Political Science 21A: Question Set #3. Congress and the Presidency

Assignment
Name
Institution
Course
Professor
Date
1 a) What are the varying goals that shape the behavior of members of Congress? b) How does the incentive for re-election shape their behavior? c) How can it lead them to be both individually responsive but collectively irresponsible?
Several goals shape the behavior of the members of Congress. They include partisanship, divided Government, and the election process. Most of the Congress members seek their constituents to re-elect them, making them behave in a certain way while in office. Partisanship refers to a member of Congress having firm support for a particular political party. Partisan division in Congress may paralyze the legislative's functioning and may lead to compromise or extensive negotiations. Similarly, when the executive and the Government's legislative branches are divided, partisan standoffs like the Congress refuse to appoint candidates proposed by the president. Partisanship has a more significant effect in Congress as it may also lead to the members favoring a particular party (Davidson et al., 2013).
The primary shaper of the behavior, however, is the re-election into the office. Most scholars argue that members of Congress do not prioritize the interests of their constituents. Instead, they attend to their personal needs first. Similarly, most people prioritize party loyalty and only vote for the loyal members of their parties. Therefore, party loyalty shapes their behavior because it determines the fate of re-elections. In the same spirit, the Congress members follow what the majority of the people to be the course to gain public trust for re-elections.
The quest for a re-lection makes the members of Congress individually responsible but collectively irresponsible. The main aim of Congress is to address the interests of the constituents (Arnold, 1993). However, they often forget this work and become selfish in protecting their positions and ensuring that they are re-elected for the next term. This way, they begin to drum up for courses that make them 'great' as individuals but forget their collective role as Congress members. For example, when they will always go back to their constituents and tell them how their colleagues are letting them down by not passing crucial policies. This is meant to cleanse their names but blaming their failures on the rest of the members.
2 a) What are the benefits of the Congressional committee system? b) What are the possible downsides? c) How do the parties use this structure to their advantage?
The congressional committee system is essential because of the function it plays. Information published on the Government's website states that committees help keep check of the government projects and identify any legible issues for legislative reviews. They also gather and evaluate information and then recommend favorable courses of action. Different types of house committees include standing committees, joint committee, and the special committee. Standing committees have legislative jurisdiction; they consider bills and issues then recommend measures to consider by their respective chambers. Special or select committees are formed to conduct investigation and studies or consider steps on some occasions...