Legislative Branch: 3rd Set of Notes
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Transcript of Legislative Branch: 3rd Set of Notes
Congressional incumbency
What is an incumbent?
Incumbency
19th Century
A large fraction, often a majority of representatives and senators, serve only one term.
It was NOT regarded as a career.
1950s -
It had become a career. From 1863 to 1969 the proportion of first “termers” in the House fell from 58% to 8%.
Are they out of touch with the people?
90% of House members are incumbents
Marginal Districts
Political districts in which candidates elected to the House win in close elections. Less than 55% of the vote.
Does a marginal district make it easier or harder for the incumbent?
Safe Districts
Districts in which candidates win by margins of 55% or more.
Would incumbents rather live in a safe district or a marginal district?
What about someone running against an incumbent?
Lets take a look
NOW - people are more likely to vote for the person, not the party, but people are more likely to have heard of incumbents.
Are you guys more likely to vote for the person than the party? How do incumbents play into your decisions? Do they?
Why do incumbents have such a good chance?
Better Known
Easier to raise funds
Can use staff to do constituent service (and franking privilege)
Serve on committees that help constituents
Do members represent their voters?
What do you think? Do they care about their constituents? Their party? Their conscience? A mix of these?
Congress-people can influence legislation in many other ways than voting.
What are some examples?
Hearings, mark up bills, offer amendments, media outlets
Representational View/Delegate
Based on the reasonable assumption that members want to get reelected and therefore they vote to please their constituents
What are the problems with this?
If there is not a strong or clear opinion then they can risk defeat if they vote against some constituents.
Organizational View/Partisan
Most constituents do not know how their legislator voted, so it is not essential to please them but it is important to please fellow members of Congress
Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
Principle Cue is Party - VERY PARTISAN
Attitudinal View/ Trustee
There are so many pressures that they cancel one another out, leaving them virtually free to vote on the basis of their own beliefs
More consistently conservative or liberal
Senators are usually less in tune with public than representatives
Any Mix of these/ Politico
Balances the trustee, delegate, and partisan
What is the one most important indicator of how they will vote?
PARTY
Trustee -
decided on its merits
Delegate
Decided based on constituents, agents of who elects them
Partisan
Owe allegiance to the party
Politico
Attempt to combine the basic elements of the others
To Review
What would you rather have representing you in Congress, a delegate, trustee, partisan, or politico. WHY? Defend your answer.
Party Unity and Congressional
Caucuses
How do we measure party
unity?
Party PolarizationParty Polarization:
A vote in which a majority of Democratic legislators oppose a majority of Republican legislators.
What would be an example of a bill subject that could cause this?
Party UnitySenate Numbers (as of right now...to change in January)
49-49 but the 2 Independents caucus with Democrats (Dems think it is 51-49)
House Numbers
Dem - 233
Repub-202
Party Unity
Another measure
Cohesion of the parties on votes that elicit a party split
If deeply divided, then we know their party unity is low
Bi-Modal Voting
When all Democrats vote one way and all Republicans vote the other
Example of Bimodal Voting
Clinton Impeachment
98% of House Republicans voted for at least 1 impeachment article
98% of House Democrats voted against all 4
So, does political party make a difference?
Enough of a difference that party affiliation is the most important thing to know about a member of Congress
Congressional Caucuses
Do not get this confused with electoral caucuses. These relate to members IN congress.
They are an association of congressional members (senators and representatives) created to advance a political ideology or regional, ethnic, or economic interest.
So, its sort of like a club for like-minded congressmen and women
Coalitions
Study groups
Task forces
Working Groups
Intra-party caucuses
between members of the same party
ex. House Democratic Caucus, House Republican Caucus
Personal Interest Caucuses
Art
Congressional Family
Human Rights
Population and Development
Constituency Concerns, National
Black Caucus
Women’s issues
Vietnam Veterans
Constituency Concerns, Regional
Sunbelt
Western
TVA
Constituency Concerns, by State
MA caucus
VA caucus
Constituency Concerns, Industry
Steel
Textile
Boating
Why join a caucus?
To pursue common legislative goals
Review for Quiz
next class: 7 short answers
Describe the three reasons we have a bicameral legislature.
What are three reasons why incumbent rates are so high in the House?
Define the theory of descriptive representation.
Discussed what happened in the court case Shaw v Reno
What is a filibuster and how can it be stopped
Describe the 4 ways members of Congress can vote/represent their voters?
Why would a congressman or woman want to join a caucus?