Hello, I'm Craig again and this is Crash Course: Government and Politics

and today were gonna look at why Congress acts the way it does

More specifically we're gonna try to figure out as much as we can without being mind readers, the factors that influence congressmen when they make decisions

And then after that we'll be mind readers and then we'll -- we'll see if we were right

This should be a welcome change of pace from the last couple episodes

where we delved into the gory details of how Congress works or is supposed to work anyway

So, to over simplify greatly, but also to help those of you who studying for tests

there are three main factors or agents that influence congressmen in making their decisions:

their constituency, interest groups, and political parties

And they vary in importance depending on the situation that a congressmen is in

Our basic understanding of democracy and representative government suggests that

constituents would matter most to representatives and senators and fortunately, this is sometimes the case

Unfortunately, this is sometimes the case

If a congress person ignores what the voters in his or her district want

they're probably not going to be in office for very long,

representatives pay the most attention to their constituents when they are actually voting on bills

because votes are a record that constituents can easily check, say right before an election

If this is the case then the relative lack of important congressional votes in recent years tells us something

Nowadays, congressmen are more likely to depend on direct service to constituents, what is sometimes called case work, to build up their record

This might be why congressmen tend to spend much more time in their home states and districts than in Washington,

they might also want to check up on their lawn, you know grass grows you gotta mow it

Constituent's views can affect congressmen even without the threat of unseating them in an election though,

because congressmen can anticipate what the voters will want and respond to this

They manage this through public opinion polling

The more sophisticated polling is, the better representatives are at crafting their message,

and maybe even their votes to what their constituents want

We're going to devote a number of episodes to interest groups in the future, explaining what they are and where they come from

I know this because I'm psychic

But for now, it is important to recognize that they are incredibly important to congressmen although not for the reasons you might think

Let's go to the Thought Bubble

OK, when I mention interest groups or say the phrase “special interests”;

you probably imagine some guy in a suit – maybe even a fedora –

surreptitiously handing a suitcase full of money to a congressmen in return for his vote on some issue of supreme importance to the interest group that the suit guy represents

Or maybe you think interest groups are more subtle than this,

buying votes with campaign contributions, this stereotypical view presents a dramatic story and paints picture that sticks in your head but there is no empirical evidence that it's true

I hope the fedora part is true though

That's probably true

The main thing that interest groups provide to congressmen is information that they can use in writing a bill or making a policy case to their constituents

One of the big things in American government is that information is very important and very valuable

On the other hand, interest groups do give an awful lot of money to campaigns

They also provide a lot of research and assistance in the writing of bills

Interest groups are most influential at the committee stage of legislation,

rather than when congressman are casting floor votes and their influence tends to be mostly negative

This means that rather than inserting items into legislation, it's much easier and more effective to exclude potential provisions from laws

Plus, this practice -- and maybe the fedoras a little bit -- makes it easier to obfuscate special interest influence on laws

It's harder to show that interest groups have kept something out of a law than that they put something into it

Thanks, Thought Bubble

That brings us to our third big influencer, political parties

Whoo Hooo

Oh, not that kind of party

The way that political parties effect law makers is even more complex than the role of interest groups

A disciplined party leadership can put pressure on a congressmen to vote a certain way

They call them whips for a reason

But this only works when the party is unified and strong

The weaker the party the more freedom the representative has to go rouge on some issues and votes

if there are many different factions within a party, there's less of a consequence for voting along the party line

This is why I don't have friends

Freedom

who would only bring a bill to the floor of the house for a vote if a majority of the majority party, in his case, Republicans, supported it

Side note, if you've got the majority and the party unity to pull of a stunt like that you really end up looking like an effective speaker

Parties also help to organize logrolling which is relatively straight forward quid-pro-quo bargaining

You vote for my farm bill senator, and I'll support your banking bill

You vote for my not punching eagles bill, Eagle and I won't punch you

Not voting for it?

You've been logrolled

Is that how that word works?

Logrolling occurs most obviously at the voting stage but can also be part of the writing of legislation in committees

When we talk about parties we talk about me

But when we talk about political parties we can't leave out the president

Who is the de facto leader of his party and it's own most influential member

I'm pretty sure you're aware of that

The president has the most power when his party and the majority part in congress are the same

When this happens, Congress usually follows the president's lead and allows him to set the policy agenda

That way they can take some credit if the policy is a winner and avoid some blame if turns out not so great

We saw this most recently with the creation of The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care)

which was written and passed during the first few years of the Obama presidency when his party, the Democrats, also had the majority in both houses

Divided government, when the president and the congressional majority are in opposite parties works well for Congress too

because it makes it super easy to set a policy agenda, they just oppose what ever the president wants

This type of obstructionism is unfortunately pretty common in Congress today,

just look at the years from 2010 to 2012 when Congress's program could be summed up in four words, “Repeal Obama Care and replace it”

Wait, that's not true, that's five words

To sum up, political parties are most influential over Congress when a single party controls both houses and the presidency

and when the party leadership is strong enough to exert discipline and a degree of uniformity of policy

So that's about it for the factors that influence congressional decision making

Really Stan, that's it?

That's all?

I'm going on break

Well, obviously there are other factors like the personal lives of individual congressmen and maybe congressional history

but since this is broad survey of American government and politics we can't easily get into that without taking less breaks

And, I'm gonna go on break

For my money, it's the structures of congress and most of all which party has the majority and thus controls the leadership and the committees that makes the most difference

Even though I want to say and believe that constituents matter most

because I don't want to feed into this cynicism that seems to come so naturally to discussions of Congress

But I think we should try to avoid any cynicism and conspiracy theories when we try and figure out why a congressperson acted a certain way and recognize that any congressional decision is the product of the complex interaction of a number of factors, only some of which will be apparent

Each of these decisions will be conditioned and constrained by the structures and procedures of Congress itself

Thanks for watching

I'll see you next time

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