Politics 30 Assignment Schedule: The U.S. Congress

Politics 30: The United States Congress
Pomona College, Spring 2008
Prof. David Menefee-Libey

Class Schedule and Assignments
Note: Readings for each day are listed after the date.
Note also: I will modify this schedule as we go along, and post updates online.

Wednesday, January 23 Overview of the course and requirements: » Readings: this syllabus
Friday, January 25: Approaches to the study of Congress: » D/O ch. 1, "The Two Congresses"; » Cushman, Ch. 1 "Introduction"; » David M-L, "Social Science and Its Assumptions" [Available on-line; follow this link.]; » Suggested: M/O Preface, ch. 1, "Introduction"
PART ONE: CONGRESS AS AN INSTITUTION
Monday, January 28: The describing and explaining the historical development of Congress: » D/O ch. 2, "Evolution of the Modern Congress; » Cushman ch. 2, "Origins and Evolution of the Congressional System"; » *James L. Sundquist, "Two Centuries of Ups and Downs," ch. 2 of The Decline and Resurgence of Congress (Brookings,1981) (on Sakai); » suggested: M/O ch. 2, "The First Branch of Government: Theory and Practice"
Wednesday, January 30: The more recent evolution of Congress as a partisan battlefield: » M/O ch. 3, "The Seeds of the Contemporary Problem, 1969-1994"; » M/O ch. 4, "A Decade of Republican Control"
Friday, February 1: The current crisis: should we be surprised?: » Dan Froomkin, "Congress Goes Belly Up," Washington Post, December 13, 2007.; » *Sundquist, ch. 7, "Endemic Weaknesses of Congress" (on Sakai)
Monday, February 4: What now?: » M/O ch. 6, "The Case of Continuity" (skim for the main points); » M/O ch. 7, "Conclusion"; » *Sundquist, ch. 13, "To Strengthen Congressional Capacity" (on Sakai)
Wednesday, February 6: Institutional Feature 1: Party leadership in the House and Senate: » D/O ch. 6, "Leaders and Parties in Congress"
Friday, February 8: Feature 2: Division of labor into committees: » D/O ch. 7, "Committees: Workshops of Congress"
Monday, February 11: Feature 3: Staff: » D/O, sections in chapters 5 and 7 (look for "staff" in the index)
Wednesday, February 13: Feature 4: Rules and procedures: » D/O ch. 8, "Congressional Rules and Procedures"
Friday, February 15: Assigning roles for the simulation: » For background on the simulation, read the on-line description; » Short paper #1 due by 4:30 pm today.
PART TWO: CONGRESS AS A COLLECTION OF POLITICIANS
Monday, February 18: Membership in Congress as a job, held by human beings: » Cushman ch. 3, "Speaking for the People: The Majoritarian House"; » Cushman ch. 4, "Representing the States: The Individualistic Senate"; » review D/O ch. 2, pp 31-36
Wednesday, February 20: Who are these people? Who and/or what do they represent?: » D/O ch. 3, "Going For It: Recruitment Roulette"; »
Friday, February 22: How do they get into office?: » D/O ch. 4, "Making It: The Electoral Game"; »
Monday, February 25: What do they do after they win?: » D/O ch. 5, "Being There: Hill Styles and Home Styles"
Wednesday, February 27: Members of Congress = Members of parties: »; » review D/O ch. 6, "Leaders and Parties in Congress," pp. 187-end
Friday, February 29: Committee work and voting: » D/O ch. 9, "Decision Making in Congress"; » review D/O ch. 7, "Committees: Workshops of Congress," pp. 197-212
Monday, March 3: Members' responsibility for the national government: » Cushman ch. 5, "The Oversight Power"; » D/O ch. 10, "Congress and the President"
Wednesday, March 5: Members and spending power: » Cushman ch 6, "The Power of the Purse"
Friday, March 7: Congress, master of the executive branch?: » Cushman ch 7, "The Organizing Power"
PART THREE: THE SIMULATION
Monday, March 10: Some initial prep: » Simulation Manual 2008 will be posted on-line by today; » Simulation-related research links: members; policy and legislation
Wednesday, March 12: The domestic side of the simulation: » D/O ch. 14, "Congress, Budgets, and Domestic Policy Making"
Friday, March 14: The foreign policy side of the simulation: » D/O ch. 15, "Congress and National Security Policies"; » Short paper #2 due by 4:30 pm today.
March 15 through 23: SPRING BREAK
Monday, March 24: The details of the simulation: » Readings: the simulation manual, the role rosters
Wednesday, March 26: The details of parliamentary procedure: » Readings to be announced
Friday, March 28: Cesar Chavez Day: no class meeting: » Go read about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.
March 31 through April 3 or 4: The Simulation will meet every evening this week at 6:30 p.m..: » Short paper #3 due at the beginning of the first session of the Simulation.; » There will be no daytime classes this week. You should use the class time for meetings. (It's the only time you can be sure everyone will be available.)
Monday, April 7: A discussion of what happened in the simulation: » no readings assigned
Wednesday, April 9: A look ahead at the rest of the semester: » Short paper #4 due by 4:30 pm today
PART FOUR: THE EVOLVING LEGISLATIVE POLITICS OF CONGRESS
Friday, April 11: Contrasting the "textbook" process with real practices: » Legislative case study description posted on-line; » Sinclair preface and ch 1, "Clean Air: An Introduction to How the Legislative Process Has Changed"
Monday, April 14: The House and the Senate: » Sinclair ch 2, "Multiple Paths: The Legislative Process in the House of Representatives"; » Sinclair ch 3, "Routes and Obstacles: The Legislative Process in the Senate"
Wednesday, April 16: Negotiations in the real world: » Sinclair, ch 4 "Getting One Bill: Reconciling House-Senate Differences"; » Sinclair, ch 5 "Omnibus Legislation, the Budget Process, and Summits"
Friday, April 18: What should you pay attention to in your case studies?: » Sinclair, ch 6 "Why and How the Legislative Process Changed"
Monday, April 21: Legislative Case Studies, Part I: » Sinclair ch. 7, "The 2005 Energy Bill: About as Orthodox as It Gets"
Wednesday, April 23: Legislative Case Studies, Part II: » Sinclair ch. 8, "Medicare/Prescription Drug Legislation: Making Sweeping Change in a Highly Partisan Environment"; » Sinclair ch. 9, "Medical Malpractice Caps: Senate Rules and Unorthodox Lawmaking -- or Not"
Friday, April 25: Budget Politics as a Special Case: » Sinclair ch. 10, "The Budget Process as an Instrument for Policy Change: Clinton's Economic Program"; » Sinclair ch. 11, "Republican Majorities, Divided Government, and Budget Politics"
Monday, April 28: Quickie Policy Making: » Sinclair ch. 12, "The Republican Tax-Cutting Agenda and the Budget Process: The Bush Tax Cuts of 2001 and 2005"
Wednesday, April 30: So what? Who cares?: » Sinclair ch. 13, "The Consequences of Unorthodox Lawmaking"; » D/O ch. 15 "The Two Congresses and the American People"; » Cushman ch. 9, "Conclusions"
Friday, May 2: Getting closure on your research, writing up your own findings: » no readings assigned
Monday, April 5: Making Sense of Congress: » no readings assigned; » Case study paper due by 4:30 pm today for seniors.
Wednesday, May 7: Evaluating the Course, ideas for next time: » Read your notes, your daily papers. Come in with one developed idea about how to improve the course.
Monday, May 12: Case study paper due by 4:30 pm for non-seniors.