Federal Government SLO

Article 1:

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Learning Objectives

1. Explain the constitutional basis and organization of Congress.

2. Compare and contrast the rules governing each chamber of Congress.

3. Describe the composition of Congress.

4. Define and distinguish between Congress' legislative and oversight functions.

5. Assess Congress' current role and power in the political system with the aid of historical perspective.

Introduction

Congress has been called the "first branch" of government because it is the first branch described in the US Constitution and the branch charged with carrying out one of the most basic functions of government: making law. One might also consider it first for other reasons; it is the most broadly representative institution of government (since 1916 members of both the House and Senate have been placed by direct election) and the framers expected it to be the most powerful branch of government (one of the reasons they divided Congress into two chambers). Congress also boasts "the power of the purse." Only Congress can pass the legislation needed by the national government to tax, spend or borrow. Although Congress experienced a relative decline in its power relative to the presidency over the past century, it still occupies a central position in the democratic process. This lesson explores the organization, composition, and law-making function of Congress and evaluates Congress' relationship with the other branches of government.

Study Questions

1. Why is Congress frequently called "the first branch"?

2. What are the two major functions of Congress? What is "bicameralism" and why did the framers design Congress with this principle in mind?

3. How is representation in Congress determined?

4. Describe the process by which Congress exercises its law-making function. How does a bill become law?

5. In what way do political parties affect the legislative process?

6. Identify the titles and powers of the respective majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. Who are their supporting officers? Does the US Constitution require these positions?

7. Compare the impact of chamber rules on the House and Senate and their significance for legislative outcomes.

8. Distinguish among the following types of committees:

a. Standing

b. Joint

c. Conference

d. Select

9. Discuss the costs and benefits of Congressional committees' prominent role in the legislative process with reference to the following ideas:

a. Specialization

b. Efficiency

c. Public versus local Interest

10. Distinguish between reapportionment, redistricting and gerrymandering. How do political parties use gerrymandering to achieve victory in elections? What is a safe seat?

11. Is gerrymandering ever illegal? What difference does the use of racial considerations in gerrymandering make when courts consider the legality of redistricting plans? Define three common gerrymandering strategies:

a. Cracking

b. Packing

c. Stacking

12. How well does Congress reflect the demographic diversity of the United States?

13. How does a typical Congressperson apportion his or her time in office?

14. Analyze the relationship between Congress and the Presidency. Which branch is the "stronger" branch and what factors does your answer take into account?

15. What factors have contributed to the growth of presidential power in the 20th century?

16. What is the relationship between Congress and the federal judiciary?

Article 2:

Powers of Congress

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Article I of the US Constitution establishes Congress as the first branch of government. As the legislative branch, its major powers include making laws, taxing and spending, regulating interstate commerce, declaring war, and oversight over the other branches and the bureaucracy. Through checks and balances specifically listed in the Constitution, it vets presidential appointees to judgeships and executive branch positions. The Senate must confirm judicial appointees and ratify treaties by a two-thirds vote. The House has the power to impeach, and the Senate to try any officer of the government, including the president.

Congress may also propose constitutional amendments to the US Constitution by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate. In the event no presidential candidate reaches the necessary 270 Electoral College votes or there is a tie, the House selects the president while the Senate selects the vice president.

Congress also has the power to conduct hearings and investigations to gather information or pursue criminal wrong-doing. Congressional hearings are sessions during which members of Congress invite various experts or witnesses to give testimony about issues of concern. Their purpose is to help Congress legislate more effectively by providing it with better information. Congress has held hearings on everything from the 9/11 attacks to telecommunications policy to steroid use among professional athletes. Congressional investigations are hearings devoted to fact-finding about alleged criminal activity or scandals. Congressional investigations have been used to investigate alleged communists in the film industry, organized crime, and even presidential malfeasance, as in the Watergate and Iran-Contra hearings. Congress can use its power to compel witnesses to appear before it (subpoena) or face contempt charges. Some cynics believe that congressional hearings and investigations provide members of Congress an opportunity to grandstand and court media publicity favorable to their careers.

Virtual Roundtable

Congress boasts "the power of the purse"—the authority to tax, spend, or borrow. In recent decades, annual government spending has exceeded tax revenues, forcing the government to borrow money and increasing the size of the national debt. Why does Congress continue to engage in deficit spending? Is the national debt a serious threat to America’s prosperity and security?

