Congressional Decisions: Crash Course Government and Politics #10
Summary
TLDRThis Crash Course episode explores the factors influencing Congress members' decisions, focusing on constituents, interest groups, and political parties. It explains how these factors vary in importance and affect voting behavior, emphasizing the role of information in shaping policy. The video also discusses the impact of party discipline, the Hastert Rule, and the president's influence on Congress, highlighting the complexity of decision-making in a representative democracy.
Takeaways
- đ€ The decisions of congressmen are influenced by three main factors: their constituency, interest groups, and political parties.
- đłïž Constituents matter most to representatives and senators, especially when voting on bills that can be checked by voters before an election.
- đ Congressmen often focus on direct service to constituents, known as case work, to build up their record and spend more time in their home states and districts.
- đ Constituents' views can affect congressmen through public opinion polling, allowing them to anticipate and respond to voter preferences.
- đŒ Interest groups provide valuable information to congressmen for bill writing and policy cases, and are most influential during the committee stage of legislation.
- đ” Interest groups contribute financially to campaigns and assist in bill writing, but their influence is often more about excluding provisions rather than inserting them.
- đ Political parties can pressure congressmen to vote a certain way, especially when the party is unified and strong.
- đ The Hastert Rule exemplifies how party leadership can control what legislation comes to the floor for a vote.
- đ€ Logrolling, a form of quid-pro-quo bargaining, is facilitated by parties and can occur during both the writing and voting stages of legislation.
- đïž The president has the most power when their party also holds the majority in Congress, allowing them to set the policy agenda.
- đ« Divided government, where the president and congressional majority are from different parties, can lead to obstructionism and an opposition-focused policy agenda.
Q & A
What are the three main factors that influence congressmen when making decisions?
-The three main factors that influence congressmen are their constituency, interest groups, and political parties.
How do constituents influence a congressman's decisions?
-Constituents influence a congressman's decisions primarily through voting, direct service (case work), and public opinion polling.
Why do representatives pay more attention to their constituents when voting on bills?
-Representatives pay more attention to their constituents when voting on bills because votes are a public record that constituents can easily check, especially before an election.
What is the role of interest groups in influencing congressmen?
-Interest groups provide valuable information to congressmen for writing bills or making policy cases to their constituents. They also contribute to campaigns and assist in bill writing.
Why is the influence of interest groups more negative than positive during legislation?
-Interest groups are more influential in excluding provisions from laws rather than inserting them, making their influence more negative. This practice is easier and helps to obfuscate their impact on legislation.
How do political parties affect lawmakers?
-Political parties affect lawmakers by exerting pressure through party leadership, organizing logrolling, and setting policy agendas, especially when the party is unified and strong.
What is the Hastert Rule and how does it influence legislation?
-The Hastert Rule is a practice where a bill is brought to the floor for a vote only if a majority of the majority party supports it. It influences legislation by ensuring party unity and discipline.
How does the president's party influence Congress?
-The president's party influences Congress by setting the policy agenda when the same party controls both houses and the presidency, allowing them to take credit for successful policies or avoid blame for unsuccessful ones.
What is logrolling and how does it occur in Congress?
-Logrolling is a quid-pro-quo bargaining system where lawmakers exchange votes on legislation. It occurs most obviously at the voting stage but can also be part of the writing of legislation in committees.
What is the impact of divided government on Congress's policy agenda?
-Divided government, where the president and the congressional majority are from different parties, makes it easier for Congress to set a policy agenda by opposing whatever the president wants.
What are some other factors that influence congressional decision-making besides the main three?
-Other factors include personal lives of individual congressmen, congressional history, and the structures and procedures of Congress itself.
Outlines
đïž Factors Influencing Congressmen's Decisions
This paragraph discusses the key factors that influence congressmen when making decisions. It emphasizes the importance of understanding these factors without assuming mind reading abilities. The main influences are identified as the congressmen's constituency, interest groups, and political parties. The paragraph highlights how these factors vary in importance depending on the situation and explains how constituents' views can affect congressmen, especially during voting on bills. It also touches on the role of interest groups in providing valuable information and assistance in bill writing, and the influence of political parties, particularly when they are unified and strong. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the president's role in influencing Congress, especially when the president's party holds the majority in Congress.
