US Congress
CMC Gov 101, Spring 2012
Monday and Wednesday 2:45-4:00
Classroom: Kravis 164
J.J. Pitney -- Office: 232 Kravis
Telephone: 909/607-4224
Office
Hours: Monday and Wednesday 11AM-noon, 4:15-5:15 PM
If
these times are inconvenient, please make an appointment
Email:
jpitney@cmc.edu
Alternate email:
pitneys@gmail.com
General
Like a vast picture thronged
with figures of equal prominence and crowded with elaborate and obtrusive
details, Congress is hard to see satisfactorily and appreciatively at a single
view and from a single stand-point.
Its
complicated forms and diversified structure confuse the vision, and conceal
the system which underlies its composition.
It is too complex to be understood without effort, without a careful
and systematic process of analysis.
-- Woodrow Wilson, Congressional
Government
In this course, we shall undertake such analysis.
We shall ask how lawmakers behave at home and on Capitol Hill.
We shall study Congress's procedures and structures, with an eye to
explaining why some bills pass while others languish.
Classes
Class sessions will include lecture and discussion.
Finish each week's readings before class because our
discussions will involve those readings.
We shall also talk about breaking news stories about Congress, so you
must
read a good daily news source such as
Politico
or
Real Clear Politics.
Blog
Our class blog is at
http://gov101.blogspot.com. I
shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material there. We
shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your
convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog.
(Please let me know if you do not get such an invitation.) I
encourage you to use the blog in these ways:
-
To post questions or comments about the
readings before we discuss them in class;
-
To follow up on class discussions
with additional comments or questions.
-
To post relevant news items or videos.
Grades
The following will make up your course grade:
Three three-page papers:
|
15% each |
In-class
exam:
|
20% |
Simulation
& writeup |
25% |
Class participation/blog:
|
10% |
Details
-
The papers will develop your research and
writing skills. In grading your
papers, I will take account of the quality of your writing, applying the
principles of
Strunk and White’s
Elements
of Style. If you object to this approach, do not take this
course, or anything else that I teach.
-
The
simulation will require you to study your part and
spend several sessions in character.
Do
not take this class if you cannot take part in the simulation.
-
The
exam will test your comprehension of course material.
-
Class participation
will hone your ability to think on your feet, as I shall call on students at
random. If you often miss class
or fail to prepare, your grade will suffer.
I shall use the
cold calls to judge how well you are keeping up with the material.
If you
object to this approach, do not take this course. I also
expect you to post relevant material to the blog.
-
In addition to the required readings (below), I may also give you
handouts,
emails, and web links covering current events and basic factual
information. The exam may cover
this material.
-
As
a courtesy to your fellow students, please arrive on time, and refrain from
eating in class.
-
Check due dates for coursework and the exam. Arrange your schedule
accordingly. Do not plan on
extensions.
-
Plagiarism
or any other form of academic dishonesty will result in referral to the
Academic Standards Committee. See:
http://www.cmc.edu/writing/plagiarism.php
Required Books
-
Louis Fisher, Constitutional Conflicts Between Congress and the
President, 5th ed. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas,
2007).
-
Paul S. Herrnson, Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in
Washington, 6th ed. (Washington: CQ Press, 2012).
-
John Haskell, Congress In Context (Boulder: Westview, 2010).
-
John F. Kennedy,
Profiles in Courage (New York: HarperCollins, 2006 [1955]).
-
Barbara Sinclair,
Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the US Congress, 4th
ed. (Washington: CQ Press, 2012).
Schedule The schedule is subject to change, with advance notice.
Jan 18: Introduction
"It’s official: Congress ended
its least-productive year in modern history after passing 80 bills — fewer than
during any other session since year-end records began being kept in 1947.
Furthermore, an analysis by The Washington Times of the scope of such
activities as time spent in debate, number of conference reports produced and
votes taken on the House and
Senate floors found that Congress set
a record for legislative futility by accomplishing less in 2011 than any other
year in history." --
Stephen Dinan.
