Congress notes

Women are often poorly represented in Congress because they are under represented in state legislatures – a ‘pool’ from where aspiring members of Congress are selected. After 2012, only 24% of state legislatures were women. Women only make up more than 30% in 8 states – Colorado having the highest at 42%. 16 states (10 in the South) have a population of women in state legislatures less than 20% - Louisiana (2013) at just 11%.

With regards to race, the House is more ethnically diverse than the Senate. This is because federal courts have enabled states to draw congressional district boundaries to form districts that are likely to return a Representative from an ethnic minority group. These districts attempt to group together scattered minority voters. In 2008 only in 16 states did African-Americans make up more than 10% of state legislatures. Most  in state legislatures are in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. African-Americans in Congress:

Year	House	Senate
2003-2004	38	0
2005-2006	41	1
2007-2008	40	1
2009-2010	39	1
2011-2012	42	0
2013-2014	41	1
2015-	46	2

Hispanics in Congress:

Year	House	Senate
2003-2004	22	0
2005-2006	24	2
2007-2008	23	3
2009-2010	23	2
2011-2012	24	2
2013-2014	31	3
2015-	34	3

Structure of Congress

• Bicameral – consists of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate
• In the lower house (House) states are represented proportionally to their population. But in the upper house (Senate) states would be represented equally > keeps states with large and those with small populations satisfied
• The 17^th Amendment (1914) made the Senate electable

Powers of Congress

• Powers are located in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution
• Exclusive powers are those available to just one house and concurrent are those available to both houses

• EXCLUSIVE HOUSE POWERS: The House can initiate bills. The House can begin the impeachment process (formally accuse) of any member of the executive and judicial branches of the federal government. It’s been used 19 times in total – most recent in 2010 on federal judge Thomas Porteous. If the Electoral College is deadlocked, the House can elect a President. But its rarely used, only been done in 1800 and 1824 before
• EXCLUSIVE SENATE POWERS: Seen as being more prestigious than the House. Senate alone has the power to confirm appointments made by the President by a simple majority. These appointments include those to the executive branch, federal judges, FBI, CIA director, etc. In 2013 after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton stepped down the Senate approved the appointment of John Kerry by 94-3. Senate ratifies treaties by a two-thirds majority (Senate thus needs to be fully informed about the treaty). In 2010 the Senate voted 71-26 to ratify the START treaty. Next, once impeached, the Senate carried out the trial to determine whether they’re guilty. Two-thirds majority required to remove someone from office. If Senate is deadlocked, they elect the Vice President
• CONCURRENT POWERS: Five in total. First, they are co-equal in the passage of legislation. Second, both must vote (2/3 majority) to override a presidential veto of a bill. None of Obama’s bills have been overridden thus far, but 3 of Bush’s have (Bush’s veto on the Water Resources Development Bill in 2007). Third, House is co-equal in the initiation of constitutional amendments – must be approved by a two-thirds majority in both houses before it’s ratified by states. Fourth, both Houses must vote to go to war – last time they did this was in 1941 on Japan. Iraq in 2003 does not count. Finally, both have the power (as of the 25^th amendment in 1967) to confirm the appointment of a new vice-president (last done in 1974 on Nelson Rockefeller)

Which is more prestigious?

• In 2003 there were no ex-Senators in the House. A lot of Congressmen see becoming a Senator as a promotion.
• House members represent just a congressional district whereas Senators represent an entire state. E.g. Representative Paul Ryan represents Wisconsin’s 1^st District whereas Senator Susan Collins represents the state of Maine, thus giving Senators more leverage over the House as they focus on large issues involving the whole state whereas House Representatives focus on locally based issues in their districts
• Senators have got 6-year terms but House members only have a 2-year term > however, the House seems to have more incumbents (incumbency advantage), cancelling out the length of term advantage. Their arguable longer term length means they get to experience more in the political world – more of the action
• The Senate is smaller (100) and so, a leadership position is easier to establish and is seen as a launching pad for presidential campaigns. The majority of past Presidents were Senators (odd few were Governors). And thus, Senate is also a recruitment pool for VP’s – e.g. Joe Biden, Democrats have nominated a senator (or former) as their VP in every election since 1944 (aside from 1984) – 15/16 elections. The fact that the Senate has produced so many US president emphasises the prestigious nature of it
• Senators enjoy exclusive (so do House members) but when it comes to the passage of legislation they’re both equal. Both receive the same salary – in January 2012 it was $174,000. Members of the House could have received an increase of 2.8% but they were denied in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The most powerful Constitutional power lies with the Senate

