Bill From to Law
Introduction of Bill Issue-Attention Cycle - ?
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Policy Entrepreneurship - ? Policy Gap o when there is absolutely no policies with regard to a certain issue and a congressman makes legislation with regard to that issue Sponsor o a supporter of the bill o very important for bill's passing Dear Colleague letter a letter from one congressman to another to get support for a bill Subcommittee/committee work Committees make large drafting changes Subcommittees are where the nitty gritty stuff is done o Subcommittees are where most of the real work gets done The committee leader must schedule a time for the committee meeting to take place, otherwise the bill dies Hearings where the issue is shown to the congress (and the American public as well) Mark-up Sessions where the bill is marked up by a subcommittee House Senate Differences The Rules Committee a group that controls the flow of bills in the House b/c there would be chaos otherwise o They have a lot of power b/c thy can kill a bill before it even reaches the floor Closed Rule a bill that can't be amended Germaness Rule amendments must be attached to bill King of the Mountain Bill when bills are packaged together and the last one that passes negates all the others
That way congressman can say that they voted for a generous bill w/o actually putting it into
action Unlimited Debate in Senate o No Rules Committee o Bills need unanimous consent to get the floor A single senator can "Hold" bills o Senate is where minorities can block legislature cools off the house (the way the Founders intended) o Filibuster senator can refuse to yield the floor Cloture the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster o The magic number in the Senate is 60 votes b/c unless there is cloture, a filibuster can kill a bill Different from the 51% needed in the House The Last Hurdles If a bill goes through the House and Senate at the same time, there is Reconciliation to make the bills the same in a conference committee o The Conference Report is the new bill that must then be passed by both houses if it doesn't, the bill dies Veto If the President doesn't sign a bill after 10 days then congress needs 2/3 majority to pass the bill Pocket Veto at the end of a session, the president can hold onto a bill and not sign it until the session is over and the bill dies o Pocket veto's are far more common than the regular veto
Committees in Congress
"Congress at work is congress in committee"
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Senate House Differences House o 20 committees and 87 different subcommittees in those committees o 2-3 committees per person Senate o 3-4 committees per person Senators tend to be more spread out while House members tend to be more specialized Seniority Committees (and congress as a whole) are highly based on seniority o Early in their careers, congressmen are expansionist they want to join a lot of committees and expand their base o Later in their careers, congressmen are protectionist they know their base and just deal with legislation that they care about Three Types of Committees Reelection Committees committees that have a big impact on a district and gain a HM or Senator appeal in that district o Largely bipartisan both parties have the same goals o Example: a congressman that lives in a district where everyone is a corn farmer could join an agricultural committee Ideological Committees highly partisan committees for the very right/left where all the sensitive and controversial issues are dealt with o People representing highly dem/rep districts are usually in these committees Power Committees o Ways and Means deals with taxes (only in House o Appropriations the purse committee (in House and Senate)
Controls $ that comes out of treasury "Power of the Purse" A bill could pass and could get no money from appropriations
Some Key Ideas About Committees Power is spread very broadly in congress Committees cause congressmen to specialize and become experts o The main argument against term limits Committees allow for some bipartisan cooperation
Congressional Voting Behavior
Influences on congressional voting Staff (legislative staff)
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o Parties have legislative staff in committees as well o Staff provides a lot of info but they're rarely asked their opinions o Staff has a lot more power than congress realizes they control the information Constituents o Are congressmen trustees or delegates? On most issues they are trustees and on a few they are delegates People don't pay attention to most legislation gives congressmen freedom to make their own decisions a lot because they only care about a few key issues Cautious Vote if a congressman want to vote in a way that would upset most of the people in their district, they will wait till the end of the voting period if it's a landslide, they'll just vote with the people, and if its close then they'll make their own vote o People expect congressmen to be delegates, but they mostly serve as trustees Other reps and senators o Highly influential o Certain congressmen have a reputation as an expert on a certain issue so they're highly influential A lot of times a congressmen have no idea what they're voting on, so they just go along with their traditional allies
