Problems+of+Congress


 * Problems of Congress ** By: Mevlana Hursid & Sanjana Rahman (Editor)


 * Introduction: **

Congress is given many powers and "grants" from the Constitution. Some of the powers include "the ability to impose taxes, regulate interstate commerce, raise armies and all other powers "necessary and proper" for executing its enumerated responsibilities" (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Even though there are "435 members in the House and 100 more in the Senate", Congress still faces difficult collective action problems"(http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). "These problems are caused by the incentives members have to be individually responsive at the expense of collective responsibility"(http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Members want to accomplish their goals of winning a "reelection at regular intervals" (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Throughout the nineteen hundreds, members had to vote for people among their parties. "Since World War II, a more candidate-centered pattern of electoral politics has emerged, where candidates operate as independent political entrepreneurs" (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Recently, the advantage of "loosening party ties" and "voting themselves staff and other resources for building substantial personal fllowings" has spread throughout many incumbents. (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp)."Inside the House and Senate, members face pressing information needs, coordination problems, transaction costs, and time concerns" (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Different committees are created to resolve the challenges that Congress is experiencing. "The committee system improves decision-making through the division of labor and specialization" (http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp). Congress is made up of the Senate and House; both of these chambers experience many problem, which will be discussed in the next section.


 * Problems with the House of Representatives: **

"It is ironic to recall that the Founders gave the power of the purse to the House of Representatives because, being more responsive to the people, it would protect their pocketbooks from the extravagances of the executive branch" ( "The American Conservative" ). 100 years ago, this was the the responsibility given to the House of Representatives, "with federal spending about 4 percent of GDP"( "The American Conservative" ). "Today the House is a spending machine—it spends $10 billion each day and more than 25 percent of GDP" ( "The American Conservative." ). Money is powerful and it can either have a positive effect on the nation, or it can cause the economy to decline. Sources state that "In November 2010, Congress had an approva l rating of just 17 percent, while the re-election rate in the House was 86 percent" ( "The American Conservative" ). There are many causes that disconnect the congressional system.

One of many problems that the House suffers with is the concept of money. "With districts so large and candidates selected via primary, a memberof the House could not win re-election without the substantial financial resources needed to communicate directly with voters" ( "The American Conservative" ). Primary outcomes are based on or depend on how much money is raised. However, money also has a positive impact for incumbents who are not involved in an election that is competitive. "Freed from having to worry about their own campaigns, and assured of the longevity that leads to seniority and power, House members in safe districts amass huge war chests and use that money to help their party win in swing districts, thereby garnering loyalty from the candidates they support" ( "The American Conservative" ). For example, "in 2010, 62 percent of incumbents had no primary challenger, and those who did won by an average margin of 66 percent ( "The American Conservative" ). All in all members who are considered "powerful" are held "less accountable" because they have so much money to use. ( "The American Conservative" ).

Another problem that is taken into account in the House of Representatives is the problem with "scale". When the Constitution was first written, there were only 13 states with "3 million inhabitants" ( "The American Conservative" ). Virginia's population was 700,000 and Philadelphia's was 40,000. During the Constitutional Convention, people argued and brought up their complaint with "the size of House districts" ( "The American Conservative" )."When a proposal was made for districts of 40,000, George Washington rose to speak for the first and only time, he opposed the large size and recommended 30,000" ( "The American Conservative" ). This was taken into account and later was a n amendment. "Today, House districts average over 700,000—more than the entire population of Virginia in 1780; this growth alone represents a 96 percent dilution of citizen influence since our Founding" ( "The American Conservative" ).

The House of Representatives also have a problem with primaries. "The average margin of victory for incumbents in general elections is 26 percent, and only 15 percent or so of House districts are competitive in the general; and for the other 85 percent, the outcome is decided in the primary"( "The American Conservative" ). However, the problem is not with the incumbents. During the 1900's, politics was not as major as it is today and everybody was involved in their community. " Congressional candidates were nominated through a caucus and convention system controlled by local parties and their bosses; and caucuses were non-binding, but they allowed bosses to gauge support for each candidate"( "The American Conservative" ). Since everything was done locally, everybody was pressure to rotate with their position and nobody was allowed to stay in office for a long time. "Unfortunately, many local bosses were corrupt, using their power in “smoked-filled rooms” to line their own pockets; and primaries were seen as a way to end that corruption, and they did" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). In this process incumbents always won, but people agreed that reform was needed to continue the process. "This fact was not lost on incumbents themselves: after progressive Republicans instituted the first primary in Wisconsin in 1904, primaries spread quickly across the country" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). Then during the 1920's, this idea was processed and candidates were chosen that way. "In the four elections between 2002 and 2008, only 12 House members were defeated in primaries and over the same span, 13 died in office" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). It can be concluded that there is "higher turnover in the House than in primaries"( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ).


