Committees play a key role in the legislative process in Congress. They break up the large legislative bodies into smaller groups to allow for specialization and expertise on specific issue areas. The real work of lawmaking occurs in committee hearings, markups, and negotiations. There are various types of committees, including authorizing committees that set policy, appropriations committees that allocate funding, and oversight committees. Powerful committee chairs have significant influence over the legislative agenda.

1. Legislative Politics
POLS 4211/5211 Chap. 7, 8, 9, 10,
11
1

2. Committees
“Congress in session is Congress on public
exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee-
rooms is congress at work.” Woodrow Wilson
His words are as true today as when he wrote
them more than 100 years ago. A speech on the
Senate floor, for example, may convince the
average citizen, but it is less likely to influence
other senators. Indeed, few of them may even
hear it. The real nuts and bolts of lawmaking
go on in the congressional committees.
2

3. Little Legislatures
• Compared to the term task force, the word
committee sounds dull. Most managers make it
a point of honor to dislike meetings.
• Generally, committees meet for a finite period
of time, disbanding after the problem or
decision has been resolved. Although
preparation and follow up are key to committee
work, most of the work done by committees
occurs in meetings.
3

4. Little Legislatures - 2
• Early congresses committee performed
opposite to the current system
– Early panels were created after debate on the floor
– A small group were appointed to work out the
details of the legislation and put the measure into
proper bill format
• Tasks were clear-cut & specific
• Panel understood will of the body
– Panels (or committees) were usually temporary
4

5. Little Legislatures - 3
• With the rise of govt services & problems
– Congress needed a more efficient system
– Found committees excellent method to maintain
expertise and authority on issue areas
• Allowed for a check on the power/expertise of the
President
– Committee Chairs become much more powerful
• See comment on page 200 (11th edition)
– “Speaker John W. McCormack, D-Mass (1962-1971), gave to
freshmen: “Whenever you pass a committee chairman in the
House, you bow from the waist. I do.”
5

6. Little Legislatures -4
• Reasons for committees? For the same reasons
other large organizations are broken into
departments or divisions
– To develop and use expertise in specific areas
– Allow for the division of members into working
(manageable) areas
– To protect human resources (time, staff, etc.)
– “to consider, investigate, take action on, or report
on an issue”
6

7. Little Legislatures -5
• Committees rarely make the 1st decisions on
legislation. This duty belongs to the many
subcommittees that start the process moving
with hearings and 1st drafts of legislation
7

8. Little Legislatures - 6
• To explain the organization of legislatures and
the behavior of their committees, scholars have
advanced the distributional, information, and
party hypotheses
• Each of these captures an aspect of the
committee system.
• Committees have 2 broad purposes:
– Individual: local community and re-election
– Institutional: policymaking, legislation, oversight
• Budget – 3 trillion; 10,000 bills per session
8

9. Distributional hypotheses
• Legislatures create committees to give
lawmakers policy influence in areas critical to
their reelection.
– They need to take credit and “bring home the
bacon”
– Preference outlier problem
• Members homogeneous preferences for benefits to their
constituents put them out of step with the heterogeneous
views of the membership as a whole
• Chamber majorities may need to restrain overreaching
committees by rejecting or amending their recommended
actions
9

10. Informational hypotheses
• Basic goal is to formulate policy
– Solve problems
• Committees are created to enhance their ability
to become experts, compete with the executive
branch on policymaking
• Committees fulfill the need organizational
relationships & enhanced communication
10

11. Party hypotheses
• Members play more of a party role and tend to
support their party’s policies
11

12. Standing Committees
• Table 7-1(check edition).
• 20 House committees
• 16 Senate committees
• In theory, all congressional committees are
created anew in each new Congress
– In reality, most continue with little change from
Congress to Congress
• May be characterized as
– Authorizing
– Appropriating
12

13. Authorizing committees
• Main policymaking panels - They pass the
laws that tell government what to do
• The House & Senate education and labor
committees, for example, are responsible for
setting the rules governing the Pell Grant
student loan program, including who can apply
• Authorizing committees make the most basic
decision about who get what, when and how
13

14. Authorizing or appropriating
• They press for full funding for their
recommendations
– Agriculture, Armed Services, Education, Natural
Resources
• They are responsible for Oversight functions
– Oversight function is increasing (see below)
• Appropriators tend to recommend lower
spending levels
– Appropriations
14

15. Appropriations committee
Just one appropriations in each chamber has one
subcommittee for each of the 13 appropriations bills
that must be enacted each year to keep government
running. Because they decide who gets how much
from government, these subcommittees have great
power to undo or limit decisions by the authorizing
comm. The 13 appropriations bills often contain
special projects, or earmarks, for individual
members. Members of Congress use earmarks for
everything from new highways to university
buildings (increases incumbency advantage).
Earmarks increased from 1,400 in 1995 to 16,000 in
2005
15

16. Rules & Administration coms
• Rules committees (both chambers) determine the
basic operations of their chamber
– for example, how many staffers individual members get,
and what the ratio of majority to minority members will be.
• Because of the number of members it must control,
the House Rules Com is more powerful than its twin
in the Senate.
• House Rules Com has special responsibility for giving
each bill a rule, or ticket, to the floor and determines
what, if any, amendments to a bill will be permitted
16

17. Revenue & budget coms
• Deal with raising the $$$ that appropriating coms
spend while setting the broad targets that shape that
federal budget
– They commit the actual dollars
• House Ways & Means
– Single most powerful com in Congress
– Exists to raise revenues through taxes
• It both … raises and authorizes spending
– Only com in either chamber that can originate tax and
revenue legislation
• e.g. Responsible for making basic decisions on Social Security and
Medicare
17

