The Importance Of Congressional Structure

According to David Mayhew, author of Congress: The Electoral Connection, Congress has many different functions that it performs including: “ . . .legislating, overseeing the executive, expressing public opinion, and servicing constituents” (Mayhew 2004, 8). While all these are important to the role Congress plays, the most important ability is the authority to create laws. Congress derives its power to perform its functions and to create laws, from Article I of the Constitution. Although Article I may be oft overlooked, the authority given to Congress from it is critically important to understanding legislative politics. Without structures and rules, Congress would be unable to make laws, would have little authority and could not function properly as a check to the other branches of government.

The structure of Congress consists of several parts including: offices, committees, and parties. Congress consists of 525 offices, which include staff and sizeable salaries. These offices work to not only help the Congressmen while in office but also to aide in campaigning for reelection. Each member of Congress is granted the same office resources, which are huge advantage to incumbents (Mayhew 2004, 84-85).

A second structure of Congress is committees. There are twenty-one standing committees in the House and seventeen in the Senate; each committee serves an important function. Ultimately, the committee system helps the members of Congress by allowing for a division of labor. Congress at large simply does not have the time or expertise needed for every piece of legislation, which is why committees are so important. The small groups can make things happen more effectively than if Congress as a whole had to work on the legislation. A congressional seniority system exists in the committees where over time congressmen can rise to more powerful positions but with increased incumbency and members of Congress staying on longer there is less room for members to move up in the system. A final important part of committees is the ability for congressmen to take credit and feel accomplishment for bills they have worked on and it adds value to their work (Mayhew 2004, 85-96). This can be important when running for reelection because the congressman can promote his participation in certain pieces of legislation he worked on.

A third structure of Congress consists of parties. According to Mayhew, “What is important to each congressman, and vitally so, is that he be free to take positions that serve his advantage” (Mayhew 2004, 99). No member of Congress wants to be told how to vote so parties typically keep the pressure to a minimum. The party leaders do however counsel members to vote one way or another, however it is ultimately up to the congressman to decide how to vote (Mayhew 2004, 97-101). However, some partisan pressure does still remain but is minimal.

All three structures play an important role in the way Congress acts. Without the support of the office, congressmen would have much more difficult time doing their jobs and running for reelection. Not only that, but the offices serve as an equalizer to all Congressmen. It does not matter how much or how little funding the Congressman has, they will be given the same resources. This prevents the richer candidates from having more opportunities and staff than poorer candidates.

Committees and parties also have a great impact on Congressmen. The ability of members of Congress to not feel pressured to vote along party lines is vitally important. The members are elected to represent the constituency not tow the party line. By allowing congressmen the ability to take their own positions it allows them more freedom to stand up for what they feel their voters want and to not be afraid to take certain measures such as, filibustering harmful legislation. Party’s can have some effect on legislation if the President and Congress are from two different factions. As in the case of President Bill Clinton, he struggled to pass legislation in a Republican dominated Congress and for the most part was unsuccessful. Even when a party is in control of Congress, as is the current case, it can still be difficult to pass legislation. Despite this, most congressmen are never pressured to vote a certain way (Mayhew 2004, 101).

One of the most influential structures of Congress, other than the elastic clause, is the committee system. In the 1950s a liberal coalition formed against committees. They believed that noncommittee members had little to no impact on legislation, which was true. According to Julian Zelizer, “ . . .the Rules Committee controlled the floor agenda, scheduled hearings on rules, established how much time legislation would be debated, and determined what rules would be used when considering a bill” (Zelizer, 2004 56). The coalition worked together to limit the powers of the Rules Committee and ultimately was successful. This group was able to wield enough power to provoke an institutional change, which allowed for more liberals to join a historically conservative committee. Despite this abuse by the House Committee, committees serve an important role in Congress by giving structure to legislation, that the opposition cannot easily overturn. This also serves to adjust conflict between different groups and encourages debate. Ultimately, committees are an important system that is able to work with members in the committee and outside it to create effective legislation (Zelizer, 2004 88-89).

A further point to consider is that electoral incentives drive the structure. Elections are deeply connected to the structures of Congress both in the importance of the office and in committees. Parties formally were one of the most important factors in electing and reelecting candidates. In more recent times, however, congressmen are driven less by partisanship, and party organizations, and as a result partisan ties have weakened (Jacobson 2004, 18). Most elections are now centered on the candidate. According to Jacobson this is because, “Parties no longer control access to the ballot and, therefore, to political office. They cannot determine who runs under the party’s label and so cannot control what the label represents” (Jacobson 2004, 20). This independence is key to both voters and congressmen who deeply value it because constituents want their votes to count and desire their congressman to serve local interests rather than be pressured to vote along the party line. Another feature is that the structure is able change over time as the values and the preferences of the voters and candidates change. Committees for example, allow members