Legislative Politics for chapters 9-11

1. Legislative Politics
POLS 4211 Chap. 9, 10, 11
1

2. Deliberation In Congress (9)
• Quid-pro-quo
– Leadership may use ‘Carrot-and-stick’ approaches
– Use of earmarks and leadership roles to garner
votes
– Absenteeism:
• Stack votes during the middle of the wee
• Pairing = member may not be able to vote in person and
they can announce their views in floor statements, press
releases or via pairing with someone on the opposite side
of an issue (voluntary arrangement that allows members
to go on record without voting or affecting the final
tabulation
2

3. Bargaining
• Implicit bargaining
– Legislative action designed to elicit reactions
• No previous negotiation may have taken place
• May accept objectionable amendment with the belief
that it will not make it out of the other house
• “Exchanging cues” - Accept judgments of senior/leader
members
– Expect to be leaders themselves one day
• Explicit Bargaining
– Quantitative measures more easily compromised
3

4. Bargaining- 2
• Logrolling:
– Bargaining in which the parties trade off support so that
each may gain its goal.
– Legislators are expected to support passage of the final
package
– Hostile fiscal environment, logrolling is often aimed at
equalizing sacrifices instead of distributing rewards
• Christmas Tree Bill
– Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many,
often unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the
bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.
• Something for everyone!
4

5. Votes Mean What?
• “I voted for…it before I voted against it.”
• Votes do not necessarily member’s views
– May vote for a “modest” bill in fearing that a more
extreme version may pass
– Procedural vs. substantive votes
• May vote ‘for’ authorizing a program and vote ‘against’
funding it
• Strategic Waiting = wait until a measure fails and then
vote for it or when it doesn’t matter (vote with the party
or make sure to vote with constituents unless it matters)
5

6. Determinants of Voting - 1
• Party ID & Voting Patterns (Figure 9-1)
• Party affiliation is the strongest single correlate
of members’ voting decisions, and in recent
years it has reached surprisingly high levels
• Aprox. 50%-70% of floor votes = party unity
votes & is trending UPWARD since 1970
– 109th Congress Party Unity votes
• House = 52%
• Senate = 60%
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7. Determinants – 1, cont
• Unified & Divided Party Control of Govt
– From 1901-1955
• Divided Govt - Only 3 times
– 1911-1913 House was Democrat (WW elected 1913 and Dems
control govt until 1919)
– 1919-1921 Dems controlled Senate
– 1931-1933 Dems controlled House
– 1947-1949 Dems controlled President (Truman)
– 1955-2011
• Un-Divided Govt – Only 10 times
– 1961-1963; 1963-1965; 1965-1967; 1967-1969
– 1977-1979; 1979-1981
– 1993-1995
– 2001-2003; 2005-2007; 2009-2011
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8. Determinants of Voting - 2
• Ideology & Voting
• Public (along a left-right continuum) follows a
normal bell-shaped curve as many cluster
around the middle
• Incredible shrinking middle (see figure 9-3)
– Prior to 1968
• Ideological distribution of House = strong moderate
• Same look 1998 = very few moderates…House
polarized along party lines
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9. Determinants of Voting - 3
• Constituency and Voting
• Constituencies control officials choices by
1) Constituencies usually vote for people “like” them
(whose views match their own)
2) Officials vote or play the delegate role because
they want to be re-elected
– Attentive Public
– Inattentive Public
• “The Oprah Effect: How Soft news helps inattentive
citizens vote consistently” Matthew Baum and Angela
Jamison
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10. Determinants of Voting - 4
• Presidents - (Patterns)
1) Modern Pres. See their position prevail in 2/3 or
more of congressional votes
1) Routine nature of their initiatives
2) Pres. Does better with their own party
• Party ratio is the single most important determinant of
success
3) Partisan swings affect Pres. success rates
When “divided govt” pres. Success rates
4) Pres. Tend to lose cong. support over time
5) Pres. Take fewer clear-cut stands over time
10

11. Terms
• Logrolling
– Bargaining in which the parties trade off support so that each may gain its goal.
• Pairing
– The voluntary arrangement that allows members to go on record without voting or
affecting the final tabulation. When members cannot vote in person, it allows them
to still be recorded on an issue.
• Poison Pills
– “Killer Amendments” intended to make a bill so unpalatable that it will fail.
• “Christmas tree" bill
– Informal nomenclature for a bill on the Senate floor that attracts many, often
unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the bill may provide
special benefits to various groups or interests.
• Amendment in the nature of a substitute
– An amendment that would strike out the entire text of a bill or other measure and
insert a different full text
• session - The period during which Congress assembles and carries on its
regular business. Each Congress generally has two regular sessions (a first
session and a second session), based on the constitutional mandate that
Congress assemble at least once each year.
11