18. Coms Workload
• Coms select from over 10,000 measures those
worth passage
• Historically,
– # of bills introduced increases dramatically ____%
per year
– This has been true for congress and state
legislatures
18

19. Com membership
• Speaker selects chairperson
Biennial election -
• Majority party determines seat allotment
– Works with minority party unless they have
overwhelming majority
• Minority could filibuster com assignment resolution
– Resolution – every new session
• Less than law (statute)
• May NOT bind future legislatures
– Rules of Order (Robert’s) orderly process
» Works unless conflicts arise
19

20. Ultimate Conflict?
• Congress, since Johnson’s Senate, has become
more partisan
– Dems more left
– GOP more right
– Increases possibility of successful filibuster
• Increases the power of filibuster Threats
• Some say filibuster
– (+) protects minority rights
– (-) allows unwarranted concessions
20

21. Filibuster
• The entire process rests upon the Senate’s
pride in itself as the world’s foremost chamber
of enlightened debate.
• Such debate is not possible in the House where
the rules limit the duration of any individual’s
right to speak, or in Great Britain’s House of
Commons, where Rule 20 permits the Speaker
to direct a member “who persists in
irrelevance” to “discontinue his speech.”
21

22. Filibuster - 2
• The usual strategy is for the group of senators
involved in a filibuster to follow one another in
planned succession. As the vocal cords, or
imagination of one begins to tire, he yields to a
successor. Subject matter need not be relevant
– a common phrase in reading the telephone
book; a synonym is the talkathon, or marathon
talk.
22

23. Filibuster - 3
• The word was first used to describe the 16th century
English and French privateers who began by raiding
Spanish treasure ships in the waters of the Caribbean,
then known as the Spanish Main, and who ended up,
more often than not, as pirates.
• The word is derived from the Dutch vrijbuiter (vrij.
“free,” and buiter, “booter”) or “freebooter,” a word
commonly used to describe pirates. Freebooter was
translated into French as filibustier and into Spanish
as filibustero, and then back to English as “filibuster.”
23

24. Filibuster - 4
• Whatever the origin, the term was already
common in American politics in its present
sense by the time of the Civil War. James
Blaine claimed its first appearance occurred
when a minority of senators succeeded in
delaying the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. In
recent years it has most commonly been used
in connection with civil rights legislation, the
modern outgrowth of the slavery issue.
24

25. Filibuster - 5
• Until 1957, Southern senators were able to
defeat proposed civil rights legislation by
filibustering, and often merely by threatening
to filibuster. The countermeasures employed
by the majority were round-the-clock sessions,
intended to wear the minority down, and
cloture (more often used than “closure”) a two-
thirds vote to end debate. In this manner the
1957 Civil Rights Bill was finally passed.
25

26. Theodore White
• The Making of the President 1964 stated,
“Like aging prize-fighters, short of wind and
stiffening of muscle, the Southerners were left
with no resource but cunning; and cunning told
them to delay, day by day, hour by hour, until
somewhere, somehow, there might be a turning
of national sentiment. It was the strategy, said
someone, of ‘punt and pray.’”
26

27. Filibuster - 6
• The all-time champion filibusterer is
– Jimmy Stewart = Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
– Strom Thurmond (D-SC) 24 hrs, 18 m – 1957
• His closest challenger was Republican Wayne Morse of
Oregon. However, Sen. Morse rejected the role,
claiming his most strenuous long-talking efforts made in
opposition to the Kennedy Administration’s space
satellite communication bill was not filibustering but
merely “education.”
27

28. Filibuster - 7
• In 1967 Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn) attempting
to stop the tax checkoff measure for financing
political campaigns, protested a delaying action
taken by Louisiana Sen. Russell Long. Long
(whose father Huey set a record of 16 hrs in
1935) replied with an expression reminiscent
of Alice in Wonderland’s “curiouser and
curiouser.” “When the Senator talks about
delaying tactics, he is speaking as one
filibusterer to another filibusterer.”
28

29. Filibuster - 8
• A similar technique in the Japanese Diet is the
“cow-waddle,” used to delay a vote and
express minority displeasure. As the vote is
called, opposition members individually
waddle – with infinite slowness, stopping to
chat along the way – to the ballot box on the
rostrum.
29

30. Cloture – Rule 22 (1917)
• No way to stop filibuster except
– Unanimous consent
– Exhaustion
– Compromise
• 3/5’s (60) on substantive issues & procedural
motions
• 2/3’s (66) on proposals to change the rules
– Once invoked
• 30 hrs debate time before final vote
30

31. Cloture - 2
• Sometimes used to early (1st day of a measure)
to prevent minority party from thwarting
efforts & limit amendments
– May help vulnerable senators
31

32. Nuclear Option
• Or Constitutional Option
– Majority member raises a “Point of Order” that
debate on judge nomination is dilatory & out of
order
– Chairperson sustains point of order
• No need for cloture
– Minority member may appeal (ruling of Chair)
• Majority member moves to table appeal (non-debatable
& subject to simple majority vote approval)
32

33. Increase Use of Filibuster
• Was used mostly on Major measures
• 1960s apx 10%
• 1970-80s apx 30%
• 1990s apx 50%
hold - An informal practice by which a Senator
informs his or her floor leader that he or she
does not wish a particular bill or other measure
to reach the floor for consideration. The Majority
Leader need not follow the Senator's wishes, but
is on notice that the opposing Senator may
filibuster any motion to proceed to consider the
measure.
33

