Transcript Congressional history slides part III House 1990

CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY
SLIDES PART III
HOUSE 1998 - TODAY
SENATE 1870S-TODAY
HOUSE POST-GINGRICH
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The Hastert Speakership (1998-2006)
---The Hastert Rule of floor management
 ---More leadership influence on conf.
committees
 ---New requirements for committtee chairs
($$)
 ---Medicare Prescription Drug Plan 2003
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HOUSE POST-GINGRICH
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The Democrats are Back: The Pelosi Years
---100-hour agenda
---Some procedural reforms, but mostly more of the
same
---Asserting control over committee chairs
---Helping red-state Democrats, but not on policy
---Setbacks: Murtha for Maj. Leader, No changes
on Iraq, successful Republican use of MTRWIs
The Senate: Decentralized &
Individualistic
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Why have parties and committees been less important in the
Senate?
1.) Legacy of filibuster rule----motivates bipartisanship and
“maverickness”
2.) Legacy of weak Constitutional leadership
3.) Smaller size, clubby atmosphere
4.) Senate is a continuous body—fewer opportunities for change
5.) Fewer restrictions on number & content of amendments (easier to
bypass committees)
6.) Senators have more committee assgts. (less specialized, more
generalist) – the Johnson rule
7.) Greater media focus on individual Senators
Late
th
19
Century
Polarized parties, but no centralized
leadership
 Politics of Western state admission – Senate
gerrymandering?
 The Allison-Aldrich gang ruled thru committee
leadership
 Slow evolution of Majority and Minority
Leader positions from Caucus Chair positions
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Effects of
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th
17
Amendment (1913)
States had already been gravitating toward
greater public role in Senator selection
(ex. Lincoln-Douglas debates, primary elections)
Need for electoral success probably stimulated
emergence of majority/minority leadership
Some evidence of more responsive (moderate)
voting by Senators
Not much evidence of difference in kinds of
candidates or Senators---but created even more
potential for independence from party bosses
The Introduction of Cloture
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Confrontation with Wilson over arming of U.S. merchant
ships (February 1917)
Special session of new Senate elected in 1916:
approved cloture procedure requiring 2/3 of all
Senators (later changed to 2/3 of those present)
Did cloture really change anything?
Changes in 1975 –
a.) Democratic supermajority
b.) Threat of complete filibuster elimination
c.) Byrd negotiated compromise: cloture would take
3/5ths, Senate rules changes would still take 2/3rds
Senate Leadership (like “herding cats”)
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More dependent on individual personality traits
than institutional powers
---Johnson: encyclopedic memory, aggressive
personality (“the Johnson treatment”)
---Byrd: mastery of obscure Senate rules
---Baker and Dole: no place for presidential
candidates!
---Mitchell/Frist/Daschle: increasing importance of
media skills