The President and Congress
Presidential Influence The President's personal prestige
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Shared interests Mandate and coattails "Going public" o When the President presents their message to the American people in order to enhance their chances of success in Washington Reagan was very good at this o Especially today, with all the forms of modern media, the president can easily get his message out Office of Congressional Relations (OCR) o The lobbyist that the president hires in order to push his agenda in Congress
Studying the Presidency
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Variation in effectiveness in their relation to Congress Some president are very skilled, others are horrible o Jimmy Carter was horrible because he was an antiestablishment outsider o George W. Bush also did not work well with Congress Not the type of guy that reaches out and tries to bring people together doesn't want to work with or listen to others o Lyndon Johnson was very effective with Congress loved being a part of Congress (Eisenhower was also very good) There is a strong relationship between how the president got into office and how they behaved once they got there o Carter came in as an outsider and behaved as one once he got there o Johnson came up through the ranks in Washington good at functioning within the system and liked it Categorizing Presidents It's tough to define the presidency b/c each president defines the job differently and uses their power differently o The Founders left it ambiguous on purpose Political Skills Style the way they make decisions o Inductive vs. Deductive decision-making Doing everything on your own vs. delegation Reagan used mini-memos, there was a one page description of a situation and all of his options that he could check off at the bottom of the sheet Management Patterns o Formalistic focus on order, less political, everyone has a specific task Example: Nixon o Competitive give staff members the same task and hear several different opinions Example: FDR o Cooperative there are teams that make decisions
Example: JFK Personality o Some loved the power and wanted more, others didn't like the responsibility o Some worked incredibly hard, others were very relaxed
Watergate and its Lessons
There was a lot of dirty politics during this time period
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CREEP the committee to re-elect the president The group that led the Watergate operation o G. Gordon Liddy o E. Howard Hunt They broke into the Democratic offices at the Watergate o Tapped the wrong phones o Had to go in a second time to tap the phones again Caught by security The investigation Started off as a really small story wasn't even on the front page The administration tried everything they could to have Liddy and Hunt take the blame o Offered them money o Tried to interfere with the federal investigation There were two reasons that Nixon got caught o Hunt and Liddy were unreliable o There was a money trail from the Liddy and Hunt to CREEP Nixon had tapes of all of his conversations thus it would be clear what Nixon knew and when he found out o Archibald Cox subpoenaed the tapes o Nixon did not turnover the tapes cited executive privilege Offered a transcript of the tapes that would edit out sensitive material that would jeopardize national security Nixon's offer was rejected o Nixon told his Attorney General to fire Cox he refused and Nixon fired him Nixon then fired his first assistant for the same reason o Nixon's attorney was supposed to take the blame ended up implicating Nixon The case ultimately went all the way to the supreme court o US v. Nixon the court decided that the tapes had to be turned over
"The Smoking Gun Tape" Nixon said on the tape that the FBI should be called off by the CIA and strategizing how to do that o In another, Nixon was giving into the blackmail demands of Liddy and Hunt Nixon resigned during the impeachment process Key lessons from Watergate The relationship between the president and the press o A symbiotic relationship each needs the other The president needs the media to communicate with the American public and influence public opinion The Bully Pulpit when the president gives his opinion to the general public The president is the most interesting aspect of the government to the media also easier to cover o It is crucial for the president to not violate this relationship Nixon violated the relationship Nixon was always mistreated by the press, so he disliked them and didn't trust them Never accommodated the press The media reacted by heavily pursuing every scandal involving Nixon Journalistic bias there is not a bias involving the ideology of the media, rather the journalists have to be courted their only bias is that they want to do their jobs well Reagan did a really good job with this Clinton did not do well
Presidential Control of the Executive Branch12/10/2007 3:44:00 PM
