AP US Gov Congress Notes

10/24/11

**Study both packets**

(Ross Perot- billionaire who spent his own money for a campaign.  Got 19% of the popular votes but no electoral votes.  He ran as an individual, not affiliated with any party.  After the election in ’92 he formed the Reform Party)

Aim: Congress 101

v Congress 101

Ø  House

¨     Speaker of the House- most powerful person in the House

¡ Centralized- makes the leader in House more powerful than leaders in the Senate, which is decentralized

¡ Decides who talks when, and can cut off a speech

Ø  Senate

¨     Vice President is the president of the Senate (but he is usually not there, only comes to vote/break a tie)

¨     President pro tem- “leader” in the Senate

¡ Based on seniority of the majority party

¡ Doesn’t really have much power

¨     Majority/Minority leaders- create the schedule for the Senate

Ø  Filibuster- delays action on a bill and can kill bills

Ø  Cloture

¨     Overturns filibuster by 60 votes in the Senate

¨     A single senator can prevent action on a bill

¡ 16 signatures to vote on cloture, 60 votes to end a filibuster, then there is a little bit more debate, and then the bill is voted on

¨     The House and Senate each have their own debate rules.  The Senate uses the filibuster.  It is a check on the House- since the House represents the people’s passions and the people’s passions cannot be trusted, the House cannot be trusted either

Ø  Gerrymandering- drawing congressional districts to benefit a political party

Ø  Committees

¨     Where the real work in Congress is done

¨     Divided into sections (environmental, agriculture, finance, etc)

¨     Exclusive committees in the House- appropriations (decides how much money is sent on a bill), ways and means (taxing), and rules (traffic cop of the House- tells people how long they can speak for and if amendments can be added to a bill)

¨     Conference committee- when both houses are discussing a bill, this joint committee is formed to reconcile the bill and send it back to both houses  because only one version of the bill can be passed on to the president

Ø  Approval rating for Congress is now 12%.  If the approval is so low then why are reelection rates so high?

¨     People know their reps

¨     Pork barrel politics/ earmarks- incumbents use federal money to provide for their constituents

Ø  Qualifications for Congress

¨     House- 25 years old, citizen for 7 years, live in the state where you’re running (you don’t have to live in the district you run for)

¨     Senate- 30 years old, citizen for 9 years, live in the state where you run

Aim: Why do members of Congress behave in a certain way?

v What influences a Congressman’s vote?

Ø  Congressmen don’t use the same approach for every vote

Ø  Trustee/ Attitudinal approach- congressmen are better informed than the people so they should decide on how to vote (healthcare bill is 2000 pages long- the people aren’t able to read that much).  Voting by your own beliefs because the people don’t know enough (legislation is too complex) and they could be manipulated by other people.  Also, you never really know what your people think.  Today, politicians are afraid to use the trustee approach because they fear if they do so they won’t be reelected.  Attitudinal is based on ideology- Congress has become more ideological over the years and more divided and people are less willing to compromise, therefore people vote based on their own ideology (trustee is a little more flexible)

Ø  Representational/ Delegate view- follow what the people want.  Politicians use this when they want to get reelected, based on demographics of their constituency, and issues people are passionate about (abortion, gay marriage, etc.).  Delegate approach in POV is all about morality (the delegate is morally obligated to follow his people).  Representational view is presented in a more practical way (should follow people for certain issues because that’s what the care about)

Ø  Organizational/ Partisan view- thinking about what will help you within congress itself (get on a committee because that’s where the real work is done, moving up, getting your own bill passed).   Follow what your political party leadership wants

Ø  Politico- combining the delegate approach and the trustee approach.  Sometimes you will follow your own belief, and sometimes you will follow your constituents.  There is a give and take relationship between a member of Congress and his/her constituents (the congressman will listen to his people’s opinions and those opinions will affect his final decision)

v Which of the above most shapes behavior in the English Parliament?

Ø  Organizational view- everything in England is based on the party.  When you vote, you vote for a party not a person

v Pork Barrel Politics- Congress will be quick to pass laws that benefit the constituents (highways, post offices) in the hope of getting reelected, but will be slow in answering more controversial national questions.

