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The Look and Feel of Congress

Membership and Representation Chapter 11: Wilson AP Government and Politics. Consider: Does Congress “look” like America? Should it?. The Look and Feel of Congress. Homework Assignment: Assignment #3 for tomorrow. The Basics.

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The Look and Feel of Congress

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  1. Membership and Representation Chapter 11: Wilson AP Government and Politics Consider: Does Congress “look” like America? Should it? The Look and Feel of Congress Homework Assignment: Assignment #3 for tomorrow

  2. The Basics As we get started, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page… • Reason for/purpose of bicameral legislature? • Membership of each house? • Term length? • Representational information? In the Senate: 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans, 1 Independent Democrat and 1 Independent In the House: 242 Republicans, 193 Democrats

  3. What Does “Representation” Mean? • “Represent”: to act in place of or on behalf of someone else • “Constituency”: the group on whose behalf the legislator acts

  4. Who Represents Us? • Race and Gender • Most members are white, male, lawyers • This is changing, slowly, especially in the House. • Does Congress look like America? Should it? • Consider the idea of “descriptive representation.” What does this mean to you? • Does this idea hold any water, in your opinion? • Does the preponderance of a particular demographic group compromise the quality of representation provided by the US Congress?

  5. Sticking around… • Incumbents • Why have Senate races historically been more competitive than House races? • What factors would limit the incumbency advantage of Senators? • Since Senators have a six-year term to prepare for re-elections, shouldn’t Senators expect greater electoral success? • Should the number of terms served by members of Congress be limited, as they are for the President?

  6. Representation in Congress • A historical question in US history since 1789: is the primary concern of a representative the interests of the whole nation or those of his/her constituency? • In traditional political science, two models of representative function of Congress have been offered: • Trusteemodel – elected representatives are obligated to act in accordance with their judgment as to what policies are in the best interests of society • Delegatemodel: elected reps are obligated to carry out the wishes of those who elected them to office.

  7. Membership and Representation Chapter 11: Wilson AP Government and Politics Consider: Does Congress “look” like America? Should it? The Look and Feel of Congress Homework Assignment: Assignment #3 for Monday

  8. Representation in Congress • Later political research offers at least 3 theories why MoCs vote the way they do: • Representational view • Members want to get re-elected and therefore vote to please their constituents • In what situations might this view be most likely? • What might make this view weak or less reliable? • Organizational view • Members respond to cues provided by their fellow members; party is the single most important of these cues, but ideological organizations may also be important • In what situations might this view be most likely? • From which group in Congress do members often take cues on how to vote on bills? Why? • Attitudinal view • Position that ideology impacts a members vote; members are more ideological in their thinking • Because there are conflicting pressures, members are free to vote their ideologies. • On which type of issues will this be most strong? Most weak?

  9. Questions to Consider • Which of the three theories above (Rep, Org, Att) do you believe is practiced by most members during campaign season? • Would you expect the longer term of Senators to result in a different mode of representation? • Which of the three theories do you most endorse? • Which would you endorse as an MoC? Why might this be different? • If you wanted an MoC to choose the representational model, how could you make that happen? • If representatives are voting with their party, does this necessarily mean they are less likely to be representing their constituents’ attitudes?

  10. The “Fiscal Cliff”…

  11. John Boehner’s Speech

  12. President Obama’s speech

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