Congress

Congress is a governing power, which decides laws in order to support the people. There has been a common argument for a while; the argument is whether congress members put too much into thinking about their own reelection, and not enough time thinking about the people. Congress members like the position of power that they hold, and want to hang on to that power. Other than their own reelection congress members also focus on lawmaking, pork barreling, and casework. The main weakness of congress members is putting their own views aside. It is important that congress members put their views aside, and think about the views of the people. Congress’s decisions affect the people directly, and congress members need to take this into consideration.

It is said that one of the main goals of congress members is to get reelected. Rickard F. Fiorina believes that congress members spend too much working on reelection. If the main goal of congress members were to get reelected would congress members keep the people in mind or themselves? If congress members only cared about their position of power, then not a lot of thought would be put into the people. Morris P. Fiorina says, “on average, those congressmen who are not primarily interested in reelection will not achieve reelection as often as those who are interested” (American Government, The Rise of the Washington Establishment, 336). Fiorina believes that congress members have to fight for their spot in congress, it is not enough to just vote in favor of the people. Fiorina thinks that if you want your spot in congress, you have to be willing to fight for that spot.

Sometimes, the scenario occurs where members of congress are reelected even though they do not deserve to be reelected. This scenario tends to occur when citizens do not give their input to congress. This is part of the reason why it is so important for people to give their input to the government. Without input from the people, congress members have to make decisions based on what they think is best, and the views of the people tend to be forgotten. In order to keep their job Congress has to work extra hard to hear the voice of the people, “most members of Congress like their job, want to keep it, and know that there are people back home who want who want to take it away from them. So they work long and hard at winning reelection” (American Government, If, as Ralph Nader says, Congress is “The broken Branch,” How come We love our Congressmen so Much, 360). The members of Congress are aware when the people want them out of power. In order to assure that they will hold their position Congress members work extra for the people.

Congress is engaged in primarily three different activities: “lawmaking, pork barreling, and casework” (American Government, The Rise of the Washington Establishment, 336). Each of these tasks plays a role in the everyday decisions of Congress.

Lawmaking is the primary task of Congress. This is the task that most time is put into. Because most time is spent passing bills, the process in which a bill is passed tends to be long. The bill is first introduced in either the House or the Senate. Once the bill is looked at the bill is then passed onto a subcommittee. The subcommittee then makes revisions to the bill if necessary. The revisions then have to get approved before the bill is passed on to the committee. The committee may rewrite the bill again if they see it necessary. The committee may also choose to send the bill to the house floor or kill the bill. The last and final committee is the rules committee. The rules committee issues a rule that will govern the debate on the floor. Once they have decided the rule, they send the bill to the floor. On the floor the full House or the full Senate debates the bill, and amendments are offered to the bill. If the full house decides to approve the bill, it is then sent to the conference committee. The conference committee is composed of both members of the House and Senate. Both the House and the Senate meet together to smooth over differences seen in the bill. The redone bill is then returned to both the House and Senate for a vote. If the bill is passed it is sent to the president. The president then either signs or vetoes the bill. If the president signs the bill it becomes a law, but if the president vetoes Congress can veto the president’s veto by a 2/3 vote. This a long process, but it is one that occurs regularly in Congress.

Congress members are also spend a lot of time trying to get money sent back to their district. The ways in which money can be sent back are new dams, federal, building, sewage, treatment plants, urban renewal projects, and much more. This is called pork barreling. Pork barreling is, “a term originally applied to rivers and harbors legislation but now generalized to cover all manner of federal largesse” (American Government, The Rise of the Washington Establishment, 337). Pork barreling shows the federal projects, grants, and contracts that are in a congressional district. It is hard for the constituents to see how their congress member’s vote actually affects them, but when they see physical proof of what their congress member is doing it tends to make more sense. This is why it is important for Congress to keep the people’s vote in mind.

Casework is the third major activity that congress members spend a lot of time on. The constituents tend to appeal to their congress member when they want a favor or service. A lot of the favors that the constituents ask for are for Congress to intervene on the internal working of federal agencies, to help the constituents in a favorable way. Members of congress do not have total power to intervene in the internal workings of federal agencies, “congressmen possess the power to expedite and influence bureaucratic decisions. This capability flows directly from congressional control over what bureaucrats value most: higher budgets and new program authorizations. In a very real sense each congressman is a monopoly supplier unsticking services for his district” (American Government, The Rise of the Washington Establishment, 337). Congress members want to get as many services as they can for their district. It is the vote of the congress member that decides what services their district will receive, and what services they won’t receive.

The philosophy of government is that government should be deliberative and carried out in the national interest. The government is supposed to be the voice of the people. Congress plays a huge role in being the voice for the people because it is congress members who have to hear the people and try to get what they ask for. Sometimes it is the job of congress members to put their own interest aside, “it is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs- and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own” (American Government, speech to the Electors of Bristol, 356). It is the duty of congress members to think about the people they are representing more then themselves. The decisions that Congress makes affect the people directly. This is why congress members have to put their own beliefs aside and vote in favor of the people who they are representing.

The congressional system has not yet been perfected, and a lot of time will be needed in order to perfect the system. It is hard for congress members to put their own beliefs aside, and focus solely on the beliefs of the people, but this is necessary in order for Congress to reflect the ideals of the people. It is the people who will be directly affected, and it is the people who are going to have Congress’s decisions affect their lives everyday.

-Christen