POLI SCI 426: United States Congress. Syllabus, Spring 2017

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1 Prof. Eleanor Powell Syllabus, Spring 2017 Office Location: 216 North Hall Office Hours: Monday 10-12, Must sign-up online to reserve a spot (UW Scheduling Assistant) Lecture: Tuesday & Thursday 2:30-3:45 Lecture Location: Ingraham 22 Teaching Assistant: Evan Crawford Office Hours: Tuesday 1:15-2:15, Wednesday 12:30-2, Thursday, 12:45-2:15 Office Hours Location: North Hall TA Office crawford3@wisc.edu Overview Welcome to POLI SCI 426: The United States Congress! This course will focus on the big questions about Congress today such as: How are laws really made? How do legislative rules affect policy outcomes? Why is Congress so unpopular? What legislative reforms would help fix Congress? Where does money matter in Congress? The goal of this course is to help us come to a deeper understanding of the complexities of congressional politics beyond the superficial coverage they frequently receive in media coverage and how research on Congress applies to modern American politics today. Each week students will be expected to complete the readings and attend lecture. Additionally, there will be three in class midterm exams: February 16, March 16, and May 4. Office Hours I would like to get to know you all, and hope you will come see me during office hours. If you are unable to come during office hours, please me for an appointment. If you have questions about the course material, please ask them as they arise during lecture. Prerequisites Introduction to American Politics (or equivalent) is recommended. Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 1

2 Attendance Students are expected to attend lecture, and be prepared to discuss the readings. Exams will include material covered exclusively in lecture and material covered exclusively in the readings. If you miss a lecture for any reason, it is your responsibility to get the material you missed from a classmate. Laptops are permitted in lectures. Communication I will send class updates and announcements by . Students are expected to check their regularly (at least daily) to look for class communications. Grading 1 st Midterm Exam 25% 2 nd Midterm Exam 35% 3 rd Midterm Exam 40% Total 100% Exams: 1 st Midterm Exam: February 16 In Class 2 nd Midterm Exam: March 16 In Class 3 rd Midterm Exam: May 4 In Class You must notify Prof. Powell by Jan 20, if you anticipate any scheduling problems with the exams. Exams cannot be rescheduled. Midterm Exam Details: Each midterm exam will be composed of 3 sections: Part 1: The facts. Short answer questions about how Congress works. Part 2: Op-Ed Deconstruction Essay. One liberal and one conservative op-ed column will be presented. Your task is to choose one, and discuss the following in a well-written essay: a. Identify and correct any factual errors b. Discuss what political science research supports and/or contradicts the claims. Part 3: Essay Question about Theories of Congress Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 2

3 Academic Integrity I strongly encourage you to review the University s policies regarding academic integrity. These policies will be strictly enforced in this class. In general, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. Required Materials Smith, Steven S., Jason M. Roberts, and Ryan J. Vander Wielen, The American Congress, 9 th Edition, Cambridge University Press, [Abbreviated SRVW] All other readings will be available on the Learn@UW course website. Background Reading: US. Constitution, Articles I, II, III, and Amendments Federalist Nos. 10, 51 Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 3

4 Schedule & Course Outline Date Description Required Readings January 17 What s the Matter With Congress? SRVW Ch 1 January 19 Why It Might Not Be So Bad Brady & Theriault 2001 Stimson 2004 January 24 How A Bill Becomes A Law: The Textbook Congress SRVW Ch 7 January 31 How A Bill Really Becomes A Law Today Sinclair 2012 Packer 2010 February 2 Who Do Congressmen Represent? SRVW Chapter 2 Fenno February 7 What Do Members Want and Why? SRVW Chapter 4 February 9 How Members Vote SRVW Ch 8 Mayhew 1974 Chapter 1, pgs February 14 February 16 1 st Midterm Review 1 st Midterm February 21 Who Wins Congressional Elections? SRVW Ch 3 Jacobson 1989 February 23 Understanding the Filibuster and Prospects for Filibuster Reform Koger 2006 Schickler & Wawro 2004 February 28 Understanding Spatial Theories of Legislating SRVW Appendix Krehbiel 1998 March 2 What Do Parties Do In Congress? Do Parties Matter Why and How? SRVW Ch 5 Cox & McCubbins 2005 March 7 Why is Congress So Polarized Today? Theriault 2006 Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 4

