US Congress

CMC Gov 101, Fall 2016

Tuesday and Thursday 11AM -12:15 PM Classroom:  Kravis LC62

J.J. Pitney -- Office: 232 Kravis

Telephone: 909/607-4224

Office Hours:  Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu 1:15-2:15

If these times are inconvenient, please make an appointment

 Email: jpitney@cmc.edu  

http://www1.cmc.edu/pages/faculty/JPitney/

See also my Congress Links page.

 

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:

Grades

 

The following will make up your course grade:

Details Required Books

Schedule  The schedule is subject to change, with advance notice. 

 

Sept 1:  Introduction


"The art of the compromise,
Hold your nose and close your eyes.
We want our leaders to save the day,
But we don't get a say in what they trade away.
We dream of a brand new start,
But we dream in the dark for the most part."
-- Lin-Manuel Miranda, "The Room Where It Happens," -- our class anthem


What are the major functions of Congress?

 

Sept 6, 8: Two Political Branches, Two Chambers, Two Congresses, Two Parties     


"In the House of Representatives, an institution of 435 people that is incredibly diverse, getting enough people in common cause – 218 people to pass anything – is a real challenge. But particularly one of the big differences between the House and the Senate is if you’re in the House of Representatives, and you happen to be in the minority party, whatever that might be ...it’s almost an abject minority because the rules of the House control the process in such a way that the majority largely controls everything primarily through a traffic cop called the Rules Committee
." Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

 Congress is both a lawmaking bodies and a representative assembly.  It has two distinct chambers with majority and minority parties.  How do these dualities affect its work?

THREE-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED SEPT 8, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, SEPT 16.

READ STRUNK AND WHITE FIRST.

 

Sept 13, 15: Parties and Leadership

"So why is compromise so hard in the House? ... [The answer could be this instead: individual members of Congress are responding fairly rationally to their incentives. Most members of the House now come from hyperpartisan districts where they face essentially no threat of losing their seat to the other party. Instead, primary challenges, especially for Republicans, may be the more serious risk." -- Nate Silver

How do members present themselves at home and in Washington? How do leaders and followers influence each other on Capitol Hill?

Sept 20, 22: Process I

"The Affordable Care Act contains more than a few examples of inartful drafting." -- Chief Justice John Roberts

  

Who writes the bills, and how?  What is the role of congressional committees? 

FIVE-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED SEPT 22, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, OCT 7.


Sept 27, 29:  Process II  

 

“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? 

ONE-PAGE MEMO ON SIMULATION ROLE DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY SEPT 30

Oct 4, 6: Decision Making, Identity, Interest Groups

 

"Congress is followed by a lot of phonies: a new study shows a large percentage of accounts following legislators on Twitter are fake." -- Alicia M. Cohn, The Hill

How do members decide how to vote?  What is the relative influence of leadership, constituency, and ideology?  How the "outside game" of media politics complement the "inside game" of legislative maneuvering?

Oct 11, 13: Congress and the Executive I


"I just want to repeat, I'm president, I'm not king. If Congress has laws on the books that says that people who are here who are not documented have to be deported, then I can exercise some flexibility in terms of where we deploy our resources, to focus on people who are really causing problems as a opposed to families who are just trying to work and support themselves. But there's a limit to the discretion that I can show because I am obliged to execute the law. That's what the Executive Branch means. I can't just make the laws up by myself. So the most important thing that we can do is focus on changing the underlying laws." -- President Obama, October 25, 2010.

How do the executive and legislative branches check each other? Do they intrude on each other's legitimate authority?

Oct 20:  Congress and the Executive II


"It is often difficult to separate the merits of the underlying policies from the means used to achieve them. It so happens that I agree with many of the goals of the Administration in the various areas where the President has circumvented Congress. However, in the Madisonian system, it is often more important how you do things than what you do." -- Prof. Jonathan Turley

How does Congress try to control the bureaucracy?

October 24-27:  LEGISLATIVE SIMULATION.  LEAVE EVENINGS OPEN

Nov 1, 3: Congressional Elections I


“The highest-premium voter in ’92 was a voter who would vote for one party some and for another party some.“Now the highest-premium voter is somebody with a high probability to vote for you and low probability to turn out. That’s the golden list. And that’s a humongous change in basic strategic doctrine.” -- James Carville

How do congressional candidates emerge onto the scene?

Nov 8, 10: Congressional Elections II


What accounts for the party balance in the House and Senate?


"When I asked [Trump] recently whether the party’s maintaining its majority in the Senate meant anything to him, he replied: `Well, I’d like them to do that. But I don’t mind being a free agent, either.'" -- Robert Draper

SIMULATION WRITEUP DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11

 Nov 15, 17:  Courts, Investigations, Impeachments


"[House Oversight Chair Jason] Chaffetz, who is now entering his fourth term in Congress, says he sought out [former chair Henry] Waxman when he arrived in Washington in 2009. `I just proactively went up and shook his hand and said I care about this and I admire what he’s done,' Chaffetz says. `Although I disagree with him on just about everything,' Chaffetz says, Waxman is “passionate about [Congress as an] institution, the process by which you do oversight, and the elements and keys to success.' `If you look at his effectiveness, ouch,' Chaffetz says. `He took a bite out of the [Bush] administration and, from that respect, I admire what he did.'" -- Eliana Johnson

How does Congress try to influence the composition of the judiciary?  How do the branches battle over control of information?  Is impeachment the ultimate political weapon?

Nov 22: Budgets and Domestic Policy


"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

 

What is domestic policy?  How does Congress makes decisions on issues such as employment and health care? 

FOUR-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED NOVEMBER 22, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, DEC 9

 

Nov 29, Dec 1: National Security

 

"Politics are changing and you don't want to be the last one holding the dog collar when the oversight committee comes." -- "Dan" (Jason Clarke) to "Maya" (Jessica Chastain) in Zero Dark Thirty

 

Can Congress effectively check the executive branch in wartime?  Do lawmakers have the expertise and information to make decisions about national and homeland security?

 

Dec 6, 8: Dysfunction and Reform

 

"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? 

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