12. Congress & the President - 10
Framers designed a limited presidency exp. compared to today
Traditional Presidency: (1891-1930s)
- Exceptions
- Washington expanded foreign policy area
- Jefferson entered into the LA purchase
- Andrew Jackson developed the role of president as the popular leader
- Lincoln, most dramatic, expanded several areas…called up state
militias, enlarged the army, used tax $ to pay for it, blockaded
southern ports…though counter to the constitution, he claimed it was
necessary to save the union.
- Inherent power: presidential powers implied but not explicitly stated
in the Constitution = “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”
Modern Presidency ? Let’s look at Formal Powers first.
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13. Formal Power
• State of the Union Address:
– “shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the union, and
recommend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient”
– May convene Congress and when there is a
dispute about when to disband, to adjourn it as
well
– Now speech given annually to a joint session and
the nation announcing the president’s agenda
13

14. Executive Order as Administrative Power
• Governing by Decree:
– Executive orders have a long history and have
been the vehicles for a number of important
policies
• Louisiana Purchase
• Annexation of Texas
• Emancipation of Slaves
• Japanese Internment
• Desegregation of the military
• Initiation of affirmative action
• Creation of EPA, FDA and Peace Corps
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15. The Administrative Power
• Contemporary presidents have increased the
administrative capabilities of their office in
three ways:
– they enhanced the reach and power of the EOP;
– they increased White House control and
regulatory review over the federal bureaucracy;
– they expanded the role of executive orders and
other instruments of direct unilateral presidential
governance.
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16. 16

17. The Administrative Power
• Executive orders, in principle, must be
pursuant to the powers granted by the
Constitution or delegated to her by Congress
trough a statute.
• Generally, E.O.s state the constitutional or
statutory basis for their actions.
– Executive Order # 11246 stated that the order
was designed to implement the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, which prohibited employment
discrimination.
17

18. Modern Presidency to Imperial Presidency?
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation (1936):
– The president has more inherent power in the
realm of foreign affairs than in domestic politics
Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer (1952)
– Ruled steel mills seizure unconstitutional
• By Executive Order
Power to persuade: president’s ability to
convince Congress, other political actors, and
the public to cooperate with the
administrations’ agenda
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19. Modern Presidency
• Started with Teddy and FDR carried it out
– Bully Pulpit
– The use of the media as a mans of “going public”
• A president’s strategy of appealing to the public on an
issue expecting that public pressure will be brought to
bear on other political actors
• Cycle
– The predictable rise and fall of a president’s
popularity at different stages of a term in office
• Honeymoon period: generally the time following an
election when Pres popularity is high & congressional
relations are likely to be productive
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20. Going Public
• In this case, presidents use popular appeals
to create a mass base of support that will
allow them to subordinate their political
foes.
• Every president since FDR has sought to
craft a public relations strategy emphasizing
the incumbent’s strengths and maximizing
his popular appeal.
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21. 21

22. Limits of Going Public
• Some presidents used popular appeals to
overcome congressional opposition.
• However, popular support is not a firm
presidential power foundation, because
popular support can be fickle.
• Presidents generate popular support with
program and policy promises for the well-
being of Americans.
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23. Limits of Going Public - 2
• Almost inevitably, presidential performance falls
short of promises and expectations, leading to a
sharp decline in public support and ensuring that
presidential influence collapses.
• This explains the decrease in the use of “going
public,” specifically in the frequency of prime-
time television presidential appearances, using
institutionalized public and media relations
instead.
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24. 24

