Leadership Structure in the House and the Senate
The leadership structure in the U.S. Congress is an intricate system that is divided into The House of Representatives (the House) and the Senate. Both divisions are further divided into two factions that, the majority who are members from a party holding more than half the available seats and the minority who are from the party that has members who hold less than half of the seats available. In the House, the top-most leader is the Speaker who is a constitutional leader given that the position of the Constitution recognizes the office of the Speaker. It is important to note that more often than not, the speaker of the House is elected from the political party that holds the majority of seats and is able to stamp authority in the House while relying on the majority support. From the speaker, there is the House majority leader usually elected by the members of the party holding the majority seats and for this reason, the authority of the person holding the office is subordinate to the influence of the speaker. From the House majority leader, there is the House majority whip who is the second in command to the former. The job of the majority whip is to assist in counting votes on issues and helping the majority leader to drum up support on the positions that the majority party takes on various issues. There are also the House minority leader and the minority whip whose functions mirror those of the House majority leader and the House majority whip, but while promoting the interests and positions of the minority party.
Regarding the leadership of the Senate, the Constitution identifies two offices, the office of the President of the Senate and the office of the Senate vice president. The president of the Senate is usually the U.S. vice president, while a member of the minority party usually holds the position of the Senate vice president. It is important to note that the participation of the U.S. vice president in the Senate is usually limited to voting in case of a tie, and this is because members of the Senate always consider the holder of the office to favor the position taken by the U.S. President and the executive branch of government. As such, the vice president of the Senate often take up the position of authority in the absence of the President, but the authority and ability of the vice president to provide effective leadership is usually hampered by the fact that the latter does not have the support of the majority. In the absence of the Senate vice president, the Constitution creates the position of President Pro Temp to lead the Senate. The President Pro Temp position is largely honorary, often taken up by the longest serving member in the majority party. Accordingly, on the party leadership, there is the office of majority leader, minority leader, majority secretary, Minority secretary, assistant majority secretary, and assistant minority secretary.
Standing Committee System Within Congress
The standing committees play a vital role in the operation of the U.S. Congress. These committees are permanent in nature carry out specific functions of considering and shaping proposed laws from one Congress to the next. Besides considering bills, these committees can also consider issues and recommend measures for further deliberations in Congress. Standing committees can also carry out investigations, as was the case with the Whitewater investigations by the Senate Banking Committee at a time when Bill Clinton was the U.S. President. The members of the standing committees are usually designated through resolutions from the Congress. Accordingly, the majority and minority leaders in the respective chambers can agree from time to time to increase the membership of any standing committee temporarily. The best theory of committee function that best describes the way current standing committees operate in Congress is the Majority-Party Cartel Theory. The theory denotes a situation where the majority party uses its influence in Congress to exclude the minority party and influences the procedures and rules of the committees in a bid to achieve the collective goals of the Party. Committees have become the reward system for the majority party members whose loyalties are rewarded by being included in committee projects, a situation that enables the majority party to check closely the work of the committees with the view of influencing them into developing laws and policies that seek to achieve the objectives of the majority party. For instance, the leaders in the majority party may propose legislation that is presented to committees where most members comes from the same party hence no amendments would be proposed and because the same party has majority in congress, the proposal is passed and becomes a law.
Fenno’s Legislator’s “Home Style”
Some of the elements that Richard Fenno identifies as part of legislator’s “home style” include presentation of self, legislator’s explanation of their activities in Washington, and resource allocation. Fenno considers re-election as the most basic objective that causes members of Congress to adopt home style approaches, and notes that one can only achieve through developing a situation where the constituents trust there representative enough to re-elect them (Fenno 8). Legislators see constituents as a concentric circle of geographic, primary, and personal supporters. The geographic perspective denotes a situation where legislators perceive their constituents in terms of a population within a region whose boundaries that the law or a decision of a Court has established. Accordingly, members of the Congress always include geographical explanation of the kind of district they represent. As primary supporters, members of congress see constituents as explicit political voters that guarantee their re-election. Consequently, legislators perceive part of their constituents as personal supports because can only vote for them based on party identification. In a bid to create home style, legislators need to ensure that their constituents develop considerable trust in them and the former ensure this by creating attention regarding allocation of resources, presentation of self, and issuing an explanation of their activities in Washington. Over time, the home style gradually shifts into a bigger district that makes personal relationships hard to maintain as legislators find it harder to meet as many constituents as they would want. Ultimately, the purpose of home style is to ensure that incumbent legislators get re-elected repeatedly, and this is evidenced by Fenno’s observation that legislators are often concerned about, “who voted for him last time and of how well he did overall last time” (Fenno 10). Ultimately, such perceptions determine the behavior of every legislator towards their constituencies.
Work Cited
Fenno, Richard. Home Style: House Members In Their Districts. Little, Brown, 1978.
