Congressional Processes and Decision Making

This assignment delves into the functions of the United States Congress, examining how bills are introduced, debated, and passed into law. It analyzes the factors influencing Congressional decisions, including personal interests, constituent demands, party affiliations, and lobbyist influence. The analysis extends to explore proposed reforms aimed at addressing Congressional dysfunction, such as the no budget no pay provision, filibuster reform, and up or down vote within 90 days. Students are encouraged to evaluate these proposals and their potential impact on American democracy.

Running Head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
Student Name
Course Code

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POLITICAL SCIENCE
1. Identify each of the important differences that exist in the way the House of
Representatives and the Senate represent the American people. Does the existence of two
very different, yet co-equal law-making bodies enhance our democracy, or hinder it?
Explain.
United States of America is a bicameral legislature which shares the concept of a
legislation keeping in mind the interests of both its people and the Welfare of the state taken
collectively. House of the representatives seek the Welfare and interest of the people whose
representation is done by 435 members whereas the Senate represents 2 members from each state
which are concerned about the development of the state. Since United States have two different
set of laws 1 for the Federal government and another for the state government both there interest
have to be maintained for which bicameral legislature is needed1. As the forefathers of the
constitution saw it fit that the division of power should be equal they have made this system to
establish democracy as anyone house does not have the power of absolute legislation in the
country.
2. Do members of Congress truly care about the views of average Americans? Relate how
an examination of the “sociological representation” and “agency representation” of
members of Congress can give us very different answers to this question. Be sure to relate
the details of the current membership of Congress. What is your view? Do they really care
about our views?
It has been observed that members of the Congress are more focused on the issues of
social logical representation which are agenda driven and take the issues of gay rights uncertain
topics specific to various ethnic groups. Whereas when agency representation is taken into
1 Inglehart, Ronald. The Silent Revolution (2017).

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account it refers to different agencies of the government in which the Congress members have
keen interest in solving the problems because they are the servants and members of the oversight
committees of many government agencies2. Recently it has been in use that the Congress
member representing San Francisco is more interested in the issues of gay rights as a substantial
number of people are gay in that constituency. In the same way Senator of the New Hampshire is
a very knowledgeable person in the matters of financial issues and you also serves in the
committee of Senate Banking.
3. Explain how (a) incumbency, (b) apportionment and redistricting, and (c) direct
patronage help to keep most of the same people in Congress, election after election. Does it
hurt our democracy to have mostly the same people in office after every election? Explain
your reasoning.
Incumbency is holding of a political affairs for which candidate is running for. Congress
members have many tools with the help of which they keep theiroffice for reelection.
Incumbency helps the respective candidates to keep the office and scare off the candidates as it
provides money contacts and popularity. Apportionment is the process of seat allocation in the
Congress among 50 states3. Whereas, redistricting is the process of redrawing districts of election
and redistribution of representatives in the legislative. Both these things happen at every 10
years. It is done to pit in comments of the same party against each other and for voter clustering
an ideological background. Direct patronage is used with the help of Legislative bodies to create
local projects which are not necessary but had done to ensure the victory of local representatives
in their home district.
2 Hamilton, Melissa. "Constitutional Law and the Role of Scientific Evidence: The Transformative Potential of Doe
v. Snyder." Boston College Law Review 58.6 (2017): E-Supp.
3 McKay, David. American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.

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4. Identify the people who lead both the Senate and the House and explain what powers
they have. Then, relate how the committee system is set up, who leads these committees,
and how they operate. Is it acceptable that all of these powerful leadership positions are
chosen by fellow members of Congress? Or, would it enhance our democracy if these
offices were directly elected by the people? Explain your reasoning.
President of the United States of America is the principle leader of the Senate. Speaker of
the House is the principle leader of the House. President presides over the daily sessions,
maintains order, defines the parliamentary motions, appoints members and committee chairs and
signs warrants, writs and legislations4. Speaker has almost same functions in the house as that of
the President in the senate. There are many committees in both Senate as well as in the House.
Senate has three main committees which are Finance, Judiciary and Foreign Relations. There are
other sub committees in Senate as well as in the House. These committees are headed by the
Senators and the members of the house. Leaders of all these committees are chosen and headed
by the congress members who are specialist in their respective fields which is necessary for
proper functioning of these committees.
5. Review what happens at each step of the process whereby a bill becomes a law: (a)
committee deliberation, (b) debate, (c) conference committee, and (d) presidential action.
With all of these steps, it takes a long time before any bill is adopted, and most do not make
it through. Is this convoluted process a positive or a negative feature for our democracy?
Explain
Speaker of the House or the presiding officer in the Senate at first refers the bill to the
appropriation committee. The bill is then differentiated into separate parts and is sent to the
4 Ramey, Adam J., Jonathan D. Klingler, and Gary E. Hollibaugh Jr. More than a Feeling: Personality, Polarization,
and the Transformation of the US Congress. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