25. Congress & the President
• Veto Power
– W. Wilson…veto is a 3rd branch of congress
– When Pres receives bill from Congress (he has 10
days excluding Sundays to:
1) Sign the bill. Most are signed and sometimes
Pres. Issue signing statements that express their
interpretation of a new law’s provisions
2) Return the bill with her veto message to the
origination house of Congress
3) Next slide
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26. Veto Power - 2
3) She can take no action, and the bill will
become law without her signature. This
option, seldom employed, is reserved for bills
the pres. Dislikes but not enough to veto (see
box 1-10)
4) She can pocket veto the bill. Under the
Constitution, if a congressional adjournment
prevents the return of a bill, the bill cannot
become law without the pres. signature
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27. Veto Power - 3
• Article 1, Section 7 – “If any Bill shall not be
returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him,
the Same shall be a Law, in like manner as if he had
signed it, unless Congress by the Adjournment
prevents its Return, in which case it shall not be a
Law.”
• At issue is when a congressional adjournment
prevents the return of the president’s veto.
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29. Pocket Veto explained
• Kennedy v. Sampson (1974)
– Established the principle that pocket vetoes are not to be used during
a congressional session but only after Congress’ final adjournment at
the end of its second session
– Ford & Carter followed the courts interpretation
– Reagan twice used intersession (between the first and second
sessions)
– Clinton used intrasession (in the middle of a session)
• Clinton returned the pocket vetoes to Congress, which tried
unsuccessfully to override them.
• Thus it appears that neither an intra- nor an inter-session pocket veto
prevents its return to Congress. Until the Supreme Court makes definitive
ruling involving the use of the pocket veto both and between legislative
sessions, it is likely that legislative-executive conflicts over the pocket
veto will occur periodically. ….scope of this veto has been left to
political understandings developed by the branches
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30. Veto Overriden
• Most vetoes
– FDR – 635 total 9 overridden 97.6% success rate
– Truman 250 12 93.3%
– Ike 181 2 97.3%
– JFK 21 0 100%
– LBJ 30 0 100%
– Nix 43 7 73.1%
– Ford 66 12 75.0%
– Carter 31 2 84.6%
– Rea 78 9 76.9%
– Bush 46 1 96.6%
– Clin 36 2 94.4%
– WB 10 3 70.0%
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31. Terms
• Pocket veto
– The Constitution grants the President 10 days to review a measure passed by the
Congress. If the President has not signed the bill after 10 days, it becomes law
without his signature. However, if Congress adjourns during the 10-day period,
the bill does not become law.
• Rescission
– The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to
Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission
proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds
being withheld must be made available for obligation.
– .
• Executive Calendar
– A list of executive business (i.e., treaties and nominations) available for Senate
floor consideration.
• Session
– The period during which Congress assembles and carries on its regular business.
Each Congress generally has two regular sessions (a first session and a second
session), based on the constitutional mandate that Congress assemble at least once
each year.
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32. Terms
• Proxy voting -
– The practice of allowing a Senator to cast a vote in committee for an absent
Senator. Senate Rule XXVI provides that proxies may not be voted when the
absent Senator has not been informed of the matter on which he is being recorded
and has not requested that he be so recorded.
• Recess
– A temporary interruption of the Senate's (or a committee's) business. Generally,
the Senate recesses (rather than adjourns) at the end of each calendar day.
• Executive communication
– A message sent to the Senate by the President or other executive branch official.
Presidential veto messages are an example of an "executive communication."
• Calendar of Business
– A Senate publication sent to each lawmaker's office (and other offices) every day
the Senate is in session. It contains information on, for instance, measures reported
from the various standing committees, bills in conference, and the status of
appropriation bills.
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33. Congress & Bureaucracy - 11
• Bureaucrat
– “Look Ma, I’m a bureaucrat.”
• Bureaucrats come in many ages, size, and backgrounds.
• They perform some of the most important jobs in society
– NASA scientist, accountant, ferry captain, draw-bridge captain, Air traffic
controller, police officer, etc.
– Bureaucrats may be private or public employees
– The term “bureaucrat” is often used in a pejorative sense
• Why do we dislike bureaucrats?
– Some are familiar with the negative meaning –
• Red Tape
– Term used for excessive adherence to “Standard Operating Procedures” which
may be considered redundant or wasteful
» Examples?
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34. 34

35. Red Tape
• Term comes from the ribbon English civil servants once used to tie up
and bind legal documents. Today, along with death and taxes, we think
of red tape as inevitable. We are annoyed when we have to wait in lines
while officials check files or consult with their supervisors. We are
furious when officials lose important documents. Red tape often takes the
form of an official’s punctilious adherence to rigid procedures. We may
view it as a hopeless tangle of rules and regulations that keep public
servants from doing anything but stamping and shuffling papers.
• But these same rules and regulations help ensure that public servants act
impartially. In other words, red tape stems from our desire not to give
public servants too much discretion and to hold them accountable. After
all, they are spending our money. Remember, too, that one person’s red
tape is another person’s prudent system or proper cautiousness.
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36. Phillip K. Howard. The Death of
Common Sense
• Al Gore, Common Sense Government
– The Defense Department spent more on
procedures for travel reimbursement ($2.2
billion) than on travel ($2.0 billion).
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37. Bureaucracy Defined
• Large Organization
– “Bureau” generally was a desk used by staff in a
large organization
• Structured Hierarchically to carry out specific
functions:
– Rational organizations; Hierarchical authority; job
specialization; formalized rules (SOPs)
• Both Public & Private sectors
37

