Agency Representation In Congress

It’s been argued ever since the constitution was made how in touch the congress members where with the people who elect them and this argument still goes on today. With the 425 members of the House each has a district which averages nearly 650,000 people, this is a vast number with many arguing that there is little chance that congress can be in touch with the people when they have to represent such vast numbers. However, the other side of the argument displays evidence that in fact the members of congress are able to stay in touch and represent the people who elect them.

This written report is appertaining to the book How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, written by Lee H. Hamilton. This book is published by Indiana University Press in Bloomington, IL, it was copyrighted in 2004 by the publisher.

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.

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.

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.

Democracy is conceptualized as a “will of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Intrinsically, all variants of democratic representation must take into consideration the will of the majority of the electorate. In the democratic approach, the representative carries the will of their district to Congress and ensures it is sufficiently expressed. Further, a delegate representative is better placed to be in constant communication with the grassroots and understand their district issues which would also help with the articulation of such matters in the House. Implicitly, delegate representatives also have better chances of re-election as they will often refrain from being in contravention of their district’s

The United States Congress is more than likely the most significant representative institution in the United States government. Each member of Congress has a primary obligation to the district, to his or her constituency. Though Congress is divided into two parts, called the House of Representatives and the Senate, they both play different roles in the legislature process. Senate is more deliberative and the House is the more centralized and organized. Congress is supposed to represent the American people but they will not always make the “right” decisions, according to some individuals. Obviously it is impossible to please everybody, but surely the laws that are being passed are because Congress views some sort of usefulness from it. There are two different types of representation that was spoken about in the chapter including sociological and agency representation. Sociological is based off of the idea that if two individuals have similar background, character, interests, and perspectives, then they can correctly represent others’ views. Agency is when a representative is held accountable to a constituency for when that constituency is represented poorly. The constituents have the power to hire and fire their representatives.

In “Congressional Government”, Woodrow Wilson tries to explain the system of Congress and in it he thoroughly discusses the predominance of Congressional Committees in the legislative body. He argues that our legislature is more analogous to a conglomerate, not a homogenous body and that “we are ruled by a score and a half of ‘little legislatures’”(Wilson p. 323). There is little unity in the House and party organization is not strong according to Wilson. The many distinct, disconnected committees has leads Congress to have weak leadership and therefore decreases decision making. Also Wilson shows how multiple committee jurisdictions creates a system where there is no clear voice on the issue and since committees differ in political ideology broad questions of policy suffer. Lawrence C. Dodd also discusses the committee system in “Congress and the Quest for Power”. In it, he argues that the solution to congressmen’s need for power is a decentralized congress with a committee system that allows members to gain considerable power in their small committees. “Each member wants to exercise power, to make the key policy decisions. … Given this widespread power motive, an obvious way to resolve the conflict is to disperse power”(Dodd p. 335). Dodd argues that the solution to member Congress constantly seeking power is the current

Government, all the way from Capitol Hill down to the small cities across the nation, is filled with the elected officials who represent the citizens of that city and state. When people think about who represents them, who comes to mind first? The Senator? The Representative? The mayor? Despite being categorized at different levels of the government, state and federal, each of these officials are tasked with representing their state and hometowns, and each of their jobs is just as important as the other. Their job, in short, is to represent the interests of the people who elected them into office. In this essay, I will identify the individuals who represent me and evaluate the extent to which I feel represented.

Still according to the book the basis of sociological representation portrays representative as a delegate who shares the same gender, racial, religious, ethnic or educational culture with the constituents. Hence, one can conclude that Congress is not sociologically representative of the common people. Nevertheless, Both Houses do have a good productive organization support. As the book explains agency representation is a form of representation that is present when the citizens have the ability to appoint and oust congressmen and congresswomen. Our lawmakers were voted in by the citizens and have to make decisions on their behalf and protect their interest as they represent the American People. The framers had in mind for Congress to be very active to the needs of their constituents, frequently congress members got mixed up over acting in the name of the citizens of their district and satisfying the needs of the entire nation. Although, sociologically the agency representation is disproportional, the lawmakers always act with the next election in

Representation is when elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature. Equality is defined as the state of being equal. especially in regards to a person’s status, their rights as citizens, and the opportunities given to them. In American society, every citizen is supposed to be given equal rights and opportunities by the politicians they chose to represent them in the country’s government. One issue that I believe to be viewed and discussed by many people in our society is whether the United States government represents its citizens equally or unequally in society. Throughout the semester, we have talked about many different authors’ views and opinions that address this specific issue. Each reading we have read was written in relation to the societies and time periods in which the authors lived, but can all be tied together to address the issue in the United States today. There are also many of examples in our society today, that can show us the lack of equality amongst the citizens in the United States.

The article Rethinking Representation, written by Jane Mansbridge, explains how there are three different forms of representation apart from the traditional idea of “promissory” representation. Promissory representation is the traditional model of representation. It focuses on the idea that during a representative’s campaign they make promises to their constituents. During the representative’s time in office, these promises are either kept or not fulfilled. As Mansbridge notes, within the last 20 years there has been three new forms of representation, they are anticipatory, gyroscopic, and surrogate representation.

Presidents of the United States of America have been around since the country became it’s own. Each president is given certain responsibilities and rights. Presidential power is listed in the Constitution but since then, there’s been room for more responsibilities to come into play. The powers exercised in the modern world surpass those included in the Constitution. Today, the president has a number of offices and departments serving under him. These institutions help keep the government together and everything running smoothly. The presidents rely on a number of other things. Some include elections, political parties, interest groups, the media, and public opinion. There are different kinds of powers granted to the president. While some

Congress most accurately reflects the needs of the people because they have different opinions and amounts of

I learned how to communicate with government officials as a private agency representative. I was responsible for ensuring that our agency met the criteria to bid and win the contract, staffing the contract, developing and facilitating training material based on the requirements of the contract, communicating weekly with government officials to ensure the company’s consistent adherence to the contract obligations, attending government meetings directly involving the call center, managing the staff schedules to accommodate and ensure coverage for the twenty hour - seven days a week operation, in addition to providing oversight for the emergency call center unit.