Gary Miller
Spring 1998
POLITICAL SCIENCE 345
THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
A quick read of the U.S. Constitution will give a good understanding of the fundamental role of Congress in the American political system. It was intended to be the center of power in national government, and that is what it still is to day, despite the development of the presidency in the twentieth century.
This course is intended to change the way you think about Congress. You will know much more about the way Congress operates after the semester is over, and you will have theoretical concepts and tools that change the way you read about it in the newspaper.
Teaching this course is my most important commitment for this semester. Short of a family emergency, this course has my full attention and interest. I find the course material fascinating, and I intend to do everything I can to make thi s a memorable experience for you. If you want to ask questions or talk about course material, do not hesitate to approach me. My office hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 2:00 to 3:00, but those are simply times at which you do not need to worry about scheduling an appointment. If those hours do not work, feel free to set up an appointment for a time that is more convenient. My e-mail address is gjmiller@artsci.wustl.edu; e-mail me and ask questions or sug gest a meeting time. I will try to get back to you within 24 hours. My voice mail number is 5-5874.
TEACHING STRATEGY
Psychologists have demonstrated that people retain only a small fraction of what they hear in a lecture; that is just an unfortunate fact. The more actively we engage the material, the more we retain. While some part of every class will involve my presentation of new material, I would like to use a variety of other techniques to promote active engagement by the students.
Questions are one obvious aid. Every time you ask a question, it helps break up the inefficient one-directional flow of information from the instructor, and re-focuses the entire class's attention on the material. Furthermore, in your q uestion, you are likely to say things differently from me, and that helps retention. Other students are likely to try to answer your question, if only in their heads, and that promotes more active involvement in the material. Consequently, I encourage you to ask questions as they pop into your mind. Your question does not have to be well-formulated and thoughtful--it may simply be, "Can you go over that again? I didn't get it." I request that students address me by my first name (Gary) in order to minimiz e any obstacles to interruption.
Another aid to active involvement is discussion among students. In order to encourage students to discuss, I will sometimes give students a particular problem to discuss in "buzz groups" during class time for several moments; then the b uzz groups will report their solutions back to the class.
Furthermore, I would encourage the creation of organized study groups. I will try to help students seeking a study group to get together.
Another method of involvement will be active reading of the newspaper. If anyone has a newspaper clipping about Congress that they would like to discuss, I would encourage you to bring it to class. We will try to take time in any given class for discussion of current developments in Congress.
Another aid for active involvement in class is the computer. Pages 464-65 in your primary text (Congress and Its Members) has good internet addresses for keeping up with Congress. I recommend especially http://www.thomas.loc.gov and www.washingtonpost.com.
Fifteen percent of your grade will be based on three active participation exercises that will be largely of your choosing. One exercise might be a five minute presentation to class of a particular episode in Congress, current or histori cal, that you think is important for the class to know about. Another might be to submit a one or two-page report on something that you found of interest on the Internet.
At least one of your participation exercises will be an interactive computer exercise on coalition formation that I have developed in the Taylor Lab in the lower level at Simon Hall. You will see early in the course how important coalit ion formation is to your understanding of how Congress operates. You will have various opportunities during the semester to schedule yourself for participation in this coalition exercise. I am hoping you will find the exercise is fun; I am sure that it wi ll sharpen your sense of how coalitions form.
Other opportunities for you to fulfill your participation portion of the grade will be announced on occasion during the semester.
GRADING
The other 85% of your grade will be based on more traditional quizzes and papers. Educational psychologists tell us that frequent feedback aids the learning process; consequently, instead of having simply a mid-term, I plan on having th ree quizzes that will be graded quickly and returned so that you and I both have a good idea of what you are getting from the course. The quizzes will be challenging, but you will be protected from the worst possible outcomes in the following way: if you get less than a grade of 70 (a C-), you will have the opportunity to learn from your feedback, and submit extra work that will bring your grade for that quiz back to a score of 70. That way, there will be an opportunity to learn from the feedback that you get from your quizzes. It should also keep down the level of stress, while keeping the level of attention and motivation high.
Each quiz will be worth 15% of your grade. The quizzes (45%) and the participation grade (15%) together amount to 60% of your grade. The final 40% of your grade will be based on a final exam, a final paper, or both. The final exam oppor tunity will be May 4 from 10:30 to 12:30. You may take the final for 40% of your course grade. If you do not take the final exam, you must write a paper, which will be due the same day. If you wish, you may take the exam and write a paper, so that each is worth only 20% of your grade.
I do not believe in grading on a curve. A curve presumes that people come into the class with a normal distribution of intelligence, and that nothing happens in the classroom that has any impact on that biological fact.
As a university like Washington University, we are starting with people from the upper part of the curve to begin with. Furthermore, performance is based in large part on cooperative classroom effort to achieve clear and challenging goa ls. Grading on the curve can discourage the cooperative effort that makes achievement of those goals possible. Consequently, I believe in setting challenging standards of achievement, and then encouraging the kind of cooperative effort that will get as hi gh a proportion of the class as possible to meet those achievement standards.
The standards are:
97+ A+
93-96 A
90-92 A-
87-89 B+
83-88 B
80-82 B-
77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C-
67-69 D+
63-66 D
60-62 D-
OPTIONAL PAPER TOPICS
Suggested paper topics are based on two optional books that are available in the bookstore.
1. Richard Fenno, The Emergence of a Senate Leader. Fenno is the leading expert on Congress. This book is about New Mexico's Senator Domenici, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. It features the role he played as a coali tion builder during the Reagan years. I recommend that you write a paper explaining Domenici's coalition-forming strategies, and why he selected some strategies some years and other strategies other years.
