The American Congress

Contents......Page 6
Major Features of The American Congress......Page 8
Organization of the Text......Page 9
A Special Appendix......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
1 The American Congress......Page 14
Low Public Confidence......Page 15
Plebiscitary Politics......Page 19
Governing as Campaigning......Page 21
New Forms of Organized Influence......Page 22
New Issues......Page 24
Regional Shifts......Page 27
Women and Minorities......Page 28
Previous Occupations......Page 30
Changing Party Control......Page 31
The War on Terrorism and Congressional Power......Page 33
Centralization within Congress......Page 34
Tempered Individualism......Page 35
Budget Constraints......Page 36
Less Autonomous Committees......Page 37
The Acquired Procedural Tendencies Taken to New Extremes......Page 38
The Changing Congress......Page 39
Representation and Lawmaking......Page 42
Representation......Page 43
Lawmaking......Page 46
The Predecessors of Congress......Page 47
The Constitution’s Rules of the Game......Page 49
Legislative Procedures......Page 50
Constraints on Congressional Power......Page 53
Congressional Development......Page 57
Parties......Page 58
Committees......Page 61
Conclusion......Page 66
3 Congressional Elections and Policy Alignments......Page 68
The Rules Governing Congressional Elections......Page 70
The Constitution: Eligibility, Voting Rights, and Chamber Size......Page 71
Federal Law: Apportionment and Campaign Finance......Page 73
State Law: Redistricting and Primaries......Page 78
House and Senate Rules: Office Accounts, Staff, and the Frank......Page 81
The Candidates......Page 83
The Decline of Party Identification......Page 86
Expanded Perquisites of Office......Page 87
Redistricting......Page 88
Biased Campaign Funding......Page 90
Contact with Voters......Page 93
National Patterns in Congressional Elections......Page 94
Presidential Election Years and the Coattail Effect......Page 95
Midterm Elections......Page 96
Congressional Elections and Policy Alignments......Page 97
Ideological Outlook......Page 98
The Divided-Government Debate......Page 100
Conclusion......Page 102
4 Members, Goals, Resources, and Strategies......Page 104
Setting Personal Priorities......Page 105
Reelection......Page 106
Good Public Policy......Page 109
Political Influence......Page 110
Serving Constituents......Page 111
Higher Office......Page 112
Multiple Goals......Page 114
Personal Office and Staff Allowances......Page 115
Travel and Recesses......Page 119
Congressional Mail......Page 120
Other Resources: Party Organizations and Support Agencies......Page 122
Constituencies......Page 123
Interest Groups and Lobbyists......Page 126
The President......Page 128
Staff......Page 129
Choosing Strategies......Page 130
Roll-Call Voting on the Floor......Page 131
Coalition Leadership......Page 134
Conclusion......Page 136
5 Parties and Leaders......Page 140
The Nature of Congressional Parties......Page 141
Common Electoral Interests......Page 142
Shared Policy Preferences......Page 143
Most Common Coalitions......Page 146
Stable But Loose Coalitions......Page 147
Party Organizations......Page 148
Party Leaders......Page 149
Major Responsibilities of Party Leaders......Page 151
Selection of Leaders......Page 155
The Speaker of the House......Page 156
House Floor Leaders......Page 159
House Whips and Whip Organizations......Page 160
Senate Floor Leaders......Page 162
Senate Whips and Whip Organizations......Page 164
Party Strength......Page 165
Formal Rules......Page 167
Tangible Rewards......Page 168
Information......Page 170
Access to the Media......Page 171
An Era of Reinvigorated Parties......Page 173
The Issues......Page 174
Members’ Demands......Page 175
Rules of the Game......Page 177
Strategies of Adaptation......Page 179
Conclusion......Page 181
6 The Standing Committees......Page 184
Types of Committees......Page 185
The Nature of Congressional Committees......Page 188
Distributive Politics: Autonomous Committees......Page 189
Partisan Politics: Committees Governed by the Majority Party......Page 190
In Practice: Committees Governed by Multiple Principals......Page 191
The Legislative Power of Committees......Page 192
Oversight and the Investigative Power of Modern Committees......Page 200
Declining Committee Autonomy......Page 201
Changing Party Strength......Page 202
Changing Institutional Context......Page 203
Committee Size and Party Ratios......Page 208
