Chapter Outline

Congress is both a lawmaking institution for the country and a representative assembly for states and districts. Members of Congress have both an individual duty to serve the interests of the separate constituencies and a collective duty to protect the interests of the country as a whole. Attention to constituency interests is the common denominator of a national institution in which each member must please the voters back home in order to win re-election.

Congress as a Career: Election to Congress

Most contemporary members of Congress are professional politicians. Incumbents have a good chance of being reelected, especially in the House where until recently return rates have exceeded 90 percent.

Minimum qualifications for serving in the House of Representatives include being at least 25 years old, being a citizen of the U.S. for seven years and a resident of the state from which he or she is elected. House members serve two-year terms. Qualification for a Senate race include being at least 30 years old, being a U.S. citizen for nine years and a resident of the state from which he or she is elected. Senators serve six year terms.
Many congressional districts and a few states are so overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican that the candidate of the weaker party has no realistic chance of victory.
Incumbents enhance their re-election prospects by paying close attention to what their constituents want. This can include procuring pork barrel projects (special projects for a particular locale that may not be crucially needed) or providing services to their constituents.
Members of Congress are provided with an office allowance to support a staff as well as free mailings to their constituents. These resources can be used both to provide services to constituents as well as to promote the success of the legislator.
Successful congressional campaigns cost from over a quarter million to several million dollars per candidate. Incumbents have an advantage in raising campaign funds and usually outspend their opponents. They raise funds from direct mail solicitations as well as from PACs.
The pitfalls of incumbency which can make a legislator vulnerable to defeat include troublesome issues such as social and economic conditions, personal misconduct including influence peddling, sexual promiscuity and other scandals, becoming a victim of midterm election losses to those of the party holding the presidency and finally, losing to a formidable challenger, especially in the Senate.
Reapportionment of the number of House seats per state can create a potential threat to re-election of a representative by changing the district lines (redistricting) that define the legislative district, thereby altering the representative's constituents. Gerrymandering can also pose a threat to an incumbent. When a state loses congressional seats there are fewer districts than there are incumbents, who may end up running against each other.
The U.S. Congress is not highly responsive to political change, in contrast to legislators from other democracies who tend to win or lose on the popularity of their political party, not on their capacity to generate public support through constituent service. Safe incumbency weakens the public's influence on Congress and accounts for the relatively few women among its members.

Congressional Leadership

(See Since the House and Senate are organized along party lines, party leadership)
is one of the important channels through which power is distributed in Congress.

Party leaders in the House are the Speaker, the majority and minority leaders and the majority and minority whips. The Speaker is selected by the majority party's members and exerts great influence over the fate of legislation. The minority leader is a member of the party with the second most members in the House and is responsible for defending the minority party's legislative positions.
The Senate party leaders are the majority and minority leaders and the majority and minority whips. The Vice President presides over the Senate and votes in case of a tie. When the Vice President is absent the presiding officer is the President pro tempore , which is an honorary position usually held by the majority party's senior member.
The effectiveness of party leaders in both the Senate and House rests on trust placed in them by members of their party that they can promote ideas and build coalitions to successfully promote party positions on legislative issues. Though party leaders are in a stronger position today, House and Senate members are less deferential to their leaders and are able to pursue individual agendas.
Committee chairpersons are members of the party with the most seats in each chamber and are selected by their party members. Seniority, by which the person in the majority party who has the longest service to the institution, can be an important criterion for selection to a committee chair post. Choosing chairs by seniority often rewards experience and expertise and reduces in-fighting over positions of power. The seniority system rewards legislators from districts where competition is minimal. Most important work in the legislature is handled through the committee structure, so committee assignments and responsibilities are important ways for members of Congress to gain stature among their colleagues.
The House reforms itself periodically in order to strengthen the positions of senior leaders and at other times to decentralize power to give greater authority to subcommittees and their chairs. The feature of dispersing congressional power across the membership in the U.S. Congress differs markedly from the hierarchical authority of a European parliament.

The Committee System

Most of the work in Congress is conducted through standing committees which are permanent committees with reponsibility for a particular area of public policy. Each standing committee is assisted by a staff and has legislative authority to draft and rewrite proposed legislation to recommend to the full chamber for passage or defeat.