5 McCarty, Poole, Rosenthal 2009 March 9 Who Finances Congressional Campaigns? Jacobson 2013 Bennet 2012 Bendavid 2007 pg 1-17 March 14 March 16 March 21 & 23 March 28 March 30 2 nd Midterm Review 2 nd Midterm Exam Spring Break Congressional Committees: Assignments, Representativeness, and Influence Who Influences Policy and How? Lobbyists and Interest Groups SRVW Ch 6 SRVW Ch 11 Hall & Wayman 1990 April 4 Congressional Ethics Dancey 2014 Basinger 2012 April 6 - MPSA April 11 TBA Who s the Boss? Congressional-Executive Power Struggles SRVW Ch 9 April 13 Congress & The Courts SRVW Ch 10 April 18 Budget Politics and the Fiscal Cliff SRVW Ch 12 April 20 April 25 What are the Policy Consequences of Legislative Rules? Putting the 115 th Congress in Historical Perspective Cox 2000 Lee 2000 Review Part II of SRVW Ch 2 Schickler Roberts & Smith April 27 Progress in the Study of Congress Polsby & Schickler 2002 May 2 May 4 3 rd Midterm Exam Review 3 rd Midterm Exam Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 5

6 Additional Readings Available on the Course Website: (Listed Alphabetically) Basinger, Scott J Scandals and Congressional Elections in the Post-Watergate Era. Political Research Quarterly. 66(2): Brady, David W. and Sean M. Theriault A Reassessment of Who s to Blame: A Positive Case for the Public Evaluation of Congress in John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, eds., What Is It About Government That Americans Dislike? Cambridge University Press, Chapter 10, pgs Bennet, James The New Price of American Politics. The Atlantic. September 19, Cox, Gary W On the Effects of Legislative Rules. Legislative Studies Quarterly. 25(2): Cox, Gary W. and Mathew D. McCubbins Introduction. In Setting the Agenda, Cambridge University Press, pgs Dancey, Logan Reform on My Terms: Partisan and Ideological Responses to a Corruption Scandal. PS: Political Science & Politics, 47(2): Fenno., Richard U.S. House Members in Their Constituencies: An Exploration. American Political Science Review, 71(3): Hall & Wayman Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review, 84(3): Jacobson, Gary C Strategic Politicians and the Dynamics of U.S. House Elections, American Political Science Review 83: Jacobson, Gary C Partisanship, Money and Competition: Elections and the Transformation of Congress since the 1970s. In Congress Reconsidered, 10 th Edition, edited by Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. Koger, G. (2006). "Cloture Reform and Party Government in the Senate, " The Journal Of Politics, 68: Krehbiel, Keith A Theory in Keith Krehbiel, Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking, pgs Lee, Frances E Senate Representation and Coalition Building in Distributive Politics. American Political Science Review. 94: Mayhew, David R Congress: The Electoral Connection. Yale University Press. Chapter 1: The Electoral Incentive, pgs Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 6

7 McCarty, Poole, Rosenthal Does Gerrymandering Cause Polarization? American Journal of Political Science, 53(3), pgs Packer, George The Empty Chamber; Just how broken is the Senate? The New Yorker. 15 pgs. Polsby, N. W. and E. Schickler (2002). "Landmarks in the Study of Congress since 1945*." Annual Review of Political Science 5(1): Roberts, Jason M. and Steven S. Smith. The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Institutions in Congress: Path Dependency in House and Senate Institutional Development. : in David W. Brady and Matthew McCubbins, eds., Party, Process, and Political Change: Further New Perspective on the History of Congress, Stanford University Press, pgs Schickler, Eric Institutional Development of Congress. In The Legislative Branch, Edited by Paul J. Quirk and Sarah A. Binder, Oxford University Press. Schickler, E. and G. J. Wawro (2004). "Where's the Pivot? Obstruction and Lawmaking in the Pre-cloture Senate." American Journal of Political Science 48(4): Sinclair, Barbara The Consequences of Unorthodox Lawmaking, Chapter 10 of Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress, 4 th Edition. Pgs Stimson, James A Between the Campaigns: Public Approval and Disapproval of Government. In James A. Stimson, Tides of Consent, Cambridge University Press, Chapter 5, pgs Theriault Party Polarization in the U.S. Congress: Member Replacement and Member Adaptation. Party Politics, 12(4): Syllabus, Spring 2017 Page 7