38. Bureaucracy Virtues
• Despite complaints they are:
1. Fairness & impartiality of service delivery
2. Large reservoir of expertise
3. Institutional memory
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39. Bureaucracy Size
• National bureaucracy began with THREE
departments: State, War, and Treasury
– Office of Attorney General added in 1789
– Present day bureaucracy started in 1789
• Today there are FIFTEEN departments
• Employ approximately 3 million employees
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40. Government Size
• Size of Government
– “The era of big government is over.”
• “Everybody wants the federal government to look smaller than it really
is.” Paul C. Light
• How do we measure Government Size (Does Size Matter?)
1) Total Employee #
1) 3 million
2) “true size” = 17 million (4.1 million civilian, military, postal workers &
12.7 million “shadow” workers)
2) Total budget
- over 3 trillion or maybe on % of debt?
3) Total expenditures as a percent of GDP
- 21.8% of GDP 1990; 18.4% 2000; 19.8% 2004
See Chart
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42. 42

43. Bureaucracy Staffing
• At-Will employees: political appointees and may
be fired “at-will” of their supervisor.
– Length of service =
• Merit employees: “civil-service” employees and
are hired based on their merit:
– Experience, education, ability to accomplish tasks
– These employees make up the bulk of the
bureaucracy.
– Vast majority are trained specialist (1/6 = clerks)
43

44. Compensation notes
• Revolving door
– Officials & staffers who “pass through the revolving door” to jobs
with private firms that deal with the government
– Now “High” govt. officials must go through “cooling off” period of
two years
• 27th Amendment
– “No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators
and Representatives shall take effect, until and election of
Representatives shall have intervened.
• (NOTE)State:
– Probably the most powerful tool a Governor/executive has over the
bureaucracy is the power of the budget!
44

45. Important Legislation
• Spoils System: (Jackson Democrats) and the
idea of patronage
– Cronies in office?
• Pendleton Act (Civil Service Reform Act) of
1883: replaced the Spoils system with a merit
system and created Civil Service Commission to
administer the personnel service.
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46. Important Legislation
• Hatch Act of 1939: created to protect
government workers from political manipulation
• Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: created
additional employee safeguards
– Office of Personnel management (OPM)
– Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)
– Whistle-blower protections
– Additional protections with 1989 :Whistle-Blower
Protection Act (Search Frederic Whitehurst)
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47. Four Organizational Structures
1. Cabinet Depts. The 15 cabinet depts created
between 1789 and 2003. Line organizations
form major part of national bureaucracy:
• Appointees (Secretaries) must contend with senior civil
servants established “power”
• Appointees often chosen for political purpose &
President may make more use of kitchen cabinet for
policy decisions
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48. Four Organizational Structures
2. Independent Agencies: are not part of the
executive dept but the “Directors” are
appointed by and report to the President
• Are smaller and have more focused missions than
cabinet department
• “Independent” in that they often perceived
(Symbolically) as somewhat insulated from partisan and
interest group pressure
• Agency heads serve at the pleasure of the President
• Important Agencies: NASA, EPA, CIA
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49. Four Organizational Structures
3. Regulatory Agencies: responsible for supervising a
particular economic sector
• Presidential appointees (Commissioners) serve relatively long
terms, but subject to Senate approval & may not be removed by
President
• More Independent than Independent Agencies
• Appointees often chosen for political purpose & President may
• Quasi-judicial: can bring charges, hold hearings & impose penalties
(FCC and Howard Stern)
• Quasi-legislative: they make and interpret rules (FTC)
• They still become immersed in politics. Some are “captured” (1974
Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
• First agency: Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1887
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50. Four Organizational Structures
4. Government Corporations: Quasi-business
enterprise.
• President appoints & Senate Approves
• More Flexible
• More leeway from O.M.B.
• Good Examples: US Postal Service & Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
50

51. Reinventing Government
• 1976 Government In the Sunshine Act: required
most agencies to conduct their business in public
“open” sessions
• 1997 Government Performance and Results Act
(NPR): designed to improve efficiency in the
national work force and require agencies to set
goals and establish a means of measuring if the
goals were reached: “Big government is over”
… reduced bureaucracy
51

52. REGO
• Privatization: Contracting out govt services.
• Use private firms for detention centers, airport
control towers, credit screening and placed
Contrail on market…most successful @ local
level
• Criticisms: - (sometimes impractical)
– Suspect motives: desire to reduce govt or provide
pork?
– Deprivation of effective control mechanisms
– Decline of quality & fairness of service delivery
52

