Can Congress effectively check the executive branch in wartime? Do lawmakers have the expertise and information to make decisions about national and homeland security?
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Office Hours: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu 1:15-2:15
If these times are inconvenient, please make an appointment
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:
Plagiarism is not a victimless offense, because it hurts fellow students. Please study our Statement of Academic Integrity, which reads in part: "The faculty of Claremont McKenna College is firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity. Each faculty member has the responsibility to report cases of academic dishonesty to the Academic Standards Committee, which has the duty of dealing with cases of alleged academic dishonesty."
Students who need accommodations for disabilities should get in touch with the Dean of Students or Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. It is the policy and practice of CMC to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and subsequent amendments, as well as state and local requirements regarding students with disabilities. CMC will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations for students with medical, psychological, learning, or temporary disabilities. Accommodations are not to give a student an unfair advantage over other students, but simply to allow a student with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to be successful. A student has the responsibility to meet with Julia Easley x77377 as early as possible to discuss requests for accommodations.
Roger Davidson, Walter J. Oleszek, Frances E. Lee, and Eric Schickler Congress and Its Members, 15th ed. (Washington: CQ Press, 2016).
Paul S. Herrnson, Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington, 7th ed. (Washington: CQ Press, 2016).
Jacob R. Straus and Matthew E. Glassman, eds., Party and Procedure in the United States Congress (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).
Schedule The schedule is subject to change, with advance notice.
Sept 1: Introduction
Sept 6, 8: Two Political Branches, Two Chambers, Two Congresses, Two Parties
Davidson, ch. 1, 2, 5
Fisher, ch. 1
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
Davidson, ch. 3, 6
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). In Sakai.
Who writes the bills, and how? What is the role of congressional committees?
Davidson ch. 7-8
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?
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
Oct 20: Congress and the Executive II
Nov 1, 3: Congressional Elections I
Nov 8, 10: Congressional Elections II
SIMULATION WRITEUP DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11
Nov 15, 17: Courts,
Investigations, Impeachments
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?
Davidson, ch. 14.
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?
Davidson, ch. 15
Fisher, ch. 8-9
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?
Herrnson, ch. 10-11
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