 

Additional Resources

Books

Master of the Senate, by Robert Caro.  Before Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency, he spent twelve years as an outspoken leader in the US Senate. Caro's biography covering this period studies not only the ruthlessly ambitious young Senator, but also the social and psychological aspects of the Senate as an institution.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich.  Part memoir, part manifesto, this book by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich discusses the triumphs and failures of the Republican Congress. Gingrich was a leader in the "Republican Revolution" of the House in 1994, ending nearly 40 years of Democratic majority.

Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, by Peter S. Canellos.  This biography delves deeply into Senator Kennedy's nearly half-century legislative career. It also focuses on his personal drama, including his academic struggles, the deaths of all three of his brothers, and his long battle with brain cancer.

Article 3:

Membership

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A candidate must meet the following requirements in order to hold office in the House of Representatives or the Senate:

 

Minimum Age

House of Representatives – 25 years old

Senate – 30 years old

 

Minimum Length of Citizenship

House of Representatives – 7 years

Senate – 9 years

 

Resident of the State They Represent

House of Representatives – Yes

Senate – Yes

 

Although members of Congress come from a variety of backgrounds, they do not faithfully reflect the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the country. Most members, particularly in the Senate, are disproportionately well-educated, more affluent, white and male compared to the US population. A high percentage of members have advanced degrees, particularly law degrees. While turnover in Congressional membership was once rather high, most members now serve for long periods of time. The advantages enjoyed by incumbents, those who already hold office in Congress, over their challengers are considerable, particularly in the House of Representatives where the incumbent reelection rates are routinely more than ninety percent. Elections tend to be more competitive in the Senate where incumbents are more likely to lose elections.

 

Article 4:

Structure and Organization

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The House and Senate

Congress is bicameral, consisting of two chambers. The lower chamber is the House of Representatives with 435 members. Seats in the House are apportioned on the basis of population, with each state guaranteed at least one representative. The House is considered "the people's House" due to electing members every two years, representing smaller geographic districts, and its special authority to initiate bills dealing with taxation. Under the original, unamended Constitution, the House was the only directly elected institution in the federal government.

The upper chamber is the Senate with 100 members. Representation in the Senate is distributed equally with each state having two Senators. The US Senate has traditionally been viewed as a more deliberative body, with members able to take a longer-term view due to their longer terms of office. Under the original Constitution, Senators were appointed by their respective state legislatures, but in 1916 the Seventeenth Amendment democratized the Senate by enabling citizens in each state to directly elect their Senators. The Senate plays a greater role in foreign policy, having the power to ratify treaties negotiated by the president by a two-thirds vote. The Senate also plays a crucial role in the president's selection of public officers including federal judges, ambassadors, and cabinet heads, who the Senate must confirm by a majority vote.

Congressional Leadership

Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House By United States Congress [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsLeadership in the House of Representatives is more formalized than in the Senate. The Speaker of the House is the highest ranking officer designated by the Constitution and is generally the most powerful member of Congress. The Speaker presides over House proceedings and exercises considerable influence over the legislative agenda. The Speaker also serves as the spokesperson for the House and the majority party while maintaining communication with the president. While the Speaker is expected to consistently apply the rules of the House, he or she is elected by the majority party and is expected to favor that party.

The Speaker's principal assistant is the majority leader. The majority leader consults with party leaders to formulate the party's legislative program and steers the program through the House. The minority party in the House selects a minority leader, whose duties correspond to those of the majority leader; however, the minority leader has no authority over the scheduling of legislation. Each political party has a whip, an elected party member who keeps intra-party communications intact and attempts to discipline party voting behavior, particularly on bills important to the House leadership.

Leadership in the Senate is less formal as power rests more with individual members. The 

Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader By NASA/Bill Ingalls [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsConstitution designates the vice president of the United States as the President of the Senate. Because the vice president can only vote in the event of a tie in the Senate, he typically only appears when a tie vote looks like a distinct possibility. The formal acting head of the Senate is the president pro tempore, an honorific position awarded to the most senior member of the majority party. Real power in the Senate lies with the Senate majority leader who is elected by the members of his or her party. The Senate minority leader is the majority leader's counterpart and is selected by the minority party.

Congressional Committees

Congress does most of its work in committees—shaping policies, hearing from interest groups, and forming legislation. How does Congress divide its responsibilities into committees? Which committee assignments are more important or more prestigious? Check your knowledge of congressional committees with this quiz.

 LAUNCH ACTIVITY

 

The House and Senate

The House and Senate are two separate institutions making up one branch of government, the Congress. Are you familiar with the basic differences between the House and Senate and their membership?