Independent agencies- look at separate, independent entities Agencies are often headed by boards, and aren't run by the pres.'s cabinet Cabinet: Secretary of each department Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Budget Pres. Can reshape cabinet to align to his or her priorities or policy needs over 3 mill. Fed. Employees Pres. appoints top leadership of secretaries, deputies under are made by administration when new administration comes in then new ppl appointed Most fed. Gov. employees are there no matter who the pres. Is Plum Book- lists all of the potential political jobs in the administration at any given time. The appt. must be approved by the Senate, which has the power to advise and consent of the appointed this ability of the Senate provides the Senate with a legislative check on the executive. The White House Staff National security council, office of science and tech. Ppl who inform and provide assistance to the pres. To run the bueracracy These ppl advise pres. On how to deal w congress, work w budgets, help with policies and politics They are to help the pres. Expand his ability to exercise his power
Started in a powerful way w Dwight Eisenhower, who believed that these ppl were as imp. As the cabinet members; so he filled these positions w/ highly skilled ppl Differences: Perspective: Cabinet: Dept. agency heads run their agencies, sometimes w large number of ppl in them such as dept. of education and transportation Agency heads represent agency in front of Congress, who is in charge of overseeing buracracy and ask them questions about how policies are being divided White House Staff: The job of members of white house staff is to concilitate the pres. And make pres. More powerful and effective "Maximize pres. Time and voice." Chief of staff- runs white house and runs pres. Scheduling, gatekeeper to pres. Advisors- to help pres. Devise policy in diff. areas During Reagan they had cabinet councils, which helped advise in more than one department, such as interracial bussing Press Secretary- helps pres. Deal with media and to help present the pres.'s point of view to the media. This helps the pres.'s policy be received by the media, they strategize how pres. Will be wellcovered. Help pres. Strategize about speaking and stuff Also deals with media's requests and needs Experience: Cabinet: Usually older, more respected members of the party Usually someone who has exhibited long-term support for the pres. Sometimes senators who lost in previous elections-John Ashcroft Sometimes experts in field- Margaret Spelling (education)
Sec. of state- are often diplomats (C. Rice was a pol. Professor)(foreign policy expert- U.S. Soviet relations) Pres. Often has constituencies Sometimes there are professional cabinet members, who are just good administrators and running big things Some pres. Makes cabinet look like America (Bush diversified and even had a dem.) White House Staff: o Younger o Some have worked on pres.'s campaign o Their success is tied w pres. Success o Karl Rove(nothing before he met Bush) o Reagan appointed Pierce for sec. of housing and urban development, just bc a friend referred Reagan to him o W.h. staff are very loyal to pres. o Vince foster- not even successful but chosen on staff bc loyalty to Clinton Relationships: Cabinet: o Supossed to help pres. Run buracracy, which is very difficult bc have to run a very large number of ppl and these ppl are secure in their jobs no matter who the pres. Is and these career buracracts can be very stubborn, thus hard to manage o Regan said they will think dept. is there, it's ours. o Running dept. means they often will develop goals and perspectives from below, which makes them identify with the dept., thus they begin to influence administration rather than implement the original goals of the administration Can be distant from the president o Going native- captured by buracracy and no longer marching for pres.'s goals, but for dept.'s White House Staff: o Working directly for the administration Always has the president's goals in mind Natural allies to the president
White House staff usually has the upper-hand
Bureaucratic Policymaking
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Key Ideas About the Bureaucracy When congress makes a law, they leave a lot of small details out o It's not practical Congress should be focused on big issues, not tiny details o Not smart politically small decisions that could upset a lot of people o Not desirable experts should be making these decisions Bureaucrats are in charge of fleshing out legislation while following very strict regulations o Federal Register A list of regulations and executive orders that is added to daily 80,000 total pages Also provides the reasoning behind why the regulation exists Comment Period Period for people to discuss how the regulation might effect them
o Code of Federal Regulations A list of all regulations listed by department rather than chronologically Two Types of Bureaucratic Power Rule Making Authority the ability of an agency to issue a set of rules that have to be followed by a business or organization o Ex: The FDA was charged by Congress to come up with rules to protect the interests of consumers b/c Tylenol was poisonous o This authority has been around for a very long time o Whitman v. American Trucking Associations Congress gave the EPA permission not only to supervise the Clean Act, Air but also to determine the extent to which power plants had to clean their emissions This was challenged and brought before the Supreme Court jeopardized Congress' ability to delegate to government agencies
