OConnor and Sabato: Chapter 6: Congress

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OConnor and SabatoChapter 6 Congress

• Presentation 6.3 Law-Making Relations With
• the Other Branches

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Key Topics

• The Law-Making Function of Congress
• How Members Make Decisions
• Congress and the President
• Congress and the Judiciary

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The Law-Making Function of Congress

• The law-making function is the most important
  constitutional responsibility of Congress
• Nearly 9,000 bills are introduced in each session
  of Congress
• Fewer than 5-10 are enacted

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1i. Law-Making cont.

• Getting a bill through Congress is very difficult
• Congress as a system of multiple vetoes
• In politics, its easier to kill proposals than to
  get them made into law

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1a. How a Bill Becomes a LawThe Textbook Version

• A bill must survive three stages before it is
  presented to the president for signature or veto
• Committee, floor debate, and then conference
• House and Senate have parallel processes

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1ai. Stage OneIntroduction and Committee Work

• Bills must be proposed by a member of Congress
• The importance of sponsors
• Bills are sent to the clerk of the chamber, who
  gives it a number (e.g. HR1 or S1)
• The bill is printed, distributed, and sent to the
  appropriate committee or committees for
  consideration

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1aii. Stage One cont.

• A bill is referred to a committee by the Speaker/
  Majority Leader
• Committees usually assign the bill to a
  subcommittee
• Subcommittees hold hearings to give a laws
  proponent/opponents an opportunity to voice their
  opinion

Because of 1970s sunshine laws, hearings are
now open to the public.
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1aii. Stage One cont.

• After hearings, a bill is revised and voted up or
  down
• If the vote is favorable, the bill goes back to
  the full committee for a vote
• A favorable vote sends the bill to the full
  House/Senate for floor debate

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1aiii. Stage TwoFloor Debate The House

• In the House, a bill must go the Rules Committee,
  where it is assigned a rule placed on the
  calendar
• Rules determine the time allotted for debate
  whether/how the bill may be amended
• The bill is debated voted up or down

The House sometimes forms a Committee of the
Whole to expedite consideration of important
bills.
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1aiv. Floor Debate The Senate

• The Senate has fewer rules governing debate
• Opponents can delay a bill by issuing a hold or
  threatening to filibuster the bill
• Hold senatorial request to be notified before a
  particular bill is brought to the floor
• Filibuster a formal and public way of stopping
  legislation through long speeches
• Cloture the only means of stopping a filibuster
  (16 senators sign a cloture petition, and then 60
  votes are needed to end debate)

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1av. Stage Three Approval Conference
Reconciliation

• The House and Senate often approve different
  versions of a bill
• If a bill is not identical, both houses send
  members of the original committees to meet and
  iron out differences in the bill
• The bill is then returned to both houses for vote

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1avi. Presidential ActionFour Options

• If the president signs the bill, it becomes law
• Veto rejects a bill (more likely in cases of
  divided govt. Congress can override by 2/3rds
  vote of both chambers)
• He can wait 10 days, and the bill is presumed
  signed
• However, if Congress adjourns during the 10 day
  period, the president has invoked a pocket veto

Briefly, Bill Clinton had access to the line-item
veto, which was ruled unconstitutional in 1998.
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1avii. Abraham Lincoln the First Pocket Veto

• Lincolns political problem w/ radical
  Republicans in Congress
• Congress passed a law giving Congress authority
  over occupied Confederate territory

Abraham Lincoln (1809 -1864). Picture Encarta.
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1aviii. The Pocket Veto

• Lincoln needed congressional support for
  reelection in 1864, but didnt want them
  controlling occupied Confederate territory
• Lincoln didnt sign the bill, and Congress
  adjourned
• Lincoln alerted members to his oversight

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1b. How a Bill Really Becomes a LawThe China
Trade Act of 2000

• Each piece of legislation is unique
• The 1974 Trade Act (1974) empowered the president
  to grant any nation most favored trade status
  (lowers tariffs)
• China, the Cold War, and the politics of trade
• Communist nations could only get MFT 1 yr. at a
  time
• China has an enormous internal market

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1bi. The China Trade Act

• An unlikely alliance Pres. Clinton GOP favored
  rewriting the law
• Introduced in the Senate as S2277 by Sen. Wm
  Roth, Jr. (R-DE)
• Introduced in the House as HR4444 by Rep. Bill
  Archer
• Hitting the road in support of a bill

The Business Roundtable and U.S. Camber of
Commerce spent over 10 million on an ad campaign
supporting the bill.
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1bii. The China Trade ActThe House

• Organized labor was the biggest opponent
• Intensive lobbying by both sides
• House debate attempts to recommit the bill
  defeated
• Final House vote (237-197)

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1biii. The China Trade ActThe Senate

• The Senate rules permit amendments
• Several senators proposed alternative legislation
• A rare bipartisan filibuster begun by opponents
• Cloture invoked by a vote of 86-12
• The Senate vote 83-15

