Unit 2 - Lecture notes Unit 2 PDF

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Unit 2 lecture notes, Professor Tracy Osborn...

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Lecture 3 Congress 5-29-17 Legislative Process Lecture 3 Outline: Home Style, Representation, and Setting up Shop 1. Home Style and the District Relationship  What is representation? Trustee, delegate and politico  Types of activities to represent: policy, pork barrel, casework, and symbolic  Physical versus substantive representation  Nested constituencies – geographic, partisan, political, and personal  Home style and the presentation of self, explaining Washington activity, and the expansionism and protectionist phases  Office organization – travel, casework, personal staff and organization 2. Joe Schwartz of Freshman Orientation as an example -

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Once you’ve gotten elected what do you do What legislators do when trying to establish a relationship with their constituency o Important because of re-election o How their district sees them Different ways to define representation What is representation? Trustee, delegate and politico Types of activities to represent: policy, pork barrel, casework, and symbolic Physical versus substantive representation Nested constituencies – geographic, partisan, political, and personal

Homestyle - The style they develop with their district What is representation - What the process of representation means - Madison, took the notes for the Constitution o How representation or little r republican government works o Safeguard to have people on your behave go to the legislature and make decisions for you  Practical  A continuum  One end you have a representative who acts as a trustee  “general reason of the whole”- burke o rather thinking in the best interest of the whole regardless of district opinion

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o someone who is a trustee rep will not care about what their district thinks, they do what they think is best for the country  on the other end there is someone who acts as a delegate o literal representative o someone who always acts in accordance on the wishes of his or her constituency  someone elected to congress would physically sit in for their constituency and be their mouth piece for what their constituency wants  neither of these work very well for a modern congress representative  a pure trustee will butt heads with their district  a pure delegate will butt heads with congress o best to think of a modern legislator as a politico  balance between a trustee and delegate  thinking about when each one would be relevant  might act as a trustee when their district wants different things  might act as a delegate when their district has one clear voice on something they want  this is a delicate way to think about a representative because they are constantly trying to balance these two items  example  when a legislator has to explain a conscious vote o they make a choice that makes their district mad, they say they made a conscious decision and did what they thought was best  fall 2008, one to bail out the auto companies and one to bail out the banks  lots of conscious votes 4 types of activities o they do these all at the same time which is difficult which is why they have a big staff o 1. Policy representation  making decisions about particular policies  ex: you can introduce a bill, voting in one direction, speaking for or against a policy, working on a bill in committee  the district watches policy  especially when it’s key policy like Obamacare  can be tough because you are often making someone unhappy o 2. Pork Barrel (allocative) representation  the process of bringing funds or projects to a certain district or state  “bringing home the bacon”  a good legislator will always know how much they are bringing to the district and also know when to point it out o ex: highway projects

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o policy affects everyone but pork barrel really only affects a certain number of people but is paid for by everyone  sometimes giving someone a pork barrel project could force a rep to vote one way or another on a certain policy  delegate representation tends to rule  ex: 2005ish closing military bases in the US o any legislator who had a base in their district said no you can’t close our base o in general everyone thought it was a good idea to close bases but could not agree on which ones to close o  Ear marks as particular amendments to legislation that add pork barrel to a bill o 3. Casework  help for specific constituents with the government  When someone is having trouble with the federal gov. they can call their representative and ask for help o Ex: military, veteran, social security, passports o Isn’t used for state and local problems only federal o Reps love casework because if they can help a constituent than they have a voter and supporter for life o 4. Symbolic  where a legislator shows they are part of the district by how they act, speak, look, etc.  want to identify with their constituents  ex: Dave Lobesack going to an Iowa game wearing black and gold which shows how important the university is in the district  going to country fairs o legislators do all of these 4 things at once o can also explain why people dislike congress as a whole but like their representative physical representation, you look like that group o how much a body looks like the people they are supposed to represent o Describe Congress in 4 words  White, old, rich, male  Pretty accurate but does this matter  Some argue that the lack of physical representation has substantive results  Substantive, you do something for that group o Acting on behalf of a particular group  Congress is slightly less than 20% women  Same for minority groups  Just because someone is a physical rep doesn’t mean they represent that group correctly o Ex: democratic women vs republican women having different ideas on how to deal with the same issues

Politically minorities and women are groups who have been treated differently under the law  Political implications of their traits o The age of congress  Popular issue right now is student loans  Most people in congress never had student loans o Should younger people who experience these problems be the ones making these laws Nested constituencies o Taking the legislative relationship to their district and how they break it down in the district o This comes from Richard Fenno- “Homestyle” o He followed members of congress around for a number of years and had unprecedented access to them o The things he observed are still important even now o Key observations:  Nested constituencies- like a dartboard, circles nested in other circles  The relationship is different within all these  The big outer circle- the geographic constituency o Defined by the political borders  That physical area  legislators tend not to pay attention to the entire geographical constituency  if asked to describe it they would know it based of statistical terms  heterogeneous or homogenous  some have the same type of people throughout them or some have really distinct differences o iowa: white, middle class, pretty similar to one another o while a heterogeneous would be one where an urban and city district inter mix- hard to represent both  the next circle- reelection or partisan constituency o the groups of partisans and leaners who might vote for the rep in the next election or already voted for them in the last election o partisans- identify with a certain political party o leaners- say they’re independent but tend to lean to one side or the other o legislators pay really close attention to this group 

