The Power Of The House Of Representatives

Evaluate the claim that the Senate is far more powerful than the House of Representatives

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.

In this essay, I will be writing about how the power relationship between the United States Congress and the presidency has changed during the past two hundred years. I will be talking about how the executive branch is more powerful than the legislative branch and how the changing relationship between Congress and the president affected American democracy in a good way.

In 1910, Cannon was Speaker of the House as well as Head of the Rules Committee, giving him incomparable power in the House. However, George Norris, backed by the Progressives in Congress, called for a vote to give the power of electing the Rules Committee to the House, to avoid the monopoly of power. This example, of recognizing power and dispersing it away from one individual, furthered American ideology of avoiding dictatorial rule (Burns, 1988). During the film Charles MacDowell, a newspaperman, states, “The Congress is where we speak, the Congress is where we are. The Congress is where ordinary mortals go about the business of compromise; compromise that gets us through the day” (MacDowell, 1988). This statement is relevant, for me, as it imposes the necessity of compromise in Congress. The way that Mr. MacDowell states the functionality of Congress, makes it apparent that in this country the power truly lies with people of all beliefs. Therefore, to maintain fairness, compromise must ensue. Another statement that challenged my personal belief of how Congress operates, was made by Barbara Fields, a historian, stating “I wonder whether the ideal of democracy lives, in real sense, in our

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.

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.

My thoughts about the power between Congress and The Presidency I think it’s all about balance. We look to Congress and The Supreme Court to lead our government and The President to be the head of our country to make hard decisions that sometimes lead our country into war. With that said neither one at the same time should have too much power we don’t want a dictatorship and our constitution was made to give the President the freedom to be great leaders. It's all about balance and doing what’s best for our country with both Congress and The

In 1787, one of the most debated issues was the size of the House of Representatives. During the Constitutional Convention, the delegates proposed that 40,000 citizens should be represented by one congressional district. However, George Washington intervened and argued that 40,000 was too high, and reasoned that 30,000 was more reasonable and allow people to be represented adequately Washington’s proposal was incorporated in Article One, Section Two of the Constitution which states “representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” While the number of representatives did increase throughout the history of the United States, the number has been set at 435 members since 1929. Congress in 1929 passed the Permanent Apportionment Act that set the number of representatives at 435, which was set after a 1910 census. Currently each representative represents 700,000 citizens and congressional seats are redistricted around the nation based on population changes. But the currently number of representatives does not adequately represent the present population and a single district cannot represent a huge number of people. Therefore, the current number of representatives must be increased.

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

“ Congress: The Electoral Connection”, the article is written by David R. Mayhew. Mayhew represents his view about Congressmen activities. These politicians discuss certain issues going on within the country and to emphasize people to focus on their listed issues and get attention of public in order to take position in House.

Leading up to the period of “the Debaters” (as they are called in the film Congress) the Capital had been completely rebuilt under the supervision of Benjamin Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch. The Capital had new more expansive chambers for each house which were joined by a copper sheathed wooden dome. The period between 1820 and 1860 in congress is characterized by debate and compromise. The spirit of the times is characterized as that of growth and improvement. Gold was found in California, Texas joined the union, we went from having 209 to 21,551 post offices across the country, and our country now spanned all the way to the pacific. As if a testament to this spirit of growth the painter and inventor Samuel F.B. Morse painted the congress in its new quarters to subsidize his new telegraph system. But of course the changes to our Capital are the changes that are least

An important point made in Weissert and Weissert concerning Congress and its committee structure is that the majority of the work in Congress is done through committees. They perform the majority of research on issues and possible solutions, get legislation written, re-written and amended, and support it as it moves through Congress and finally gets passed. They are the “workhorses of the legislature” (Weissert and Weissert, 29).

I think that the congress has the most power in the constitution. “ Congress can pass any laws that are necessary to make these other powers possible.”, I picked this quote because I think that the congress should have the power to make laws that will help others. “ The President, Vice President, and other Executive leaders can be impeached by Congress for committing crimes”, I think this quote is fair because it allows the president not to have too much power and this way he can be impeached if he does something wrong.

Apart from the senate representatives, other group of individuals play a crucial law in the process. In order to understand politics and governance in Texas, I sought out to look at the legislative procedure. This involved understanding the steps involved in the law

The class imitation of the House of Representatives demonstrated the roles and the process of seeing a bill from committee until the House floor. Each student was given a role and eventually a committee. The committees that were represented were the Armed Services, Appropriations, and the Ways and Means committees. Discoveries were made along the way that better developed the understanding of the process.