Final Exam Flashcards
who wins congressional elections, and why?
Incumbents are individuals who already hold office. During each term they must decide whether to run again or to retire voluntarily. Most decide to run for reelection. They almost always emerge victorious. The odds for senators to get back their seats is not as high as for House incumbents. Senators represent entire states, which are almost always more diverse than a congressional district. Senators also have less contact with their constituencies, and they receive more coverage in the media and they draw more skilled challengers.
what are the advantages of incumbency?
-what does it take to defeat an incumbent? what are the implications of this?
Advertising-takes place between elections in the form of contact with constituents. The goal is visibility. Staffers track the interests of individual voters, file the information in a database, and then use e-mails or phone calls to engage directly with voters on issues they know they care about.
Credit claiming- Congresspersons seek to enhance their standing with voters by serving individual voters, as well as their districts or states, and by making a point of claiming credit for doing so. They want to enhance their standing with constituents through service to individuals and the district.They want to emphasize serving the constituency. They do this through casework and through obtaining federal funds.
Position taking-take on positions on policies when they vote and when they respond to constituents’ questions. And the positions they take may affect the outcome of their elections, particularly if the relevant issues are salient to voters and the majority of voters disagree with the congressperson.
Lack of strong opponents-those who run are usually not well known or well qualified and lack experience and organizational and financial backing
High cost of campaigning further ensure their success- challengers have to raise large sums if they hope to defeat incumbents. Money buys name recognition and a chance to be heard.
*The implication of this is that there is some stability in the membership of Congress which allows for representatives and senators to gain expertise in dealing with complex questions of public policy. However, it may also stop political change. Safe seats make it harder for citizens to send a message to WA with their votes.
how is Congress internally organized? LEADERS
Much of the leadership in Congress is really party leadership. The House’s leader is the speaker of the House. They hold the only legislative office mandated by the Constitution. The majority party selects the Speakers. The Speaker presides over the House when it is in session, play major role in making committee assignments, appoints or plays a role in appointing the party’s legislative leaders and the party leadership staff, and exercises control over assigning bills to committees. The Speaker’s partisan ally is the majority leader, who is elected by his/her party and schedules bills and rounds up votes on behalf of the party’s position on legislation. Party whips work with them and they convey the word party’s position to rank and file congresspersons. They count votes before they are cast. The minority party has a minority leader, as well as party whips.
Leadership (Senate)- VP and their vote can break a tie. It is the Senate majority leader, aided by the majority whip, corralling votes, scheduling floor action, and influencing committee assignments. The majority leader’s counterpart is the minority leader who has similar responsibilities and is supported by party whip. Power in both houses is decentralized. Leaders are elected by members of their own party and must remain responsive to them.
how is congress internally organized? COMMITTEE SYSTEM
control the congressional agenda and guide legislation from its introduction to its send-off to the president for his signature. There are 4 types:
Standing Committees- handle bills in different policy areas. Each house of Congress has its own standing committees. Senate; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Rules and Administration, Foreign Relations. House; Ethics, Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources
Joint committees- exist in a few policy areas, such as the economy and taxation, and draw their membership from both the Senate and the House
Conference Committees- formed when the Senate and the House pass different versions of the same bill. Appointed by the party leadership, a conference committee consists of members of each house chosen to iron out the differences between the Senate and the House bills and to report back a compromise bill
Select committees- may be temporary or permanent and usually have a specific focus. The House and Senate each have a permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for example.
how is Congress internally organized? CAUCUSES
Informal organization has been dominated by a growing number of caucuses, which is a group of members of Congress who share some interest or characteristic. There are nearly 500 caucuses, with members of both parties and both houses. They promote interests and press committees to hold hearings, push legislation, and pull together votes on bills. Like an interest group, but they are members of Congress.
how is Congress internally organized? STAFF
Personal Staff- over 11,000 serve on the personal staffs of members of Congress. Most spend time on casework, providing services to constituents. They answer mail, communicate the members’ views to voter, and help constituents solve problems. Others help with legislative functions.
Committee Staff- employ 2200 staff members. They organize hearings, research legislative options, draft committee reports on bills, write legislation, and keep tabs on the activities of the executive branch.
