CONGRESS PART 2

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CONGRESS PART 2

• FIRST SYSTEM OF ORGANIZATIONTHE PARTIES

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CONGRESSSOME IDEAS

• Congress is designed to legislateto enact rules
  for governing
• Before anything happens, it must go through an
  intricate system which is called the legislative
  process
• Congress gets its power from legislatingwhen
  Congress is in gridlock, the executive branch has
  more policy-making power

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CONGRESSSOME IDEAS

• What motivates Congress to legislate?
• 1) Who will provide money for my campaign?
  What policies satisfy the interests of potential
  campaign contributors?
• 2) Why did I win my last election? What
  policies will get me re-elected? What policies
  will help me live up to my campaign promises?
• 3) What do I want to see accomplished as an
  individual? What policies are important to me?

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CONGRESSSOME IDEAS

• Congress is a motley crew of legislators. Each
  is motivated by different desires.
  Representatives must pick their battlesthey must
  decide what battles they have to win
• COOPERATION IS ESSENTIAL TO PASS LEGISLATION

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POLITICAL PARTIES

• ABOVE ALL, Political parties are vehicles for
  collective actionthey are the fundamental
  building blocks from which policy coalitions are
  fashioned for political action

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POLITICAL PARTIESTHE CAUCUS/CONFERENCE

• Every two years, at the beginning of a new
  Congress, members of each party gather to select
  their leadership, plan strategy, and make
  decisions
• 1) The Republicans refer to this as their
  Conference
• 2) The Democrats refer to this as their caucus

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POLITICAL PARTIES--LEADERSHIP

• Leadership positions are
• 1) Speaker of the House
• --Chief Presiding Officer of the House
• --Elected at the beginning of every Congress on
  a straight party vote
• --Influences the agenda, the debate, and
  members positions within the House
• --This position is UNIQUE to the House

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POLITICAL PARTIES--LEADERSHIP

• 2) Majority Leaderthe elected leader of the
  party holding a majority of seats in the House OR
  Senate

Bill Frist (TN)
Roy Blunt (MO)

• Minority Leaderthe elected leader of the party
  holding the next largest
• majority of seats in the House or Senate

Harry Reid (NV)
Nancy Pelosi (CA)
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POLITICAL PARTIES--LEADERSHIP

• OTHER POSITIONS
• 1) Caucus/conference chairs
• 2) Committee on Committees (Republicans) and
  Steering and Policy Committee (Democrats)the
  chairs of these two committees are the Speaker of
  the House/minority leader
• --These committees assign legislators to
  committees and handle transfer requests

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POLITICAL PARTIES--LEADERSHIP

• WHY IS LEADERSHIP SOUGHT?
• --Representatives want committee placements that
  will give them the ability to influence
  legislation affecting their constituenciesleaders
  hip gives you say in what committees you and your
  friends sit on
• --Agenda controlsince the New Deal, the
  President has taken on an expanded role in
  initiating legislation, but party leaders also
  have the ability to create consensus amongst the
  party and push a legislative agenda of their own
• --The Speaker determines where bills go after
  they are submittedthe committee that debates the
  bill has a lot of influence as to how it will
  look when it leaves committee

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INCREASING POLITICAL POWER

• Aside from positions in Congress, legislators try
  to increase political power through means outside
  of Congress
• 1) Televisionthe more recognizable a
  legislator is, the more power he has
• 2) Leadership PACspolitical action committees
  established by a Congressman to raise funds that
  the individual can then donate to the campaigns
  of other party members