Leadership

The House Speaker – JOHN BOEHNER

• Elected by the entire House membership every 2 years which means it’s likely the Speaker will be chosen by the majority party in the House
• All Speakers have been House members despite there being no constitutional requirement
• The House Speaker’s powers consist of:

1. Act as the presiding officer of the House
2. Interpret and enforce the rules of the House and decide on points of order
3. Refer bills to standing committees
4. Appoint select committee and conference chairs
5. Appoint majority party members of the House Rules Committee

The Constitution states that the House Speaker is next in line for presidency after the Vice-President but this is less significant as of the 25^th amendment, which meant the post of the vice-president should be filled if a vacancy does occur. When the president and the majority of Congress are of different parties, the Speaker may act as a ‘leader of the opposition’ figurehead in Congress, acting as a spokesperson for the party currently not in the White House. Republican’s criticised Speaker Pelosi for being far too autocratic and dictatorial.

Boehner has based his speakership of Democrat Sam Rayburn who was Speaker between 1940-1961. Boehner, like Rayburn, has re-empowered the committees and enabled for more opposition sponsored amendments to reach the House floor and looks for bipartisan passage of bills… but keep in mind he refused to bring the Gang of Eight bill up for debate in the House. This change is called ‘window dressing’. 

Why did Boehner fail to bring up the Gang of 8 bill for debate? à He’s controlled by his superiors, think of him as a figurehead of the Republican Party in the House + Tea Party does not support immigration reform and they are a powerful influence. The Speaker may act as the ‘leader of the opposition’. Boehner is described as a ‘likeable man who is utterely ineffective’ and ‘is a prisoner of the extreme wing of his party’. In reality, the Speaker is not much like a leader figure as demonstrated by the fact that it was the Tea Party that led the federal shutdown in 2013, not the Speaker. Boehner is a moderate and has been criticised for not being conservative enough.

The Speaker’s influence on the legislative process:

• If the Speaker is partisan and obstructionist, it could lead to gridlock and a lame duck president because bills are killed off
• Lobbyists could have disproportionate influence on Boehner = elitism
• Quality of legislation depends on the Speaker’s choice of committees, could lead to bills being scrutinised properly or too much due to the powers representatives have to pursue a closer relationship with the Speaker. This could lead to Democrats seeking bi-partisanship or could lead to nepotism, “I rub your back, you rub mine”
• The Speaker represents the majority of the House therefore his decisions are likely to represent the majority of peoples views in the country
• Power of the Speaker can be limited by powerful factions of the majority party. For example, in 2013 the Tea Party lead a government shut down

Majority and minority leaders

In both houses there are majority and minority leaders that are elected in each house every 2 years by their respective party groups. They:

• Act as day-to-day ‘directors of operations’ on the floor of their respective houses
• Hold press briefings to talk about their party’s policy agenda
• Act as liaison (communication link) between the House/Senate and White House

The Senate majority leader plays a key role in bringing about bills for debate on the Senate floor and the House majority leader is seen as ‘number two’ to the role of the Speaker. These posts are significant as they are seen as launching pads for future presidential candidates. Democrat Lyndon Johnson for example was Senate majority leader as was Republican Bob Dole when he launched is campaign in 1996. And Democrat Dick Gephardt served 8 years as House minority leader before launching a bid for the 2004 presidential nomination. The Senate also has the senior post of President Pro Tempore, filled by the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service in the chamber. This position is third in line to the presidency.

