Final Review

Question 1

Strengths of Strong Committee System

Answer 1

• more nuance issues can be addressed
• more room for individual goals
• representatives act more in favor of constituents than party - autonomy
• candidate centered elections

Question 2

Weakness for Weak Committee Systems

Answer 2

• less centralized goals
• harder to pass legislation
• not as productive

Question 3

What are factors that influence committee assignment?

Answer 3

• ideological outlook (match the parties)
• leadership
• money
• seniority
• expertise

Question 4

Paul Ryan: To advance agenda, you have to work as a team. This means applying party pressure on votes ….
What are the costs and benefits of this in terms of substantive representation?

Answer 4

Pro: able to get an agenda through in best interest of the nation, log rolling, i vote for in in exchange.. (getting pork for district)

Cons: not always voting in favor of constituents but instead party agenda

Question 5

Is the filibuster democratic?

Answer 5

no; prevents majority agenda from minority filibuster

Question 6

Why is the filibuster costly for the majority?

Answer 6

• consumes time
• prevents voting attempts for non super majority backed bills

Question 7

What are some pathways for reform of the filibuster?

Answer 7

• Remove super majority requirement for cloture
• Build a Germanness rule

Question 8

How does partisan gerrymandering help/hurt substantive representation?

Answer 8

hurts substantive rep. does not always reflect party divide in state (10 districts, 60D :40R, all 10 D, does not reflect 60:40)

Question 9

What do you see as a potential solution for gerrymandering?

Answer 9

• contiguity
• compactness

Question 10

Idea of costless filibuster

Answer 10

• double tracking allows bill to be set aside while being filibustered
• time burden falls on majority
• leads to the threat of a filibuster being enough to kill a bill (undemocratic, no unanimous consent)