2023 Simulation Roster

 On the alternate timeline of simulation world, Joe Biden is still president but Republicans have a Senate majority. 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Republican

• Bill Cassidy (LA), chair Nick Teresi
• Rand Paul (KY) Auggie Aliaga
• Susan Collins (ME) Lexi Punishill
• Lisa Murkowski (AK) Sammy Moore-Thomson
• Mitt Romney (UT) Yulissa Sanchez
• Mitch McConnell (KY)* Isaiah Escobar

Democratic

• Bernie Sanders (VT), RMM  Sritha Chadalavada
• Patty Murray (WA) Jacey Carter
• Tammy Baldwin (WI) Kara Cato
• Maggie Hassan (NH) Ella Eichberg

Judiciary

Republican

• Chuck Grassley (IA), chair Maryum Khwaja
• Ted Cruz (TX) Olivia Carusi
• Lindsey Graham (SC) Shay Suresh
• Marsha Blackburn (TN) Olivia Licata
• Mike Lee (UT) Adam Alamy

Democrat

• Dick Durbin (IL), RMM  Bhanu Cheepurupalli
• Cory Booker (NJ) Maeve Conte
• Alex Padilla (CA) Stella Cheng
• Chuck Schumer (NY)* Caroline Bullock

*Added for simulation purposes

Political Deals I

Subminimum wage bill (S 533)

 

 

Conditions for Deliberative Negotiation (Lawrence, p. 14)

• Acceptable sources of information. 
• Repeated interactions 
• Penalty defaults (debt ceiling:  alum explains why it might not work this year)
• Privacy

Integrative Negotiation and linkage:  It takes a logjam to logroll.

Budget sequestration

Murray-Ryan:  A summary

Coda: They pretty much gave up on deficit control

Crisis and Scandal as a Prod to Action

Sanders and McCain find a deal

Bernie Sanders and John McCain

Policy Windows and  The Issue-Attention Cycle

Coda II:  Infrastructure and the important of policy windows

Public Lands Case Study

Most public lands are in the West:

 

Public Lands 2019

A couple of quotations about Congress and life in general:

• "At some point somebody has to decide, let's do it the old-fashioned way, which is `one thing I hate for one thing I love.'" (Lawrence, p. 39)
• "Here's a list of what we have to have. Here's a list of the ones we really, really hate. Here's a list of `if you put this language on page 4 we could swallow it.' And then you work that list." (Lawrence, pp. 40-41).

The vehicle

(The military administers 8.8 million acres of land)

The writeup  -- summary of provisions (and an illustration of Archive.org)

THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IS PRIMARILY A SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCY.

The 2014 farm bill and the "dairy cliff" penalty default (Lawrence, p. 51)

Interest Groups and Congress

For Tuesday, read Lawrence, all (it is a short book) and bring it to class.

Russian influence

• Lawful direct means
• Lawful indirect means
• Covert means
• Manafort
• Butina (and a postscript)

Interest group ratings

• HRC
• US Chamber of Commerce

Influence

• WHY WAS THE NRA POWERFUL? IT IS NOT THE MONEY (Note that NRA has gotten weaker)
• The "Daschle Loophole" -- his ill-fated HHS nomination
• Lobby numbers
• Deregistration 
• A graphic

• Think tanks
• Consultants
• Brookings and Qatar
• Recognition and awards
• Philanthropy
• Politicians' charities (see the rule, pp. 347-349) and government relations
• Rent-a-friend as deep lobbying
• Lobbyist cites letter that he ghost-wrote!
• A summary

Simulation Roles

On the alternate timeline of simulation world, Joe Biden is still president but Republicans have a Senate majority. 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Republican

• Bill Cassidy (LA), chair
• Rand Paul (KY)
• Susan Collins (ME)
• Lisa Murkowski (AK)
• Mitt Romney (UT)
• Mitch McConnell (KY)*

Democratic

• Bernie Sanders (VT), RMM
• Patty Murray (WA)
• Tammy Baldwin (WI)
• Maggie Hassan (NH)

Judiciary

Republican

• Chuck Grassley (IA), chair
• Ted Cruz (TX)
• Lindsey Graham (SC)
• Marsha Blackburn (TN)
• Mike Lee (UT)

Democrat

• Dick Durbin (IL), RMM
• Cory Booker (NJ)
• Alex Padilla (CA)
• Chuck Schumer (NY)*

*Added for simulation purposes

Writing Advice from a Los Angeles Times Columnist

 

Decisions

For Wednesday, Davidson, ch. 13.