Supreme Court unanimously agreed that there is a need for agencies to have power Adjudicatory authority
o Agencies have the power to decide whether or not a particular rule applies to a particular group or organization there is a judicial system within many agencies and they make decisions in a case-by-case manner o Administrative Law Judge makes this decision in a courtlike setting o Ex: Administrative law judge decides who gets certain social security benefits How Congress can check the bureaucracy Congress can always reevaluate programs via congressional oversight o The heads of agencies are often called before congress in order to answer questions about the implementation of policies Congress has control of the budgets of these agencies Congressional Review Act congress can legally overturn a federal regulation There are no filibusters allowed and president must sign the legislation
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Supreme Court as the Third Branch
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An independent judiciary Roosevelt proposed that an additional member should be added to the court for every member that had been there for over 20 yrs (because they are old and need help) and a term limit to 15 yrs o The only real reason he wanted it was because he wanted majority o Failed in senate b/c o Main Advocate in House die Switch in time that saved nine Independent judiciary fended this idea off way to influence court wait and appoint justices
Criteria for appointment Diversity o A sense that the count should be a good representation of the public o Riding the circuit previously, justices had to travel throughout the U.S. the create a buffer now not necessary because of the court of appeals o Diversity used to mean geographic location Experience o People that have had judicial experience o The court of appeals is like the Minor Leagues for the Supreme Court The D.C. circuit is the main funnel because they are basically all federal cases o The state supreme courts are also key pools for appointing justices o Solicitor General the lawyer that represents the government in the Supreme Court he has the president's priorities in mind "Confirmability" o It's embarrassing to appoint a justice and have it get rejected, so it's important to appoint someone that you know will get through Appoint someone popular
Truman appointed a republican senator because he knew he was fair and that he was very popular
Appoint someone without much of a record Flies under the radar be very indecisive during the senate hearings Bush did this with David Suitor Politics and predictability o Appoint someone from a demographic that will get you key votes o Presidents appoint justices who are predictable people who they can predict what they're going to decide and how they're going to behave Often backfires As Truman says, "Once you appoint someone to the Supreme Court, he ceases to be your friend" Judicial Philosophy o The president cannot predict this o Judicial Activisim the belief that the Constitution is a living document that can be adjusted to modern times Has the court playing a very assertive role in the government Under this point of view, the court has the authority to do more things and that it should not be restrained by the Constitution
o Judicial Restraint the belief that the court is an undemocratic institution that should not be interfering too much with the laws made by popularly elected politicians When in doubt, don't question the laws made by the legislature o Strict Constructionism Following the constitution word for word o Originalism Trying to gain an understanding the for what the intentions of the founding fathers were and interpret the Constitution with their intentions in mind o There is the impression that judicial restraint is a conservative ideal and that judicial activism is liberal
Is not necessarily always the case though 2000 election ... conservatives were activist and liberals were restrained Was not always the case, in the 20's it was the opposite, that's why the conservatives added the prohibition to the constitution They're not as tied together as most people think
Overall, the president tries to predict the outcome, but with 80 cases a year, that's impossible o However, they can understand how the justice approaches the law and that is a key aspect of their decision-making
The Judicial Process
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The assertion of judicial review The power of the court derives from the process of judicial review o It's the right of the Supreme Court to evaluate and invalidate laws passed by congress and deem it unconstitutional o The description of the courts' power is very spare in the constitution Judicial review is not in the constitution its not not there either The court created this power for itself John Marshall the central figure in developing the powers of the Supreme Court shortly following the formation of the U.S. Marbury v. Madison one of the most important Supreme Court cases in history o Adams appointed Marbury as Justice of the Peace, when Jefferson took office, he did not want Marbury and refused to pay him commission Marbury petitioned to the court to force Madison to pay him commission The SC sided with Madison