53. Do Bureaucrats Make Policy?
• Enabling Legislation: Congress is unable to oversee the
daily operations of program administration. They
delegate the authority to “administrative agencies” to
carry out the day-to-day programs.
• Bureaucracy performs “Rulemaking”
• Negotiated Rule-making: when individuals engage in
“negotiations” with the agency about the final rules…
regulations
– All regulations must first be published in the Federal Register.
Generally, time period for comments (60 days)
53

54. Do Bureaucrats Make Policy?
• Once assumed that bureaucrats do not make policy
decisions, but merely enforce these decisions. The
concepts of “Iron Triangle” and “Issue Networks” hold
that bureaucrats do play a major role in policy
decisions. (Clientele Groups)
• Iron Triangle: 3-way alliance among legislators (staff),
bureaucrats (agency) and interest group
• Issue Networks: various groups form an alliance over a
particular issue and but may not generally agree on
other issues. The issue network contains a more fluid
alliance than the iron triangle.
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55. 55

56. More Control = Congressional Vetoes
• Legislative Veto:
– Statutory enactment that permits presidents or
bureaucracy “to act” subject to later approval or
disapproval by one/both houses of Congress (or
to some cases by committees of one/both houses)
– Immigration and Naturalization Service v.
Chadha (1983)
• Supreme Court – veto is unconstitutional = violated the separation of
powers, the principle of bicameralism, and the Presentation Clause of the
Constitution – “legislation passed by both chambers must be presented to
the president for his signature or veto”
• Leg. Vetoes continue – discuss intent
• Self-interest = they watch, pay attention to committees (iron triangle)?
56

57. Inspectors General
• IGs – offer independent analysis to Congress
and the public on how agencies, agency
heads are performing
• Created for most agencies in 1978
– Added to Justice , FBI, etc. in 2004
– Employ about 11,500 auditors, investigators, inspectors
• One of the areas for new MPAs
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58. Conclusions
• Bureaucracies are inevitable in complex, modern
society. They spring from public needs, and are
not foisted on public.
• Bureaucracies and democratic theory:
– They should be highly responsive, sensitive to
human needs and respectful of citizens
– The Balance Sheet is unclear:
– (next page)
58

59. Conclusions, cont.
• The Balance Sheet is unclear:
– Some act autocratically; diminish rather than defend
freedom; harass citizens and ignore basic rights
– Some protect and educate citizens while defending
rights, equality and liberty
• Bureaucracies can still be controlled by:
– Authorization and appropriation of funds ($$$)
– Investigation and oversight hearings
– GAO & Inspector Generals
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60. Terms
• Bureaucracy
– The complex structure of offices, tasks, rules, and principles of organization that
are employed by all large scale institutions to coordinate the work of their
personnel.
• Implementation
– The efforts of departments and agencies to translate laws into specific bureaucratic
routines.
• Rule Making
– A quasi-legislative administrative process by which government agencies produce
regulations.
• Administrative adjudication
– Applying rules and precedents to specific cases to settle disputes between
regulated parties.
• Merit System
– A product of civil service reform, in which appointees to positions in public
bureaucracies must objectively be deemed qualified for those positions.
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61. Terms
• Spoils System
– Some consider it the Jacksonian spoils system where elected officials are allowed
to hire/fire employees “At Will” and without due process guarantees.
• Departments
– The largest subunit of the executive branch. The secretaries of the fifteen
departments form the Cabinet
• Kitchen Cabinet
– A small group of informal advisors to the President who, in their particular area of
expertise, may become more influential than Cabinet members.
• Independent agency
– An agency that is not part of a Cabinet department and is considered sheltered
from partisan politics. NASA is an example.
• Government Corporation
– A government agency that performs a service normally provided by the private
sector. The Government Corporation is more independent than the Independent
Agency and is more sheltered from partisan politics. US Postal Service is an
example.
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62. Terms
• Oversight
– The effort by Congress, through hearings, investigations, and other
techniques, to exercise control over the activities of executive agencies.
• Ombudsperson
– A specific type of oversight more individual where a public official acts
as an impartial intermediary between the public and bureaucracy.
• Privatization
– Removing all or part of a program from the public sector to the private
sector.
• Devolution
– A policy to remove a program from the national government to state or
local government by delegation or by mandate.
• Deregulation
– Policy of reducing regulations allowing state’s to exercise regulatory
power.
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