TOPIC #24 — CONGRESS AS A REPRESENTATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE

ASSEMBLY

Q1.     What kinds of people get elected to Congress? What are their backgrounds and career goals?

Q2.     Committees dominate the legislative process (especially in the House). Thus it is important to ask: How are members assigned to committees? How are committee chairs selected? Are committees representative of the house as a whole?

Q3.     How do members of Congress work together? How do they decide to vote on the floor?

Q4.     Why do members of the public generally hold Congress as an institution in low esteem while at the same time they generally approve of (and regularly re-elect) their own representatives? How might we reconsider the representative character of Congress? Are there contrasts between the House and Senate in this respect?

citizen legislatures vs. professionalized legislatures

          full-time vs. part-time legislators

          legislative turnover

          professional staff assistance: office / committee / institution

          size, specialization, and the committee system

parties in Congress

          party caucuses

          organizational votes and committee alignments

          committee assignments

          seniority system and committee chairmanships

distributive (pork barrel) politics

          specialization, reciprocity, and logrolling

          floor ratification of committee bills

influences on voting (given lack of full party discipline)

party polarization in Congress

Congress as a representative assembly again

          local vs. national representation (cf. Burke’s Speech to the Electors of Bristol)

          Congress localism

          popular members vs. unpopular institution

                     incumbency advantage (“Fenno paradox”)

          Senate vs. House contrasts