đ The Influence of Political Parties on Congress
The second paragraph summarizes the influence of political parties on congressional decision-making. It points out that parties are most influential when they control both houses of Congress and the presidency, and when party leadership is strong enough to enforce discipline and policy uniformity. The paragraph also acknowledges other factors that may influence congressmen, such as personal lives and congressional history, but notes that these are beyond the scope of the discussion. The speaker emphasizes the importance of the structures of Congress and the majority party's control over leadership and committees. The paragraph concludes with a call to avoid cynicism and conspiracy theories when analyzing congressional actions, recognizing that decisions are the result of complex interactions among various factors, many of which may not be immediately apparent.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄCongress
đĄConstituency
đĄInterest Groups
đĄPolitical Parties
đĄCase Work
đĄPublic Opinion Polling
đĄCommittee Stage
đĄLogrolling
đĄHastert Rule
đĄDivided Government
đĄObstructionism
Highlights
Introduction to the factors influencing Congressmen's decisions
Three main factors influencing Congressmen: constituency, interest groups, and political parties
Constituents matter most to representatives in a democracy
Congressmen pay attention to constituents' views, especially during voting
The decrease in important congressional votes in recent years
The rise of direct service to constituents, known as case work
Congressmen use public opinion polling to anticipate voters' wants
Interest groups provide valuable information to Congressmen
Interest groups are influential at the committee stage of legislation
Political parties affect lawmakers in complex ways
Party leadership can pressure Congressmen to vote a certain way
The Hastert Rule and its impact on bringing bills to the floor
Logrolling as a form of quid-pro-quo bargaining in Congress
The president's influence when his party also holds the majority in Congress
Divided government makes it easier for Congress to set a policy agenda
Political parties are most influential when they control both houses and the presidency
Avoiding cynicism and recognizing the complexity of congressional decisions
The importance of the structures of Congress and party majority
Transcripts
This episode of Crash Course is brought to you by Squarespace.
Hello, I'm Craig again and this is Crash Course: Government and Politics and today were gonna
look at why Congress acts the way it does. More specifically we're gonna try to figure
out as much as we can without being mind readers, the factors that influence congressmen when
they make decisions. And then after that we'll be mind readers and then we'll -- we'll see if we were right.
This should be a welcome change of pace from the last couple episodes where we delved into
the gory details of how Congress works or is supposed to work anyway. [shudders]
[Theme Music]
So, to over simplify greatly, but also to help those of you who studying for tests there
are three main factors or agents that influence congressmen in making their decisions: their
constituency, interest groups, and political parties. And they vary in importance depending
on the situation that a congressmen is in. Our basic understanding of democracy and representative
government suggests that constituents would matter most to representatives and senators
and fortunately, this is sometimes the case. Unfortunately, this is sometimes the case.
If a congress person ignores what the voters in his or her district want they're probably
not going to be in office for very long, representatives pay the most attention to their constituents
when they are actually voting on bills because votes are a record that constituents can easily
check, say right before an election. If this is the case then the relative lack of important
congressional votes in recent years tells us something. Nowadays, congressmen are more likely to depend on
direct service to constituents, what is sometimes called case work, to build up their record.
This might be why congressmen tend to spend much more time in their home states and districts
than in Washington, they might also want to check up on their lawn, you know grass grows
you gotta mow it. Constituent's views can affect congressmen without the threat of unseating
them in an election though, because congressmen can anticipate what the voters will want and
respond to this. They manage this through public opinion polling. The more sophisticated
polling is, the better representatives are at crafting their message, and maybe even
their votes to what their constituents want.
We're going to devote a number of episodes to interest groups in the future, explaining
what they are and where they come from. I know this because I'm psychic. But for now,
it is important to recognize that they are incredibly important to congressmen although
not for the reasons you might think. Let's go to the Thought Bubble.
OK, when I mention interest groups or say the phrase "special interests" you probably
imagine some guy in a suit -- maybe even a fedora -- surreptitiously handing a suitcase
full of money to a congressmen in return for his vote on some issue of supreme importance
to the interest group that the suit guy represents.
Or maybe you think interest groups are more subtle than this, buying votes with campaign
contributions, this stereotypical view presents a dramatic story and paints picture that sticks
in your head but there is no empirical evidence that it's true. I hope the fedora part is
true though. That's probably true.
The main thing that interest groups provide to congressmen is information that they can
use in writing a bill or making a policy case to their constituents.
