Decentralization Of Congress

The main argument in The Challenge of Congressional Representation is whether or not Congress is truly represented. Richard Fenno chose five members of Congress to follow and he reports their thoughts on Congressional representation throughout this book. The five members Fenno followed all seem to want to help their constituents; however, they have completely different means of obtaining constituent approval. The problem of representation within Congress is mainly brought up by constituents. The issue of representation; however, also concerns the representative.

In this essay, I will be writing about how the power relationship between the United States Congress and the presidency has changed during the past two hundred years. I will be talking about how the executive branch is more powerful than the legislative branch and how the changing relationship between Congress and the president affected American democracy in a good way.

The founding fathers maintained an inherent distrust of large government. Despite conflicting with the majoritarian model, the filibuster demonstrates the original values and principles taken into account when establishing the United States of America. The Senate, a lawmaking body formerly elected by state legislatures, remains representative of individual states rather than majority will. Because each state sends two representatives, half of congressional senators are elected by less than twenty percent of the total population. Through intended structure alone, the government of the United States demonstrates clear preference for the pluralistic model. In practice, the interests of states carry more influence than the interests of citizens. Concerning democratic principles, the filibuster is no more undemocratic than the government

David Mayhew suggests member of Congress are “single-minded seekers of reelection.” Mayhew outlines several institutional factors that allow members of Congress to actively and more importantly for Mayhew’s argument, effectively, seek reelection. The effectiveness of the system to allow its members to seek reelection is notable. Mayhew comments on the systems of Congress “[meeting] the electoral needs of its members [remarkably well].” The institutions of Congress provide its members with several beneficial services and opportunities that ease the process of being reelected. First, members of Congress are granted opportunities to provide both their staff and their constituents with casework which increase loyalty to a member of congress.

Therefore, people end up free riding and result in an unequal representation that can be seen clearly in Congress where more than 82% of House members and 96% of Senators are white. These statistics make a difference in the way the Congress functions as a representative body. In fact, the composition of the House as a whole is comparatively less important than the degree to which individual House members and Senators reflect the views and characteristics of the people in their individual districts or states. Decisions in Congress are made collectively, but representation occurs primarily at the level of the individual member.

In the United States government, the legislative branch is a very complex system. Congress was made into a bicameral, or two-house system. The framers of the constitution did this because they believed that it was in the best interest of this new nation. These two separate houses would help aid the democratic process and make the system less corrupt and fair for all the states.

The inter workings of Congress have been studied extensively by Richard Fenno and David R. Mayhew. Mayhew’s study of Congress took place in Washington, while Richard Fenno conducted his research by following politicians within their congressional district. Mayhew attributes three primary goals to congressmen- getting reelected, achieving influence within Congress and making “good Policy”. Fenno also attributes three basic goals, having influence inside the House than other congressmen. Second, helping their constituents and thereby insuring their reelection, and lastly helping make good policy. The purpose of this paper is to research a member of Congress and to make a direct connection between his activity in Washington and his home district. The paper will answer whether the congressmen is a delegate or trustee. Are the actions a pursuit for reelection? Are the committee assignments a path for movement within the House or outside? What legislation has he/she sponsored or co-sponsored and does it directly reflect his/her districts political view. And finally, do major industries and interest groups within his/she district affect the way he/she votes.

An important point made in Weissert and Weissert concerning Congress and its committee structure is that the majority of the work in Congress is done through committees. They perform the majority of research on issues and possible solutions, get legislation written, re-written and amended, and support it as it moves through Congress and finally gets passed. They are the “workhorses of the legislature” (Weissert and Weissert, 29).

The US federal legislature is bicameral, therefore it consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and in theory they should both be of equal power. However, in reality it is the Senate which is considered to hold the most power, although there are arguments to in favour of them having equal rights. In order to reach a balanced judgement I will consider both sides of the argument, beginning with the claim that the Senate is more powerful than the House of Representatives.

Congress is a complex lawmaking function that runs the country. In other words is the legislative body of our country made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Difficulties that are involved by the representation function have to do with Congressmen wanting to be reelected, opposition between the two parties, and the lobbying that takes place. These three difficulties are what causes the conflict with the lawmaking function of Congress.

The previous passage proves that the constitution’s ideal representative that holds some sort of power and status in government need to be educated and wealthy. To sum it up, those who are already in congress are those who decide who’ll be apart of government, and make decisions that will affect our country. This will further create a division amongst classes and tension between the upper and middle class will diverge from one another.

Bicameral Congress is a House of Representatives and a Senate that helps our government balance the power of popular majorities with interests of the states. Bicameral Congress is made of 535 members that are divided in two. They have 435 members for a House of Representatives and 100 members for senators. For a House, they have 2 year terms in the office, while the senator has 6 years term in the office. A House of Representatives is responsible for setting up the policy agenda, while the Senate is responsible for proposing the agenda. Also, the Senate is responsible for presidential nomination and treaties.

     If we take a more in-depth look at the composition of Congress we see a body disproportionate with its Nation. Congress has maintained a fairly homogenous make-up since its founding even into the

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

In this module we have study modifications to the way Congress and the President do business. The Constitution lists specific duties for Congress to attend to; it is a little vaguer when assigning duties to the President. It is up to both of these institutions to best determine how to accomplish these duties. The major theme of this module is change, the addition of offices under the President and the modifications to the power distribution within the Congress to help better and sometimes hinder these institutions in accomplishing their duties.