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respective committees. Debate is done on the provisions of the bill in the House as well as in the
Senate. There can only be discussions in which amendments can be proposed but cannot be
passed.Conference Committee members from each chamber get together to find out the
differences between the two bills. Committee is comprised of the senior members which are
appointed by the committee itself5. After the discussion in the committee they reach to a
compromise in the bill and a conference report is submitted in that respect. President has to sign
the bill and if he does not sign it within 10 days when Congress is in session, the bill gets passed.
6. Identify and discuss what individual members of Congress consider when deciding
which bills to support and which to oppose. Which of these factors tend to be most and
least influential? What are the consequences when Congress can’t decide?
Factors which influence the decision making for Congressmen are personal status of the
introducer, home district of the introducer, nature of constituency, party and its leaders,
committees, lobbyists, staff and the governor6. All of these factors prove to be influential
according to the situation and type of the bill.
7. Your Future:
The authors make the point that “when Congress is ineffective, American democracy
suffers” (p. 498). The many dysfunctions of Congress in recent years have led to calls for
reform. Consult this CNN article from 2012, and consider each of the three reforms. Are
you in favor of any of these, or should Congress be left the way it is? Be sure to comment
on each reform, relating what you have learned about Congress in this chapter.
5 Rose-Ackerman, Susan, Peter L. Lindseth, and Blake Emerson, eds. Comparative administrative law. Edward
Elgar Publishing, 2017.
6 Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional government: A study in American politics. Routledge, 2017.

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Congress has been dysfunctional in the recent years and has mainly shown its ignorance
towards some issues. The first issue is of no budget no pay. Congress has been unable to pass the
budget on time which has led to the delay in payment of salaries to the Government employees.
This shows the gross in incapacity of Congress which should not be tolerated. People of US
should apply pressure on the Congress and its activities to smoothen up its functions. It will
show the awareness level people which are a sign of awareness 7. Another issue is filibuster
reform which has been misused and abused by the Congress in the recent years. Congress has
made this a routine parliamentary system to create problems in passing the legislation as well as
in voting. It has been observed that in the last 50 years filibuster was used 35 times. But in the
last 2 years the same filibuster method has been applied about hundred times. The last issue is of
up or down vote in 90 days. Since the days of Clinton Presidency more than 70 nominations have
been blocked even before they have gone for up and down vote. In the last few years about 200
presidential appointments were left untouched which consisted of top directorate posts and
positions and even the federal judgeships. Many of these positions which were to be filled worth
dignified and intellectual officials were left open which in turn let those people on the sidelines.
7 Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir and Tolbert. WE THE PEOPLE. FULL 11TH EDITION. WW Norton, 2016.

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References
Inglehart, Ronald. The Silent Revolution (2017).
Ginsberg, Lowi, Weir and Tolbert. WE THE PEOPLE. FULL 11TH EDITION. WW Norton,
2016.
Hamilton, Melissa. "Constitutional Law and the Role of Scientific Evidence: The
Transformative Potential of Doe v. Snyder." Boston College Law Review 58.6 (2017): E-
Supp.
McKay, David. American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Ramey, Adam J., Jonathan D. Klingler, and Gary E. Hollibaugh Jr. More than a Feeling:
Personality, Polarization, and the Transformation of the US Congress. University of Chicago
Press, 2017.
Rose-Ackerman, Susan, Peter L. Lindseth, and Blake Emerson, eds. Comparative
administrative law. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017.
Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional government: A study in American politics. Routledge,
2017.