Decisions, Decisions

Town hall protests

Fill out the 3x5 cards.  List all the committees that you would like to simulate.  You may list one, some, or all. We will simulate the top two finishers.

• Judiciary
• Finance
• Foreign Relations 
• Armed Services 
• Energy and Natural Resources 
• Environment & Public Works 

Variations of Lawmaking

Vote-a-Rama (amendments mostly symbolic and nonbinding)

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 -- a short video
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)

• Schiff and counterintelligence
• Cotton and the military

Timing

Party Unity (Davidson p. 256). TO ANALYZE A ROLL-CALL VOTE, LOOK AT THE EXCEPTIONS: THE MEMBERS WHO BROKE PARTY RANKS.  Marshall Bessey thesis on the impeachment Republicans 

From Roll Call:

 

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


History and DW-Nominate (Davidson 263)




This measurement is extremely influential in political science. It is also extremely flawed.

Bargaining and cues

Cosponsorship and Dear Colleague