Transcript Congress

The Original Gerrymander
What is the purpose of gerrymandering?
To either concentrate opposition votes into a few districts to gain more seats
for the majority in surrounding districts (called packing), or to diffuse minority
strength across many districts (called dilution).
Types of gerrymandering:
Has led to an increase in Hispanic and Black Reps
Redrawing the balanced electoral districts in this example creates a guaranteed 3-to-1
advantage in representation for the blue voters as 14 red voters are packed into the light
green district and the remaining 18 are cracked across the 3 remaining blue districts.
Cracking and Packing-
Courts
•
Does malapportionment violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th
Amendment?
•
Baker v. Carr (1963): First malapportionment case taken by Court
• Memphis, TN had not redistricted since 1901 but population grew in urban
areas drastically;
• resident Joe Baker sued TN Sec. of State Carr for unequal representation
under the law
•
•
Wesberry v. Sanders (1964):
– the Court applied “_____________________” specifically to Congressional
Districts; districts must be as equal in size (population) as possible
• “as nearly as is practicable, one man's vote in a congressional election is to
be worth as much as another's.”
•
Shaw v. Reno (1993) – GERRYMANDERING
– Race can be a factor, but cannot be the sole factor for gerrymandering
– BUT Easley v. Cromartie (2001) political party gerrymandering is legal
Who is in Congress?
 Typical member
 Controversial – can this unrepresentative group represent diverse groups?
 The House has become less male and less white
 Between 1950 and 2005:






Women Senators rose from 2 to 14
Women representatives rose from 10 to 68
Black representatives rose from 2 to 40
Black Senators from 0 to 1
Today, 23 Hispanic Reps, 2 Hispanic Senators
Today, 5 Asian Reps, 2 Asian Senators
 Membership in Congress became a career, unlike past
 Incumbents still have a great electoral advantage
 Democratic party largely controlled Congress from 1933-1998
 But in 1994, voters opposed incumbents due to budget deficits, various
policies, legislative-executive bickering, and scandal
Blacks, Hispanics, and Women in Congress, 1971-2006
111th Congress: January 3, 2009January 11, 2011
House of Reps breakdown:
258 Democrats (blue)
177 Republicans (red)
Senate Breakdown:
58 Democrats
40 Republicans, 2 Independent
The Incumbency Advantage
 Incumbency tradition is high in both Senate (generally above 50%)
and House (generally above 80%, incumbent rate more stable than
Senate)
 ___________________is higher for incumbents
 Incumbents have greater___________________
due to _____________(use govt $), travel to the district,
news coverage
 Members secure policies and programs for voters
 Easier to raise ___________________________because
lobbyists seek their favors
 Redistricting that incumbents do (gerrymandering and
malapportionment)
 ____________________second term reelection strength
 Constituents can see what incumbents are doing in their
community
 Exception to incumbency advantage: scandal or unpopular president
 Consequences?
 Continuity (less radical change), more experienced, established
relationships with interest groups, policy specialization
 discourages challengers, lack of responsiveness, fewer
minorities
Incumbent House Members Running for
Reelection, 1964-2006
Number defeated
Number reelected
400
300
200
100
0
1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004
1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006
Reelection Rates of House
and Senate Incumbents
1946-2006
In 1974, huge drop in House and
Senate Republican seats due to
Watergate scandal; huge drop of
Democratic incumbents due to
Ronald Reagan’s popularity and
Jimmy Carter’s failure
Percen t reelected
100
90
80
70
60
Ho u se Sen ate
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
50
Determinants of voting patterns
• Representative as Delegate vs. trustee
– Delegate: act on what constituents want (agent of the voters, even if they disagree)
– Trustee: members act on their own personal beliefs of what is best for society
• Representational view (Constituent influence):
– Interest group influence, constant visits at home with constituents, emails, phone calls, town hall meetings
• Organizational/ party view (___________________): where constituency
interests are not vitally at stake, members primarily respond to cues from
colleagues
– Party leadership pressure, vote along party lines (more than 75% of
the time)
• Attitudinal view (_______________) the member’s ideology determines
her/his vote
• Congressional approval ratings very low (____%)  overall distrust of
Congress as a whole; higher approval of individual members
–
–
Anomaly: incumbents
reelected
Confidence in American Institutions, 2007
"I am going to read you a list of institutions in American society. Please tell me how
much confidence you, yourself, have in each one--a great deal, quite a lot, some,
or very little?"
T h e m ilitary
Sm all bu sin ess
T h e police
T h e ch u rch
Ban ks
Su prem e Cou rt
P u blic sch ools
M edical system
T h e presiden cy
T elevision n ews
Newspapers
Crim in al ju stice
Organ iz ed labor
Big bu sin ess
HM Os
Con gress
0
Confidence in
government
institutions is
comparatively low.
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percent responding "great deal" or "quite a lot"
Source: CNN/USA Today/ Gallup poll, June 11-44, 2007.
70
80
Congressional Approval, 1974-2006
Americans are
far more
favorable
towards their
own member
of Congress
“Do you approve or disapprove of the way
Congress is handling its job?”
90
80
60
50
40
30
20
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1996
1997
1995
1994
1992
1986
1990
1978
10
1974
1975
1976
Percent responding "approve"
70
Party Leadership in
Congress Overview
• After legislative election (every 2 years), the party with the most
representatives is the “majority” party
– Significance: majority party holds the most sign. Leadership positions and the
majority of seats in committees
• Political parties are very important in the basic organization of leadership
and member’s voting in the House and Senate
• Overview of leadership positions:
• Speaker of the House (House of Reps) – Nancy Pelosi
• Majority leader (House and Senate)
• Minority leader (House and Senate)
• Party whips (House and Senate)
• President pro-tempore (Senate)
• President of the Senate (Senate)
-p.300 for roles of leadership
- Currently the 111th Congress  January 2009- January 2011 Democrats
Party Structure in the House
House
Speaker of the House is most impt leader of majority party and presides over House
(once all powerful until revolt in 1910) – voted for by majority party, senior
member w/ leadership exp
•
•
•
Majority leader and minority leader: floor leaders, schedules bills, rounds up
votes for party favors, stepping stone to Speaker position, spokesperson for
minority party
Party whips keep leaders informed (go betweens for leaders and members),
round up votes of party members, pressure members to support leadership,
inform members of important bills
Committee assignments and legislative schedule are set by each party
Senate Party Leadership
•
President of the Senate is the Vice President of U.S. (rarely present, only votes
in ties) – symbolic office
•
President pro tempore presides; this is the member with most seniority in
majority party (a largely honorific office, no real powers)
•
Real leaders are the *majority leader and the minority leader, elected by
their respective party members – first Senator heard on the floor, determines
Senate agenda, influences committee assignments
•
•
Party whips: keep leaders informed, round up votes, count noses
Each party has a policy committee: schedules Senate business, prioritizes bills
• Committee assignments are handled by a group of
Senators, each for their own party
 REAL work of Congress
Committees
 Bills are worked out or killed in committees
 Investigate problems and oversee the executive branch
Four types of committees:
 1) Standing Committees (*
)
 Most important, basically permanent, handle bills in diff. policy areas, only type of comm. to
propose legislation by reporting a bill to full House (Senate-16, House-19) *Most important:
Ways and Means (taxes), Senate judiciary, Rules Committee
 2) Select Committees (*
)
 Formed for specific purposes, temporary (but may become standing committees),
sometimes produce legislation
 Ex. Investigated Watergate scandal
 3) Joint Committees (*
)
 Select comm. consisting of members from both House and Senate,
conduct business between houses, help focus public attention on major
issues, oversee institutions , investigations
 4) Conference Committees (*
)
 Consist of members from houses, hammer out differences between House and
Senate versions of similar bills, make a compromise bill to be sent back to each house for approval
 1995-1996 (104th Congress, Republicans) reformed # of committees (reduced from
252-198), term limits on committee chairmen (6 yrs)
 Each member of House serves on 1-2 standing committees (unless limited to one of
exclusive); Senators may serve on two major committees (average – 7
subcommittees) and one minor committee
Committee Membership


