American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

THE STRUCTURE OF CONGRESS| 279

and number of amendments to a bill that will be allowed. These decisions must be

approved by a majority of the House fl oor. The Rules Committee has become an

arm of the majority party leadership, and in many instances it provides rules that

support the party’s policy agenda or protect its members from having to take con-

troversial positions. For example, the Rules Committee prevented many amend-

ments on the 2010 health care reform bill that would have divided the Democratic

Party if they had come to a vote. Majority members are expected to support their

party on votes concerning rules, even if they end up voting against the related

legislation.

CONGRESSIONAL STAFF

The fi nal component of the formal structure of Congress is congressional staff.

The size of personal and committee staff exploded in the 1970s and 1980s and

has since leveled off. Today 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 fi scal policy. The larger committee staff s gave

members of Congress independent sources of information and expertise with

IDEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERS

FIGURE » 9.6

0.0

−1.0

112th Congress (2011–12)

−0.5 0.0

Liberal-Conservative

0.5 1.0

0.5

1.0

Density

1.5

2.0

2.5

House Democrats

Senate Democrats

House Republicans

Senate Republicans

Source: "Forecasting Polarization in the 113th Senate,” September 10, 2012, voteview, http://voteview.com/blog/?p=567 (accessed 9/19/12).