Nov 13 – Comp – Congress Debrief

Agenda:• We Care Survey• Exam 2 – Pass-back• Congress: Final Vote• Debrief

Take Out:• Pen/Pencil• Notebook

Homework:• Find, print, read and

annotate the following article: http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2010/11/10/gerrymandering-101/

Free-Write (1)• Consider the bill-board, and then answer the following

questions:

• Explain: What happened to your bill?• WHERE and WHY did it pass/fail• Describe each step that it went through

• Why wasn’t there more legislation passed?

Tricks of the Trade• Your term is up and now you have become a lobbyist whose advice

is sought by a freshman Senator. 1. What advice do you give him about how to get his bills passed?2. What tips or tricks would you recommend? (Create a list)

Making ConnectionsHow does ___________ impact what becomes policy?• Standing Committees

• Committee chairmen• Other Committee members

• Leadership• House Minority leader• House Majority leader• House Speaker• Senate Majority Leader• Sen Minority Leader

• Bicameralism• House of Reps• Senate

• Divided government/gridlock• Other members (logrolling) • Political Parties

We still have a very limited view of legislators

• BIG QUESTION: What/who is going to affect how a legislator serves the people?

• Make a visual of the many influences on a congressperson.

• For each influence…write how the influence is felt or what is used to influence.

Influences on Members of Congress1. Represent the Constituents

• Difficult to gauge constituent opinions• Most constituents are not even aware of the issues faced by

Congress• Diversity of interests throughout districts and states

2. Represent themselves

3. Other members of Congress• e.g., party leaders, committee leaders, state delegations, other

members with a similar ideology or districts• Organizational voting

• Reciprocity (exchange of favors) and logrolling (exchange of votes)

Influences on Members of Congress4. Interest groups/lobbies/PACs influence through:

• campaign contributions.• "report cards"• targeting.• providing information.• testifying before committees.• paying for "junkets."

5. Campaign contributors• probably have the greatest effect on narrow issues that are not well known or

publicized.

6. Party membership • The bestpredictor of congressional voting• strong influence on economic and social welfare issues

Influences on Members of Congress7. The media,

• e.g., through its "watchdog" role.

8. Iron triangles (aka: subgovernments, issue networks, policy networks)

• a congressional committee, the related federal agency, and the impacted interest groups

9. Congressional staff members. Can influence by:• controlling information that members receive.• controlling access to members.• helping to set committee agenda.• making recommendations on legislation.• helping to write legislation.• analyzing info from presidential staff.

Influences on Members of Congress

10. Congressional caucuses, • e.g. black caucus, Hispanic caucus, blue collar caucus, women's

caucus, etc.

 11. The President

• can campaign for or against members, he can attend or not attend members' fund raisers, he can speak out for or against members, and he can use his "electronic throne" to gain leverage (“going public”)

What makes a good legislator?

• So…if a legislator does balance all these interests, does that mean that they are best serving the people?

• What is important in representation?

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CONGRESS IN THE YEARS 1975, 2005 AND 2012

Sex Race AgeMale Female Black API Hispanic Under

40 40 -49

50 -59

60 -69

70 +

Representatives

1975416 19 17 4 7 69 138 137 75 16

2009 366 72 41 8 NA (07 -23)

24 84 156 126 44

Senators

1975100 0 1 2 1 5 21 35 24 15

200983 17 1 1 2 0 7 31 38 22

API = Asian/Pacific IslandersSource: US Census Bureau

Demographics• How does this relate to representation?

• How much do demographics matter to representation?