10/27/11

Aim: Why are reelection rates so high in Congress?

v Current Congressional Salaries:

Ø  Speaker- $223,500

Ø  Majority/Minority leaders- $193,400

Ø  Rank-and-file members- $174,000

v Charlie Rangel

Ø  Was reelected 2 weeks before he was censured (shown disapproval from Congress for doing something bad) for cheating on his taxes and other wealth related corruptions

Ø  Why was he reelected?

¨     Pork barrel politics- delivered to his district (bridges, highways, etc), so the people feel they have to pay him back

¨     He supported programs for the country that people in his constituency approved of and benefitted from (tax cuts, welfare, etc.)

¨     People want their congressman to be in Congress for a long time because then he will get things done

¨     The people know him- people vote for individuals and do not automatically vote based on party.  Rangel also used the media and ran commercials, so people feel know him

¨     Franking privilege- incumbents can send out letters for free to their constituents

¨     It’s easier for incumbents to raise money (from individuals and interest groups) than a challenger

10/28/11

v What do politicians spend their money on during elections?

Ø  Ads

¨     Spend millions of dollars on propaganda ads to tweak the peoples emotions

¨     More negative attack ads than positive ads

v When is incumbency a disadvantage?

Ø  When you are not providing for your constituents or voting on laws that they do not approve of

Ø  Economic downturn

Ø  Foreign policy crisis

Ø  *When people are fed up with professional politicians and turn against all incumbents (fed up with the mess in Washington- the people inside the belt don’t know how the average American lives and therefore they need to go)

Ø  Attempts for term limits

¨     1994 election- Republicans took over because they promised term limits, but once they were in office they did not make term limits

¨     The states tried to pass laws to limit the terms of their congressmen, but the Supreme Court overturned those states because it was unconstitutional

Ø  During midterm elections the president’s party tends to lose seats because people are annoyed with what is going on

v Incumbency is an answer to who is in Congress

Ø  Ascribed characteristics

¨     Historically Congress members have been Protestant, white, and male

¨     In the 1990’s this shifted- more women and blacks in the House

¨     More Catholics because of the increase of Hispanics in the country (who are Catholic)

10/31/11

v What are some common perceptions (true or not) of Democrats/liberals and conservatives/Republicans?

Ø  Democrats:

¨     On left and believe in change

¨     Believe in government intervention in the economy (higher taxes, regulation) but government should not be involved in social issues

¨     Government should have higher taxes (especially the rich) because the government needs money to solve societies problems

¨     Redistribution of wealth- take money from one group and give it to another

Ø  Republicans:

¨     Live in the South/ Midwest

¨     Conservative on social issues like abortion and gay marriage

¨     Don’t want government involvement in the economy (low taxes, less regulation of business) yet they want government intervention on social issues

¨     Rich white men and represent the ideas of the rich

v Party

Ø  Democrats have dominated in the last 70 years

¨     33 congresses (period of 2 years) from 1933-1998

¡ 25 Complete control for Democrats

¡ 22 Democrats controlled one house

¨     Why have the democrats dominated Congress?

¡ Perception that Democrats represent the interests of the middle and working classes

¡ Democratic party is associated with unions, so blue collar workers will vote for them because they support the unions

¡ Voters prefer divided government.  The Republicans are seen as better protectors of national security, so people will vote for a Republican president to defend them as the commander in chief.  Then people will vote for Democrats to control the Congress to have divided government

¡ Advantages of incumbency came into existence at this time, and Democrats were currently in office at the time so the incumbency benefits (media, etc.) had helped them get reelected

¡ Democrats put up better candidates and build real coalitions

¡ Gerrymandering- drawing a congressional district in an odd shape to benefit a political party (political gerrymandering- it is legal)

Ü   When you racially gerrymander, the districts created are called majority-minority districts.  Racial gerrymandering is illegal.

Ü   Reapportionment- every 10 years (census) the number of seats states have in the House changes based on population.  It is so important to the states because the more seats they have in the house the more power they have in Congress, and they have a greater say in who becomes president (electoral votes are determined by representation in Congress, therefore the more people you have in Congress the more electoral votes you have and the greater influence you have in electing the president). 

Ü   Redistricting- state legislatures redraw the districts every 10 years to adjust to the shifting population, and during this process the state legislatures do gerrymandering

Ü   One thing the supreme court said to minimize gerrymandering (but not eliminate it) is that they can’t use malapportionment when they’re gerrymandering (Wesberry vs. Sanders.  When districts are very different in population size.  Districts must have somewhat equal populations). 

