You are on page 1of 7

I. Establishing the U. S.

Congress

A. The need for effective power after the failure of government under the
Articles..

B. What were the concerns reflected in the Great Compromise (Connecticut


Compromise) of 1787.

1. limiting the power of the state legislatures to control Congress


2. large states vs. small (proportional representation vs. equal rep.)
3. voice of “the people” vs. voice of “the elite.”
- bicameralism reflected the class structure and consciousness of
the time.
C. Which branch was seen as most important?

*From the very beginning of the Constitution we see a concern among


the Framers with limiting the new governmental powers they were
creating.

On the whole they feared that power in the hands of a single individual
would be abused and the people would suffer. This in part explains why
they placed a considerable amount of power in the legislative branch.

*First Article - The most detailed

II. Powers of Congress:

A. Enumerated Powers in Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1-17

*the control of money, (taxing, spending, borrowing, and coining),

regulation of interstate commerce,

military matters (regulate state militias, create and regulate


an army and navy, suppress insurrections within states, and to
declare war…NOTE: no requirement to declare war in order for the
president to “wage” war…),

as well as defining the court structure.


B. Implied

Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 “Elastic Clause”

In McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819, the U. S. Supreme Court first


pronounced the Doctrine of Implied Powers (and the Doctrine of National
Supremacy).

C. Problems for those who believe that the Constitution must be “strictly”
interpreted.

D. Powers not in Art. I, Sec. 8. [explain]

- a role in electing the president if no Electoral winner, or if


incapacitated
- confirming appointments
- ratifying treaties
- amending the Constitution
- the Impeachment process

Note that Congress has authority that gets it involved in the business of the
other two branches…

III. Functions of Congress:

It is through these powers, then, that Congress performs its basic


functions (and a more difficult and complicated job than many
constituents expect):

– Education
– Constituent Service
– Conflict Resolution
– Representation -- 2 conflicting types: personal judgement v. reflecting
what constituents want
– Oversight – involved in “executive” and/or “judicial” policymaking?
– **Lawmaking - same here? All three branches get into one another’s
business – “checks and balances.”)

IV. House-Senate Differences (Size, terms, prestige, etc.)

The rules governing each chamber also are different.

Because of the large number of members in the House there are numerous
formal rules to govern activity on the floor and in committees. Since there are
considerably fewer members in the Senate, there are fewer restrictions on
members on the floor and in committees.

1. Debate on the floor of the House is strictly limited to the time allotted by
the Rules Committee. On many bills not every member will be allotted
time to debate.

2. In the Senate every member is allowed to speak on a bill. On occasion


unlimited debate will transpire. Unlimited debate is known as a filibuster.
If a filibuster is successful the bill is never voted on and therefore, the bill
is defeated. While this tool is used by a minority to stop specific legislation
there are ways to defeat the filibuster and pass the bill. Cloture is one way
to break a filibuster. This is a complex process that requires the approval
of 60 senators. If a vote for cloture is approved, debate is limited to a
maximum of one hour per senator.

V. Congressional Elections can highlight the differences between the House and
Senate

Costs: Senate avg. over $5million; House avg approaching $1 million.


No comfort level in the House: every two years

But in both… [explain]


either self selected or chosen to run by party leaders (different than in
European-style parliamentary elections),
Heavily influenced by incumbency (90% in the House and 75% in the
Senate get re-elected), money, and presidential coattails [example:
SLU Polling re McCain and Kennedy…each did about 8 to 12 points
better than we polled them…]

VI. Congressional Apportionment


And, of course, only in the House do we have any concern over
“apportionment,” the allocation of seats in the House to each of the states based upon
the size of that state’s population.

A. Article I, Section 2 calls for the “census” to be conducted for the purpose of
apportionment…

B. …so that every ten years there can be a “reapportionment” of seats.

Yet, reapportionment can result in a political problem within a state, as each state
legislature must sometimes engage in “redistricting” or redrawing district lines to
account for changes in apportionment. For those states that have more than one
representative, the separate districts must have an equal number of people in each district.
prior to 1964, some congressional districts had populations up to three times larger than
others, an effect called malapportionment. The federal courts did nothing about this
because they considered it a “political” issue; one not subject to court review. Then…

Baker v. Carr (1962) – malapportionment “justiceable” because of the 14th Amend


“Equal Protection Clause” requiring “one-person, one-vote.”

First enforced the idea of “one-person, one-vote” in state legislative seats in Reynolds v.
Sims (1964), then in Congressional seats in Wesberry v. Sanders (1964).

C. Also, political parties want to construct districts that maximize their chance of
gaining more congressional seats. This concept of designing a district for the advantage
of the party is known as gerrymandering. In Davis v. Bandemer (1986) the U. S.
Supreme Court for the first time said that gerrymandering was “justiceable.” Then in
Miller v. Johnson (1995) the Court ruled that gerrymandering by using race as a sole
criterion to create “minority-majority” congressional districts violated “equal protection.”

VII. The Accumulation and Decentralization of Congressional Power

In the end, how powerful is Congress and how does it go about it’s business? I like to
focus on two themes: the accumulation and decentralization of power over time.