34. Subcommittees
Where the real “detail” work is completed
• 112th Congress
• Standing coms allowed no more than 5 subs
– May have another if it relates to oversight
– Other Exceptions:
• Appropriations (12)
• Armed Services (7)
• Foreign Affairs (7)
• Oversight and Govt Reform (7)
• Transportation & Infrastructure (6)
– Reasons for more than 6 (next slide)
34

35. Subcom exceptions
– Reasons for more than 5 subcommittees
• Extra committee for oversight purposes
• Custom: we’ve always had 7 committees
– Majority party doesn’t want to break with tradition
• Co-opt or added policy (additional jurisdiction)
• Accommodation of an influential lawmaker
– Maybe a Pivotal Voter Theory example
• Bicameral considerations
– Armed Services has similar subcommittess dealing with foreign
intelligence
35

36. Membership limits
Limitation relates to the ideal of making the body
“more deliberative, participatory and
manageable by reducing scheduling conflicts
and jurisdictional overlap.”
110th House – no member may serve on more
than 4 subcommittees
Gingrich House – followed the ideal of letting
‘Full’ Com chairs decide the subcom chairs
and subcom assignments (unless a majority of
the GOP full com members reject
36

37. Membership limits - 2
Pelosi’s House – (based more on seniority) party
determines subcom structure and jurisdiction
then,
– Democrats, in order of their seniority on the full
committee (or seniority on the Appropriations
subcommittee) with the most senior Democrat
choosing first, bid for a subcommittee
chairmanship (or assignment) which is then subject
to approval by secret ballot of the Dem com
members
37

38. Membership limits - 3
– Parties have tried to limit defections from the party
policy positions and encourage party loyalty
– Pelsoi (after 16 Dems voted with the GOP in Nov
2003) was able to create a new Dem rule that
allows the party leaders to maintain more control
• Once the exclusive coms select their subcommittee
chairs, they are then subject to approval by the Steering
and Policy Com as well as the Dem Caucus
38

39. Membership Limits - 4
• Dem Exclusive committees
– Appropriations
– Energy & Commerce
– Financial Services
– Rules
– Ways and means
• Note: waivers are granted to members to sit on an extra
major committee when it is important to their reelection
prospects (Another example of the two Congresses, the
institution bending to suit the preferences and needs of
individual members)
39

40. Senate member limits
• Limits the number of committees that Senators
may serve … not com number
– They may chair on only one subcom of any one
committee
• Often the # of subcoms equal the # of majority senators
on the full committee
– Assignments determined in one of two ways:
• By the full chair in consultation with the ranking
member or,
• By senators’ order of seniority on the full committee
40

41. Senate member limits - 2
• Four Senate standing coms function without
subcommittees
– Budget
– Rules and Administration
– Small Business
– Veterans’ Affairs
– And four panels
• Indian Affairs, Ethics, Intelligence, Aging
– They have less workloads and do not need subcoms
41

42. Select or Special coms
• Temporary and either are terminated or more
often are not re-created after the sessions ends
– Few continue such as the Permanent Select
Intelligence Committee
• Usually do not have power to authorize
measures or receive measures
– Generally, act as a research panel (study,
investigate and make recommendations)
• May offer reports to a Standing com or several pre-
selected chairs
42

43. Select Coms – 2 (reasons for creation)
• Reasons for creation:
1. May accommodate the concerns of some members
• Authors give example of Truman’s com of Special Sen.
Com on WWII procurement practices which put him in
the public’s eye and FDRs
2. May accommodate the access needs of PIGs
• Provide for special hearings and open sessions
3. Supplement Stand. Coms resources (time to
study/investigate specific problems
• 110th’s Select Committee on Global Warming
4. Coordinate consideration of policies that overlap
jurisdiction of several coms
43

44. Joint Coms
• House/Senate Coms to investigate, provide
oversight, study issues or routine matters
– Generally, Speaker appoints House members and
presiding officer appoints Senate members
– Chairmanship rotates each Session
– 110th congress = Four Joint Committees
1. Economic (wide range of economic policies)
2. Library (oversees Library of Congress)
3. Printing
– Government Printing Office (note little change even though
technology has decreased the need for this office)
4. Taxation
– Includes tax specialist for each chamber
44

45. Conference (3rd House of Congress)
• Legislation must be in identical form!
– Reconcile differences…they re-write bills
– Bargaining classified in 4 ways:
• Traditional (most common method)
– Meet face-to-face and work out agreement in ‘traditional’ fashion
• Offer-counteroffer
– Majority/minority offers compromise and other party members retreat
to an area to discuss and later accept or counteroffer (often tax writing
coms use this technique)
• Subconference
– Large complex bills = need to break into smaller units to work out
details of specific area of bill (e.g. omnibus bills)
• Pro forma (informally by preconference)
– Issues are resolved informally by preconference negotiations between
conference members and later formally ratified by com
45

46. House & Senate com comparisons
• See Table 7-2 (check edition)
– Floor debate (easy one here)
– Committee consideration of legislation (more
difficult to by committee than in the Senate)
– Committee chairs have freer rein to manage
committees than in the House where the chairs are
subject to the speaker’s influence and party
influence
– Committee staff are more aggressive in shaping the
legislative agenda
– Easier for a majority Senator to become com chair
whereas it is based more on seniority in House
46

47. Pecking Order
• As previously stated, most desirable coms
– House Ways & Means, Appropriations, Commerce
– Senate Finance, Senate Appropriations, then
Commerce
• Senate Foreign Relations Com at times is quite desirable
– During times of military conflict these members become
popular talk show guests and Rotary guests
– Many Senators on this com considered for President but some
fail to be well received at home (the statesman factor)
– Least desirable
• House Standards of Official conduct & Sen. Ethics
– Reluctant to sit in judgment of their colleagues
47