What are the
major functions of Congress?
Jan 23, 25: Two Chambers, Two Congresses
"Larry, you know, one of the things that's most troublesome to
me, having come from a state legislature, is the lack of
interaction between the House and the Senate. You know, there's
just an institutional barrier there. And I tell you this, I'm
not really sure what's going on." --
Rep. Barney Frank (D--MA)
Do lawmakers present different faces on Capitol Hill and at home? What are the major differences between the
House and Senate?
-
Haskell, ch. 1-2.
-
Fisher, ch. 1.
FIRST 3-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED JAN 25, DUE FEBRUARY 8.
READ STRUNK AND
WHITE FIRST.
Jan 30, Feb 1: Leaders, Parties,
Elections I
"As Democrats in Congress, we often felt like we were drinking water
out of a fire hose, trying to simultaneously deal with past failures of the Bush
administration and the avalanche of new initiatives from Obama. This lack of
focus also made it easy for congressional Republicans to stall and foil many of
President Obama’s best initiatives — which they did with relish!"
--
Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
Do leaders drive the rank-and-file
members, or merely reflect their views? What is the connection between congressional parties
and electoral parties? How does majority or minority status change the way
lawmakers do their work?
-
Peter J. Boyer, "House Rule," The New Yorker, December 13, 2010.
-
Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, "The Johnson System,"
in The Legislative Process in the US Senate, eds. Lawrence K. Pettit
and Edward Keynes (Chicago: Rand-McNally, 1969).
-
Brian Williams, "Taking the Hill: Inside Congress," NBC News video, July 31,
2011, at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30892505/ (view all six parts)
-
Herrnson, ch. 1.
Feb 6, 8: Leaders, Parties, Elections II
"I think Katrina just did us a big favor, to
be crass about it." -- Then-DCCC chair Rahm Emanuel, 2005.
Who runs for the House and Senate?
How do House and Senate elections differ?
Feb 13, 15: Leaders, Parties, Elections
III
"When I asked Boehner whether he saw the Republican victory of 2010, which was
at least as decisive as Gingrich’s, as a mandate, he seemed almost to recoil.
`No, no, noooooo,' he said. `I have watched people in the past deal with this
issue, whether it’s Speaker Gingrich, or Speaker Pelosi, or President Obama. And
we made a very conscious decision that we were not going to go down that path.
The tone that we set is very important. You saw it on Election Night, and you’ve
seen it since.'" --
Peter J. Boyer
How does a "wave" election differ from an "all politics is local" election?
What is likely to happen in the 2012 election?
ONE-PAGE MEMO ON SIMULATION ROLE DUE FEBRUARY 15.
SECOND 3-PAGE
PAPER ASSIGNED FEBRUARY 15, DUE FEBRUARY 29.
Feb 20, 22:
Process and Purse I
“If you let me write procedure and I let you write
substance, I'll screw you every time.” --
Rep.
John Dingell (D-MI)
How does the majority try to control the floor? How can the minority
overcome the majority's procedural advantage? How does Congress
deliberate on issues?
-
Haskell, ch. 4.
-
Sinclair ch. 1-3
Feb 27, 29: Process and Purse II
"We threw this big banana into the gorilla
cage and they’re going to pick it up, play with it, mash it, but they’re gonna
eat some of it. They can’t avoid eating some of it because of where they’re
headed." --
Alan Simpson
How does Congress manage budgets, appropriations, and revenue legislation?
How do budgetary and policy goals shape each other? Can Congress prevent
catastrophic levels of debt?
-
Haskell, ch. 5
-
Sinclair, ch. 4-6
-
Fisher, ch. 7
Mar 5, 7: Congress and
the Executive I
"I've always been fond of the saying that when it comes to oversight and reform,
the federal government does two things well: nothing and overreact. Too often, a
problem is allowed to fester until it reaches a crisis point. . ..and the
American people are left asking the question: what went wrong and why?" --
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
In
the struggle between Congress and the president, what circumstances favor each
side? How does the president try to influence Congress?
