US Congress

CMC Gov 101, Spring 2018

Monday and Wednesday 11AM -12:15 PM Classroom:  Roberts North 15

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 [Make sure that you get the correct editions of the Davidson and Thurber books.]

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

 

Jan 17:  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?

 

Jan 22, 24: 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. And it must work with the executive branch. How do these dualities affect its work?

THREE-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED JAN 22, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, FEB 2.

READ STRUNK AND WHITE FIRST.

 

Jan 29, 31:  Congressional Elections

"Everyone up here has politics in his blood. Kind of like herpes." -- Senator John Neely Kennedy (R-LA)

How do congressional candidates emerge onto the scene? What accounts for the party balance in the House and Senate?

Feb 5, 6: 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 leaders and followers influence each other on Capitol Hill?

Feb 12, 14: Process and Decision Making 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? Who writes the bills, and how?  What is the role of congressional committees?

FIVE-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED FEB 12, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, MAR 2.


Feb 19, 21:  Process and Decision Making II  


"If procuring votes with offers of employment is what you intend, I’ll fetch a friend from Albany who can supply the skulking men gifted at this kind of shady work. Spare me the indignity of actually speaking to Democrats. Spare you the exposure and liability."  -- William Seward (David Strathairn) in Lincoln

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?


Feb 26, 28:  The Art of the Political Deal


"When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game
But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game."
-- Lin-Manuel Miranda, "The Room Where It Happens" 

How do lawmakers engage in deliberation and bargaining?
Mar 5, 7: 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?
Mar 12, 14:  Spring Break

Mar 19, 21:  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?

MARCH 26-29 LEGISLATIVE SIMULATION.  NO DAYTIME CLASSES. LEAVE EVENINGS OPEN

Apr 2, 4:  Oversight and the Courts

"[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?  
SIMULATION WRITEUP DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY FRIDAY, APRIL 13

Apr 9, 11: 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? 

Apr 16, 18: National Security, the Two Congresses, and Political Courage

 

"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? What is political courage?

FOUR-PAGE PAPER ASSIGNED APR 18, DUE IN SAKAI DROPBOX BY MAY 1

 
Apr 23, 25: 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?

Apr 30, May 2:  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? 

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