Cloture

Cloture is on the rise. Interesting way to show the growth in procedural tactics to pass legislation.

Congress: The Electoral Connection – David Mayhew

The American Congress is unique as a legislative institution. Compared to other democratic assemblies, the parties within it are weak. (22) Further, the chief executive of the government is not pulled from its ranks. Often, the President and Congress are of opposing parties – further complicating issues of whom to hold accountable when things are going poorly and whom to reward when things go well. Despite these potential problems and complications, Congress, according to David Mayhew, still performs remarkably well in representing the interests of its constituents and members. (81) His book, Congress: The Electoral Connection, provides the theoretical framework to explain how Congress operates.

Mayhew wrote Congress at a time when little academic research existed on Congressional behavior, and at the same time, rational choice theory was gaining popularity among political scientists. (viii) These two streams, along with Mayhew’s firsthand experience, led him to his overarching theory that members of Congress are “single minded seekers of reelection.” (5) Although such a bold statement was certainly new, the thought of congress as rational decision makers interested in self-preservation was not. In his studies, Richard Fenno concluded that members are motivated by reelection, prestige within Congress, and good public policy. (ix)

Although Mayhew’s theory itself may seem single minded, it is believable because reelection is “the goal that must be achieved over and over if other ends are to be entertained.” (16) Mayhew acknowledges that sometimes members are motivated by and pursue goals that hurt their chances at reelection, but these “saints” are rare and to do anything about those goals, they must first be reelected.

Evidence of Congress’s emphasis on reelection can be seen in the high return rates of incumbents. When we say that a Congressman is unbeatable, it is not to say that incumbents have a structural advantage that makes them invulnerable; rather, it is because they do the things (such as answering mail, serving constituents, and voting for projects in their district) that gain favor among their voters and help their reelection campaigns.

The vast majority of a member’s activities not only are directly related to their seeking of reelection but can also be placed into three categories: credit claiming, position taking, and advertising.

Credit claiming refers to actions which promote the belief that the member is the person responsible for desirable results. (53) Congressmen will claim credit for accomplishments so that the electorate might reward their success with reelection. However, credit claiming becomes more difficult when it isn’t obvious whom to hold accountable or reward. Therefore, claims must be believable. (55) Capital improvement projects or a new federal building in the home district, a military base that stays open, or even casework to find a missing social security check are all popular and believable claims that help a Congressmen in their reelection efforts. Claims on broader issues, such as “I am responsible for passing a bill to curb inflation,” are not tangible and are harder for an audience to grasp. Further, the knowledge needed to accurately assess the validity of such claims is beyond voters’ ability. Such claims are perceived as unbelievable whether true or not. Mayhew believes this is part of the reason we see a proliferation of pork barrel projects and earmarks in Congress while complex and nuanced issues are ignored.

Position taking is a public announcement of a Congressman’s stance on a particular issue. Often, position taking is done formally through a roll call vote. (61) Position taking is especially important when credit claiming is not possible because the issue is too complex for claims to be believable or because the issue never reaches implementation. Mayhew argues that the best strategy for position taking is a conservative one. (67) He suggests Congressmen “cling” to their current positions and engage in innovation only with extreme caution.

Finally, advertising is a Congressman’s efforts to build favorable name recognition within the district. (49) The image they create or convey has little to no content. Since about only half the electorate can name their Representative, members spend much of their time trying to build their reputation as an experienced, valuable, and knowledgeable politician. Incumbents have a large advantage in advertising since they can use franking privileges to correspond with constituents and are more likely to get news coverage. Mayhew provides several examples of Congressmen who ramped up their presence (going as far as hosting radio and television shows) in order to advertise after close elections.

These three elements make up the majority of Congressional activity and ultimately support the goal of reelection. However, these activities focus on the individual members and not the institution itself. Part 2 of Congress focuses on how members organize within Congress to fulfill their needs. Here Mayhew states two observations about Congress: that the organization of Congress meets the needs of its members extremely well and that one member’s gain is not another member’s loss. (82)

First, Mayhew points to the experienced hill staffs as a source of organizational support and incumbency advantage. Staff, franking privileges, and availability of other resources allow members to effectively pursue their goals.

Second, the decentralization of power to committees allows “every member, regardless of party or seniority, (the) right to his share of the benefits.” (88) Membership on committees allows congressmen to pursue interest areas and maximize credit claiming on those issues. Further, because committees are much smaller than Congress as a whole, “individual congressmen can make things happen.” (92) The importance of each individual and the weakness of the parties allow congressmen to “take positions that serve his advantage.” (99)

Mayhew believes that Congress is “an extraordinarily democratic body” (138) and that “keeping Congress afloat for nearly two centuries has been a considerable achievement” (165) especially given the potential problems it faces. One of the problems Mayhew sees is Congress’s tendency, in the quest for reelection, to support spending without taxing. He writes, “Spending is generally popular and taxes are not. In the public mind the connection between the two is there, but it is decidedly ambiguous.” (144) To explain this away, Mayhew borrows Fenno’s argument that members are also motivated by the desire to maintain the institution’s prestige. Congress would cease to be effective if the desire to spend was not in some way checked by the diligent work of members concerned with issues beyond their own reelection.

Mayhew spends a significant portion of his book examining the role of parties in Congress (especially compared to other democratic legislatures). He concludes that they are generally weak and take a backseat to the interests of individual members. Although I believe this is still true for many members from marginal districts – for example, those districts in which Rahm Emanuel recruited conservative Democrats to run and to which the party allows a wider range of ideology – I believe parties and party loyalty occupy a greater role in congressional behavior since the 1994 mid-term elections. Newt Gingrich’s committee reform lessened the importance of seniority and rewarded those that toed the party line. Further, as gerrymandering creates more districts that are solidly one party, there is a greater tendency for candidates in those districts to align themselves with the party. If a member strays too far from the party line in a solidly one party district, he will be punished by primary challengers. The general election is often more closely contested in marginal districts and the primary more so in one party districts. So, the fewer marginal districts there are, the greater importance getting through the primary becomes. One way of doing that is to demonstrate that you are the most Republican or most Democratic candidate. Such a system diminishes the power of the individual – an element Mayhew believed was important for Congress’s ability to meet the needs of its members.