 * Problems with the Senate: **

====Senate is part of the Congress and part of the Legislative branch of America. The Senate is made up of 50 members, 2 from each state. The Senate is usually known to be filled with rich old white males. The Senate is less centralized and more informal. It is more personal and the powers are distributed evenly. They are more emphasized of foreign policy. The Senate is known to have no rules or regulations in terms of debate which brings one of the the most important problems with the Senate which is the act of filibustering. There are many problems with the Senate, one of the largest being, filibuster. Filibustering is the process used when a Senator wants to delay or prevent something from happening, so that the voting process is shortened. The longest filibuster is known to have been over 24 hours long. One of the other major problems of the Senate is the age of the Senators. Senators are usually older white males and that does not help them be more modern or liberal.==== ====The 17th Amendment was also a tremendous mistake that led to a problem with the Senate. The direct election of our Senators. It was better off with the system of the Framers as the State's rights were trampled upon and much of centralization with its inherent problems that would not have occurred. Another problem of the Senate is gridlock. Gridlock is the difficulty of passing a law. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.066em; line-height: 1.5;">The Senate has scheduled no major authorization bills, no appropriations bills and for the third year in a row has failed to bring to the floor a serious budget measure. Instead, Democrats join Republicans in ritual unanimous votes against President Barack Obama's budget proposals in order to escape serious budget debate. ==== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 1.066em; line-height: 1.5;">


 * Reforms that will impact Congress negatively: **

A reform that will impact Congress negatively is the idea of disconnecting money with politics. Progressives believe that money is what causes corruption in Congress and the should stop "the cash flow" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). Many reasons are taken into account when considering the fact that money can not be "stopped". "With all “campaign reforms,” no law will pass Congress that adversely affects incumbents; and since the current finance system favors them, there is no reason to believe they will make the kinds of changes to funding rules that would increase electoral competition" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). Secondly, "the Supreme Court has been very clear that political spending is a form of political speech and is therefore protected by the Constitution; even though you might disagree with their jurisprudence, but unless and until the justices change their minds, money will continue to flow into super PACs and other independent-expenditure entities" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). Finally, because Congress deals with so much money, it is nearly impossible to stop using money in today's world. "Outlawing money in politics wouldn't stop the flow; it would simply push it underground" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ).

The House of Representatives will be negatively affected if society was to make the House larger. "In Japan, each member of the Diet’s lower house represents about 245,000 people, for members of the German Bundestag, the ratio is 1 to 123,000, for the French Assembly, 1 to 100,000, for Canada’s House of Commons, 1 to 96,000; and for the UK’s, 1 to 89,000" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ).During the 1920's, the House of Representatives did not want to make themselves larger and to spread out to other areas. "In 1929, it formally fixed its membership at the current number and the population has tripled since" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). If we continued to follow what the Framers believed, "the House would now have over 10,000 members, clearly that would be impractical; however, various proposals have been made to enlarge the House to 1,200 members, reducing the average size of a district to around 200,000" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ). However, only the Congress has this power and if the House of Representatives did not want to take this action during the year of 1920, then why change it now in the year of 2013 when the House is struggling even more? "The perks, the power, and the money have only increased since then. Why risk diluting those benefits?" ( <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;">"The American Conservative" ).

__** "Congress has a spending problem" **__ media type="youtube" key="bIJbhtnO8IU" height="488" width="873" align="center"

__ Vocabulary Words: __

Filibuster: the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent theadoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.

Gridlock: A situation in which nothing can move and is stuck.

__ Section Review: __

1.) How many members are in the House of Representatives and the Senate? 2.) What are three problems that occur in the House of Representatives? Explain. 3.) Explain the problem with "primaries" in the House of Representatives. 4.) Describe and explain two problems that occur in the Senate. 5.) Explain two reforms that has a negative impact on Congress.

__ Sources: __ http://logic.cqpress.com/chap6/study.asp http://prospect.org/article/our-senate-problem

__ Additional Sources: __ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">"The American Conservative." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">The American Conservative //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. <http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-congress-doesnt-work/>.