One of the big things in American government is that information is very important and
very valuable. On the other hand, interest groups do give an awful lot of money to campaigns.
They also provide a lot of research and assistance in the writing of bills.
Interest groups are most influential at the committee stage of legislation, rather than
when congressman are casting floor votes and their influence tends to be mostly negative.
This means that rather than inserting items into legislation, it's much easier and more
effective to exclude potential provisions from laws. Plus, this practice -- and maybe
the fedoras a little bit -- makes it easier to obfuscate special interest influence on laws. It's harder to show
that interest groups have kept something out of a law than that they put something into it.
Thanks, Thought Bubble. That brings us to our third big influencer, political parties.
Whoo Hooo [popper pops]. Oh, not that kind of party. The way that political parties effect
law makers is even more complex than the role of interest groups. A disciplined party leadership
can put pressure on a congressmen to vote a certain way. They call them whips for a
reason. But this only works when the party is unified and strong. The weaker the party
the more freedom the representative has to go rouge on some issues and votes if there
are many different factions within a party, there's less of a consequence for voting along the party line.
This is why I don't have friends. Freedom. The clearest example of this is the so called
Hastert Rule named after formed speaker Dennis Hastert who would only bring a bill to the
floor of the house for a vote if a majority of the majority party, in his case, Republicans, supported it.
Side note, if you've got the majority and the party unity to pull of a stunt like that
you really end up looking like an effective speaker.
Parties also help to organize logrolling which is relatively straight forward quid-pro-quo
bargaining. You vote for my farm bill senator, and I'll support your banking bill. You vote
for my not punching eagles bill, Eagle and I won't punch you. Not voting for it? [clacks
to ground]. You've been logrolled. Is that how that word works?
Logrolling occurs most obviously at the voting stage but can also be part of the writing
of legislation in committees. When we talk about parties we talk about me. But when we
talk about political parties we can't leave out the president. Who is the de facto leader
of his party and it's own most influential member. I'm pretty sure you're aware of that.
The president has the most power when his party and the majority part in congress are
the same. When this happens, Congress usually follows the president's lead and allows him
to set the policy agenda. That way they can take some credit if the policy is a winner
and avoid some blame if turns out not so great.
We saw this most recently with the creation of The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) which
was written and passed during the first few years of the Obama presidency when his party,
the Democrats, also had the majority in both houses. Divided government, when the president
and the congressional majority are in opposite parties works well for Congress too because
it makes it super easy to set a policy agenda, they just oppose what ever the president wants.
This type of obstructionism is unfortunately pretty common in Congress today, just look
at the years from 2010 to 2012 when Congress's program could be summed up in four words,
"Repeal ObamaCare and replace it." Wait, that's not true, that's five words.
To sum up, political parties are most influential over Congress when a single party controls
both houses and the presidency and when the party leadership is strong enough to exert
discipline and a degree of uniformity of policy.
So that's about it for the factors that influence congressional decision making. Really Stan,
that's it? That's all? I'm going on break.
Well, obviously there are other factors like the personal lives of individual congressmen
and maybe congressional history but since this is broad survey of American government
and politics we can't easily get into that without taking less breaks. And, I'm gonna go on break.
For my money, it's the structures of congress and most of all which party has the majority
and thus controls the leadership and the committees that makes the most difference. Even though
I want to say and believe that constituents matter most because I don't want to feed into
this cynicism that seems to come so naturally to discussions of Congress.
But I think we should try to avoid any cynicism and conspiracy theories when we try and figure
out why a congressperson acted a certain way and recognize that any congressional decision
is the product of the complex interaction of a number of factors, only some of which will
be apparent. Each of these decisions will be conditioned and constrained by the structures
and procedures of Congress itself. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.
Crash Course: Government and Politics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. Support
for Crash Course: US Government comes from Voqal. Voqal supports nonprofits that use
technology and media to advance social equity. Learn more about their mission and initiatives
at Voqal.org. Crash Course was made with the help of all these nice people, thanks for watching.
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Interest Groups: Crash Course Government and Politics #42
Congressional Leadership: Crash Course Government and Politics #8
Interest Group Formation: Crash Course Government and Politics #43
Congressional Elections: Crash Course Government and Politics #6
Party Systems: Crash Course Government and Politics #41
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