The Supreme Court as part of a larger court system Start with the district courts, if one of the parties is unhappy with the outcome, then they can appeal to the court of appeals, if they are unhappy with the outcome of that circuit court's outcome then they can appeal to the Supreme Court The Supreme Court can review State Supreme Court decisions only if there is a violation of the Federal Constitution Docket cases that are heard for the 1st time at the level of the Supreme Court o Example: New Jersey v. New York New Jersey claimed that part of Ellis Island was theirs Court decided that New Jersey was right Writ of certiorari the courts right to decide which cases to hear o Cert when the court decides to hear a case About 1/100 cases are actually heard by the Supreme Court
o The Rule of Four if four of the justices want to hear a case, then it must be heard o The types if cases that the court decides to hear federal matters that pose a major Constitutional question Sometimes they dismiss cases for political reasons The Supreme Court will also hear a case if multiple different appeals courts came up with different decisions If a court refuses cert, then the lower ruling stands Moot when a case is settled out of court and dropped
Deliberations at the Supreme Court
The Process Oral argument
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o Usually four cases a day all winter Exactly one hour per case Attorneys have this time to make their case A very formal setting with very informal rules o Amicus curiae Briefs outsiders that want to add in information provided to the justices during a case The Conference o In order of seniority, each justice expresses their opinion on the case o The most senior member of the majority decides who writes the Majority Opinion This gives the Chief Justice a lot of power because who writes the Opinion has a lot of power the explanation behind the decision is very important for cases heard in lower courts in the future Sometimes they assign it to someone who is incredibly adamant about a decision, sometimes someone that's on the fence, and sometimes someone that's closest to the dissenters because then they can pull some people over to the majority Sometimes the Chief Justice keeps the Opinion for themselves because it is the way to maximize the
authority of the document The Decisions o The Majority opinion, the concurring opinion and the dissenting opinion are all packaged together and issued to the public o Until the decision is published, it is not set in stone There are instances where a justice changed his/her decision later on but before the decision is published If votes are traded, we don't know o Key lessons from Becoming Justice Blackman The justices are constantly interacting with each other and they are very human
Justices often desire to be consistent over time Blackman actually when against this when he was
in his eighties by changing his decision regarding the death penalty o Stare decisis the belief held by justices that they should stay consistent Court should follow precedent The court loses legitimacy if they are constantly overturning decisions Not always followed o Key principles of Supreme Court Cases Constitutional issues are decided by the court, not the individual issue itself The court is immensely powerful, but it is dependent on how people accept the ruling of the court in the political system The Supreme Court has no official power over the police, army, etc. Justices are very careful to exercise their power carefully, because if the public perceives them as overstepping their bounds then they lose legitimacy thus losing all power
Interest Groups and Human Nature
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Return to Federalist 10 According to Madison: It is human nature for people to group together with people who are like themselves o No surprise that powerful interest groups have formed after reading Federalist 10 The Free Rider Problem Glaser thinks that the Federalist missed something: o Although people will band together with others that are likeminded, they will not necessarily influence the government The Free Rider Problem: An individual that is part of a group, and will benefit from that group without actually having to participate, will be naturally disinclined to participate o Therefore, no one will participate because everyone is relying on other people o Same as the principle in Econ. o This is the evidence that Madison was somewhat wrong The Gun Control Paradox o A vast majority of people in the U.S. want stricter gun control, but there are no laws being passed about it That's because the minority of Americans that don't want gun control have incentive to be active about their opinion formed a powerful lobby in the NRA Public Interest Groups the free rider problem is especially problematic for groups that are vast and broad Overcoming the Free Rider Problem o Compel people to join Closed shop technique (only used in unions) must be a member of a union to work in certain professions Unions are weak without this Must make a good case for joining Must highlight to people that they are threatened ACLU has been good at this since 9/11 The Christian Right has always been good at this Offer material benefits
