If I were elected to the United States Congress the factors that would influence my decision on whether to vote for or against a bill would be: re-election, political party affiliations and, interest groups. My main concern as every other congressmen would be to be re-elected. If I really want to continue to be a Congressmen then I would keep in mind when the next elections would be and see how I can find my way to keep a seat in Congress.
Being elected into congress is above a lot of other political positions and it takes you away from your state. You might still be locally active representing your state in the House of Representatives, but you won’t be as close to your voters. Meaning that voters are in mind, but that’s when my next factor comes in; Political Party Affiliation (PPA). PPA become more useful once in Congress because to some extent you have to please your party’s interest. By voting against a bill that your party wants you to vote in favor of could be very drastic to your future plans as a Congressmen. The party that your are affiliated with might not want to agree with you on other matter and the whole time that you serve as a Congressmen will only be a constant argument with you and your party and even more problems will arise with the opposing party. If you are to change your political affiliation you will technically still be voting influenced by their views on the bill.
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If you don’t consider interest groups as a part of your decision on whether to vote for or against a bill is like playing roulette. You don’t know what will happen in the next elections, you won’t know what the outcome would be, unless you have polling data. That’s why I would allow myself to be influenced by interest groups. By voting in favor of a bill because of interest groups means more votes, thus higher chances of being
Even though in this article it states that there are some representatives that would not be for signing the bill for personal reasons, the only other thing that it comes down to from a legislative point of view is transportation funds.
and congress have in our democracy. The people elect members of the House while members off the senate are chosen by state legislators and how members are the house serve a term of two years while members of the senate have a term of 6 years. How congress have the power to rise and regulate the army and the navy, and declare war while the power of the senate can only ratified treaties, accept or reject presidential nominations. The congress and the house of representatives are significant in our democracy and how they continue to play a significant role in our democracy.
First, congress salaries are very heavily bashed on by the public. An average congress member attains a salary just shy of $100,000. Many members of congress start off making roughly $80,000-$90,000 annually. Therefore, an abundance of people argue that their salary is too high. Although they have a decent salary to sit on, they aren’t overly wealthy. In contrast, members may work their way up in power, yet don’t generate much of a raise other than a few thousand annually. Back when the constitution was being formed, many of our nation’s top builders predicted a president leading the USA. Granted the president description was extremely vague, we soon realized how powerful presidency and high powers truly are. After several presidencies and wars, among other awry events, we quickly discovered the roles and objectives of these political leaders. Furthermore, the role of presidency has been altered greatly over the course of time. The separation of power ultimately led to the creation of a two-party system. Lastly, the issue of re-election arises. Re-election rates have generated a fair amount of complaints among American’s. The idea of limiting terms for congress members has become a common thought. If this followed through, it may generate mixed feelings for our country. Everybody has different stances on our nation’s higher powers, but perception is critical, depending on the
This means they will likely raise money in any way possible to increase their chances of winning. This leads many members of Congress to give less consideration to the needs of low-income individuals when developing legislation. Since these low-income individuals do not have the means to give large amounts of money to re-election campaigns, their views are often ignored. Many members of Congress endorse legislation that would benefit their largest donors. This leads to a Congress that is not a true representative of the broad interests across the United States (Flavin 2015).
Party policy are extremely import for legislators follow. First of all they should not be in the party if they do not believe the party policies, and they should be in a different party. Policies in parties are so there can not people fight in party for their ideas. There also is the problem if the people who vote you in have really similar interests and that make it easier to vote your intrest even if they bad as this quote explains, “representative interest conflict which arises when Members share personal interests, for example in farming, fishing
Voting is the chance to contribute to the political process, and the framework was made to work best when everybody partakes. Along these lines, utilizing your entitlement to vote is not only an expansion to the voter turnout insights distributed by each significant media site (which reliably demonstrate seniors as having the most astounding voter turnout - time for the young to lift it up). Your vote really matters and the country needs and needs to hear your feeling. We live in a vote based system (a term utilized delicately as a part of our general public). A democracy is a system of government in which the entirety of the population participates. So, participate all the time.
My candidate, Barbara Comstock, is running for Congress of the U.S. House to represent the 10th Congressional District of Virginia. The most important responsibility for a congressman/congresswoman is to make laws for the United States. They prepare and consider legislation. Representatives are chosen for two-year terms and serve the people in a specific congressional district.
Reelection is known to be the major goal on the mind of any congress member and many will go to major lengths in hopes of winning a seat in congress or just maintaining it. Today in age Congress is known for being more polarized that 's it 's ever been in the past 20 years and the number of safe seat district diminishes every election. There are many things to take into account when running for a district seat, such as committee assignments, what topics a candidate should emphasize and which they should avoid, as well as how to go about the campaign and their opponent.
The first influence is representational view. Author James Wilson says “Representational view is the reasonable assumption that members want to get reelected, and therefore vote to please their constituents” (Wilson, pg.340). Representational view sounds a lot like trying to impress someone to get on their good graces or trying to please someone. When a congressman votes like this, it really gets in the way of what is important. Do they really care what is going on? It does not sound like it, according to James Wilson. When a congressman vote like this, Wilson mentions the example of gun control and that sometimes they get conflicting views and that whichever way they vote, it may cost them dearly in the next election. What is even more frustrating is that “occasionally, members of Congress in this situation will try to be out of town when the matter comes up for a vote” (Wilson, pg. 341). What is the point of being in Congress if you are not going to be around for the major decisions? Just along for the free ride I am assuming. All in all,
Congressional members are influenced by their subjective experiences as well as their intellectual and psychological dispositions in dealing with the variability of global politics. Foreign policies, such as declarations of war, are conceived with the intent to defend congressional interests to protect the powers of Congress. Senators and Representatives frequently determine their stance on an issue by determining how it would impact their appointment to higher office, chances for reelection, and improving their influence and legacy. Once Members of Congress have established their interests, the United States Constitution provides the framework of how Congressional interests are conveyed into laws. The lawmaking process, however, may be a tedious
In my opinion, I feel that constituents have power over congress members because they have the power to vote them in or out of office. On the other hand, I feel that voting constituents have the least amount of influence over congress members, who strive for money contributions in order to, run their political campaigns, compared to donors and PACs.
Congressmen’s first priority to themselves is to make sure they will get re-elected and now-a-days, majority will do whatever it takes. This is a combination of law making and pork barreling. They most likely will not put the needs and wants of the people first, until they are re-elected. Once done is when they will start to care about their
For most politicians, the best way to advance into a federal legislative position is to begin locally: such as within state legislatures. Due to my personal interests in the legislative branch of government, I decided to conduct interviews with senators at the Nebraska State Capitol to learn more about their and others’ legislative careers. Understanding the functions and roles of these positions - senators, aides, and bill drafters - is critical in understanding the work of a legislature both locally and federally.
Campaign finance reform is probably one proposal that you might be familiar with and it is my belief that implementing this will help improve Congress as an institution. There are several areas of this proposal that I find important. These issues include the elimination of soft money, raising the limits on party contributions, and encouraging more participation of the public in campaigns.
Congress has helped develop the Presidency as we know it today. This is because Congress argues over proposals and legislation proposed by the President. They are a major determent in whether bills turn into laws. But it’s not easy. One reason for this is because there are many powerful groups out there who argue about what should be discussed such as air pollution with the EPA or jobs.