• THIS MORNING:
• Background to current budget situation
• This discussion shows the strengths and weaknesses of interest-group politics (pluralism)
• It's related to how congress operates
• Generalizations about congress

• BACKGROUND:
• Based on notes from last week
• 1945-1970 era of growth and prosperity
• Example: growth in real wages.
• The good old system:
• The budget process was best described by the term "disjointed incrementalism"
• Federal programs were "paid" for by tapping into economic growth, not by redistribution.
• The collapse of the old system
• War on Vietnam but "no new taxes"
• The "Great Society": an huge expansion of general welfare policy
• Oil and food shocks
• Growth of international competition
• FED and interest rate rises
• Reagan and supply-side economics
• "The consequences: inflation and high unemployment = "stagflation"
• Soaring budget deficits
• Changes in the composition of the budget
• For a very easy to understand reference on the federal budget look at: "Citizen's Guide to the Budget"
• The usual way of looking at the budget can be misleading.
• Spending by function and agency does not reveal the total picture.
• Look at the images and texts on the class web page.
• Also look at the graphs in the "Political Economy" readings on the web site.
• Growth in entitlements and mandatory spending:
• Transfer programs such as Social Security, federal retirements, veterans benefits
• Before 1996, Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC); it no longer is because Congress and the president changed the law.
• Recipients or beneficiaries are entitled to benefits if they meet eligibility requirements.
• Interest on the debt.
• Congress does not annually appropriate money for them in the usual fashion.
• Costs go up with inflation, changes in demographics, state of the economy, etc.
• Means-tested and non-means tested entitlements
• Hence, spending on entitlements is called relatively mandatory or uncontrollable.
• Major point: since the early 1970s spending on entitlements has increased by leaps and bounds.
• Contrary to popular belief, spending on discretionary programs has remained more or less steady; in fact, for many categories it has decreased.
• Greatest growth has been in entitlement spending
• The first major roll back: the welfare-reform act of 1996 "deficit" spending in a recession.



• BUDGET REFORM:
• Budget and deficit reform efforts
• Budget Act
• Gramm-Rudman-Hollings
• George Bush's "No New Taxes"
• The Clinton budget plan of 1993
• Why "reform" has been so slow in coming: pluralism

• CONGRESS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE:
• Generalizations:
• Congress' capacity to deal with national problems, formulate solutions, and be accountable for their results is very limited.
• Expectations and demands on Congress exacerbate the situation further.
• So, too, does its structure.
• Committees, subcommittees, chairs, staff
• What do we want Congress to do? Functions:
• Legislative: law making
• Representation of geographical and other interests
• Case work: constituency service and the "permanent campaign"
• These are the keys to reelection, not necessarily statesmanship.
• Administrative oversight

• Advise and consent
• A power of the senate
• Examples: Supreme Court nominees, approval of cabinet officers, treaties.
• Investigative (e.g., Thompson committee on campaign finance as illustrated in the film.)

• Judicial: impeachment
• Congressional leadership
• See Patterson, We the People, pages 342 to 343.
• Power is based largely on "trust" (page 344), personal skill, and loyalty (e.g., Gingrich).

• GENERALIZATIONS:
• Legislators have so many responsibilities and are pulled in some many directions that they have relatively little time for deliberation.
• Congress is seldom a forum for discussion and debate about national issues and priorities.
• Congress' fragmented power structure, the importance of constituency services, separate constituencies, political independence all diminish accountability and capacity.
• Members behave exactly as one would expect political entrepreneurs to act: they assert their independence, attempt to protect and expand their bases of support, bargain for specific benefits rather than rigidly adhere to a party line, listen to those who are most helpful in winning reelection, and the like.
• Congressional decision making involves a labyrinth of rules and procedures that help members "hide" from responsibility.
• On the other hand, congressional organization and procedures enhance (strong) group influence.

• Congress deals mainly with "middle-level" (branch, twig, symbolic, group, and regional) issues.
• It does not debate or deliberate about "grand" strategies or policies.
• Frequently, if not mostly, it enacts policies in a disjointed fashion.
• The only meaningful reforms are those that strengthen party discipline. Until that is done, the system will continue to misfire and accountability remain elusive.
• Congress seldom breaks really new ground. It often acts only after the public has been "sold" on a policy.
• NEXT TIME:
• The Congress and presidency
• Reading:
• Patterson, We the People, Chapter 11.
• Be aware of the committee system material.
• I especially like the section on pages 362 to 363, especially since it agrees with my position about pluralism and the potential conflict between serving constituencies and the nation.

Go to Notes page

Go to American Political System page

Go to H. T. Reynolds page