to be disrespected" Marlin Stutzman 
• Expressed power - lay and collect taxes, implied - use tax revenue for welfare and punish tax evaders 
• Select committees - ad hoc particular interest
• Conference - snr members to resolve issue
• Joint - Joint interest
• Standing - permanent