Bill Clinton used the persuasive powers of the
presidency to insure passage
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2. How Members Make Decisions

• What factors weigh on how a congressperson votes?
• Members look to a variety of sources to help them
  make decisions

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2a. Constituents

• Members try to find out when an issue will affect
  their constituency
• Studies indicate that members follow their
  constituencys wishes about 2/3rds of the time

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2b. Colleagues

• Some members are recognized within their caucus
  as experts in certain issue areas
• Their views may carry great weight, and bring
  support from dozens of other legislators
• The politics of logrolling (exchanging votes on
  the promise of future support)

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2c. Party

• The leadership takes great pains to insure party
  discipline
• Leadership often control PACs who are
  instrumental in getting members elected
• Party voting (instances where the two parties are
  on opposing sides on a vote) is rising in recent
  years

Party voting occurred on over 3/4ths of the time
in the 104th Congress.
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2d. Caucuses

• Special interest caucuses encourage communication
  over issues of common interest
• Prior to 1995, 27 caucuses had special status as
  legislative service organizations (LSO)
• Republicans abolished LSOs, and many caucuses
  died

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2e. Interest Groups and Political Action
Committees

• The influence of lobbyists
• A lobbyists most important resource access and
  information
• The use of grassroots campaigns and
  astroturfing
• PACs contribute to members reelection campaigns

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2f. Staff and Support Agencies

• 14,000 staffers work for the House and Senate
• Legislators rely heavily on staff for information
  
• Staffers prepare summaries brief legislators
• Staffers can be influential when legislation is
  nonideological or one that their legislator is
  uncommitted

Members also have access to congressional support
agencies like the Congressional research
Service. See Table 6.4 on p. 206.
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3. Congress and the President

• The problem of divided government when the
  presidency and Congress are controlled by
  different parties
• The balance of power in recent times has tilted
  toward the presidency
• However, Congress holds the ultimate check
  impeachment

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3a. Congressional Oversight of the Executive
Branch

• Calling for hearings on an executive branch
  program is indication Congress is contemplating
  changes
• The reluctance of some executive administrators
  to appear before Congress
• The case of Secretary of Homeland Security Tom
  Ridge

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3ai. Congressional Review

• A process by which Congress can nullify an
  executive branch regulation by a resolution
  passed in both houses w/in 60 days of
  announcement of the regulation
• More likely to be employed in the future, since
  the legislative veto was ruled unconstitutional

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3aii. The legislative Veto

• A procedure by which one or both houses of
  Congress can disallow an act of the president or
  executive agency by simple majority vote
• Ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
  because it cuts the president out of the
  legislative process

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3aiii. Foreign Affairs Oversight

• The President has the power to wage war and make
  treaties
• The Congress has the power to declare war and the
  Senate has the power to ratify treaties
• The Johnson administrations conduct of the
  Vietnam war provoked a snoozing Congress to
  regulate the presidents use of military force

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3aiv. The War Powers Act (1973)

• Passed over Nixons veto
• Required presidents to seek congressional
  approval before committing U.S. forces to combat
• Also required the Pres. to withdraw troops within
  60 days unless Congress votes to declare war

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3av. The War Powers Act cont.

• War Powers has been of limited effectiveness
• Some presidents and constitutional scholars
  believe that the War Powers Act is
  unconstitutional

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3avi. Confirmation of Presidential Appointments

• The Senates unique role
• The opposing party often uses the power of the
  Senate to challenge a presidents policies
• Supreme Court nominations are nearly always a
  battle

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3avii. Impeachment

• Only 16 federal officials have been impeached
  (only two presidents)
• 7 convicted and removed 3 resigned before the
  process was completed

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3aviii. Impeachment cont.The Eight Stages of the
Impeachment Process

• Resolution call an inquiry into impeachment sent
  to the House Judiciary Committee
• Committee Vote committee considers evidence
  votes on the resolution
• House Vote full House votes on the Judiciary
  Committees recommendation to conduct a full
  impeachment investigation
• Hearings evidentiary hearing held by the
  Judiciary Committee

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3aix. Stages cont.

• 5. Report committee votes on one or more
  articles of impeachment (simple majority vote
  required)
• 6. House vote the full house votes on each
  article of impeachment (simple majority required)
• 7. Senate Trial House Judiciary Committee
  members act as prosecutors Senate acts as jury
  w/ Chief Justice presiding
• 8. Senate Vote full Senate votes on each
  article (2/3rds majority required for removal)

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4. Congress and the Judiciary

• The Supreme Court is able to review the
  constitutionality of acts of Congress
• Congress has various checks on judicial power
• Power to establish the size of the Supreme Court
  its jurisdiction
• Senates advice and consent power over judicial
  nominees

Senatorial courtesy president generally defer
selection of district court judges to the choice
of senators of their own party.