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o legislators do this because they never truly see each other as safe when it comes to reelection o important during the expansionist phase  a relatively new rep or maybe someone in a new district- during this time they are going to try to expand their election constituency  typically see this after being reelected a few times o protectionist phase  trying to keep the election constituency they already have  this is when they don’t feel as threatened o either way a legislator will always know who their reelection constituency is  primary or political constituency o the staunchest supports the legislator has  volunteers, defenders, donors  legislators pay most attention to these people  this is the group who will go vote in the primary  legislator needs to meet with these people  personal constituency o mentors, family, who they go to for help or advice  fenno saw that the legislators were almost different people with their different constituencies  those who felt threated focused on their reelection constituencies  those who felt safer would focus on the political constituencies  Congressman A sees his constituency as the people he meets with when he goes home o Little staff at home in the district  Congressman C or D o Have less linkage to the community, worried about expanding their reelection constituency, try different things to bring people in  D having coffee with new people o Homestyle is how the legislator behaves at home  Presentation of self  Establishing trust with the district  Stating and establishing qualifications for office  Identification with the district- being one of them  Trying to have empathy for the district gets their problems and care  Legislators do this different o Down home or distant and standoffish o Has a lot to do with how many staff they put in the district  explaining your Washington activity  Credit claiming o Want to be able to claim credit for something they’ve done

They introduced a bill or sat on this committee Want to look like they’re doing something important in Washington o Position claiming on active bills and issues  Funding of the homeland security department o Have to do these effectively to show they are working for the district o Important in the protectionist phase o Homestyle- how to communicate, present themselves, etc. with the constituents Example from “freshmen orientation” o Congressmen, Republican from Michigan who only lasted one term o His own party put up a different candidate o When he gets to congress and the decisions he has to make relate to Homestyle  Setting up your staff  After WWII you would set up a residence in DC then travel back home  Congress changed the calendar to correspond with that o In session Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday o Most congress members are traveling home when not in session  House and senate have adopted parallel work schedules o Recess periods, particularly scheduled work periods  The August Recess  leave temporarily to do some work at home  House gets about $200,000 for travel and senate members get different amounts  Most legislators will spend between $150,000-$500,000 a year on travel  Those in the expansionist phase travel more  Even Alaskan and Hawaiian members go home at least a dozen times a year  Set up district or state offices  Legislative reorganization act 1946 allowed legislators to set up staff to work on casework post WWII o Could hire someone to help do the casework o As congress became more professional in the 70’s the staff grew a ton  Staff  Casework, constituency service associates  They set them up in dc and in the district  A legislator must decide where to put the offices and how many people to put in each office  Keep more people in the districts now a day o Cheaper, for casework this makes sense to have people at home  More senior people get more casework requests  Want visible offices  

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o Ex: Dave lobesack putting one in the pedmall Casework is incredibly important  That’s why its careful where to put the offices, who to hire Staff is so important that if the legislator dies the staff will stay and keep things running until someone new is elected Can only pay 18 fulltime staff and 4-part time Senator staffs range from 13-71  Average is about 35 people  Senate has limit on their expense account on size of population and size of the state Occasionally you can hire more people if you are a committee chair or something like that Hire a lot of interns, do lots of casework Move staffers a young, well educated, and don’t stick around very long Lobbying organizations will hire these former staff members The revolving door  Staff going in and out all the time Scheduler Constituency workers Administrative assistants Legislative assistants- write bills, monitor committee hearings, write papers Casework= home office Staffers can’t do campaign work  Have to resign or go on leave to work on the election  Can’t use federally money to pay staffers while working on a campaign  Fuzzy cause it’s hard to say when campaigning starts Have to get the right staffers  Experience Offices are assigned by seniority  Right after an election they allow staffers to switch or move offices if they want  If you’re at the very bottom you can get a bad office

