Conflicts in the US Legislators' Work - Research Paper Example

 CONFLICTS IN THE LEGISLATOR'S WORK: WAYS OF COPING Introduction. The elected officials that represent the subnational-level electorate in the Congress are presumed to represent them in terms of legislations that respond to their priority needs and aspirations. There are other activities too that legislators carry out in addition to their normal legislative duties, which this paper will discuss. Legislators who fail to implement the will of their constituents often find themselves being ousted after the next polls. In going about performing their duties, legislators are being subjected to many pressures and influences that can derail them in their tasks or make them forget their primary role, in the process creating potential conflicts in their lawmaking functions. This paper seeks to analyze the various elements that contribute to conflict situations and to determine what might strategies might work out in the best interest of both the legislator and his constituents. The legislative function and its constitutional basis. The U.S. Congress is one of the three branches of the government together with the presidency and the judiciary. Under a representative government the Congress (or legislature) , which is vested with significant decision-making powers, is elected freely based on the doctrine of popular sovereignty which posits that the people are the source of all political power. The legislators, in representing their constituents, are expected to be sensitive to their needs (“legislature”). The US national legislature is bicameral in structure composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is generally believed that this division into two chambers is intended to avoid hasty passage of ill-considered laws and to check public passions. On the other hand, it is considered slow, more costly, cumbersome, among other criticisms. The main task of the legislature to draft, study, deliberate on, and approve bills. To help legislators do this job, they establish committees and subcommittees which will study bills and make recommendations and change or amend before they are forwarded to the full house for consideration and passage. Once bills are passed in one house it must go to and be approved by the other house and thereafter sent to the President for signature. Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution enumearates the powers of the Congress. Aside from the legislative function, the Congress also has the power to appropriate funds for the government bureacracy, approve presidential appointments, enact taxes, regulate commerce, declare war, and impeach certain executive officers. It exercises oversight over the the executive branch and its officers and helps constituents through casework. Relationship with the other branches The purpose of a legislature is to make, alter, amend, and repeal laws. Once a law is passed and signed by the President, it is implemented or enforced by the executive branch through the bureacratic structure. The judicial branch interprets the laws passed by the legislature, using various means to discover the true intent of the lawmakers and applying certain rules and maxims of statutory construction. Because of the principle of separation of powers, each branch has powers to check on the other. For example, judicial review is exercised by the judiciary to pass judgment on the acts of the legislative and executive branches with regard to the compatibility of such acts with the Constitution. The President, in turn, has the power to veto bills passed by Congress, which can only be overturned with a two-thirds Congress majority. The President can appoint members of the judiciary and grant pardons as well as commute prison sentences. The control function of the legislative branch vis-a-vis the acts of the executive branch will be discussed briefly later in this paper. How Congress members vote on legislative bills Berman and Murphy (1999) believe that in their function as representatives of their constituents, members of Congress must view themselves either as delegates or trustees. As delegates they always have the interests of their districts as the primary consideration when deciding to vote on bills, and they often visit and talk to their constituents to fathom their views. On the other hand, when considering bills of national importance that are not of high local priority, the Congress member may act as trustee. As such, he will use his own judgment in deciding whether to favor or reject a bill. When carried to an extreme, the proclivity to use one's own judgment instead of listening to the voices of his constituents can mean defeat in the next elections. The disregard of one's constituencies' opinions can only be safely done if his constituents' views are unclear, weak or ambiguous, or when the representative has had a wide margin of victory in the past and he believes no serious challenge can be launched agasinst, or when he is on his last term because he does not seek reelection voluntarily or because of a term limit. Political scientists, according to Berman and Murphy (1999) cite seven of the major influences on the Congress members' decision to vote on a specific bill, briefly enumerated and described below. The first is personal views. A Congress member votes according to his own preferences and convictions, thereby risking his political future. The second is the views of his constituents. Members visit their districts conduct surveys to gauge the electorate's reaction towards a specific bill. When he believes that his constituents do