48. Committee Preferences
• Richard f. Fenno Jr. found 3 basic goals
– Reelection
– Influence (within the House)
– Good Public Policy
• Not necessarily in that order
• Other scholars found similar “preferences”
• How to get the com appointment you want?
– Re. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash (1993-2005)
• Wrote “how-to booklet on securing committee
assignments
48

49. Dunn’s How-to Ideas
• 3 part strategy (Networking strategy)
– Personal
• Face to face meetings
– Political
• Let the leaders know your own political needs
• Hope the party needs you!
– Geographical
• Ask for assistance of party members within state
• Not mentioned by Dunn
– Meet and make request before and during
campaign!
49

50. Unwelcome assignments
• Full committees may:
– Shirley Chisholm’s (1969-1983) assignment to the
Agriculture comm while representing urban
Brooklyn
– Generally, must wait your turn to move onto
another com
• Takes more time to build seniority on com and thus
POWER
50

51. Assignments – 3 steps
Step 1 = Review panels
– House
• Steering Committee (Democrats & Republicans)
– Senate
• Steering & Outreach Com for Democrats
• Committee on Committees for Republicans
• Step 2 = Party caucus approval
• Step 3 = Pro forma election by full body
51

52. Assignments - notes
• Formal Rules about assignments exist but the
House speaker and party caucus create
exceptions
• Pelosi
– Emulates Hastert’s interview process for ‘some’
top committee leaders
– Follows seniority more than predecessors
• Many of the com chairs or … old guard (John Dingell,
Energy and Commerce; Charley Rangel, Waysmeans)
– 2/3 of Dems have been elected since 1994
– Followed Gingrich’s 6 yr com term limit rule
52

53. Public Policy-making
• 3 principal stages of committee policymaking
– Hearings
– Markup
– Report
• The public has multiple areas and multiple
times for input into public policy-making
53

54. Multiple cracks
• The public has multiple areas for input into
public policymaking
• Pluralism (Dahl’s a Jeffersonian: in How Democratic is
the American Constitution?)
– Direct contact
• Letters, town-hall meetings
• Elections!
– Campaigns
• Hearings, public information meetings (DOT)
– Party participation
– PIG participation
54

55. Policy beings ___?
• Public policies are ubiquitous
– Ideas come from … everywhere … all the time
• Only a congress member may introduce
legislation!
• When an idea reaches a congress member
– Think Jimmy Stewart and the Boys Camp
• Some bills are not expected to pass
– Only introduced on behalf of an influential citizen
– Initial referral
• Generally referred to SINGLE com by Speaker or
Presiding officer
• Multiple referral are the exception
55

56. Policy process - 2
• Initial referral
– Full committee receives bill according to issue
topic area
• Generally sends to subcommittee but may review issue
– Subcommittee holds hearings
» Generally open to the public
» Often to increase drama may invite certain groups
» Usually, “when Washington speaks, the world snoozes”
• Joint hearings may be held
– Field hearings
– Joint hearings with Senate and House com members
• Pelosi = the 1st to push for considerable use of
technology to provide more “transparency” to hearings
– WebCasts, interactive teleconferencing, e-hearings
56

57. Markups
• The process by which congressional
committees and subcommittees debate,
amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
– “marked up or amended”
• Attempt at final product that will be acceptable
(comprised) to various factions & the president
– Many get together informally to draft compromises in private
– Once finished, the subcommittee sends it
recommendations to the full committee
– Full committee may conduct additional hearings
and markups, (next slide)
57

58. Markups – Full Coms
• Full committees may:
– Ratify the subcom version without change
– Conduct additional hearings
– Continue markups
– Take no action or
– Return the matter back to the subcom for further
review
• And go through the process again
• Final Result:
– Report:
58

59. Report
• A REPORT describes the purpose and
provisions of a bill
– A report explains and persuades
– Includes staff research and may explain complex
arguments in laymen’s terms
– (Senate Reports next slide)
59

60. Report
• Senate committees usually publish a
committee report to accompany the
legislation they have voted out. These
reports are numbered consecutively in the
order in which they are filed in the Senate.
Committee reports discuss and explain the
purpose of measures and contain other,
related information. The term may also
refer to the action taken by a committee
("report the legislation") to submit its
recommendations to the Senate.
60

61. Successful Policy
• Why do some issues attain decision agenda
status but not others?
– The question every MAD group/individual asks
– Beyond the scope of this course
• Take 6601
– Hint: “Look at Policy Windows”
• National mood
• Crises
• A joining of several factors of policy adoption at the
same historical instance
– League of Nations…not until WWII
61

62. Staff
• Totally up to the member as to appointments
• Staff provide the “spadework” of legislative
review
– They offer advice, Write legislation, Offer
compromises, Work with other staffers, & are more
important to the process than most believe
– YOUNG (ambitious, idealistic)
• House tenure
– Staff 60% = 2 or fewer years of service
62

63. Staff Tenure
• Young
– House Tenure
• Staff aides = 60% = 2 or fewer years of service
• CoStaff = 39%
• Legislative directors = 64%
• Press secretaries = 66%
– Senate Tenure
• Staff aides = 5.3 years average
• Revolving door
– Many staff move on to other better paying
positions, e.g. lobbyist
63

64. Committee Reform
• Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
– Last major change to legislative policy system
– More recently, 4 initiatives
• Creation of homeland security panel in each chamber
• Reorganized appropriating subcoms (twice)
• Creation of select intelligence panel within House
Appropriations Com
• Renamed five House coms (words matter)
– Education & Workforce to Education & Labor; added new
ethics responsibilities to the House Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct; reduced/deleted the DC subcom
64

