Congress Is The Most Unpopular Branch

Chapter 13 – Congress

Introduction
Congress is the most unpopular branch but also the most important one
To the Framers of the Constitution, the bicameral (two-chamber) Congress was the “first branch”
Expected Congress to wield most of the national government’s powers, including its most important ones like the “power of the purse” (encompassing taxation and spending decisions) and the ultimate authority to declare war
Understood Congress as essential to sustaining federalism (guaranteeing two senators to each state without regard to state population) and maintaining separation of powers (ensuring that no lawmaker be allowed to serve in either of the other two branches while n Congress)
Also viewed it as linchpin of system of checks
Whichever side is more right, three things remain clear:
First the Congress has never perfectly embodied the Founders’ fondest hopes for the first branch, not when the First Congress met in 1789; not during the decades before, during and just after the Civil War; not during the late 19th century through 1970; and certainly not since
Second, Congress is now home to ideologically distinct political parties that seem more unified than ever with respect to how their respective members vote, but the body still doesn’t come close to matching the near-total party unity that has been typical in the national legislatures of GB and other parliamentary
The Speaker, who presides over the House, is most important person in that body and is elected by whichever party has a majority
This position is not merely honorific, because Speaker also the principal leader of the majority party
Though Speakers as presidents are expected to be fair, Speakers as party leaders are expected to use their powers to help pass legislation favoured by their party
They have informal powers
They decide who shall be recognized to speak on the floor of the House, rules weather a motion is relevant and relevant to the business at hand, and decide the committees to which new bills shall be assigned
They influence what bills are brought up for a vote and appoint the members of special and select committees
They also have informal powers
They control some patronage jobs in Capitol Building and assignment of extra office space
The Majority party elects a floor leader “majority leader”, and the other party chooses a “minority leader”
Each part has a whip
Party Voting
Effect of this elaborate part machinery can be crudely measured by extent to which party members vote together in House and