Committee Assignments......Page 209
The Pecking Order......Page 212
Committee Bias?......Page 214
The Seniority System......Page 215
Selecting Subcommittee Chairs......Page 218
House Committee Chairs......Page 219
Senate Committee Chairs......Page 221
Subcommittees......Page 222
Checking the Power of Subcommittees in the House......Page 223
Committee Staff......Page 224
Conclusions......Page 226
7 The Rules of the Legislative Game......Page 230
Legislative Rules in Perspective......Page 231
Beyond the Constitution: House and Senate Rules......Page 233
The Standard Legislative Process......Page 234
Introduction of Legislation......Page 236
Referral to Committee......Page 238
Committee Action......Page 239
Circumventing Committees in the House......Page 240
Scheduling in the House......Page 242
Scheduling in the Senate......Page 244
Floor Consideration......Page 247
Floor Action in the House......Page 248
Floor Action in the Senate......Page 249
Resolving Differences between the Chambers......Page 252
House and Senate Rules Compared......Page 253
Authorizing and Appropriating......Page 256
Evolution of the Legislative Process......Page 258
Conclusion......Page 259
8 The Floor and Voting......Page 262
The Day in the House......Page 264
The Day in the Senate......Page 267
Voting Procedure......Page 270
House Voting Procedure......Page 271
Senate Voting Procedure......Page 272
Changes in Floor Decision Making......Page 274
The Problems of Interpreting the Roll-Call Vote......Page 278
Common Voting Measures......Page 279
The Ratings Game......Page 281
Dimensions, Alignments, and Coalitions......Page 283
Alignment of Policy Preferences......Page 286
Conclusion......Page 287
9 Congress and the President......Page 290
The President’s Formal Role......Page 291
The President’s Informal Role......Page 297
Agenda Setting......Page 299
Attracting Congressional Support......Page 300
The Veto Threat......Page 303
Controlling the Executive Branch......Page 304
Foreign and Defense Policy......Page 308
Presidential Resources......Page 312
Congressional Resources and Strategies......Page 314
Periodic Authorizations......Page 316
Designing Agencies......Page 317
The Power of the Purse......Page 319
Packaging Strategies......Page 320
Presidential Nominations......Page 321
Oversight......Page 322
Legislative Veto......Page 326
Conclusion......Page 328
10 Congress and the Courts......Page 332
Courts as Umpires......Page 333
Separation-of-Powers Cases......Page 334
Congressional Powers......Page 338
The Politics of Statutory Interpretation......Page 342
Judges as Policy Makers......Page 344
Congressional Resources and Strategies......Page 348
Congress and the Structure of the Federal Judiciary......Page 349
The Senate and Judicial Nominations......Page 351
Legislative Responses to the Courts......Page 357
Conclusion......Page 359
11 Congress, Lobbyists, and Interest Groups......Page 362
The Expanding Community of Lobbyists and Interest Groups......Page 363
Developments in Interest Group Strategies......Page 367
Inside Lobbying......Page 369
Outside Lobbying......Page 372
Coalitions......Page 376
Legislators Influencing Organized Interests......Page 379
Regulating Lobbying......Page 380
Members’ Groups and Legislative Service Organizations......Page 384
The Influence of Lobbyists and Interest Groups......Page 386
Conclusion......Page 388
12 Congress and Budget Politics......Page 392
Overview of the Federal Budget......Page 393
Creating a Congressional Budget Process: 1974......Page 395
Reducing the Discretion of Committees: 1980 and 1981......Page 397
Sequestration: 1985 and 1987......Page 398
PAYGO: 1990......Page 401
Deficit-Reducing Trust Fund and Entitlement Review: 1993......Page 403
Tax Bill Certification: 1995–1996 and Budget Brinksmanship......Page 405
Dropping, Reinstating, and Modifying PAYGO Rules: 1997–2011......Page 410
Conclusion......Page 414
Appendix Introduction to the Spatial Theory of Legislating......Page 418
Basic Concepts for Analyzing a Legislative Body......Page 419
Simple Majority Rule and the Median Voter Theorem......Page 420
Multidimensional Spaces and the Chaos Theorem......Page 421
Agenda Setting, Structure-Induced Equilibria, and Political Power......Page 422
The Status Quo and Agenda Setting......Page 423
Bicameralism......Page 424
The President and the Veto......Page 425
Agency Decisions......Page 427
Advanced Theory and the Limits of Spatial Theory......Page 428
Suggested Readings......Page 430
Index......Page 456