Staff Agencies- Congressional Research Service (CRS), administered by the Library of Congress and composed of researchers. They track progress of major bills, prepares summaries of bills, and makes information about bills available electronically. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) help Congress perform its oversight functions by reviewing the activities of the executive branch.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) focus on analyzing the president’s budget and making economic projections about the performance of the economy, the costs of proposed policies, and the economic effects of taxing and spending alternatives.
how does a bill become law, including; role of president
Presidents have their own legislative agenda based on their party’s platform and their electoral coalition. Their task is to persuade Congress that his agenda should be Congress’s agenda. The president must win at every stage of the process of a bill becoming a law (11 times). Presidential leadership of congress is at the margins.
how does a bill become law, including role of committees and leadership
Major legislation party leaders involve themselves in the legislative process much earlier and more deeply then they used to, using a variety of special procedures. Leaders in the House often refer bills to several committees at the same time, bringing more interests to bear on an issue but at the same time complicating the process of passing legislation. They negotiate compromises among committees and make adjustments to bills after the committee report legislation. In the Senate, substantial opportunities for influence, such as filibuster but it is often more difficult to pass legislation in the Senate.
how does a bill become a law, including influence of home state/ district
Party influence- on some issues members of the parties stick together. However on other issues they may become unglued like with economic and social welfare policy. Party leaders in congress help whip their members into line.
Ideology & Polarized Politics- as a result of increased ideological differences between the parties in Congress, it has been more difficult to reach a compromise– and more difficult for the president to obtain policy support from the opposition party
Constituency Opinion VS Member Ideology- constituents expect their representative to represent their interests in WA. On some controversial issues, legislators ignore constituent opinion at great peril.
how does a bill become a law, including role of lobbyists
Lobbyists spend billions lobbying federal officials and millions more in campaign contributions and attempts to try to persuade members’ constituents to send messages to WA. Some of them can provide legislators with crucial policy information, political intelligence, and, often, assurnces of financial aid in the next campaign. They work closely wit their legislative alies, especially at the committee level. Grass-roots lobbying is also common. Restrictions against lobbyists occur by requiring anyone hired to lobby members of Congress to report what issues they were seeking to inluence, how much they were spending on the effort, and their identities of their clients. Also placed severe restrictions on the gifts, meals, and expense-paid travel that public officials may accept from lobbysists.
President: who are they and where do they come from?
The requirements are that they have to at least 35 years old and a US citizen for at least 14 years. Most of the presidents have been white males with differences like Thomas Jefferson, a scientist and a scholar, who liked to collect dinosaur bones in his spare time. Surprisingly Woodrow Wilson was the only political scientist to become president, and he combined a Presbyterian moral fervor and righteousness with a professor’s intimidating style of leadership and speech making. Presidents run through the electoral process. Only thirteen have actually served two terms and 1 in 5 presidents succeeded to the job because they were VP when the president died or resigned. Impeachment is removing a discredited president before the end of a term. The House votes then the case goes to the Senate. By a ⅔ vote, the Senate may convict and remove the president from office.
nature of presidential powers? constitutional and beyond their limitations
The constitution says little about Presidential Powers. They have national security powers like serving as the commander in chief of the armed forces and they can make treaties w/ other nations, but they need Senate approval of 2/3 agreements. They have legislative powers like to veto legislation (Congress may overrule with 2/3 vote of each house). The president can also recommend legislation to Congress. Another power is administrative power “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. He also has to fill administrative vacancies during congressional recess. His judicial powers are to nominate federal judges, confirmed by the Senate. He can grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses. Presidents powers have expanded b/c of new technology and prominence in the world. They also have created new roles for themselves. George W Bush withheld information from Congress under doctrine of executive privilege. There are some limitations to there power. For instance only Congress can declare war (loophole) and the Senate has the power to approve of treaties and presidential appointments.
president’s role as chief executive including roles of bureaucracy serving him
President can control bureaucracy by appointing top-level administrators. 500 high-level positions are available. Presidents issue executive orders to run government used to implement statutes, treaties, and provisions of the Constitution. The Vice President’s main job is waiting and presiding over the Senate. The Cabinet are the presidential’s advisers and are the heads of executive departments (ex: state, treasury, defense, Justice). The White House staff has 600 people. The President only sees a few daily: chief of staff, congressional liaison aides, press secretary, national secretary assistance. President turns to them for advice and the white house aides are central to policy making process. The First lady also serves a role and has to maintain a good image. Usually they will concern themselves with a few issues like Michelle Obama and the obesity crisis.
