Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Notes from 11/10/08 3rd period

2 schools of thought regarding the importance of the lack of female and minority representation
1. suggests that female and minority representation is important and that legislations should resemble the demographics of their consitutents. this means the legislature as a whole will resemble the demographic characteristics of the population it represents.
2. another view says that the ehtnicity or gender of representatives doesnt matter, voters should remain totally colorblind and elect the best representatives.

Supreme court cases against voting rights act
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Miller v. Johnson (1995)
Bush v. Vera (1996)

How do issues get on congressional agenda?
1. some issues because an event or new technology development draws our attention to a problem
2. presidential support
3. congressional party leaders and committee chairs have the best opportunity to influence the agenda.

Legislation
1. After being introduced, bills go to committee and then usually to a subcommittee. After passed by a committee it goes to the full membership for debate, possible amendment and a vote.
A: bills passed by the House & Senate must go to a conference committee, where differences btw 2 versions are resolved.
B: if both the house and senate pass te conference committees compromise version the bill goes to the president.
2. the President may sign or veto a bill that Congress has passed.
A: if the presidnet vetoes a bill Congress can override that veto by a 2/3 majority in each house
B: a pocket veto takes place when Congress adjourns within 10 days of the time it sent the bill to the white house and the president doesnt sign it.

Committees: Workhouses of Congress
Congress has committees for the same reason that any large organization is subdivided into specialized groups or divisions: to develop and use expertise in specific areas.

Standing Committees: most important permament committees that specialize in a particular area of public policy and shape policy at a critical point. Senate 16 House 19
Select: Temporary and are created for a specific purpose such as an investigation
Joint: made up of members of the House and Senate, they are similar in purpose to select committees for the most part.
Conference: work out differences btw House And Senate versions of legislation on the same subject (temp.)

-influence on the committees grows formally with senority and increased (informally) w/ expertise.
-most want to be on a committee that are important to constituents.
-w/in each committee the senior member of the majority party usually because the committee chair.

Public policy decision making takes place in committess/subcommittees
A) the first step in drafting legislation is to collect information on the issue; committee staffers do the initial research on the problem
B) committees hold hearings to gather more information. hearings are often an opportunity to attract attention to a particular problem. most bills are pigeonholed and never make it out of a committee.
C) committee/subcommittee members meet to decide on the provisions of those bills that do make it through a subcommittee are changed or rewritten at the markup session and returned to the full committee where it may be altered further.
D) the committee/subcommittee chair strongly influences the way a committees handles its work. some are better than others at leading the bargaining and negotiating that charaterize the legislative processssss.

:)

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