Ü   Restrictions on drawing Congressional districts

ê Malapportionment

ê Can’t draw solely for race (make a district of majority blacks)

ê Can’t draw districts to harm a race (spread out all the blacks)

ê Lines need to be contiguous (connected)

ê Districts need to be compact/dense (more circle/square and not a long stretch)

Ü   (Gerrymandering 101 video)

Ü   

¡ There is no one given reason why the Democrats have dominated the government

11/7/11

Aim: How a Bill Gets Passed

What are the president’s options once he gets that bill?

v Whip- congress person who is a liaisons between the leadership of their parties and “rank and file” members of Congress (regular congressmen)

Ø  Finds out how many votes a bill will get

Ø  Pressures congress people in their party to vote a certain way to get benefits (committees)

Ø  Whip is elected by the party

v Leadership

Ø  House

¨     Speaker of the House- has the power

Ø  Senate

¨     Majority/Minority leader

¡ Organizes the business of the Senate, along with the minority leader

¡ Picks the committee members with minority leader (majority party always puts more members from its party in committees, but never puts only members from its party on a committee)

v Filibuster

Ø  Prevents legislature form getting through

Ø  Has it gone too far?

Ø  Harkin

¨     The filibuster has gone too far

¨     Change the filibuster (still keep it to give Senators power)

¡ Gradually lower the number of senators needed to cloture so it will be easier to end the filibuster

¨     The Founders would be unhappy with the filibuster

¡ They wouldn’t approve of the need of a supermajority to get legislation through, because the needs for a supermajority are explicitly stated (when supermajorities are necessary- amend the constitution, ratify a treaty, remove someone from office, and override a veto) by the founders in the constitution (some people think this makes the filibuster unconstitutional, because it wasn’t intended to have a supermajority)

Ø  Frenzel

¨     Founders would have like the filibuster

¡ Slows down legislation, which is the purpose of Senate

¡ Didn’t trust the popular majority

¨     Bicameralism- the House is quick and the Senate slows it down.  It’s nice that they have a difference in the way the two houses operate

¨     The filibuster can lead to compromises because bills are debated constantly, so it allows for more bills to get out.  If someone is doing a filibuster, the other party will compromise to get them to stop

11/9/11

v Committees

Ø  Standing Committees

¨     Permanent

¨     Write legislation

¨     Bills that don’t get out of standing committees don’t go to the floor.  Bills are given to a committee that has expertise on that bill to get information and write it

¨     Subcommittees- write different sections of a bill

¨     Pigeonholed- when a bill dies in the committee

¡ After a bill is written by the committee and subcommittees, they vote on it.  If a bill does not get enough votes, it’s dead

¡ 10,000 bills introduced in a single year, 9,000 were pigeonholed

¡ A chairmen can kill a bill without voting on it if he has no interest/ no time

¡ Most times bills are pigeonholed when a committee doesn’t bother looking at a bill

¡ This is why committees are so important

¨     Oversight

¡ Example of checks and balances

¡ Watch how money is spent and prevent corruption

¡ After legislation is passed, the committee that has the expertise on that bill can call in people from the executive branch and ask them about how the money for the bill was being allocated and making sure the money is not wasted and there is no corruption

¡ Check on the executive branch and the bureaucracy (agencies that carry out the bills)

Ø  Committee of the Whole

¨     When the House acts as one committee (needs 100 members) to write and debate a bill, instead of small committees

¨     Limits the power of the standing committees/chairmen, however it is not so easy to have a committee of the whole

Ø  Select Committees

¨     Temporary in nature

¨     Put together to investigate something

¨     Don’t write legislation or do oversight

¨     Make recommendations and issue a report

Ø  Joint Committee

¨     Members from the House and the Senate sit on a committee together

¨     Sometimes for very mundane things- Library of Congress, Aging

¨     Conference Committee

¡ Reconcile the differences between a House bill and a Senate bill  when they are working on the same topic/bill à goes back to the houses for voting

v President- 4 options

Ø  Sign the bill

Ø  If he doesn’t sign it and 10 days pass, it automaticall becomes a law

¨     President does this to send a message that he’s letting the bill go through but he’s not thrilled about it

Ø  Veto

¨     Sends back to Congress and needs a 2/3 vote in Congress to override

Ø  Pocket veto

¨     If the President gets a bill with fewer than 10 days left in a session and the President takes no action, the bill becomes vetoed

v