woll.chapter 8

Chapter 8 CongressChapter 8
Congress
Congress
Constitutional Background: Representation of Popular, Group, and National Interests
Topic Overview
To a considerable extent, the complex constitutional structure of Congress, particularly its bicameralism, reflected the need to balance conflicting state interests in 1787.
The Senate provided small states with equal representation while the House was to be apportioned according to population.
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Reading
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Theme
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Federalist 53
Defending the two-year terms adopted in the Constitution, Madison argues that representatives in the House will need some knowledge of national affairs (how things work in the different states), as well as some minimal knowledge of foreign affairs.
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Federalist 53
Madison also argued that one-year House terms would increase the amount of election fraud in the election of representatives.
His reasoning was that it takes a while for election fraud to come to light.
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Federalist 56
This paper discusses the size of the United States House of Representatives.
It is titled The Same Subject Continued: The Total Number of the House of Representatives.
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Federalist 57
It is titled The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many.
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Federalist 57
According to the essay, the representatives will be true to their constituents for the following five reasons.
1. The people chose these distinguished men to uphold their engagements, so the representatives have an obligation to stand by their words.
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Federalist 57
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Federalist 57
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Federalist 58
This paper examines the ability of the United States House of Representatives to grow with the population of the United States.
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Federalist 62
This is the first of two essays by Madison detailing, and seeking to justify, the organization of the U.S. Senate, and it is titled The Senate.
Four key considerations are discussed in Federalist 62.
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Federalist 62
2. The appointment of senators by the state legislatures (later changed to direct popular vote by the Seventeenth Amendment)
3. The equality of representation in the Senate
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Federalist 63
Continuing what Madison began in Federalist 62, it is the second of two essays detailing and justifying the organization of the United States Senate.
Federalist 63 is titled The Senate Continued.
This essay is the last of Madison's contributions to the series.
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Federalist 63
Madison argues that the Senate, a strong and the most stable member of the government, is needed to ensure lasting relations with foreign nations.
He also notes that because senators are elected to six-year terms, they will have sufficient time to be responsible for their actions.
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Federalist 63
Madison also gives examples of past long-lived republics, all of which had a Senate.
They, however, had senates elected for life, which, if followed, could threaten the liberty of the people.
It is for this reason that the Senate proposed in the Constitution has six-year terms.
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Terms of office for the House and Senate
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In other words, the two-year term of office is to keep the members of the House strictly accountable to their constituents.
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A system of checks and balances between the House and the Senate
The House and Senate have not only different terms of office, which provide their members with different perspectives, but also contrasting constituencies.
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A system of checks and balances between the House and the Senate
Moreover, the mere existence of two separate bodies causes legislative power to be divided and acts as a check on the legislature.
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It is necessary to have an internal check within the legislature itself.
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Primary functions of the legislature
Clearly the legislature was to be the primary policy body.
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Significance
Under the original constitutional plan, it was absolutely clear that Congress was to exercise primary legislative functions.
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Significance
According to Madison in Federalist 62, equality of representation for the states in the Senate was (1) an important check upon improper legislative acts, (2) a check upon majority rule, and (3) the result of compromise between the large and small states.
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Congress and the Washington Political Establishment
Topic Overview
Woodrow Wilson as a graduate student in the 1880s studied and wrote his doctoral dissertation on Congress, which became a classic in congressional literature.
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Topic Overview
As Wilson describes Congress in the following selection, committees define its politics, not disciplined parties.
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Reading
Congressional Government
During the 1880s, Congress was beginning to emerge from an institution citizen legislators dominated to a venue in which professional politicians advanced their political careers.
Member reelection and internal power incentives began to shape Congress and led to the rise of multiple committees to serve these incentives.
Committees were the little legislatures that collectively defined Congress.
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Somewhat ironically for a future American president, Wilson greatly admired the parliamentary and party model of government.
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Significance
Woodrow Wilson’s Congressional Government described a Congress controlled by powerful committees.
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Significance
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Reading
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Theme
This reading is Fiorina’s thesis from his award-winning book, Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment (1977).
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Theme
Congress, which gained credit for establishing the vast number of programs the executive branch administers, steps in after the creation of departments and agencies to receive credit for handling constituent complaints against them.
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Assumptions about the Washington political establishment and those within it
Fiorina assumes that most people most of the time act in their own self-interest.
Fiorina assumes that the primary goal of the typical congressman is reelection.
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Assumptions about the Washington political establishment and those within it
The voters wish to receive a maximum of benefits from government for the minimum cost.
This goal suggests mutual exploitation of the other.
