Congressional

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Session 22

• Congressional
• Party Leadership

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Congress

• Members Goals
• Re-election
• Power and Influence
• Good Public Policy
• Committees and Parties

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Collective Action and Congress

• Members individually seek to be re-elected . . .
• So how does Congress overcome the barriers to
  collective action?
• What is collective action anyway? Acting
  collectively to produce a benefit that is
  available to all regardless of whether or not the
  individual contributed to the provision of the
  benefit. The collective benefit produced has
  three characteristics It is Non-exclusive, non
  consumable, non-divisible
• The Committee System No!
• Political Parties Yes!

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• How does Congress act collectively?
• Extra-Institutional Summits or Committees
• Examples Budget summits, task forces
• More importantly PARTY! (no, not that kind of
  party, a political party)
• Remember, free-riding is motivated by a
  cost-benefit calculation. Party subsidizes costs
  of acting collectively. Members of party
  leadership pay the costs of acting collectively
  in return for the privileges of leadership.
• Examples Balanced Budget, Patients Bill of
  Rights leaders provide the candidate with
  campaign money or other forms of support in
  exchange for the cost they incur for supporting
  the partys legislation

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• Party changes the cost benefit calculation of
  individual members. Leaders subsidize costs and
  make action on the part of individual members
  easier.

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Evolution and History of Congressional
Organization

• Strong parties the Era of Reed and Cannon
• (Thomas Reed 1889, Joseph Cannon 1903)
• Changes in procedures
• Return to Committee Government (1940s 1960s)

Joseph Cannon
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Evolution and History of Congressional
Organization

• Return to Strong Parties Congressional Reforms
  of the 1970s
• The Democratic Study Group
• What the Reforms Did
• Instituted Conditional Party Government
• CPG Rank and file party members give greater
  control to party leadership so that party
  leadership can get things accomplished (produce
  policy) on their behalf. This works when the
  rank and file have a shared ideology.

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• How, exactly?
• Limited the power of committee chairmen by
  allowing party members to vote on chairmen and by
  strengthening subcommittees
• Strengthened party leadership by giving the
  Speaker more control over the agenda
• Enhanced collective control by the rank-and-file
  party members through the party caucus

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Parties in Congress

• The Post-Reform Congress the 1970s
• Capitalizing on Reforms 1980-1994
• An Incentive from the White House
• Divided
• Government