A. All branches of government, including Congress, have become more powerful


over time, because we place more and more demands upon them. We tend to
be “Classical Liberals” in mythology only. If we can accept this assumption,
then how has Congress organized itself over time to deal with this increased
power or level of demand? By fragmentation or…
B. Decentralization…into committees and subcommittees. This has always
opened the door to the creation of multiple power centers in Congress…

C. Each congressional committee is like a "little legislature" that determines


whether a bill will reach the floor and be called for a vote. The obstacles to a bill
reaching the floor are numerous, and the committee structure is the maze through
which bills must pass to become legislation.

D. Types of congressional committees:

1. Standing committees - the most important committees in Congress


because all bills are referred to a standing committee in each
chamber. Members of the House usually serve on two standing
committees while member of the Senate usually serves on three
standing committees. Each standing committee is an area of
specialization and is subdivided into subcommittees.
2. Select committees - are created to accomplish a particular task.
Unlike standing committees, select committees are not permanent.
Once the task has been accomplished the select committee is
abolished.
3. Joint committees - are established with members of each chamber
serving on the committee. The tasks assigned to these committees
are very diverse.
4. Conference committees - are convened when a bill has passed both
chambers but there are differences between the version approved
by the House and the version approved by the Senate. The role of
the conference committee is to reach a compromise between the
different versions. After the compromise is reached, both houses
must approve of the compromise bill before it is sent to the
president.
5. House Rules committee - a very powerful standing committee in
the House of Representatives. Once a bill has been approved by
the appropriate standing committee in the House it is sent to the
Rules Committee. This committee makes rules that will govern
what happens to the bill on the floor of the House.
E. The Role of Parties.

The selection of committee members is conducted by the political parties. For


Democrats in the House, the Steering and Policy Committee makes all standing
committee assignments. For the Republicans in the House, the Committee on
Committees makes all standing committee assignments. Similar party committees exist
in the Senate for committee assignments. Once assigned to a committee, the member is
likely to remain on the committee for the remainder of her or his career in that chamber.
The longer the member has served on the committee, the more seniority he or she has. In
general the most senior member of the majority party will be selected as the chairperson
of the committee. Such a system rewards those who are from safe districts and can
therefore, be re-elected numerous times.

VIII. The Formal Leadership


A. The Constitution provides for the selection of the leaders of Congress. Article I,
Section 2 states, "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other
Officers; ..." Article I, Section 3 states, "The Vice President of the United States shall be
President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The
Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, ..." What the
authors of the Constitution did not foresee was the development of political parties. Once
parties became established they controlled the legislative process, including the selection
of congressional leaders.

B. Positions of leadership in the House include:


1. Speaker of the House of Representatives (John Boehner, R-Oh.)- the most
powerful member of the House. The Speaker must work with both political parties, and
his or her power is largely derived from his or her personal appeal. While the Speaker has
numerous responsibilities, his or her primary focus is to seek the enactment of his or her
political party's legislative ideas.
2. House Majority Leader (Eric Cantor, R-Va.)- is second in line in the majority
party leadership structure. He or she is responsible for assisting the Speaker in gaining
the enactment of the majority party's ideas. The Majority Leader fosters cohesion among
party members in the House.
3. House Minority Leader (Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca.)- is the leader of the minority party
in the House. His or her primary responsibility is to seek the enactment of his party's
legislative proposals, and to provide a source of "loyal opposition" to the majority party.
If the minority party would win a majority of seats in the House in the next election, the
minority leader would be likely to be selected as the Speaker of the House.

4. House Whips - both the majority and minority parties have "whips" whose job is
to assists their party leaders, and to encourage party loyalty among House members.

C. Positions of leadership in the Senate include:


1. President of Senate - the Vice President of the United States (Joseph Biden, D-
Del.). Rarely does the Vice President actually preside over the Senate. On rare
occasions, the Vice-President will be called upon to vote in the Senate in order to break a
tie vote.
2. President Pro Tempore (Daniel K. Inouye, D-Ha.)- usually referred to as the "pro
temp," this position is filled by the member of the majority who has the longest
continuous term of service in the Senate. Although this position resembles the Speaker
of the House in a structural manner, the pro tem does not have the power of the Speaker.
3. Majority Floor Leader (Harry Reid, D-Nev.)- the most powerful member of the
Senate. This position is roughly analogous to the Speaker of the House.
4. Minority Floor Leader (Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.)- the leader of the minority
party in the Senate, and is responsible for attempting to achieve the enactment of the
legislative ideas of the minority party.

Senate Whips - as in the House, both the majority and minority parties have whips whose
job is to assists their party leaders, and to encourage party loyalty among Senate
members.

D. How has leadership changed over time? How has leadership become less
powerful? [explain each]

1. Strong Speakers up to the early 20th century


2. The rise of long-time incumbent chairmen
3. The “Power Earthquake” of the 1970s, the weakening of longtime committee
chairmen, and the explosion of committees and subcommittees.

IX. How a Bill Becomes Law…how it REALLY becomes law…


The subgovernment – the “Iron Triangle”

Eisenhower called it the “Military-Industrial Complex.”


The Iron Triangle

Congress

Interests Bureaucracy

X. At the President’s desk…


Vetoes and overrides

You might also like