As of 2015 Republican Orrin Hatch who’s been serving in the Senate since 1977 has filled the role of President Pro Tempore. 

• Senate Majority leader: Mitch McConnell
• Senate Majority whip: John Cornyn 
• Senate Minority whip: Richard Durbin
• Minority leader: Harry Reid
• House Speaker: John Boehner
• House Majority Leader: Kevin McCarthy 
• House Majority whip: Steve Scalise
• House Minority whip: Stency Hoyer
• House Minority leader: Nancy Pelosi

Congressional Committees

Standing Committees – House Rules Committee – Conference Committees – Select Committees

House Rules Committee

A standing committee of the House of Representatives, its main responsibility is to prioritise bills coming from the committee stage on to the House floor for their second readings. Its name comes from the ‘rule’ it gives to a bill, thus setting out rules of debate by stating, for example, whether amendments are possible to the bill at this stage. If bills are to reach final passage, they will most likely go through this committee. It’s membership is small, as of the 114^th Congress there are only 11 members (7 Reps & 4 Dems) & Pete Sessions is the Chairman.

Conference Committees

These exist only because of two reasons: both houses have equal power, and bills pass through both houses concurrently. As a result, there are two different versions of the same bill (a House and Senate version).The two versions are likely to be very different à so, if after the third reading in each house the two bills are too different and these differences cannot be reconciled a Conference Committee will be set up (they’re ad hoc, existing to consider only one particular bill). Their function is to reconcile differences between the House and Senate version of the same bill, once the committee has come up with an agreed version, it must be agreed on by a vote on the floor of each house > if vote fails conference committee recovered > if fails again, its sent to a standing committee again.

Select Committees

Aka ‘investigative’ or ‘special’ committees. Nearly all are ad hoc. Similar function to standing committees but are set up if the investigation of the standing committee either: does not fall within policy area of a particular standing committee; or is likely to be very time consuming that a standing committee cannot fulfill its other functions.

Standing Committees

Exist in both houses. Permanent policy specialists. Divided into sub-committees. Membership is in the same proportion as that which exists within the chamber. Some committees, i.e. Judiciary, Armed Service and Appropriations are more prestigious than others and it can take years for new members to get appointed to these. 1^st Function is to conduct the committee stage of bills in the legislative process (after 1^st reading), consists of holding ‘hearings’ in which ‘witnesses’ appear (other Congressmen, members from relevant executive dept, representatives from interest groups, ordinary members of the public). The length of hearings depends on the level of controversy of the bill (can last up to weeks or months). After the conclusion of the hearings, a vote is taken by the committee in which they decide whether to pass the bill to the next stage (second reading). 2^nd Function is to conduct investigations within the committee’s policy area: e.g. Senate Foreign Relations Committee launched an investigation into terrorist attacks on the US embassy in Benghazi in 2012 and how US citizens were killed. Witnesses are called. In the Senate there is a 3^rd Function: begin the confirmation process of presidential appointments, done by the Judiciary (federal judicial appointments), and Foreign Relations (ambassador appointments) committees. A vote takes place here – its not decisive but recommendatory – it’s a clue to the likely outcome of the nomination.

Are Congressional committee’s ‘Congress at work’?

It is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work

-Woodrow Wilson, 1885

The traditional picture of Congress: One where what happens on the floor of the House & Senate is relatively unimportant – the real work is done in the committee rooms. Truth is > power has now shifted from congressional committees to the majority party leadership. Here’s why:

LEGISLATION

 1.       Standing Committees

With regards to legislation, the committee system has become increasingly irrelevant particularly if the bill is controversial or big. Obamacare (2010) was conceived in a committee but the entire legislative process and final shape of the bill was formulated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was Reid and Pelosi who were making frequent visits to President Obama in the Oval Office, the relevant committee chairmen were invisible during the entire process. This occurs because of several reforms during that took place during the 1970s:

• The seniority rule (senility rule) underwent reform and is not pretty much no longer existent with committee chairman being appointed by secret ballot
• Committee hearings were opened to the press and public via Cable TV in the form of C-SPAN, which started to broadcast committee hearings. This increased the transparency of committee chairman, got rid of corruption and secret dealings
• Sub-committees given considerably more authority and power of their own (169 exist in total)