Questions on paper?  Comments on papers:  SW= page numbers in Strunk and White.

The winners

Reviewing Variations of Lawmaking
Vote-a-Rama
Rule XIV of the Senate:

The Senate’s standing committees play an essential part in the legislative process, as they select the small percentage of the bills introduced each Congress that, in their judgment, deserve the attention of the Senate as a whole, and as they recommend amendments to these bills based on their expert knowledge and experience. Most bills are routinely referred to the committee with appropriate jurisdiction as soon as they are introduced. However, paragraph 4 of Rule XIV permits a Senator to bypass a committee referral and have the bill placed directly on the Calendar of Business, with exactly the same formal status the bill would have if it had been considered and reported by a Senate committee.

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the bill by title for the first time.

The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (S. 1035) to extend authority relating to roving surveillance, access to business records, and individual terrorists as agents of foreign powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and for other purposes.

Mr. MCCONNELL. I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection having been heard, the bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day.2

Hotlining -- a 2019 example
Earmarking and Phonemarking
BTU'd
Alternative to conference: "message between houses" or Ping-ponging



Individual Decisions
Specialization and the importance of biography (Davidson, p. 247)

• Feinstein and guns
• Schiff and counterintelligence
• Cotton and the military

Timing


Party Unity (Davidson p. 276). TO ANALYZE A ROLL-CALL VOTE, LOOK AT THE EXCEPTIONS: THE MEMBERS WHO BROKE PARTY RANKS.

Marshall Bessey thesis on the impeachment Republicans



DO NOT TRY TO REDUCE ROLL CALL VOTES TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS. Consider primary and general election constituencies.


Voting in 2021 (From Roll Call )




History and DW-Nominate (Davidson 283)




This measurement is extremely influential in political science.


It is also extremely flawed.



Bargaining and cues


Cosponsorship and Dear Colleague

Process

 

Simulation issues and committees?

For next Tuesday, Davidson, ch. 9

• Another look at the committee system
• Organizing resolution
• Legislative hearings and oversight hearings
• Celebrity Witnesses -- a partial list
• Markup
• A committee report on eliminating useless reports
• Rules Committee (Davidson 234-240)
• The suspension calendar (Davidson 231-233):  
• Even post office renamings can get controversial in these polarized times.

• Open, Closed, Structured rules

• Motion to proceed in the Senate
• Motion to recommit in the House
• Filibuster and flip-flops

• Exception: Reconciliation
• Discharge petition flip-flops

The Basic Amendment Tree, Senate Version 

A CRS report on Senate amendments:

Senate precedents set out three principles of precedence among amendments that are directed to the same text: 

1. A second-degree amendment has precedence over a first-degree amendment;
2. A motion to insert and a motion to strike out and insert have precedence over a motion to strike out; and
3. A perfecting amendment (and an amendment to it) has precedence over a substitute amendment (and an amendment to it). 

The first of these principles is axiomatic. A second-degree amendment is an amendment to a first degree amendment, and it must be offered while the first-degree amendment is pending—that is, after the first-degree amendment has been offered but before the Senate has disposed of it. The Senate also acts on an amendment to a first-degree amendment before it acts on the first-degree amendment itself. So this principle conforms to Senate practice under both meanings of precedence.

It may be helpful in understanding the second two principles to think about decisions the Senate needs to make about a text. Changing the text of an amendment, through a second-degree amendment, could “cure” a problem Senators may have had with the amendment’s original language. That could obviate the need to strike out the text 

Senate Procedure and Rule XIV  "I object to my own request"

Therefore, through objection, a bill after two readings is prevented from being referred to committee and is placed directly on the Senate’s Calendar of Business. It is usually the majority leader (or a Senator acting in the majority leader’s stead), acting on his own or at the request of any other Senator, who objects to “further proceeding”—committee referral—on a measure.

How Mitch filled the tree 

• Filling the tree:  a pause in the 117th Congress

Just prior to Senate approval of S.Res. 27, the majority and minority leaders engaged in a colloquy on the floor to share additional information regarding their intentions for floor operations in the 117th Congress. ... The colloquy concerned two Senate practices that have become more common in recent Congresses. First, it has become common for the majority leader to “fill the amendment tree,” a process that temporarily blocks other Senators from offering amendments, except by unanimous consent. ... Regarding the amendment process, the majority leader announced in the colloquy: "I am a strong supporter of the right of Senators to offer amendments and commit to increase

dramatically the number of Member-initiated amendments offered in the 117thCongress. I am also opposed to limiting amendments by “filling the tree” unless dilatory measures

prevent the Senate from taking action and leave no alternative."

