The Legislative Branch Government Notes PDF

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Lecture about what the legislative branch of government is and how it works...

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Congress: The Legislative Branch Things for you to review  The constitution (Article I) o Powers of Congress (section 8)  Special powers of each branch o Limits on congress (section 9) o Membership requirements (age, citizenship) o Term length o District size and constituency Theories of congress  Representation vs governance o Governance-actually running the government (Senate) o Representation-representing the population  Representative and deliberative o Legislative branch (congress) set up to be a deliberative (thinking before you act) institution o Taking time to institute laws prevents unintended consequences o Congress can be gridlocked, causing things to take forever to get done  Delegate vs trustee o Delegate-we elect to congress, they do what we want them to do o Trustee-they do what they think is best, for country, party, etc. They make judgment call Goals of Members of congress  Re-election o Number one goal of any politician is to get re-elected  Personal gain/prestige o Like to be called member of congress  Policy impact o Anything to politician does is to help their campaign How to get re-elected  Advertising  Credit-claiming o Taking credit for popular things/ideas  Pork-barrel projects o Spending on something that will benefit the state and gain popularity  Avoiding unpopular things/people  Campaign constituents

How do members vote  Constituency o Vote based on what constituents want  Ideology o Vote based on candidate’s ideology  Colleagues o Member gets other members to vote for bill  Party o If a party needs a vote What are their constituents?  Geographic o Constituents that live in the are  Non-geographic o Constituents that don’t live in the area-ex. Interest groups  Electoral  Primary  Personal Congressional resources  Franking o Mail they are able to send out for free  Travel o Get two free trips back to their district  Ombudsman/casework o Spreading by word of mouth how well congressman does job  ex. Kevin Yoder took care of me when social security was not sending me my social security check  Leadership roles and pork-projects  Institutional resources enhance re-election efforts Organization of congress  The party caucuses  Leadership positions o Majority/minority leaders & whips  Committees o Standing  Permanent o Select  Temporary o Conference  Members of House and Senate come together to work on same wording for bill

o Sub-committees  A committee within a committee  When there are a lot of sub-committees each member of Congress gets to member of Congress Committee assignments  Seniority  Party loyalty  Good fundraising  Important to constituency/re-election  Marginal districts and prestigious committees o Marginal district-Where member won by a small margin How a bill becomes a law Special rules  Filibuster and cloture (senate)  Unanimous consent agreement  Riders  Germane amendments Institutional constraints  Formal rules or strong parties o Less favored by individual members o Individual members have less powers  De-centralized structured, fragmented power o More favorable for individual members o Multiple, moderate policy or gridlock Public perception  Unfavorable view of congress o Don’t like congress- current approval rating 13%  Like their own members of congress  Gallup polls Questions to think about  What motivates members of congress & how?  What motivates congressional decision making, why and how?  What are the different constituencies of members of congress & how does that influence their behavior?  What advantages do incumbents have in congressional elections?  What explains polarization in congress? Is it a problem?  What is the role and influence of political parties in congress?

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Why is congress organized with congressional committees and why are those committees so powerful? What is the role of interest groups in congress? Name and explain at least two factors that make it difficult to oust incumbents.

Book terms Apportionment  The process by which seats in the House of Representatives are distributed among the fifty states Bicameralism  The political process that results from dividing a legislature into two separate assemblies Bill 

Proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature

Cloture  A parliamentary process to end a debate in the Senate, as a measure against a filibuster; invoked when three-fifths of senators vote for the motion Collective representation  The relationship between Congress and the United States as a whole, and whether the institution itself represents the American people Conference committee  A special type of joint committee that reconciles different bills passed in the House and Senate, so a single bill results Constituency  The body of voters, or constituents, represented by a particular politician Delegate model of representation  A model of representation in which representatives feel compelled to act on the specific stated wishes of their constituents Enumerated powers  The powers give explicitly to the federal government by the Constitution to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, raise support armies, declare war, coin money, and conduct foreign affairs Filibuster  A parliamentary maneuver used in the Senate to extend debate on a piece of legislation as long as possible, typically with the intended purpose of obstructing or killing it Implied powers

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The powers not specifically detailed in the US constitution but inferred as necessary to achieve the objectives of the national government

Inherent powers  The powers neither enumerated nor implied but assumed to exist as a direct result of the country’s existence Joint committee  A legislative committee consisting of members from both chambers that investigates certain topics but lacks bill referral authority Majority leader  The leader of a majority party in either the Hose or Senate; in the House, the majority leader serves under the Speaker of the House, in the Senate, the majority leader is the functional leader and the chief spokesperson for the majority party Markup  The amending and voting process in a congressional committee Minority leader  The party member who directs the activities of the minority party on the floor of either the House or the Senate Markup  The amending and voting process in a congressional committee Minority leader  The party member who directs the activities the minority party on the floor of either the House or the Senate Oversight  The right to review and monitor other bodies such as the executive branch President pro tempore  The senator who acts in the absence of the actual president of the Senate, who is also the vice president of the US; the president pro tempore is usually the most senior senator of the majority party Politico model of representation  A model of representation in which members of Congress act as either trustee or delegate, based on rational political calculations about who is best served, the constituency or the nation Pork-barrel politics

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Federal spending intended to benefit a particular district or set of constituents

Representation  An elected leader’s looking out for his/her constituents while carrying out the duties of the office Standing committee  A permanents legislative committee that meets regularly Surge-and-decline theory  A theory proposing that the surge of stimulation occurring during presidential elections subsidies during midterm elections, accounting for the differences we observe in turnouts and results Trustee model of representation  A model of representation in which representative feel at liberty to act in the way they believe is best for their constituents Whip  In the house and in the senate, a high leadership position whose primary duty is to enforce voting discipline in the chambers and conferences...