Outline, Lecture 4, Legislative Process Leadership and Parties in Congress 1. Leadership in the House  Speaker of the House – powers, strength of leadership, examples (Joe Cannon, Sam Rayburn, Newt Gingrich, Dennis Hastert, Nancy Pelosi) – current speaker John Boehner  Majority and minority leaders (Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi)  Majority and minority whips (Steve Scalise and Steny Hoyer) 2. Leadership in the Senate  Presiding officer (Vice President, President Pro Tempore – Orrin Hatch)  Floor leaders o Majority and minority leaders – development of power (LBJ), other past examples, current leaders (Harry Reid (minority) and Mitch McConnell (majority)) o Majority and minority whips (John Cornyn (majority) and Dick Durbin) 3. Leadership and parties in the House and Senate  Chamber organization, floor business, and influence  Party organization, party unity, party views, and campaign assistance 4. Party functions  Party caucus  Party committees  Informal party groups  Just how strong is party influence in Congress? 5-30-17 - The institution of Congress - Going from your election to what is happening in the actual job - Elections drive so much of what legislators do Leadership - The speaker of the house - Only leadership position that is constitutionally defined - The rest of them are developed overtimes - Constitution says that the house will pick the speaker o Speaker is also 3rd in line to be president o Have a long list of tasks  In control of both the house and their own party - General jobs/powers o Big peak with Joe cannon in 1910, increase 1950’s, increasing in 1994, speaker has a lot of responsibility and powers right now o 1. They preside over the House

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o 2. Announces results of votes o 3. Maintains order and decorum  regulating arguments, discussions, etc. o 4. Refer legislation  gets to tell which committee gets to consider a particular bill  rules in the congressional rulebook that says if a bill pertains to this it should go to this committee  but, let’s say the speaker really wants a say in the bill, he can give it to a committee where he has a say  this gives the speaker some limited control over where bills go so if o 5. Gets to name lawmakers to conference and select committees  temporary committees  last for one or two sessions or maybe just for a certain bill o 6. Decide when bills will be heard- agenda  what day, what bill, if it will or will not be heard  rules committee also takes part in this  modern speakers get to assign people to the house rule- majority party members  maintain a bit of behind the scenes power with the rules committee since the speakers gets to select them o 7. Message development  speaking on behalf of the majority party in their chamber o 8. Speaker for his majority party as well o 9. Elections- people they want to support get that money  speak on behalf of members  Can also punish party members and not help them during elections o 10. Behind the scenes power on standing committee assignments  the party caucus decides on secret ballot who is on that committee  but the speaker gets to decide who is split up  if a person wants to be on a certain committee they will write to the speaker and other leaders saying why they want to be on that committee  don’t make the official decision but has some influence o 11. The speaker is responsible for tangible and intangible rewards  vague because it has changed over time  campaign money, trips abroad, doing something for the party that’s front and center  intangible reward- having party backing during an election  ex: being a new member of the house who was elected in a rocky election, you want a bill you can take credit for  the speaker can make sure your bill gets front and schedule on the agenda the speaker is formally elected by the house o need seniority to be speaker o speakers are usually in office for a long period of time o typically last as long as your party is in power

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o typically get all the votes from your party o Boehner has 25 votes against him from the majority republicans- fair amount of protest  Surprising because he didn’t know that several of those people were going to go against him  Some told him they were going to vote against them because they were going to vote with their district after receiving lots of phone calls from their district- this warning made sure the speaker would not punish them later  Why? This makes the speaker look bad and makes the party look weak  Behind the scenes shows that Boehner has had a lot of trouble uniting his party  This is a pretty bold move against the speaker  Boehner kicked 2 republicans off the rules committee for voting against him in retaliation Joe cannon o In charge of the house around 1910 o Republican from Illinois o Republicans had power of the house for a long time around this point and there was starting to be splitting among the party o The power of the speaker was based off that person’s personality o He changed the institution of congress to give the speaker more power o height of speaker power o 1. Allowed to pick every member of the rules committee  now the speaker can pick every member of the majority party on the rules committee  their job is to take every piece of legislation and make the rules for it- how long you can talk etc.  if it never gets thru the rules committee it never gets to the floor  control of rules o 2. Appoint and remove chairmen’s of committees at will  now these votes are done in secret ballot o cannon was using these powers to defeat legislation that President Teddy Roosevelt at the time wanted  he was the same party as Cannon  now a day’s republican speakers work with republican presidents  republicans were mad that Cannon was doing this because they wanted what the president wanted  the infamous revolt against cannon  more liberal parties of the republican party sided with minority democrats to get rid of Cannon o The whole process changes once Cannon is out o The members of congress were afraid to put someone in place of Speaker o After this issue power shifts to the power caucus and to committee chairs o How did this happen

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All the decisions being made by cannon was shifted to the party caucus The seniority system- informal, just tradition  The longest serving majority member on a committee would become the chair of that committee  Being chair of a committee means you control all the legislation going in and out of that committee  For the speaker, the seniority tradition took all their power away  This became a problem creating outlier committees  Made it really hard to pass legislation that the general house wanted  Sam Rayburn house member from texas 1940-1961 democrat o Longest serving speaker in history o Had a reputation for being really persuasive, personally has power o He uses that to change the power of the speaker a bit o The seniority system was screwing everything up o 1957 Civil Rights Act  1964 Civil Rights Act tried to get thru Congress at different times, believed it would pass in 1957  couldn’t get in thru the rules committee because the chair of the rules committee didn’t believe in civil rights o Howard Smith of Virginia, southern democrat o As the chair of rules, Judge Smith was able to kill this bill o Rayburn as speaker couldn’t get aro...