The significance of Congress
Congress is one of the most pivotal organs of the U.S. governance system. Uniquely, Congress has both institutional and structural characteristics. Institutional characteristics are those characteristics that are found in Article 1 put in the Constitution by the Founders making the legislature the premier arm of government. It states, “All legislative Powers herein shall be vested in a Congress of the U.S., which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives” (Kiraly 6:46-7:30). Conversely, the structural characteristics evolved after the Ratification (Kiraly 46:20-46:35). The institutional and structural characteristics of Congress both support and impede the Pluralist ideal, especially the Terms of Office, Constituencies, those Unique to the House, Seniority, Committees, and the Legislative Process.
The terms of office are two years for the House and six years representing one third every two years for the Senate (Kiraly 8:26-9:00). Notably, this is an institutional characteristic of the Senate; that its members are only elected one third, and they serve six years. Since it is constitutionalized, it is an institutional characteristic. It is imperative to note that the Pluralist ideal is the notion of “the more voices, the better.” To that extent, the terms of office set for Congress members allow for periodical elections in which the electorate participates in electing their desired representatives and senators, exemplifying the Pluralist ideal. Constituencies refer to the elected candidate’s constituents; those people who elected him or her into office. It is important to note that if one is elected on a particular party, say, Democrats, he represents not only Democrats but also the entire constituency (Kiraly 24:12-24:47). These constituencies are created based on the numbers of people and not on the geographical context. This idea of proportionate representation emanates from the Connecticut Compromise and is intended to bolster the notion of Pluralist ideals, which translates to “the more voices, the better.” Therefore, this institutional characteristic of Congress also supports the Pluralist ideal.
There are those institutional characteristics unique to the House, like Revenue Bills. Founders Intent viewed the House, with its greater numbers and being more immediately accountable by having shorter terms of office, was the more suitable venue for addressing taxation. In essence, all revenue bills have to originate in the House. The idea was to make instruction of taxes known to the public. As stated in Federalist No. 56, the representative has to be acquainted with his constituents’ interests and circumstances. In particular, this inculcated a culture of true representation; thereby, supporting the Pluralist ideals. As a result, it eliminated “Taxation without Representation” (Kiraly 37:00-42:00).
Seniority is one of the most fundamental structural characteristics of Congress. There are no term limits in the federal government, with the exception of the presidency. In particular, no term limits for the Senate or the House, the federal judiciary who are appointed for life. Seniority can help support Pluralistic ideal because senior embers have tremendous institutional memory and can help determine the country’s future. However, it can impede the Pluralistic ideal if that Member is not in touch with the dynamic transformation of societal needs by being out of touch or too subjective (Kiraly 1:02:57-1:05:30). Rep. Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House (U.S. House of Representatives “Leadership” 1).
Furthermore, Committees are a pivotal part of Congress’ structural characteristics. House’s committees consider bills, issues, and oversee agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions (U.S. House of Representatives “Committees” 1). They include Standing Committees, which continue to exist regardless of the Congress. Conference Committees, which are special joint committees appointed to reconcile differences between Bills when two Bills pass in two different chambers of Congress. They are made up of both members of the House and the Senate. Joint Committees are legislative committees composed of Members of both chambers while a Select Committee exists only for a limited period and for a specific purpose (Kiraly 1:05:46-1:12:00). The Pluralist ideal is imminent in the involvement of Representatives and Senators in Committees.
In the Legislative Process, Interest groups are a major participant; a bill is then introduced to the House or the Senate then it goes into Committee for Action or Inaction. When it goes to the House, the Speaker and the Majority Leader have the power to get the bill out of the Committee and get it moving (Kiraly 1:24:35-1:30:30). Before any Bill reaches the Committee or any Representative, it goes through a public policy process, which is an exemplification of the Pluralist ideal. The public policy process has four stages: the genesis of the public policy, development of the public policy, implementation of the public policy, and feedback on the same (Kiraly 1:29:25-1:31:00).
In sum, the significance of Congress cannot be underestimated as it is representative of the legislature, which was the Founders’ premier arm of government. Congress has unique institutional and structural characteristics, that both support and impede the Pluralist ideal. Some of the institutional characteristics that support the Pluralism ideal are the Terms of Office, Constituencies, those Unique to the House. Similarly, key structural characteristics are Committees, the Legislative Process, and Seniority; however, the latter can sometimes create room for impeding the Pluralist ideal when a leader gets out of touch with his constituents.