65. Committee Reform - 2
• Reform is not in Congress’s glossary
• Reforms almost always fail or produce only
marginal adjustments in committees
• Example = 9/11 Commissions recommends
– Centralize review process
• Reduce turf conflicts
– “centralize committee intelligence structure” to
include authorizing and appropriating powers (&
transparent)
– Increase transparency = publish budget
65

66. Result = Committee Reform - 3
– Dems campaigned vowing to implement
Commissions recommendations
– Result:
• (S. Res. 445) Senate failed to enact suggestions except
for additional subcom jurisdictions
• (H. Res. 35) House created new subcom within
Appropriations
– $$$ still hidden and issue area is split among several coms
• Dems state…we instituted change
• Vested “Positions Interest
– Member do not want … will not give up power
66

67. Committee Conclusions
• They shape the agendas
• They differ in their policymaking environments
– Mix of members, staff, goals, PIGs, etc
• They develop an esprit de corps that flows across party
lines
• They operate independently of one another
• They contribute to policy fragmentation except for a few
such as Rules which act as policy coordinators
• Com autonomy is increasingly under pressure from
assertive party leaders who strive to move the body
toward the party’s agenda
67

68. Terms
• Standing committee
– A permanent committee established in a legislature, usually focusing on a policy
area
• Special or select committee
– A congressional committee created for a specific purpose, sometimes to conduct
investigations
• Joint committee
– A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the
Senate; such committees oversee the Library of congress and conduct
investigations
• Conference committee
– Committee appointed by the presiding officers of each chambers to adjust
differences on a particular bill passed by each in different form
• Earmarks
– Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of
Congress for their constituents
• Cloakroom
– Cloakrooms adjacent to the chamber serve as gathering places for party members
to discuss chamber business privately.
68

69. Rules & Procedures – chap-8
• The authors start this discussion with the idea
that rules are important to maintain “fair play”
– It was stated, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all
the lawyers.”
• Dick, the butcher, wants to get rid of those who may first
stand in the way of revolution…so they create their
society where ‘there shall be no money…will be
appareled all in one livery, “that they may agree like
brothers…’
• How a Bill Becomes Law
69

70. The Need for Laws?
• Legislation: Why do we need it?
– Public or private problem
• Some private concerns have public impact
– Bill of specific nature such as civil damage claim
» Randy Weaver’s $2.1 million
– When will there be no more need for “new” laws?
• Aprox. 10,000 measure per session (state & National)
– National level = 4% become law (more lengthy Omnibus Bills)
– This does not include administrative rules
» Federal Register
– “Just like when citizens think Congress is not
working by being ‘off the floor’ they think they do
nothing if they don’t pass legislation”
70

71. Bill Introduction
Drafting – Timing – Sponsoring - Hopper(ing)
– The Dance of Legislation by Eric Redmond
“My parents met and fell in love as lower-echelon New Dealers in Washington, D.C., and when they
moved to Seattle ten years later, they brought with them a persistent faith in the Democratic Party.
I must have disappointed them at first: in 1952, at age four, I became an Eisenhower “man,”
making life miserable for everyone, especially with my gleeful postelection taunts. By 1956,
however, I had realized my mistake, and even tried to redeem myself somewhat by starting a few
fistfights for Stevenson on the playground at John Muir Elementary School. I began to collect
campaign buttons, pinning them to cloths tacked to my bookshelf, and to make my partisan
loyalties clear, I hung the Democratic buttons two shelves above the Republican ones.
I arranged the campaign buttons hierarchically, with Presidential ones at the top of each cloth and
with sheriff’s gold-star badges along the bottom margin. Directly beneath my ADAI AND ESTES
button on the Democratic cloth, therefore, I affixed the various campaign pins of Senator Warren
G. Magnuson, Washington’s senior Senator. Even before I was born, Magnuson had become the
most powerful Democratic politician in the state. When he ran for a third term in 1956 and a fourth
in 1962, I proudly lent my I’M STRONG FOR MAGNUSON buttons to my parents whenever they
went out for the evening, but by the time he ran again in 1968, I was twenty years old and eager to
contribute more substantially to his campaign. The Senator’s campaign manager and
Administrative Assistant, Jerry Grinstein, listened patiently to my request and finally hired me as a
speech writer. In June 1968, I went to work.”
71

72. Bill Introduction
• Drafting
– Words matter
– WORDS THAT WORK: IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT'S WHAT PEOPLE HEAR
by Frank Luntz
– Examples:
» USA-PARIOT Act = “Uniting and Strengthening America
by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
Obstruct Terrorism
» Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (famous names!)
» Paris Hilton Benefit Act vs. the Death Tax
» War Powers Resolution (1973- restrains President’s
power)
– Whoever controls the language controls the debate
– Anyone can draft legislation…only members may
introduce it!
72

73. Bill Introduction
• Timing
– “Everything in politics is timing” Thomas P. “Tip”
O”Neill Jr., D-Mass
– Some issues may succeed if introduced early while
others, e.g. controversial issues and riders may fare
better if introduced during the last hectic days
– Mood of the country an affect legislative agendas
• Elections = mandates, momentum and madness
• Crises = legislation passed too quickly
– Who voted against war
– Barbara Lee (Iraq Res); (only person to vote against WWI&II)
73

