William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

404 Chapter 11 | Congress

Congressional Staff The final component of the formal structure of Congress is

congressional staff. The size of personal and committee staff exploded in the 1970s and

1980s but has since leveled off. The total number of congressional staff is more than

four times as large as it was 50 years ago. Part of the motivation for this growth was to

reduce the gap between the policy-making capability of Congress and the president,

especially with regard to fiscal policy. The other primary motivation was electoral. By

increasing the size of their personal staff, members were able to open multiple district

offices and expand opportunities for helping constituents. When the Republicans took

control of Congress in 1994, they vowed to cut the waste in the internal operation of

the institution, in part by cutting committee staff. However, although they reduced

committee staff by nearly a third, they made no cuts in personal staff.

“Why

Should

I Care?”

The Constitution says very little about the internal structure of Congress, so the

institution is largely the creation of its members. The norms of the institution and its

formal structure facilitate members’ electoral and policy goals, so if they don’t like

the way something works, they can change it. While this may sound very self-serving,

members of Congress also work to serve broader collective and policy goals—or else

they would be booted out of office. Understanding this fundamental point provides

great insight into why Congress is structured the way that it is.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Every introductory textbook on American politics has an obligatory section including

a neat little diagram that describes how a bill becomes a law (see How It Works:

Passing Legislation). But we provide an important truth-in-advertising disclosure:

many important laws do not follow this orderly path. In fact, Barbara Sinclair’s book

Unorthodox Lawmaking argues that “the legislative process for major legislation is now

less likely to conform to the textbook model than to unorthodox lawmaking.”^41 After

presenting the standard view, we describe the most important deviations from that path.

The Conventional Process

The details of the legislative process can be incredibly complex, but its basic aspects

are fairly simple. The most important thing to understand about the process is that

before a piece of legislation can become a law it must be passed in identical form by both

the House and the Senate and signed by the president. If the president vetoes the bill,

it can still be passed with a two-thirds vote in each chamber. Note, however, that all

legislation that is signed by the president (or overrides a veto) carries the weight of law;

legislation that is not signed by the president has only internal legislative or symbolic

purposes (see Nuts & Bolts 11.3 for a description of different types of legislation). Here

are the basic steps of the process to pass a bill:

1. A member of Congress introduces the bill.


2. A subcommittee and committee craft the bill.


3. Floor action on the bill takes place in the first chamber (House or Senate).


4. Committee and f loor action takes place in the second chamber.

TRACE THE STEPS IN THE

LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

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