As a result of this, the House Democrats (while in control) gave the speaker power to determine the majority party membership of the House Rules Committee à Speaker also given power to refer legislation to more than one committee. When Republicans took control of the House in 1995: put a three-term limit (6 years) on the chairmanship of the House standing committees (no one could become a John Dingell again and hold chairmanship for 16 years) = Expertise was lost. Another new practice was the substantial amendment of legislation after the bill had left the standing committee but before it arrives on the House or Senate floor.

        2.   Discharge process

Discharge process = mechanism in the House whereby members are allowed to force a standing committee (or Rules Committee) to end its consideration of a bill and bring it up to the floor of the House à No chairman wants this to happen. Traditionally this mechanism has been rarely used because it requires signatures of a majority of House members (218) to activate the process and members have been reluctant to sign it because they fear reprisals from committee chairman.

However, the last two decades witnessed a change in the use of discharge process. Between 2013-2014 there were a total of 12 and since 1997 (105^th Congress) there have been 114. Also, he number of members signining the discharge motions has greately increased, the average number of signatures was 71 (105^th Congress) during the 113^th Congress (2013-14) Congress it has risen to 160. Next, today the discharge motions are entirely partisan in nature. In 2013, the 14 discharge motions that attracted 190 signature were because virtually every Democrat House member signed them. In 2014, 195 House members (all Dem) attempted to discharge the fair Minimum Wage Bill. The increased use of the discharge process shows that comittees are no longer feared nor respected.

        3.    Conference committees

Another reason that pointed to committees being ‘Congress at work’ was the role played at the end of the legislative process by conference committees. Conference committees are ad hoc committees used to reconcile differences between the House version of a bill and the Senate version of the same bill à they write a compromise version of the bill that is accepted by both chambers.

Today this rarely happens. In 2013-2014 conference committees were used just three times compared to 50 in 1995-1996. Today the differences between House and Senate version of the bill are fixed by party leadership.

Scrutiny of the Executive

Congressional standing committees scrutinise the actions of the executive branch, and President himself. In this area, there’s less distinction between the traditional and contemporary Congress. 2014 is a good example of how congressional committees still hold their function of scrutiny over the executive. September 30^th, Julia Pierson (former US Secret Service director) appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee à questioned on recent Secret Service failures:

• Intruder, armed with a small knife, jumped the White House fence and entered the front door of the Residence
• There were also more Secret Service failures over the years:
• A couple managing to gatecrash a White House party (2009)
• Failure to realise that gun shots had been fired at the White House until after 4 days later (2011)
• 13 Secret Service agents being involved in a prostitution scandal during preparations for the Presidents visit to Colombia
• A Secret Service agent being found drunk by hotel staff in Amsterdam just before the President was due to arrive in the Netherlands (2013)

Democrat Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts went after Pierson, saying: “I have very low confidence in the Secret Service under your leadership.” To make the Secret Service look ever worse, after 3 days before the White House security breech, the President shared an elevator with a man armed with a gun at a conference in Atlanta > Secret Service only investigated him after he took unauthorised photographs of the President. Within 24 hours of the committee hearing, Pierson resigned. Washington Post reported “Support for Pierson rapidly declined on Capitol Hill just hours after the congressional hearing”. This is Congress at work.

