Congress as an Institution

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Congress as an Institution
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Lecture Outline

• What are institutions and why do we need them?
• What is the basic role of Congress?
• How is Congress organized and how does Congress
  operate?
• What is it like to be a Member of Congress?
• Policymaking

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What are institutions and why do we need them?

• Institutions Rules of the game how the
  structure that is in place changes outputs from
  what they might have been.
• Tragedy of the Commons, Public Goods, etc.

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What is the basic role of Congress?

• The essence of power in the US government
  (Article I).
• Powers include tax, borrow money, commerce,
  naturalization, coin money, post office, post
  roads, patents, and to make all laws which shall
  be necessary and proper

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The Difficulties of Lawmaking

• Congress represents and governs.
• Internal complexity
• External influences
• To exercise its power, Congress needs
  organization, structure, and a division of labor.
• Want to reduce TRANSACTION COSTS

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How is Congress organized, and how does it
operate?

• House Membership435 Members
• Party Divisions229 Republicans205 Democrats1
  Independent
• Senate Membership100 Senators
• Party Divisions51 Republicans48 Democrats1
  Independent

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Congressional Organization, continued

• Congressional Staff
• Policymaking
• Electoral Goals

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Congressional Organization, continued

• Committees
• What do they do?
• How do you get on a committee?
• Why do you pick a certain committee?
• Policy
• Prestige

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Congressional Organization, continued

• Party Organizations
• How parties fit in with member goals and
  congressional productivity
• The power of parties in Congress
• House v. Senate

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Norms and Rules

• Seniority norm
• Courtesy
• Institutional patriotism
• Respect for committees
• Specialization
• Restrain speaking (Senate)

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What is it like to be a Member of Congress?

• RE-ELECTION
• Constituents
• Committee Assignments
• Party
• Casework
• Legislate

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POLICYMAKING
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HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW
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POLICY SUBSYSTEMS

• Who are the participants?
• What are the characteristics?
• Persuasion and influence in subsystems

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DECISION-MAKING ON THE FLOOR

• Differences in environments between policy
  subsystem and the floor
• How much do members know?
• Who to listen to when information is not at hand
• Staff
• Floor debate

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CUE-TAKING

• Why takes cues?
• Who to take cues from?
• Consequences of cue-taking

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Outcomes Fragmented v. Integrated Policymaking

• 1. Fragmented policymaking focused on small,
  narrowly defined problems, often without
  consideration of how the policy fits into broader
  policy concerns (veterans benefits, business tax
  incentives)
• 2. Integrated policymaking focused on large
  public policy questions, developed with careful
  consideration the overall policy impact