 

Other processes

• Vote-a-Rama  
• Hotlining  -- a 2019 example
• Earmarking and Phonemarking
• BTU'd
• Alternative to conference:  "message between houses" or Ping-ponging

Second Assignment, Spring 2023

 CHOOSE ONE:

1. Pick any bill from the 117th Congress (2021-2022) . Explain its fate. Instead of giving a mere chronology, tell why the measure moved or stalled. What had happened to previous versions? Which groups or blocs backed and fought it?  Did the administration take a position? Which strategies and tactics did its friends and foes use? Even if it failed or stalled, did it prompt the passage of a similar measure in a different form? Look at parliamentary strategies, major amendments, and roll calls. Again, you should explain the outcome, not just describe the process.  Some possible topics:

• HR 1319 (pandemic relief)
• HR 3684 (infrastructure)
• HR 3755 (Women's Health Protection Act)
• HR 4346 (chips and science)
• HR 5376 (Inflation Reduction Act)
• HR 8404 (Respect for Marriage Act)
• S 2938 (gun violence)
• SJ Res 33 (debt limit)

HERE IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF SUCH A PAPER.

2. Analyze a proposed reform of congressional procedure. Carefully explain arguments for and against the reform. Would it achieve its goal? Would it improve the operation of Congress? (The two questions are not necessarily the same.)  See recent actions and proposals from the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. (In your answer, of course, you should discuss whether the reform has gone into effect and, if so, how it has worked so far.)

3. Pick pending legislation that has not yet passed either house. Write a memo to its prime sponsor detailing a plausible strategy for securing its passage at least in one chamber. In your answer, consider all phases of the legislative process and take account of the influence of interest groups and the administration.

Get background from a source such as CQ Magazine where you may find the partisan breakdown of roll-call votes. 

Other possible sources include:

• Statements of Administration Policy -- indications of whether POTUS will sign or veto.
• Congress.gov (http://www.congress.gov/) -- official site for bill summary and status
• GovTrack (http://www.govtrack.us/) – unofficial site for congressional information
• ProQuest Congressional (http://congressional.proquest.com/profiles/gis/search/basic/basicsearch ). -- many congressional documents including searchable Congressional Record. If your computer will not accept this URL, go through the library web page (http://library.claremont.edu). Click “databases,” then the letter “P,” then “ProQuest Congressional.”)
• Committee web pages, which usually contain testimony and text of reports. See http://www.house.gov/committees/ or https://www.senate.gov/committees/index.htm
• ProPublica tools and websites at https://projects.propublica.org/represent/ 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and no more than five pages long. I will not read past the fifth page. 
• Submit papers as Word documents, not pdfs or Google docs.
• Cite your sources with endnotes in standard Turabian format. Endnote pages do not count against the page limit.
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. Return essays (as Word documents, not pdfs) to the Sakai dropbox by 11:59 PM, Friday, March 3. I reserve the right to dock papers will one gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.

Committees and Bills

 For next time, Davidson, ch. 8

Simulation committees?

The committee system

• How members end up on committees
• "Steering committees" in House & Senate (Davidson 195)
• Speaker-appointed House committees: Rules, House Administration, Intelligence
• Seniority and other criteria
• Removals;  The case of Ilhan Omar
• House and Senate jurisdictions are not quite the same.

LEGISLATION REALLY CAN PASS 

Also see 2019 public lands bill.  

Congress.gov record of the bill

We shall read Jill Lawrence's account of a similar bill from a few years ago.

Bill Drafting (Davidson,  226-228)

• How an idea becomes a bill
• Types of measures
• Drafting guide
• An example of legislative language: "Keep Our PACT Act"
• Senate Legislative Counsel
• House Legislative Counsel

Acronym Bills

• The EARN IT Act
• The STOP STUPIDITY Act
• The EL CHAPO Act
• The OMAR Act

Rules

• House Rules
• Senate Rules

Do They Read The Bills? No.  

Parties and Leadership II

DC program.

• Paper due by midnight tomorrow.
• For Tuesday, Davidson, ch. 7.  Next assignment will involve explaining the fate of a bill.
• Start thinking about which 2 committees you want to simulate.

Note:  even majorities of the president's party may split with the administration agenda.  See Democrats on trade in 1993 and 2014.