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Conclusions about the Washington establishment drawn from his assumptions
Reelection is the primary goal of congressmen, and they engage in lawmaking, pork-barreling, and casework to achieve reelection.
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A lesser proportion of congressional effort is now going into programmatic activities and a greater proportion into pork-barrel and casework activities.
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Fiorina concludes that the nature of the Washington system is quite clear.
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Significance
Fiorina states that a typical bureaucrat expands the personnel, budget, and mission of his agency.
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Significance
Morris P. Fiorina sees the bureaucracy as helpful to congressmen seeking reelection.
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Topic Overview
A major incentive of many members of Congress is personal power on Capitol Hill.
Harold Lasswell once stated that politics is about who gets what, when, where, and how.
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Reading
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Theme
Lawrence Dodd gives priority to the personal power incentive, which leads him to view Congress more from an internal than external perspective.
The pursuit of personal power within Congress supports decentralization and the dispersion of power on Capitol Hill.
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Theme
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Conclusion
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Conclusion
Dodd states that it is Congress’ responsiveness to constituent interests that diversifies power on Capitol Hill and the personal quest for power.
Congress does, in response to an imperial presidency, make attempts to check the quest for personal power by strengthening its leadership and curbing committee dominance.
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Conclusion
The author emphasizes that the pursuit of personal power, by supporting committee government, decentralizes power in a way that undermines the ability of Congress to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities to make legislative policy and oversee the implementation of that policy.
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Conclusion
Periodically Congress does, in response to an imperial presidency, make attempts to get its House in order by strengthening its leadership and curbing committee dominance.
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Personal-power incentive on Capitol Hill affects Congress as an institution.
Power is symbolized by position and by the reputation for power.
More opportunities exist for personal power in an institution that is decentralized and that has many power positions, such as committee and subcommittee chairmanships.
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The personal-power incentive becomes a zero-sum game in which some members win and others lose in an institution with limited power positions.
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One logical solution to conflict caused by the personal-power incentive is to place basic policymaking responsibility in a series of discrete and relatively autonomous committees and subcommittees, each having control over the decisions in a specified jurisdictional area.
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Contrast the reelection incentive and the personal-power incentive
Reelection obviously has to occur before members can play the power game in Congress.
Reelection by large margins helps members in their quest for internal power by creating an aura of personal legitimacy.
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Contrast the reelection incentive and the personal-power incentive
Long-term electoral success bestows on a member of Congress the opportunity to gain the experience and expertise, and to demonstrate the legislative skill and political prescience, that can serve to justify the exercise of power.
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Normal stages of a congressional career
First, members devote their time to shoring up their electoral base.
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Normal stages of a congressional career
The second stage involves members pursuing personal power while moving up the committee or congressional party ladder and getting a large and expert staff to increase their policy expertise and credibility.
Holding a power position does not suffice to give a member sufficient credibility to wield power.
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Significance
The personal-power incentive tends to produce a Congress that is decentralized.
A junior member of Congress in the first stage of his or her congressional career is concerned mostly with reelection.
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Significance
Dodd points out that (1) members of Congress enter politics in a quest for personal power, (2) reelection, especially by large margins, can boost the internal power of members of Congress, and (3) personal power in Congress is often achieved through committee chairmanships.
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Topic Overview
Following his electoral victory in October of 1774, Burke delivered to his constituents the following speech, which became a political classic.
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Reading
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Theme
In this classic piece from 1774, Edmund Burke argues that the duty of elected representatives is to act on their best judgment, and not on the instructions of their constituents.
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Theme
According to Edmund Burke, the most important source for an elected official’s decision making is his own judgment and opinions.
Edmund Burke believed that there is one national interest.
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Background and Reasoning
Burke was a member of the House of Commons in the 1760s.
He was elected as the representative to Parliament from the city of Bristol in 1774, after which he made this speech.
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Burke states that these faculties must not be sacrificed to the opinions of electors because “your representative owes to you the constituents, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”
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Burke states that government is deliberative and based on reason and judgment and that opinions and decisions of elected representatives must rule.
Burke acknowledged the seriousness with which the official must consider constituents’ views, but he rejects authoritative instructions and mandates.
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Significance
The first is the obligation of an elected representative.
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Significance
More recently, recall elections have tried to bring elected officials closer to the will of their constituents by creating the probability that decisions counter to the majority’s will result in the loss of office.
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Significance
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Significance
Further, Burke argues that the purpose of government is to serve the national interest through these deliberations, more so than it is to serve the particular concerns of localities.