Chairman and majority of each standing committee comes
from majority party with a minority of minority party members
(try to be proportionate to Congressional party split)
Assignments are based on personal and political qualities of
the member, region, reelection help



Members from safe districts (
) can be on an important committee that helps the
nation and public welfare,
while marginal districts (
) need committees that suit the need of constituents (ex.
Kansas rep on Agricultural committee)
Method of committee membership:


Each party has a Committee on Committees
Speaker of the House selects Select and Conference Committee members
(powerful!)
Committee Chairmen (House)

Powerful –

1910 -- House Revolt transferred power to chairmen and
away from Speaker of the House

1910-1970 -- Chairmen chosen by ___________________


1970 reform – secret ballots of majority members elected chairmen,
may only chair 1 committee, committee meetings usually public, increased
staff size for all





Member with the longest continuous service of majority party on committee is placed
automatically as chair
Before 1970s, work was done primarily by chairmen behind closed doors
Reforms gave more rights to members, especially with little seniority
Took away extreme power of chairmen, but still very powerful
In practice, most chairmen are still senior members
1995 Republican Reforms – 6 year term limits for House chairmen
Functions of Committees
 Proposed bills are assigned to specific committees, the comm. Controls the life or death of the
bill
 11,000 bills are introduced in each 2 year session, committees weed the bad bills out
 Pigeonholed –
 majority of bills are forgotten forever and never make it out of committee
 Those approved move to subcommittees who hold hearings over bill – supporters and
critics of the bill appear at hearings and are questioned by subcomm.
 Bill is then marked up (
) and returned to full committee
where more alterations may be made
 Sent to Rules Committee (House – decides on rules for the bill, may be amended by
members, amount of debate) or straight to floor (Senate)
A Bill’s Destiny:
Option 1:
Killed by committee or
chair (not considered)
Option 2:
Option 3:
Pigeonholed
Sent to subcommittee for
(temporarily put aside
further consideration
for future consideration)