R Representati= ves on the Job
Wed= nesday, March 04, 2009
12:= 17 PM
Much of the wo= rk Congress does is targeted at being reelected
Senate seats a= re not as secure as house seats
Advantages of Incumbency
Get free mailing privileges and newsletters to send home to keep constituents informed
Their name is more well known
Most people can only tell if their rep is liberal or conservative
Can't tell how they voted on a certain issue
Take many tax-payer trips home so people can know that they are at work
House has 3 day week
Senate has a 5 day week but takes every 4th week off
Franking
Getting to send mail for free
Not for political purposes or personal communication
Committee supervises
Not free - Congress gets a bill from the Post Office
Increases a lot before elections
Usage fell when a budget was given to each member and made publically available
Letters targeted to certain members
Media Advantage
Send press releases and even TV and sound footage to press
Fund-raising
Raise funds for many PACs
Working for Constituents
Casework
Work on behalf of citizens who contact them with problems or questions about the government
Get a few hundred a day
Score points with the people for helping them navigate the large bureaucracy they created
Some members enjoy it more because of tangible benefits and it seems non-partisa= n
Pork Barrel
Funding with a ZIP code attached
Construction, military spending, and universities
Almost $20 billion of spending per year
Very popular with members of that area
Little support to remove the programs since it will hurt their reelection chances<= /p>
Proportional to the senator's clout
Working with Colleagues
Informal Norms
Attempts to minimize friction
Changing over time
Institutional Loyalty
Throughout the 20th century
Respect members
Decreased now
Reciprocity
Logrolling
"You support my bill and I support yours"
Specialization
Members work in subject areas
Help become experts
More scrutiny means harder to pass unpopular measures
Special Interest Caucuses
Members who share partisan, ideological, issue, regional, identity interests
More than 100 in the house
6 in Senate
Before 1995 the largest had their own offices
R Representati= ves on the Job
Wed= nesday, March 04, 2009
12:= 17 PM
Much of the wo= rk Congress does is targeted at being reelected
Senate seats a= re not as secure as house seats
Advantages of Incumbency
Get free mailing privileges and newsletters to send home to keep constituents informed
Their name is more well known
Most people can only tell if their rep is liberal or conservative
Can't tell how they voted on a certain issue
Take many tax-payer trips home so people can know that they are at work
House has 3 day week
Senate has a 5 day week but takes every 4th week off
Franking
Getting to send mail for free
Not for political purposes or personal communication
Committee supervises
Not free - Congress gets a bill from the Post Office
Increases a lot before elections
Usage fell when a budget was given to each member and made publically available
Letters targeted to certain members
Media Advantage
Send press releases and even TV and sound footage to press
Fund-raising
Raise funds for many PACs
Working for Constituents
Casework
Work on behalf of citizens who contact them with problems or questions about the government
Get a few hundred a day
Score points with the people for helping them navigate the large bureaucracy they created
Some members enjoy it more because of tangible benefits and it seems non-partisa= n
Pork Barrel
Funding with a ZIP code attached
Construction, military spending, and universities
Almost $20 billion of spending per year
Very popular with members of that area
Little support to remove the programs since it will hurt their reelection chances<= /p>
Proportional to the senator's clout
Working with Colleagues
Informal Norms
Attempts to minimize friction
Changing over time
Institutional Loyalty
Throughout the 20th century
Respect members
Decreased now
Reciprocity
Logrolling
"You support my bill and I support yours"
Specialization
Members work in subject areas
Help become experts
More scrutiny means harder to pass unpopular measures
Special Interest Caucuses
Members who share partisan, ideological, issue, regional, identity interests
More than 100 in the house
6 in Senate
Before 1995 the largest had their own offices