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Reading
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Theme
David Mayhew suggests that the activities of congressmen and the organization and procedures of Capitol Hill are primarily oriented toward the goal of reelection of incumbents.
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Theme
In this reading, Mayhew describes the activities of congressmen to optimize their chances for reelection.
Congressmen engage in advertising, credit claiming, and position-taking to maintain and increase their appeal to the voters of their districts.
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A definition and an example of advertising
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A definition and an example of advertising
Advertising is carried out by members of the House through newsletters sent to constituents, opinion columns for newspapers, radio and television reports to constituents, and mail questionnaires.
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A definition and examples of credit claiming
Credit claiming is acting so as to generate a belief in a relevant political actor/voter (or actors) that one is personally responsible for causing the government, or some unit thereof, to do something that the actor (or actors) considers desirable.
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A definition and examples of credit claiming
The underlying assumption of credit claiming is that constituents will attribute the benefits they receive to the hard work of their congressmen, which will make them more inclined to vote for incumbents.
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A definition and examples of position taking
Position taking is the public enunciation of a judgmental statement on anything likely to be of interest to political actors (voters).
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Congressmen generate what amounts to petitions; whether or not to sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto defying school desegregation rulings was an important decision for southern members.
Outside the roll call process, the congressman is usually able to tailor his positions to suit his audiences.
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The best position-taking strategy for most congressmen at most times is to be conservative by clinging to their own positions of the past where possible and to reach for new ones with great caution where necessary.
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Mayhew states that perhaps the most important consideration is that congressmen believe that activities such as advertising, credit claiming, and position taking are necessary and profitable in gaining votes.
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Significance
According to David Mayhew, members of Congress must engage in reelection activities whether or not they are from safe districts.
Activities members of Congress engage in to secure reelection include advertising, position taking, an credit claiming.
Congressional advertising activities are essentially focused upon congressmen disseminating their names among constituents.
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Significance
Credit claiming by congressmen is essentially focused upon claiming credit for channeling specific benefits to districts.
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Reading
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Theme
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Theme
Fenno concluded that it is mostly the freshmen members and representatives of marginal districts with intense two-party competition that result in strong challenges to the incumbents who stress reelection.
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Theme
Congressmen must pay close attention to their constituencies, but this is done through the development of an effective home style more than by activities on Capitol Hill.
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Constituency careers and Washington careers, according to Fenno
Constituency careers are primarily made of the pursuit of the goal of reelection.
Washington careers are primarily made of the pursuit of the goals of influence in the House and the making of good public policy.
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Strains between constituency careers and Washington careers
At first the strains are minimized, because the freshmen members of the House have little if any opportunity to gain inside power or influence policy.
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Strains between constituency careers and Washington careers
As members seek power and influence, they may begin to experience some allocated strain between constituency and Washington demands.
Successful careers in Washington and successful careers in the district take time and energy.
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Members reconcile their constituency careers and Washington careers.
Members seek to reconcile the conflict between the demands of reelection with those of attaining power on Capitol Hill in a variety of ways.
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They may seek to merge their Washington and constituency careers by portraying themselves in their constituencies as powerful legislators.
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Fenno concludes that congressmens’ home activities are more difficult and taxing than we have previously recognized.
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Members cannot be in two places at once, and the growth of a Washington career exacerbates the problem.
The demands in both places have grown recently because the legislative workload and the demand for legislative expertise are steadily increasing.
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Significance
A congressman’s home style and Washington career are often in conflict.
Members of Congress find that their power on Capitol Hill is not very important to reelection.
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Reading
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Theme
Senator Evan Bayh writes that challenges of historic import threaten America’s future.
He states that action on the deficit, economy, energy, health care and much more is imperative, yet our legislative institutions fail to act.
Senator Evan Bayh writes that Congress must be reformed.
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Why I’m Leaving the Senate
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I’m beginning my 12th year in the Senate, and only twice have all the senators gathered for something other than purely ceremonial occasions.
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Congress and state legislators should also consider incentives, including public matching funds for smaller contributions, to expand democratic participation and increase the influence of small donors relative to corporations and other special interests.
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Today, the mere threat of a filibuster is enough to stop a vote; senators are rarely asked to pull all-nighters like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
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Filibusters should also be limited to no more than one for any piece of legislation.
Currently, the decision to begin debate on a bill can be filibustered, followed by another filibuster on each amendment, followed by yet another filibuster before a final vote.
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The number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster should be reduced to 55 from 60.
Meeting America’s profound challenges and reforming Congress will not be easy.
Still, my optimism as I serve out the remainder of my final term in the Senate is undiminished.
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