not have strong views or are indifferent, he will use his own judgment. The third influence is party affiliation. For many Congress members, his party's position on an issue is an important consideration, so that they would rather stick to it than risk sanctions. Where the President is also a party member, such party loyalty is all the more compelling. The fourth influence is the Presidency. When the President badly needs Congressional support on an administration bill of high importance, he may ask for direct assurance from a Congress member. Failure to support the President can carry sanctions in various ways including the withholding of discretionary funds for his district. The fifth influence are interest groups. An interest group is any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favor (“interest group”). They often lobby quite intensely on key issues of importance to them by visiting and talking to legislators. Their strategies can also include generating grass-roots support for their cause thus engendering added pressure on their target Congress members. The Congressional staff, the sixth influential group, exert their power through their activities in organizing hearings, doing research, drafting and amending bills, preparing reports , and interacting with the media, interest groups, and the constituents. With their expertise they can be quite persuasive in making legislators vote in favor of bills that they prefer. The final group consists of colleagues and the “cue structure.” A cue structure is a personal intelligence system whereby sources of information and advice are tapped including fellow members who are experts, authoritative, and well informed, and a variety of groups some of whom may have different opinions on a specific bill. A scheme of prioritizing all the inputs will enable the Congress member to come up with his own decision. Legislative oversight role of Congress In its task of implementing the laws passed by Congress and signed by the President, the Congress may observe that the way the law is put into effect deviates from what the legislators intended. They have therefore sought to strengthen their surveillance of the actions and decisions of the executive branch (and the bureacracy under it) and subject them to closer scrutiny. This legislative oversight function usually involves hearings and investigations of such actions and decisions of executive officials as part of a control mechanism. It can call for sworn testimony from officials, the production of consultancy reports, and publication of findings (Shafritz & Russell 2004; Berman and Murphy, 1999 ). This writer has seen instances where such hearings are used for political ends when the Congress and the President belong to opposite parties. Congress members would conduct hearings on the actuations of a cabinet member for the purpose of exposing the faults and shortcomings of the Presidency rather than for control purposes or for enacting new or improved legislation. Legislator's casework. Casework is what the legislator or the legislaltive staff does to help constituents who may need assistance. This can be in the shape of following up a delayed Social Security check or an application for a government position. Casework serves as a way of maintaining oversight of the bureacracy as well solidfying the political base with the constituents (Shafritz & Russell, 2004; Lane, 1994). There are other advantages to the legislator. Firstly, it is cheap and uncontroversial, for if the extended help gets results, it can make the constituent happy and grateful, and the Congress member can be assured of his vote. Even if the result is not quite positive for the customer, the promptness, tactfulness and courtesy in processing the request can be converted into a public relations capital favorable to the legislator. On the part of the agencies whose help is sought, the help given can improve their prospects of their budget being considered favorably during the next budget hearings. Conclusion It is clear that a Congress member may at first attempt to find a basis of agreement between what his constituents want and what his decision concerning a bill will be. This effort is however not a simple task because he is the subject of many influences which can swing his vote one way or the other. He is lucky if the final vote he must cast coincides with the strong preferences of his constituents; if otherwise, he can certainly try to enlighten and educate them. In exercising his discretion as trustee of his constituents, he must consider whether or not he can accept the negative repercussions of an adverse vote. BIBLIOGRAPHY Berman L. & Murphy, B.A. (1999). Approaching democracy, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall "constituency." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Oxford University Press, 1996, 2003. Answers.com 19 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/constituency "interest group." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. The Gale Group, Inc, 2002. Answers.com 19 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/interest-group Lane, F.S. (1994) Current issues in public administration, 5th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press "legislature." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc, 1998. Answers.com 19 Nov. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/legislature Nigro, F.A. & Nigro, L.G. (1988) Modern public administration. 7th ed. New York: HarperCollins Shafritz Jr., J.M. & Russell, E.W. (2004). Introducing public administration, 4th ed. New York: Longman Publishing Read More