74. Bill Introduction
• Sponsoring
– Legislation “an aggregate, not a simple production”
– Bandwagon effect (more co-sponsors sign on so to
“Claim Credit”
– Logrolling (pg 298) … compromising
– Ideas come from many places
• Experts, academics & lobbyist
– Desire to refer bills to ‘positive’ committee
• Parliamentarian advises on this procedure
– Bills not acted on die at the end of each Session
74

75. Bill Introduction
• Hopper (ing)
– A mahogany box near the Speaker’s podium where
members place their proposed bills
– Clerks take the bills and the leadership assigns
them to committees
• Legislative aids can ‘dress-up’ the grammar during
subcommittee review if necessary to make sure the
finished product meets the need for correct legalese
75

76. Types of legislation
1 - Bill
2 - Joint Resolution
3 - Concurrent Resolution
4 - Resolution
– See Box 8-1 page 242 (11th edition)
76

77. 1 – Bill (the most prevalent)
The principal vehicle employed by
lawmakers for introducing their proposals
(enacting or repealing laws, for example).
Bills are designated (Senate = S. 1, S. 2)
H. 1, H. 2, and so on depending on the
order in which they are introduced.
They address either matters of general
interest ("public bills") or narrow interest
("private bills"), such as immigration
cases and individual claims against the
Federal government.
77

78. 2 - Joint Resolution (usually of limited matter)
• A legislative measure, designated “H/S. J. Res." and
numbered consecutively upon introduction, which
requires the approval of both chambers and, with one
exception, is submitted (just as a bill) to the President
for possible signature into law. The one exception is
that joint resolutions (and not bills) are used to
propose constitutional amendments. These resolutions
require a two-thirds affirmative vote in each house but
are not submitted to the President; they become
effective when ratified by three-quarters of the States.
78

79. 3 – Concurrent Resolution
A legislative measure, designated “H/S. Con. Res." and
numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally
employed to address the sentiments of both chambers,
to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses,
such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a
temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are
not submitted to the President and thus do not have
the force of law.
– May be used to set the time for adjournment
79

80. 4 - Resolution
1 – Designated H/S. Res. Deals with matter
entirely within the prerogatives of one chamber
- Requires neither passage by the other chamber
nor approval by the President and does not
have the force of law
- Most resolutions deal with the rules of one
house. They also are used to express the
sentiments of a single house, to extend
condolences to the family of a deceased
member, or to give advice on foreign policy or
other executive business
80

81. Referral
• See Box 8-2
– Rules & Referral Strategy
• Old customs die hard or never die at all
• Once committees complete action on a bill
(which is a critical stage for a piece of
legislation) the chambers’ rules require a
majority of the full committee to be physically
present to report out the measure.
– If overlooked and not waived, a member may bring
a “point of order” which will halt the process
81

82. Scheduling - Calendars
• Union Calendar
– Bill that raise or spend $$$
• House Calendar
– Most major “public” measures
• Private Calendar
– Bills of a ‘private’ nature such as civil claims
• The power to set the House’s agenda
constitutes the essence of the Speaker’s
institutional authority.
82

83. Shortcuts for Minor Bills
• Most bills are relatively minor and are taken up
and passed through various shortcut procedures
– Designate special days
– Suspend the rules
• Robert’s suggestion for most committees/legislatures
• Monday, Tuesday, Wed. is generally used for
suspension of the rules
– It is up to the Speaker and whom the Speaker first notices
– About 75% of all legislation is approved in this manner
– Most legislation is not controversial and passes
with ease!
83

84. Conference Markup Procedure
• Legislation MUST be in identical form
• 3 methods to resolve differences:
1) One chamber may SIMPLY accept the other
body’s bill
2) Chamber’s may play ‘Amendment Ping-pong”
• Send various amendments back and forth - Until each
chamber is satisfied with the final product
3) Conference Committee appointed
84

85. Terms
• Adjourn for more than 3 days
– Under the Constitution, neither chamber may adjourn for more than three days
without the approval of the other. Such approval is obtained in a concurrent
resolution approved by both chambers.
• “Christmas tree" bill
– Informal nomenclature for a bill on the floor that attracts many, often unrelated,
floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the bill may provide special
benefits to various groups or interests.
• engrossed bill
– The official copy of a bill or joint resolution passed and certified by the Clerk of
the House or Secretary of the Senate.
• Layover
– Informal term for a period of delay required by rule. For example, when a bill or
other measure is reported from committee, it may be considered on the floor only
after it "lies over" for one legislative day and after the written report has been
available for two calendar days. Layover periods may be waived by unanimous
consent.
85

86. Terms
• “Must pass" bill
– A vitally important measure that Congress must enact, such as annual
money bills to fund operations of the government. Because of their must-
pass quality, these measures often attract "riders" (unrelated policy
provisos).
• Presiding officer
– A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with
maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and
interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Pro forma session
– A brief meeting (sometimes only several seconds) in which no business is
conducted. It is held usually to satisfy the constitutional obligation that
neither chamber can adjourn for more than three days without the consent
of the other.
• Riddick's Senate Procedure
– Named after Senate Parliamentarian Emeritus Floyd M. Riddick, this
Senate document contains the contemporary precedents and practices of
the Senate. It is updated periodically by the Senate Parliamentarian.
86

87. Deliberation In Congress (9)
• Quid-pro-quo
– Leadership may use ‘Carrot-and-stick’ approaches
– Use of earmarks and leadership roles to garner
votes
– Absenteeism:
• Stack votes during the middle of the wee
• Pairing = member may not be able to vote in person and
they can announce their views in floor statements, press
releases or via pairing with someone on the opposite side
of an issue (voluntary arrangement that allows members
to go on record without voting or affecting the final
tabulation
87

