Download How a Bill Becomes a Law

Congress: Balancing National
Goals and Local Interests
Chapter 11
Congress as a Career

Election to Congress
 Using
incumbency to stay in Congress
 The
service strategy: taking care of constituents
 Campaign fund-raising: raking in the money
 Redistricting: favorable boundaries for incumbents
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
2
Congress as a Career

Election to Congress
 The
pitfalls of incumbency
 Disruptive
issues
 Personal misconduct
 Turnout variation: the midterm election problem
 Strong challengers
 Safe
incumbency and representation
 Who are the winners in Congressional elections?
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
3
Party Leadership in Congress

House leadership
 Speaker
of the House
 Elected by the House membership
 By default a member of the majority party
 Said to be the second-most-powerful official in
Washington, after the President
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
4
Party Leadership in Congress

Senate leadership
 Majority
party leader is the most powerful Senator
 The Vice President presides over the Senate;
however has power only to cast tie-breaking vote
 Senate president pro tempore presides over the
Senate in the VP absence,
 Largely
a honorary position held by the majority party’s
senior member
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
5
Party Leadership in Congress

The power of party leaders
 Relatively
weak compared to the power exercised
by party leaders in other democracies
 Have grown stronger in recent years as partisan
divide has become more dramatic
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
6
The Committee System

Committee jurisdiction
 Bills
introduced must be referred to the proper
committee for deliberation

Committee membership
 Typically

Committee chairs
 Typically

mirrors the party ratio of the body
the senior member of the majority party
Committees and parties: who is in control?
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
7
How a Bill Becomes a Law

Committee hearings and decisions
 Most

From committee to the floor
 Rules

work on legislation is done in committee
for debate are defined
Leadership and floor action
 Debate,

changes, and vote by full membership
Conference Committees and the President
 Reconcile
differences between similar legislation
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
8
How a Bill Becomes a Law
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
9
Congress’s Policymaking Role

Lawmaking function of congress
 Makes

laws authorizing federal programs
Representation function of congress
 Represents

the interests of constituents
Oversight function of congress
 Sees
that executive branch carries out the laws
faithfully
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
10
Congress: Too Much Pluralism?

Pro (advantages):
 Diverse

interests represented
Cons (disadvantages):
 National
interest subjugated to special interests
© 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
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