Conclusion:

Are congressional committees ‘Congress at work’? Sometimes because congressional committees in their legislative mode no longer seem to be ‘Congress at work’. Their power has been handed down to the party leadership in both chambers. But, in their investigative and scrutiny mode they still seem like ‘Congress at work’. Committees are no longer the focus of congressional action because:

• Increased partisanship in Congress
• Increased power of the party leadership in both chambers
• Modifications to the seniority rule
• Introduction of term limits on committee chairmanships by House Republicans
• Increasing use of the discharge process in the House
• Declining use of conference committees

Assessing the power of Committee Chairmen (15)

Power+How it is powerful	How it’s become ineffective
Pigeon-holing. Enables committee chairmen to completely disregard proposed legislation, leading it to slowly die away till it gets dropped.	However, House has begun using the discharge process more often. Between 2013-2014 there was a total of 14 uses of the discharge processes and 114 since 1997. Discharge process forces Committee chairman to end their consideration of a bill and bring it to the House floor.
Committee chairman control the committees agenda. If bills don’t go through pigeon holing, committee chairman may substantially rewrite them and they are able to run their committees very independently from the wishes of Congress, disregarding national interest and working for their own.	This is no longer the case because committee hearings are now open to the press and public via cable TV in the form of C-SPAN, which broadcasts committee hearings. This increases the transparency of committee chairmen’s dealings and gets rid of any corruption.
Control the committee budget. They control what the committees funds are spent on, this enables chairmen to become powerful corners of iron triangles.	There’s now a three term limit so there will be diversity in the committee’s budget and this constant change in leadership ensures that iron triangles nor committee chairmen remain static.
They influence membership, meetings and hearings of sub committees. These sub-committees act as extensions of the main committees and their existence demonstrates the wide sphere of influence that committee chairmen have.	Committee chairman have lost influence over their sub-committees, they have been awarded a considerable amount of authority and power of their own and significantly out number standing committees, in total there are 162 sub committees compared to 36 standing committees.

Legislative Process 

1.      First Reading

Pure formality, no debate nor vote. In the House a copy of the bill is placed in a tray on the clerk’s desk and in the Senate the title of the bill is read out on the floor. Bills are then numbered, printed and shipped to an appropriate standing committee. Important fact here is the amount of legislation that is introduced in this stage. In the 112^th Congress (2011-12) 10,417 bills are introduced, of these only 238 (2.3%) were enacted into law. 112^th Congress was the least productive in legislative history. (Bennett)

The House Speaker can: refer the bill to a single committee, send it to two or more committees for concurrent referral (work on the bills at the same time), send it to two or more committees for sequential referral (first one, then the others consider the bill), split referral the bill by splitting it into several portions and sending it to as many committees as possible or put a limit on the time the bill has to complete its passage. Speaker evidently significantly influences the likelihood of a bill passing. (Storey)

2.     Committee Stage

Most important stage. More bills fail here than at any other stage. Here hundreds of bills are referred to the relevant standing committees in both chambers. A significant number are pigeon holed. It’s those with a lot of support (from Congressmen, White House, or interest groups) that are given hearings. This stage comes very early and so the standing committee members have the full power of amendment (as they are policy specialists) and so can add or remove anything from the bill. A vote takes place, if a majority of the committee doesn’t support it, the bill is dropped. 

3.     Timetabling

A legislative traffic jam occurs when bills begin to process into the second reading stage and begin piling up on top of each other. The Senate deals with this through ‘unanimous consent agreements’, which are basically agreements between the Senate majority and minority leaders on the order in which bills we be debated. In the House of Representatives the House Rules Committee uses it’s ‘prioritising’ role to make itself legislative ‘gatekeeper’ – allowing some bills through but holding others back. The discharge process often occurs here. 

4.     Second Reading

First opportunity for full chamber to debate the bill. In both houses, further amendments can be made. Votes are taken on amendments and the whole bill itself at the end of the debate (simple majorities). Stamina is more important than relevance when it comes to filibustering: Senators have read out extracts from the Constitution, Declaration of Independence Bible and telephone directory. Longest was in 1957 by Strom Thurmond against a civil rights bill, lasting over 24 hours. More recent is Bernie Sanders’ filibuster against Obama’s Tax Relif/Job Creation Act in 2010, lasting over 8 hours. A filibuster can be ended by a cloture motion (60 votes in the Senate).