Article 5:

Apportionment and Redistricting

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Article I of the Constitution requires that Congress undertake a  census  of the country every ten years so seats in the House of Representatives may be  reapportioned  to reflect changes in state populations. When a state gains or loses seats in the House, or when the former opposition party takes control of a state legislature, this typically leads to redistricting.  Redistricting  is the redrawing of electoral boundaries for House districts within a state. According to the US Supreme Court decision Baker v. Carr(1962), electoral districts for the House must be drawn as closely as possible to reflect the principle of one-person-one-vote. In other words, House electoral districts should have equal populations.

Gerrymandering

A potential downside of redistricting is the opportunity to redraw districts to favor one political party over another. The use of redistricting for political advantage is known as gerrymandering, named after a curiously and much-ridiculed salamander-shaped district created under Rhode Island Governor Elbridge Gerry in 1812. Gerrymandering typically disregards such non-political features as natural communities or geography and instead aims to maximize the number of seats a particular party is likely to win in the next election. Gerrymandering can be used to create  safe seats  in which the opposition has virtually no chance of winning. The creation of safe seats explains why incumbents enjoy an often crushing advantage over challengers when running for reelection.

Gerrymandering for the advantage of a political party is known as partisan gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering often overlaps with racial gerrymandering, which is the use of race as a factor in drawing electoral districts. Because certain racial or ethnic groups such as African Americans and Hispanics reliably vote Democratic, both Republicans and Democrats cannot help but consider race when seeking to redistrict in a way that maximizes partisan advantage. Because of the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection, racial gerrymandering is more suspect than mere partisan gerrymandering. The US Supreme Court has ruled that use of race as a factor in redistricting is permissible as long as it is not too dominant a factor and as long as it only favors, not harms, minority representation.

One significant trend in the nature of Congress over the past two decades has been its increased polarization. Ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats have noticeably intensified and indicators suggest there are fewer moderates. Many veteran congressmen have complained about a decline in civility and a more combative atmosphere than used to exist. Part of the responsibility for this change in tone lies within the political parties themselves. However, much of it can be traced to the ever-increasing sophistication and success of gerrymandering. The creation of safe seats for Republicans and Democrats means that electoral contests for the House are won or lost at the primary level. It is mainly voters who are more ideologically driven or politically committed who vote in primary elections and such voters select more partisan and ideologically pure candidates.

Gerrymandering

This video explores the impact of gerrymandering on Congressional politics and examines the 2003 Texas redistricting battle, a classic case of gerrymandering.

Video Focus Points

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

· How do political parties use gerrymandering to win elections?

· What is "packing and cracking"?

· Do racial considerations make any difference when courts consider the legality of redistricting plans?

 

Crossing the Line: Congressional Elections and Gerrymandering

This activity focuses on different ways of drawing congressional districts.

Article 6:

he Legislative Process

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Congress' primary responsibility is to make laws. While the process by which a bill becomes a law is fairly straightforward, the politics of legislation is much more complicated. To become a law, a bill must be passed by both chambers of Congress in identical language. A bill may be introduced in either chamber, though bills dealing with taxation must originate in the House.

In Committee

The real legislative work of Congress is done in committees. In order to become a law, a bill must win committee approval and withstand debate in both chambers. In both chambers, a bill is typically assigned to the appropriate subcommittee; the subcommittee holds hearings and revises the bill (often referred to as  markup ). If the subcommittee approves of the bill, they send it to the full committee. The full committee then meets to decide what action to take—do nothing, rewrite the bill, or refer the bill to the House or Senate for debate and a vote by the entire chamber.

On the Floor

At this point in the process, a key difference between the House and Senate emerges. Even after a bill has been approved by a full committee, getting it to the floor of the House for a vote by the full membership requires favorable action by the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee exercises strong control over how long House members may debate the bill and whether members can offer amendments to a bill. If the House leadership wishes to prevent any amendments to a bill, the Rules Committee may adopt a closed rule. Or, it may impose a restricted rule that allows only specific types of amendments to a bill or an open rule that permits unlimited amendments to a bill.

Unlike the House, the Senate does not have a Rules Committee. Instead, it relies on a unanimous consent agreement negotiated between the majority and minority leader to govern consideration of a bill. The agreement specifies when a bill will be considered on the floor, what amendments will be deliberated, and when a vote will be taken. It does not limit the length of time members can spend debating a bill. Senators cherish the tradition of unrestricted floor debate, and may use it to their advantage to prevent a vote on a bill. Known as a  filibuster , a senator may speak as long as possible to force leadership to drop the bill in order to move on to other work. In practice, a filibuster can be stopped by a vote of  cloture  requiring the support of three-fifths (60) of the Senate's members. To avoid filibusters and other forms of obstruction, less controversial legislation in the Senate is usually debated under unanimous consent agreements, agreements negotiated by the majority and minority leadership that limit debate and specify the conditions under which amendments may be offered to a bill.

