congress

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Congress




           1
 Congress Versus Parliament
Meeting as opposed to talking
Getting into office
Actions while in office
  Power through independence
  Serving “the people”




                                2
  The Evolution of Congress
Waxing and waning power
Power struggles in the House
Senatorial reform and debate
  The filibuster




                               3
        Who Is In Congress
Sex and race
Incumbency
  The hated “professional politicians”
  Marginal and safe districts
Party
  Republican ascendancy
    Change in values or inevitable swing?


                                            4
Do Members Represent Their Voters?

Congress operates under many influences
Representational view
  Roll-call votes
Organizational view
Attitudinal view



                                          5
   The Organization of Congress
  Senate     House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tempore
             Majority and minority leaders
  House      Party whips


  Party Unity
  Caucuses
  Committees
House                   Senate
Appropriations          Appropriations
Rules                   Armed Services
Ways and Means          Foreign Relations
Armed Services          Finance
Judiciary               Judiciary
Government Reform                                             6
  How a Bill Becomes A Law
Introducing a bill
   Public and private bills
   Simple, concurrent, and joint resolutions
Study by committees
   Discharge petition
   Open/closed rules
Floor debate
   House
       Quorum
   Senate
       Cloture
Methods of voting
   Voice, teller, and roll-call votes
                                               7
How Things
Work: How
  a Bill
 Becomes
   Law


             8
Table 11.1: Blacks, Hispanics, and Women in
            Congress, 1971-2002




                                          9
            Figure 11.2: Percentage of Incumbents
                    Reelected to Congress




                                                                                                                                                                    10
Source: Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 1999-2000 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2000), table 1-18.
Figure 11.3: Results of 1992
House Election by Turnout:




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Source: "House Republicans Scored a Quiet Victory in '92," Congressional Quarterly (April 17, 1993): 967.
                  Figure 11.1: Changing Percentage of
                   First-Term Members in Congress




Sources: Data for 90th through 103rd Congresses are from Congressional Quarterly Weekly Reports. Data for 69th through 89th Congresses are adapted from Nelson W. Polsby, "The Institutionalization of the
U.S. House of Representatives," American Political Science Review (March 1968): 146. Data for 1st through 68th Congresses are from Stuart A. Rice, Quantitative Methods in Politics (New York: Knopf, 1928),
296-297, as reported in Polsby, 146. Data for Senate are from N.J. Ornstein, TlJ. Mann, and M.J. Malbin, Vital Statistics on Congress, 1989-1990 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1990), 56-57,
59-60; and Stanley Harold and Richard Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001).                                                12
Table 11.2: Incumbents in Congress Reelected by 60 Percent or More




                                                                     13
Table 11.3:
Republican
Vote-Seat
Gap, 1968-
  2002


              14
The U.S. Congress: The U.S.
         Congress




                              15
Table 11.4: Party Polarization in
Congressional Voting, 1953-2000
    (percentage of all votes)




                                16
Table 11.5: Congressional
        Caucuses




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