Review from January 19:

Four Strategic Postures Since 2000 (House, by election year) 

                    Majority                          Minority 

In Party       Dems 08, 20                  GOP 06, 18

                    GOP 00, 02, 04, 16       Dem 10,12,14

                                                          Dems 22

                  

Out Party     GOP 10,12,14              GOP 08, 20

                    Dem 06, 18                   Dem 00, 02, 04, 16

                    GOP 22

2020 -- What to do in a 50/50 Senate? (Baker chapter in Thurber)

Who has leverage in such a situation?

"Regular Order" (aka "I'm Just a Bill") and polarization

Narrow majorities require high levels of unity.

From Jacobson chapter in Thurber:

BBB slims down and becomes IRA

Blasts from the past:

The Johnson Network

• The Favor Bank

The Johnson Intelligence System

• One week after becoming president, LBJ mentions his long relationship with J. Edgar Hoover (ab at 19:00).

The Johnson Procedure

• Unanimous consent agreement -- functional equivalent of a House rule

The Johnson Treatment

• Caro on LBJ, the House, and the Senate

LBJ in Frank Underwood's office

 

The inside game and the outside game:  in LBJ's time in the Senate, the outside game scarcely counted.  During the early 1990s -- just before the Web dominated political communication -- Rush Limbaugh was central to the GOP outside game.

Newt v. O'Neill 1984 (start clip at 9:30)

Limbaugh was central to the GOP outside game in the early 1990s, before the Web came to dominate political communication

Women in Congress

Pew data

Pelosi as a leader:

• Years later, John Spratt, a South Carolina congressman who voted against her at the time, sheepishly told me, “I couldn’t quite see her as whip, because you need to be kind of tough to be whip, and I estimated her differently. I just didn’t put two and two together.”
• Pelosi’s reign was successful because she understood the will of her caucus rather than bending it to hers.

Approval rating:  compare Pelosi and McConnell

Pelosi and AOC

Parties and Leadership I

For Thursday, Thurber ch. 2.  Will discuss SOTU and individual leaders.

Dr. Harkonen will visit Thursday.  See internships

Catch SOTU tonight at 6.

2022:  watch at 29:30

2020:  watch at 26:10 and 1:46:00

d

Hill leadership

• House
• Senate

Leadership Activities

• Legislation
• Whips and for real (Scalise is now majority leader)
• Communication
• Campaign Activity

Edmund Burke:

 In all bodies, those who will lead, must also, in a considerable degree, follow. They must conform their propositions to the taste, talent, and disposition, of those whom they wish to conduct: therefore, if an assembly is viciously or feebly composed in a very great part of it, nothing but such a supreme degree of virtue as very rarely appears in the world, and for that reason cannot enter into calculation, will prevent the men of talent disseminated through it from becoming only the expert instruments of absurd projects!

Speakership elections 

McCarthy gave up powers that Ross Baker (p. 151) and Davidson (p. 146) describe.

 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy's reported concessions. #TheReidOut pic.twitter.com/yxkxFOQO1Z

— The ReidOut (@thereidout) January 4, 2023

• Is party unity the same as party discipline? 
  The Cheney vote
• Censures:  states and RNC

Member Organizations

• Congressional Black Caucus
• Links to Off-Hill organizations;  the CBC Foundation

Informal Groups

• House Freedom Caucus
• The Squad

Note:  even majorities of the president's party may split with the administration agenda.  See Democrats on trade in 1993 and 2014.

Home Style, Hill Style, USA Style

 For Tuesday, read Davidson, ch. 6, Thurber ch. 7.

STATE OF THE UNION: Tue, Feb 7, 2023 6:00 PM Pacific

Judy Chu:  a local emergency becomes a national story

Outside spending

Senate Leadership Fund 

Senate Majority PAC 

They do have room draw on the Hill:

Katie Porter, Hill Style:

  

It helps to go after someone who literally looks like a comic-book villain:

In home style (Davidson, 130), members try to convey

• Qualification
• Identification
• Empathy

Every single member has a Hill style and a home style.

John McCain in 1993 showed that a fierce maverick can become very deferential when facing little old ladies:

 

AOC-DC questions Michael Cohen:



Consider the characteristics of NY 14 as AOC goes local:

AOC District Office

d

During non-pandemic times, different kinds of encounters take place at town halls:

 

Town halls can sometimes get testy.

Take our own House member, Rep. Judy Chu

USA Style and MTG

AOC TODAY: 

Wow AOC doesn’t hold back here pic.twitter.com/GxHNtaKkaJ

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 2, 2023

Out of state fundraising

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tells Alex Jones that masks and vaccines don't work and that any doctor who doesn't use Ivermectin to treat COVID-19 is "guilty of murder." pic.twitter.com/mqV5NU9BkP

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 2, 2022