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CHAPTER SIX Congress Study Chapter
Summary with Key Terms
Members of Congress are responsible for both
representation and national lawmaking.
These two duties are often at odds because what is good for a local constituency may not be beneficial for
the country as a whole. Representation style takes four different
forms--policy representation, allocative representation (including the infamous
pork barrel spending), casework, and symbolic representation--and congresspersons attempt to excel at
all four. However, since the legislative process designed by the founders is
meant to be very slow, representatives have fewer incentives to concentrate on
national lawmaking when reelection interests, and therefore local interests,
are more pressing. The founders created our government with a
structure of checks and balances centered around our bicameral legislature. In addition to
checking each other, the House and the Senate may be checked by either the
president or the courts. Congress is very powerful but must demonstrate unusual
strength and consensus to override presidential vetoes and to amend the
Constitution. Citizens and representatives interact in
congressional elections. Seats are allocated among states through the process
of reapportionment and the districts
are drawn up through redistricting
to correct for malapportionment. Gerrymandering and racial
gerrymandering make redistricting a highly political process. Congressional
races can be influenced, among other things, by the powerful incumbency advantage, the presidential coattail effect, and the phenomenon of
the midterm loss. The majority
party in each house has considerable power because it determines leadership
positions, including the Speaker of the
House, which are filled by the party caucuses. The
business of Congress--crafting legislation and engaging in legislative oversight--is done in committees where the leadership
is determined by party leaders and by the seniority
system. Standing committees,
including the powerful House Rules
Committee, do most of the work, although select committees, joint committees, and conference committees are key as well. Laws get placed on the legislative agenda in a variety of ways, often through the efforts
of policy entrepreneurship. They go
first to committee before being reported onto the floor, where they are
discussed, debated, and subject to a roll
call vote. In the Senate, the filibuster
can prevent a vote unless cloture is
obtained. When the bill emerges from Congress it goes to the president, who can
sign it or veto it (or kill it with
the less public pocket veto),
subject to a veto override by both
houses. Learning
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should
understand
Materials developed by Matthew J. Streb,
Northern Illinois University |