IN-CLASS EXAM MAR 7
Mar 12, 14: Spring Break
Mar 19, 21: Congress and the
Executive II
"In phonemarking, a lawmaker calls an agency to request financing for a
project. More indirectly, members of Congress make use of what are known as soft
earmarks, which involve making suggestions about where money should be directed,
instead of explicitly instructing agencies to finance a project. Members also
push for increases in financing of certain accounts in a federal agency’s budget
and then forcefully request that the agency spend the money on the members’ pet
project." --
Ron Nixon, New York Times
How
do bureaucratic and congressional structures affect each other? Do "iron
triangles" actually exist? How well does Congress oversee the bureaucracy?
-
Haskell, ch. 6
-
Fisher, ch.4-6
Mar 26-29:
Legislative Simulation -- Leave
evenings open.
"Indeed, as time
has passed, life has begun to imitate art. Adam Kokesh CMC ’07 and
Craig McPherson CMC ’06 are both alums of the simulation, playing Ted
Kennedy and Pat Roberts respectively. Both are currently running for the U.S.
House of Representatives." --
Jesse Blumenthal
Apr 2, 4: Domestic Policy
"Depending on whose party is running the
show, the arguments about how judges should be confirmed has gone back and
forth like a windshield wiper. When the GOP was out of power, Republicans
pounded the table about their responsibility to study the records of the
nominees, while the Democrats insisted the president deserved deference.
Flip things around and — boom — the Republicans want deference and the Dems
bust out the Federalist Papers." --
Jonah Goldberg
What is domestic policy? How does Congress makes decisions on issues such
as employment and health care?
April 9, 11:
National Security, Homeland
Security, and Foreign Policy
Al Qaeda is what, I asked,
Sunni or Shia?
“Al Qaeda, they have both,”
Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”
“Sure,” I said, not knowing
what else to say.
“Predominantly — probably
Shiite,” he ventured.
He couldn’t have been more
wrong. Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an
al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer
ball. --
Jeff Stein interview with
Silvestre Reyes, then-chair of the House Intelligence Committee
Can Congress effectively check the executive branch in wartime? Do
lawmakers have the expertise and information to make decisions about
national and homeland security?
-
Haskell, ch. 7
-
Fisher, ch. 8, 9.
SIMULATION
WRITEUP DUE APRIL 11.
Apr 16, 18: Reviewing Congressional
History I
"It quickly became clear that there is nothing new or unusual about the
pattern of sharp partisanship shown in the past two presidential
elections and in the frequent battles on Capitol Hill. David Brady of
Stanford University made the point that the late 19th century and parts
of the 20th century were also times of party warfare; the anomaly was
the relative truce for roughly 25 years after World War II." --
David Broder
How does today's Congress compare with that of
the past? Have lawmakers gotten better or worse?
THIRD 3-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED APRIL 18, DUE MAY 2.
April 23, 25: Reviewing Congressional
History II
"It may take courage to battle one's
president, one's party, or the overwhelming sentiment of one's nation; but these
do not compare, it seems to me, to the courage required of the Senate defying
the angry power of the very constituents who control his future." -- John
F. Kennedy
How had divided
government worked since the Second World War? Why has polarization waxed
and waned?
-
Kennedy ch. 8-11
-
Haskell, ch. 8
Apr 30, May 2: Summing Up
"The halls of Congress are wonderful, much like Wonka's factory.
Capitol Hill features its own alluring versions of chocolate rivers,
lickable wallpaper and edible grass. The temptations are great. TV cameras and
klieg lights offer the beacon of fame. K Street lobbyists command your
attention. People want to donate to your campaign." --
Chad Pergram
How well is Congress working in
the 21st century?
-
Herrnson, ch. 10-11.
-
Sinclair, ch. 10
-
Fisher, ch. 10
##
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