88. Bargaining
• Implicit bargaining
– Legislative action designed to elicit reactions
• No previous negotiation may have taken place
• May accept objectionable amendment with the belief
that it will not make it out of the other house
• “Exchanging cues” - Accept judgments of senior/leader
members
– Expect to be leaders themselves one day
• Explicit Bargaining
– Quantitative measures more easily compromised
88

89. Bargaining- 2
• Logrolling:
– Bargaining in which the parties trade off support so that
each may gain its goal.
– Legislators are expected to support passage of the final
package
– Hostile fiscal environment, logrolling is often aimed at
equalizing sacrifices instead of distributing rewards
• Christmas Tree Bill
– Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many,
often unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the
bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.
• Something for everyone!
89

90. Votes Mean What?
• “I voted for…it before I voted against it.”
• Votes do not necessarily member’s views
– May vote for a “modest” bill in fearing that a more
extreme version may pass
– Procedural vs. substantive votes
• May vote ‘for’ authorizing a program and vote ‘against’
funding it
• Strategic Waiting = wait until a measure fails and then
vote for it or when it doesn’t matter (vote with the party
or make sure to vote with constituents unless it matters)
90

91. Determinants of Voting - 1
• Party ID & Voting Patterns (Figure 9-1)
• Party affiliation is the strongest single correlate
of members’ voting decisions, and in recent
years it has reached surprisingly high levels
• Aprox. 50%-70% of floor votes = party unity
votes & is trending UPWARD since 1970
– 109th Congress Party Unity votes
• House = 52%
• Senate = 60%
91

92. Determinants – 1, cont
• Unified & Divided Party Control of Govt
– From 1901-1955
• Divided Govt - Only 3 times
– 1911-1913 House was Democrat (WW elected 1913 and Dems
control govt until 1919)
– 1919-1921 Dems controlled Senate
– 1931-1933 Dems controlled House
– 1947-1949 Dems controlled President (Truman)
– 1955-2008
• Un-Divided Govt – Only 9 times
– 1961-1963; 1963-1965; 1965-1967; 1967-1969
– 1977-1979; 1979-1981
– 1993-1995
– 2001-2003; 2005-2007
92

93. Determinants of Voting - 2
• Ideology & Voting
• Public (along a left-right continuum) follows a
normal bell-shaped curve as many cluster
around the middle
• Incredible shrinking middle (see figure 9-3)
– Prior to 1968
• Ideological distribution of House = strong moderate
• Same look 1998 = very few moderates…House
polarized along party lines
93

94. Determinants of Voting - 3
• Constituency and Voting
• Constituencies control officials choices by
1) Constituencies usually vote for people “like” them
(whose views match their own)
2) Officials vote or play the delegate role because
they want to be re-elected
– Attentive Public
– Inattentive Public
• “The Oprah Effect: How Soft news helps inattentive
citizens vote consistently” Matthew Baum and Angela
Jamison
94

95. Determinants of Voting - 4
• Presidents - (Patterns)
1) Modern Pres. See their position prevail in 2/3 or
more of congressional votes
1) Routine nature of their initiatives
2) Pres. Does better with their own party
• Party ratio is the single most important determinant of
success
3) Partisan swings affect Pres. success rates
When “divided govt” pres. Success rates
4) Pres. Tend to lose cong. support over time
5) Pres. Take fewer clear-cut stands over time
95

96. Terms
• Logrolling
– Bargaining in which the parties trade off support so that each may gain its goal.
• Pairing
– The voluntary arrangement that allows members to go on record without voting or
affecting the final tabulation. When members cannot vote in person, it allows them
to still be recorded on an issue.
• Poison Pills
– “Killer Amendments” intended to make a bill so unpalatable that it will fail.
• “Christmas tree" bill
– Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many, often
unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the bill may provide
special benefits to various groups or interests.
• Amendment in the nature of a substitute
– An amendment that would strike out the entire text of a bill or other measure and
insert a different full text
• session - The period during which Congress assembles and carries on its
regular business. Each Congress generally has two regular sessions (a first
session and a second session), based on the constitutional mandate that
Congress assemble at least once each year.
96

97. Congress & the President - 10
Framers designed a limited presidency exp. compared to today
Traditional Presidency: (1891-1930s)
- Exceptions
- Washington expanded foreign policy area
- Jefferson entered into the LA purchase
- Andrew Jackson developed the role of president as the popular leader
- Lincoln, most dramatic, expanded several areas…called up state
militias, enlarged the army, used tax $ to pay for it, blockaded
southern ports…though counter to the constitution, he claimed it was
necessary to save the union.
- Inherent power: presidential powers implied but not explicitly stated
in the Constitution = “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”
Modern Presidency
97

98. Modern Presidency to Imperial Presidency?
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation (1936):
– The president has more inherent power in the
realm of foreign affairs than in domestic politics
Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer (1952)
– Ruled steel mills seizure unconstitutional
Power to persuade: president’s ability to
convince Congress, other political actors, and
the public to cooperate with the
administrations’ agenda
98

99. Formal Power
• State of the Union Address:
– “shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the union, and
recommend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient”
– May convene Congress and when there is a
dispute about when to disband, to adjourn it as
well
– Now speech given annually to a joint session and
the nation announcing the president’s agenda
99

100. Modern Presidency
• Started with Teddy and FDR carried it out
– Bully Pulpit
– The use of the media as a mans of “going public”
• A president’s strategy of appealing to the public on an
issue expecting that public pressure will be brought to
bear on other political actors
• Cycle
– The predictable rise and fall of a president’s
popularity at different stages of a term in office
• Honeymoon period: generally the time following an
election when Pres popularity is high & congressional
relations are likely to be productive
100