president’s role as chief legislator: nature of pres-cong relations
Presidential Veto can be a tool to persuade Congress to give more weight to the president’s views.
president’s role as chief legislator: president as party leader
President is highly dependent on party to move legislation. Their bonds of the party are more cohesive, and they agree on the same matters. There can be slippage, however, so the president must remain an active leader to party. Even though leaders are predisposed to support presidential policies, they are free to oppose the president so the president will offer amenities.
president’s role as chief legislator: importance of public support
It is important for the president to have public approval. Members of Congress anticipate the public’s reactions to their support for opposition to presidents and their policies. Public approval is the political resource that has the most potential to turn a stalement between the president and congress into a situation supportive of presidential’s legislative proposals. Members of Congress are unlikely to vote against the clear interests of their constituencies. Public approval gives President leverage not command. Electoral mandates are the perception that the voters strongly support the president and his policies. It accords added legitimacy and credibility. Every election produces a winner, but mandates are much less common. Perception of a mandate are weak if the winning candidate did not stress his policy plans in the campaign.
president’s role as chief legislator: legislative skills of the president
include bargaining, making personal appeals, consulting with Congress, setting priorities, exploiting “honeymoon” periods, and structuring congressional votes. Bargaining is basically trading support on policies or providing specific benefits for representatives and senators–occurs less often and plays a less critical role in the creation of presidential coalitions in Congress. President need to bargain only if this coalition doesn’t doesn’t provide the majority. It is also wise for a president to send new legislation to the Hill during the first year in office to exploit the “honeymoon” phase. Setting priorities is also important. The goal is to set Congress’s agenda. Setting priorities is important because presidents and their staff can lobby for a few bills at a time. The President is the nations key agenda builder. But the President’s legislative skills are not the core of presidential leadership of Congress.
president and national security: role as chief diplomat
the president alone extends diplomatic recognition to foreign governments and can terminate relations with other nations. He can also negotiate treaties with other nations. In addition to treaties, presidents also negotiate executive agreements with the heads of foreign governments.
president and national security: role as commander-in-chief
when the constitution was written America did not have a large standing army. Today there is about 1.4 million men and women. Plus nuclear arsenal. Congress has the power to declare war. But it is unreasonable to believe that Congress can convene, debate, and vote on a declaration of war in the case of a nuclear attack.
president and national security: presidential war powers
Presidents pay less attention to war details; for example Congress never declared war during the conflicts in either Korea or Vietnam. War Powers Resolution gave Congress more power by making the President consult with Congress before using military force and mandated withdrawal of forces after 60 days unless Congress declared war or granted an extension, but Presidents usually ignore and can find ways over it.
president and national security: crisis management
A crisis challenges the president to make difficult decisions. Crises are rarely the president’s doing, but if handled wrong it could be the president’s undoing. But it could remake their image. Modern communications allow the president to constantly monitor events almost anywhere.
president and the people (public presidency): “going public” (powers and limitations)
Presidents try to shape public opinion. The White House stages the president’s appearances purely to get the public’s attention. Ceremonial activities give them an important symbolic aura and a great deal of favorable press coverage, contributing to their efforts to build public support.
importance of presidential approval ratings
The White House aims a lot of energy into PR because the higher the President is in the polls the easier it is to persuade others to support his initiatives. Presidents frequently do not have widespread support and often fail to win even majority approval. Presidential approval is the product of many factors like party identification. Citizens focus on the president’s efforts and stands on issues rather than on personality, like integrity and leadership skills. Support can jump because of “rally events” like George W. Bush after 9/11.
president’s relationship with the media: incl; why each needs the other
The press is the principal intermediary between the president and the public. Presidents and press tend to be in conflict. White House monitors media closely. They go to great lengths to encourage the media to project and policies. 1/3 of white house staff are involved in media. Press secretary serves a conduct of information from the White house to the press. Bias is the most politically charged issue in relations between the president and the press. News coverage tends to emphasize the negative. The press needs the president for more views.