The NRA does this by offering special deals on gun clubs by joining the group
Public Television offers free DVDs, CDs, etc. by joining Solidary Benefits allows people to meet others like themselves Overall, these groups must figure out ways to make the benefits excludable
The Unpopular PAC
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The Political Action Committee Give money to a member of congress in order to gain a good perception sometime down the line o The vehicle through which this happens is the political action committee PAC came to be during the 1970's o Nixon was given a one million dollar donation caused the legislation to pass PAC was originally intended to put a limit on a sum of money given to a campaign o Individuals could give up to 1,000 dollars per candidate per election o They could give up to 5,000 dollars to a PAC per election o There was recent legislation that boosted the limit that can be directly given to a candidate to 2,000 per election PAC tried to put a limit on the amount that candidate could spend o Buckley v. Valeo found that legislation unconstitutional Independent Spending other groups that are not technically part of the campaign can help aid the candidate o Must be very clear the group is not part of the campaign Not only is it legal, but these groups are often the ones engaging in dirty politics PAC's brings individuals dollars into a clear groups whose intentions, power and members are clear to candidates PAC's with similar goals can band together Three Different PAC strategy Make friends with as many members of congress as possible by befriending them as soon as they become viable candidates for the first time Help candidates that they know they're going to like Cover your bases give to everyone Other ways to Influence Congress Honoraria send a donation to a group that would help a congressmen out in that congressman's name
PAC's use their influence and show congressmen that people are paying attention o Makes them feel obligated to vote a certain way on an issue Publish easy-to-understand ratings of congressmen K Street the lobbying equivalent to Wall Street o There are over 17,000 lobbyists in Washington o Good lobbyists are called by congressmen, not the other way around Their ability to provide information is their power Old Congressmen are often lobbyists There are over 150 former Congressmen that are now lobbyists o Why are lobbyists powerful? They have special access to the congressmen, they're old friends/former colleagues They can provide a lot of specific benefits to congressmen without it being noticed There's a lot more money that goes to lobbies than PAC's Problem with PAC's They make it so that incumbents get a lot more money than the competition less competition, thus less accountability for members of congress Good thing about PAC's They allow the general public to make their beliefs clear to congress, thus shaping congress' decisions o PAC's were born out of reform that tried to make the political system better Problem with Lobbies
Overall Themes of Course
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The Founders They were an elite group of men that were elitists and realists The Voting Demographics Not many people vote and an even fewer number of people are politically aware The people that vote are a very different demographic than those that do There is very little public trust and confidence in the American Political system We hold the government up to very high standards that members of the political system cannot hold up to in this open process Three examples of Non Democratic Systems in the U.S. The NRA's power o A minority has a stranglehold over legislation The VRA, and other race related problems The fact that small states have a very disproportionate amount of power in congress All of these things trace back to the intents of the founding fathers The reality is not that pretty, perhaps the Founders' great experiment did not turn out all that well But for all of its problems, the skelaton of the government was a remarkable feat, the government has been intact for centuries o The experiment has shown remarkable tenacity It's well designed it channels human nature to protect the system rather than destroying it Keeps power in the hands of many different people Widespread support for the government People believe in the system, just not the individuals in it
People believe in libertarian values, the government should play as small a role in our
lives as possible System encourages moderation All ends of the popular political spectrum are truly in the middle Everyone accepts the rules of the game
If you lose an election, you accept that They take into account the good of the whole o We can't get it all though We want an end to poverty, pollution, urban decay, etc. In order to do that, the government must impinge on our freedoms and spend money Creates problems but we muddle through
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