101. Congress & the President
• Veto Power
– W. Wilson…veto is a 3rd branch of congress
– When Bill receives bill from Congress (he has 10
days excluding Sundays to:
1) Sign the bill. Most are signed and sometimes
Pres. Issue signing statements that express their
interpretation of a new law’s provisions
2) Return the bill with her veto message to the
origination house of Congress
3) Next slide
101

102. Veto Power - 2
3) She can take no action, and the bill will
become law without her signature. This
option, seldom employed, is reserved for bills
the pres. Dislikes but not enough to veto (see
box 1-10)
4) She can pocket veto the bill. Under the
Constitution, if a congressional adjournment
prevents the return of a bill, the bill cannot
become law without the pres. signature
102

103. Veto Power - 3
• Article 1, Section 7 – “If any Bill shall not be
returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him,
the Same shall be a Law, in like manner as if he had
signed it, unless Congress by the Adjournment
prevents its Return, in which case it shall not be a
Law.”
• At issue is when a congressional adjournment
prevents the return of the president’s veto.
103

104. Pocket Veto explained
• Kennedy v. Sampson (1974)
– Established the principle that pocket vetoes are not to be used during
a congressional session but only after Congress’ final adjournment at
the end of its second session
– Ford & Carter followed the courts interpretation
– Reagan twice used intersession (between the first and second
sessions)
– Clinton used intrasession (in the middle of a session)
• Clinton returned the pocket vetoes to Congress, which tried
unsuccessfully to override them.
• Thus it appears that neither an intra- nor an inter-session pocket veto
prevents its return to Congress. Until the Supreme Court makes
definitive ruling involving the use of the pocket veto both and between
legislative sessions, it is likely that legislative-executive conflicts over
the pocket veto will occur periodically. ….scope of this veto has been
left to political understandings developed by the branches
104

105. Veto Overriden
• Most vetoes
– FDR – 635 total 9 overridden 97.6% success rate
– Truman 250 12 93.3%
– Ike 181 2 97.3%
– JFK 21 0 100%
– LBJ 30 0 100%
– Nix 43 7 73.1%
– Ford 66 12 75.0%
– Carter 31 2 84.6%
– Rea 78 9 76.9%
– Bush 46 1 96.6%
– Clin 36 2 94.4%
– WB 0 0
105

106. Terms
• Pocket veto
– The Constitution grants the President 10 days to review a measure passed by the
Congress. If the President has not signed the bill after 10 days, it becomes law
without his signature. However, if Congress adjourns during the 10-day period,
the bill does not become law.
• Rescission
– The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to
Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission
proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds
being withheld must be made available for obligation.
– .
• Executive Calendar
– A list of executive business (i.e., treaties and nominations) available for Senate
floor consideration.
• Session
– The period during which Congress assembles and carries on its regular business.
Each Congress generally has two regular sessions (a first session and a second
session), based on the constitutional mandate that Congress assemble at least once
each year.
106

107. Terms
• Proxy voting -
– The practice of allowing a Senator to cast a vote in committee for an absent
Senator. Senate Rule XXVI provides that proxies may not be voted when the
absent Senator has not been informed of the matter on which he is being recorded
and has not requested that he be so recorded.
• Recess
– A temporary interruption of the Senate's (or a committee's) business. Generally,
the Senate recesses (rather than adjourns) at the end of each calendar day.
• Executive communication
– A message sent to the Senate by the President or other executive branch official.
Presidential veto messages are an example of an "executive communication."
• Calendar of Business
– A Senate publication sent to each lawmaker's office (and other offices) every day
the Senate is in session. It contains information on, for instance, measures reported
from the various standing committees, bills in conference, and the status of
appropriation bills.
107

108. Congress & Bureaucracy - 11
• Size of Government
– “The era of big government is over.”
• “Everybody wants the federal government to look smaller than it really
is.” Paul C. Light
• How do we measure Government Size (Does Size Matter?)
1) Total Employee # (include 3rd sector?)
1) 3 million
2) “true size” = 17 million (4.1 million civilian, military, postal workers &
12.7 million “shadow” workers)
2) Total budget
- over 3 trillion or maybe on % of debt?
3) Total expenditures as a percent of GDP
- 21.8% of GDP 1990; 18.4% 2000; 19.8% 2004
108

109. Compensation
• Revolving door
– Officials & staffers who “pass through the revolving door” to jobs
with private firms that deal with the government
– Now “High” govt. officials must go through “cooling off” period of
two years
• 27th Amendment
– “No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives shall take effect, until and election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
• State:
– Probably the most powerful tool a Governor/executive has over the
bureaucracy is the power of the budget!
109

110. Congressional Vetoes
• Legislative Veto:
– Statutory enactment that permits presidents or
bureaucracy “to act” subject to later approval or
disapproval by one/both houses of Congress (or
to some cases by committees of one/both houses)
– Immigration and Naturalization Service v.
Chadha (1983)
• Supreme Court – veto is unconstitutional = violated the separation of
powers, the principle of bicameralism, and the Presentation Clause of the
Constitution – “legislation passed by both chambers must be presented to
the president for his signature or veto”
• Leg. Vetoes continue – discuss intent
• Self-interest = they watch, pay attention to committees (iron triangle)?
110

111. Inspectors General
• IGs – offer independent analysis to Congress
and the public on how agencies, agency
heads are performing
• Created for most agencies in 1978
– Added to Justice , FBI, etc. in 2004
– Employ about 11,500 auditors, investigators, inspectors
• One of the areas for new MPAs
111