In addition to standing committees, Congress has select committees, which are created to perform specific tasks; joint committees, which are composed of members of both houses; and conference committees, which joint committees form temporarily to work out differences in House and Senate versions of a particular bill.
Membership on committees is composed of Democrats and Republicans, with the majority party holding the majority of seats on each committee and subcommittee. There are limits to the number of major committees and subcommittees on which a member of Congress can serve. Members usually retain their seats on committees and a vacancy must occur on a committee before a new person can be appointed to it. Each political party has a special committee in the House and Senate which has the responsibility for deciding who will fill vacancies on standing committees. Members usually ask for committees that will help them serve their constituents and also hope for an assignment on one of the more important committees. Subcommittee assignments are decided by the members on the committee.
A committee must be assigned legislation that falls within the policy area in which it is authorized to act. This is known as its jurisdiction. Where committee jurisdiction overlaps, House and Senate leaders have more discretion about where to send bills for deliberation. Subcommittees similarly have designated jurisdictions. Each subcommittee has formal authority over a small area of public policy.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Parties, party leaders, and committees are critical actors in the legislative process. Their role and influence, however, varies with the nature of the legislation under consideration.

Committees play a substantial role in the passage of legislation. After being introduced on the floor of each chamber of Congress, bills are sent to a subcommittee for hearings and decisions about whether to bring it forward for a vote. Only about 10 percent of the bills that committees consider reach the floor for a vote. A bill that is recommended out of a committee has about a 90 percent chance of being approved by the full House or Senate. The House Rules Committee is important for setting guidelines for floor action on a bill. The Senate operates less formally than the House, allowing for the filibuster (unlimited debate) and the limiting of debate by cloture. The Senate also permits nongermane amendments (riders) to a bill.
Party leaders work closely with legislative committees in bringing a bill to final floor debate.
House and Senate conference committees resolve differences in versions of similar bills passed in each chamber. To become law, a bill must be passed in identical form by both the House and the Senate.
A bill that passes both the House and Senate must still be acted upon favorably by the president to become law. The options the president has for handling legislation are to sign the bill or veto it, sending it back to Congress which can override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote. The president can also fail to sign a bill within ten days (Sundays excepted) and if Congress has remained in session the bill will become law without the president's signature. Likewise, if the president fails to sign the bill within ten days and Congress has adjourned for the term, the bill does not become law (a pocket veto). Bills must be reintroduced in the next session of Congress.

Congress's Policymaking Role

Congress's policy making role revolves around its three legislative functions--lawmaking, representation and oversight.

The lawmaking function of Congress is the authority to make the laws necessary to carry out the powers granted to the national government. Because of its divided chambers and diverse constituencies, Congress finds it difficult to take the lead on national issues. The fragmented nature of Congress enables the president to assume leadership to initiate broad policy proposals. The president enjoys more news coverage than Congress and can take the lead in publicizing prospective legislation. Organizational changes especially regarding budgeting have improved Congress's ability to evaluate and modify presidential proposals. Congress has also been able to lessen its dependence on the executive branch for information by using the Congressional Budget Office, General Accounting Office, and the Congressional Research Service.
The fragmentation that makes it difficult for Congress to take the lead on broad issues makes it easy for Congress to tackle scores of narrow issues simultaneously. Most of the legislation passed by Congress is "distributive"--that is, it distributes benefits to a particular group while spreading the costs among the general public.
The representation function of Congress is complicated by questions about whether the primary concern of representatives should be the interests of the nation as a whole or those of their own constituency. Most member of Congress tend to favor a local orientation since it is the voters back home that hold the key to re-election to Congress. On issues of national security, members of Congress can more safely vote counter to their constituencies.
When voting on issues of vital national interest, members of Congress can rely on party guidelines for voting. Voting along party lines has increased in recent congresses resulting in increased divisiveness.
The oversight function of Congress comes from Congress's responsibility to see that the executive branch is carrying out the laws faithfully and is spending the money properly. Oversight is carried out through committee hearings. Sunset laws can also be used. Executive branch officials are compelled to testify at the hearings unless they are protected by "executive privilege." Oversight is normally not pursued aggressively unless members of Congress are annoyed by a bureaucratic agency, have discovered that a legislative authorization is being grossly abused, or are reviewing a program for possible major changes. The biggest obstacle to effective oversight is the sheer magnitude of the task itself.

Congress: Too Much Pluralism?

Congress reflects the individualism and diversity that characterizes the United States. For this reason, pluralists argue that Congress should be responsive to constituent interests to counter the majoritarian tendencies of the presidency.

Congress remains an institution torn between service to the nation and to the separate constituencies within it.
Congress is still responsible for legislation on national issues.
Congress has difficulty maintaining a middle ground between these two constituencies and seems to be more responsive to local constituencies than to majoritarian interests.

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