5.     Third Reading

Final opportunity to debate the bill. If substantial amendments were made at the second reading and/or the final vote was close to a tie, then the third reading may occur months or weeks later and require more debate. If, few amendments were made and/or final vote showed a clear majority in favour, then the third reading would follow on almost immediately after the second. A further vote is taken at the end

  6.     Conference Committee

This stage does not always happen. Only occurs if differences between Senate and House version of the bills are too big. And the aim here is to reconcile differences. Nowadays these committees are avoided, most of the time differences are resolved by majority party leadership.  

7.      Presidential Action

A bill can’t become law until it has been signed by the President. If a bill is sent to the President before the Congressional year, when Congress is about to adjourn (break off), it will die if the President fails to sign it in 10 days. He can ‘pocket veto’ it by not public rejecting it, ignoring it on his desk and allow it to quietly expire. If, on the other hand, a bill is sent while Congress is in session and he fails to sign it within 10 days, it will become law regardless.

Nowadays they occur in a more public fashion, if the President wants to veto a bill (Obama has threatened a lot), he’ll simply veto it and return it back to Congress explaining the reasoning behind it. If the bill has enough support in Congress they can override a veto with a 2/3 majority in both chambers, then it becomes law.

 Voting in Congress

In total, the House voted 659 times and the Senate 251 in 2012 compared to 949 and 235 respectively in 2011.

Factor	Explanation
Political Party	Perhaps one of the most significant determinants of voting in Congress. ‘Party votes’ occur when the majority of one party votes against the majority of the other party. The “carrots and sticks approach” can encourage party voting. ‘Sticks’ like threat of de-selection are ineffective as voters select candidates in primary elections and ‘carrots’ such as posts in the executive branch do not work in a system of separated institutions Most years, only 55% votes are party votes. 2011, the House hit its highest of party votes at 75.8%. A party label does not necessarily mean a person will vote according to the party as demonstrated by the Manchin Toomey bill in 2013. This is because of party factions. Democrats Max Baucus, Mark Begich, Heidi Heitkamp, Mark Pryor and Harry Reid sided with the Republicans in opposing gun control on the bill.
Constituents	House+Senate place a high premium on representing the interests of their constituents, House members in particular because they need to face reelection every 2 years. Republican Wayne Gilchrest and Democrat Albert Wynn lost their seats in the 2008 primaries because constituents saw them as being out of touch with their wishes, Gilchrist was too liberal and Wynn too conservative. Congressmen stay in touch with constituents via phone call and email, read the local newspaper. Number of letters received: 36 million and 11 million emails. Views differ in states among constituents. Just because 2 Senators represent the same group of people does not mean they will have a similar voting record (‘twin’ or ‘odd couples’ categories). Twins: Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon and odd couples were Wisconsin senators Democrat Herb Kohl and Republican Ron Johnson (2012).
The administration	A lot of the legislation voted on in Congress has been initiated by the administration through, for example, the State of the Union address. Cabinet members have a huge interest in the passage of legislation affecting their policy areas and so regularly keep in contact with members of Congress through phone calls, emails and meetings. They get involved in the relevant committee chairs. Bipartisanship is a must if the administration want their policies voted on and so also needs to be done with members from both parties. Supporting an unpopular president can prove to be deadly as some Republicans learnt in 2008. Dem challengers linked them to their support for President Bush during the midterms & Rep Senator Elizabeth Dole lost her re-election bit against the Democrats who continuously reminded voters that “92% of the time she voted Bush.”
Pressure groups	Pressure groups use a variety of methods such as direct contact or through lobbying, policy areas regarding US relations to Israel or Iran have seen a lot of intervention by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who seek to severely constrain Iran’s nuclear programme. February-March 2015, Iran-Israel talks in Congress, several AIPAC conference meetings.
Colleagues and staff	Congress members rely on others to help them make a decision when voting because of the huge number of votes taking place, they do not know the precise details of all of them. Congressmen might turn to another member in the same chamber and party who share a similar political outlook to help decide, whereas younger members may talk to more senior members who act as ‘mentors’. Members of the same committee may talk.
Personal beliefs	This is the most significant in my opinion. Issues such as abortion, defence spending, same sex marriage, capital punishments are votes most likely to bring a members own political philosophy to the fore.