2. Elizabeth Drew. Showdown. Drew is an insightful journalist. Her book is about the first year of the new Republican majority after the 1992 election. I recommend that you write a paper explaining the effect of Gingrich's speake rship on the organization and operation of Congress.
Either of these two paper topics will give you ample opportunity to apply what you have learned in lectures from this course. It is important for you to remember that your paper is not supposed to be a book report. When I read your pape r, I will want to be able to see clearly that your paper is not one that could have been written by a high school senior who just picked the book up and read it. Rather, you are responsible for using concepts and tools from the course in order to inter pret and explain what you have read in the book.
These paper topics are only recommendations. If you choose, you may select another appropriate topic for your paper. Please check with me before working on a different paper topic.
REQUIRED READINGS
Two books are available in paperback at the bookstore:
Davidson and Oleszek, Congress and Its Members. 6th ed.
[Congress on the syllabus.]
Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch.
[Gucci Gulch on the syllabus.]
In addition, there will be a short packet for sale at the book store. Readings from the packet are noted on the syllabus by a *.
In order to keep the price of the packet down, a few of the readings are on reserve at the library.
SECTION I. INTEREST GROUPS AND THE ELECTORAL CONNECTION
TU Jan 12
INTRODUCTION: GETTING ELECTED IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
Handout:
"Why Organizing to Lobby Congress is Difficult"
TH Jan 14
WHICH SHARED INTERESTS ARE REPRESENTED IN CONGRESS?
Read:
Gucci Gulch, Ch. 1-2
TU Jan 19
INTEREST GROUPS AND CONGRESS
Read:
Congress, Ch. 12
*NYTIMES. "It's Dwayne's World".
*NYTIMES. "Sugar Price Supports"
TH Jan 21
THE ELECTORAL CONNECTION: RECRUITMENT
Read:
Congress, Ch. 3
TU Jan 26
THE ELECTORAL CONNECTION: ELECTIONS
Read:
Congress, Ch. 4
*NY TIMES. "Business Leaves the Lobby" (2)
TH Jan 28 REVIEW AND QUIZ #1
SECTION II. MAJORITY RULE AND COALITION FORMATION
TU Feb 3
MAJORITY RULE COALITION FORMATION
Read:
*Miller, Majority Rule Decision Making
Congress, Ch. 9
TH Feb 5
LOGROLLING AND COALITION FORMATION
Read:
*Ferejohn, "Logrolling in an Institutional Context"
*Miller, "How Congressional Structure Provides Stability"
TU Feb 10
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE SYSTEM
Read:
Congress, Ch. 7
Gucci Gulch, Chs. 4-5
TH Feb 12
CONGRESSIONAL RULES AND PROCEDURES: THE HOUSE SIDE
Read:
Congress, Ch. 8, pp. 221-239
TU Feb 17
TAX REFORM: THE HOUSE SIDE
Read:
Gucci Gulch, Chs. 6-7
TH Feb 19
CONGRESSIONAL RULES AND PROCEDURES: THE SENATE SIDE
Read:
Congress, Ch. 8, pp. 239-248
TU Feb 24
TAX REFORM: THE SENATE SIDE
Showdown, Chs. 8-11
TH Feb 26 REVIEW AND QUIZ #2
TU Mar 3- THU Mar 5 SPRING BREAK
SECTION III. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT AND BUDGETING
TU Mar 10
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Read:
Congress, Ch. 11
*NYTimes, 12/22/94 "Administration Gives Up"
TU Mar 12
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT AND THE SAVINGS AND LOAN CRISIS
Movie
TU Mar 17
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGETING
Read:
Congress, Ch. 13.
TH Mar 19
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGETING: THE REAGAN YEARS
Read:
*Greider, "The Education of David Stockman"
SECTION IV. OUTSIDER POLITICS
TU Mar 24
SOCIAL PROTEST: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Film: "Eyes on the Prize"
TH Mar 26
OUTSIDERS AND CONGRESS
Read: Garrettson, "Humphrey and the Civil Rights Act"
TU Mar 31
HOME STYLES
Read:
Congress, Ch. 5
TH Apr 2
PARTIES AND PARTY LEADERSHIP
Read:
Congress, Ch. 6
*Evans and Novak, "The Johnson System"
TU Apr 7
THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
Read:
*Aldrich and Rohde, "A Tale of Two Speakers"
TH Apr 9
THE ATTEMPTED REPUBLICAN COUP
Read:
"A GOP House Divided", Washington Post Weekly 8/4/97.
(library reserve)
TU Apr 14 REVIEW AND QUIZ #3
TH Apr 16
CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT
Read:
Congress, Ch. 10
TU Apr 21
GINGRICH AND CLINTON: THE BUDGET CRISIS OF 1995
Read:
Drew, Showdown, Ch. 24 (library reserve)
TH Apr 23
CONGRESS AND NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY
(Last day of class)
Read:
Congress Chs. 14 and 15
Final Exam May 4 10:30 - 12:30
*NYTIMES. "It's Dwayne's World". 1/16/96
*NYTIMES. "Sugar Price Supports" 9/29/95
*NYTIMES. "Business Leaves the Lobby" 3/31/95
*Miller, "Majority Rule Decision Making"
*Ferejohn, "Logroll"
*Miller, "How Congressional Structure Provides Stability"
*NYTimes, 12/22/94 "Administration Gives Up"
*Evans and Novak, "The Johnson System"
*Greider, "The Education of David Stockman"
*Aldrich and Rohde, "A Tale of Two Speakers"