House and Senate Legislative Rules

The House and Senate are separate institutions with their own rules for conducting legislative business. How do the House and Senate rules for conducting business differ?

 LAUNCH ACTIVITY

 

Passing a Bill

As the House and Senate members debate the bill, they engage in extensive vote-trading—agreeing to support another member's bill in exchange for the promise of future support for their own bill. After a bill is passed by one chamber, it must then go through a similar process in its sister chamber where more changes are usually made. A conference committee, consisting of members of both chambers of Congress, works out a compromise version of a bill that can be approved by both the House and the Senate. When a bill is passed by both chambers, the president may either sign the bill or choose to veto the bill. However, Congress has the power to override the president's veto with a two-thirds vote of both chambers.

How a Bill Becomes Law

Before a bill becomes a law, it goes through a series of steps in the House and Senate. Can you identify the proper sequence for making a bill into a law?

 

Congressional Earmarks

Congressional earmarks—items in appropriation bills that provide "special funds" requested by only one representative or senator—have become a symbol of government waste. While lawmakers use them to "bring home the bacon" to their districts, critics claim earmarks contribute to a steadily increasing appetite for spending that threatens the financial health of the country. This video explores the controversy over earmarks and illustrates why they are a by-product of the legislative process.

Video Focus Points

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

· How does Congress use earmarks to exercise its "power of the purse?"

· What are the pros and cons of earmarks?

· Define the terms iron triangle, logrolling, and pork barrel.

Current Events

· ActBlue, the Democrats’ Not-So-Secret Weapon

· How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Bringing Her Instagram Followers Into the Political Process

· Why the Perfect Red-State Democrat Lost

· Democrats Pick Off Another Republican House Seat in California

· They Battled Over the Supreme Court, but Stuck Together on Criminal Justice Reform

Additional Resources

Websites

US House of Representatives Live Video Live and on-demand video access to the floor proceedings of the US House.

US Senate Live Video Live and on-demand video access to the floor proceedings of the US Senate.

Taxpayers for Common Sense An independent and nonpartisan voice for taxpayers working to increase transparency and expose and eliminate wasteful and corrupt subsidies, earmarks, and corporate welfare. The website includes a comprehensive earmark database of congressional pork projects.

Article 7:

Public Opinion of Congress

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Even though Congress is the most representative institution of federal government, it remains the least popular branch. In public opinion polls, Americans routinely give Congress the lowest public approval ratings of any of the three branches. On the other hand, when polled most Americans say they believe their own congressperson is doing a good job of bringing tangible benefits to their home districts and states. These seemingly contradictory attitudes are referred to as Fenno's Paradox.

Note: To view Gallup's latest congressional job approval ratings, select the Congress and the Public link.

Why do Americans think so poorly of Congress but overwhelmingly respect their own congressperson? The answer to this question lies in the nature of Congress itself. Congress was not designed to work quickly or efficiently. Its very structure, divided into two separate chambers and host to 535 individuals representing different parties, interests, and geographical constituencies means any progress depends on large amounts of negotiation, compromise, and logrolling. This give-and-take can result in legislation that looks less than principled and contains seemingly glaring examples of wasteful spending.

Conflict is inherent in the legislative process as well. With so many individuals representing clashing interests, achieving legislative consensus is a messy and contentious affair. This noisy combination of conflict, compromise, and parochialism alienates American voters and results in Congress' low approval ratings. Even when members of Congress are able to reach consensus on important issues, they may find themselves in conflict with the president who wields veto power over legislation. When relations between the president and Congress are poor, the result can sometimes be gridlock, a state of affairs where the government is unable to agree on or carry out important policy goals.

Yet in two key respects, Congress does exactly what is intended in our constitutional system. First, it acts as a deliberative body representing the various geographic parts of the republic. Secondly, it operates as a brake on the power of the presidency, fulfilling its role in the separation of powers system.  And its two distinct chambers, the House and the Senate, serve as internal checks and balances on each other. While Americans love to criticize Congress as an institution, they generally support (and reelect) their individual congressperson. For the most part this is because members do a very good job of bringing tangible benefits in the form of job contracts and federal money to their home districts and states. This is the answer to Fenno's Paradox: if Congress seems muddle-headed in serving the national interest, its members generally do a good job of serving local interests, confirming former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill's maxim that “all politics is local.”

Virtual Roundtable

Congress is consistently rated the least popular branch of government, yet individual legislators are often popular with constituents and are usually reelected. Why do public attitudes about the legislative branch exhibit this paradox?