Congressional Decisions: Crash Course U.S.

Government #10
Available at https://youtu.be/ZT9ipQdYL-s or just youtube/google “Crash Course US Government 10”
1. What are the three main factors or agents that
influence congressman in making their decisions?
Constituency, interest groups, and political parties.

2. Representatives pay the most attention to their

constituents when they are
actually voting on bills because votes are a
record that constituents can easily check.

a. The more sophisticated polling is, the better representatives are at crafting their
message, and maybe even their votes to what their constituents want.

3. The main thing that interest groups provide to congressman is information that they can
use in writing a bill or making a policy case to their constituents. On the other hand,
interest groups do give an awful lot of money to campaigns. They also provide a lot of
research and assistance in the writing of bills.

a. Why are interest groups most influential at the committee stage of legislation
rather than during floor votes?
This means that rather than interesting items into legislation, it’s much easier and
more effective to exclude potential provisions from laws. Plus, this practice makes
it easier to obfuscate special interest influence on laws.

4. What are some ways in which political parties can affect lawmakers?
A disciplined party leadership can put pressure on a congressman to vote and certain
way. The weaker the party the more freedom the representative has to go rouge on
some issue and votes.

a. Logrolling occurs most obviously at the voting stage but can also be part of the
writing of legislation in committees.

b. The president is the de facto leader of his party and its

most influential member.

c. Political parties are most influential over Congress when a

single party controls both houses and the
presidency and when the party leadership is strong enough to exert discipline and a
degree of
uniformity of policy.

5. Which of the three factors do you personally believe to be the most

influential? Explain your answer.
I believe interest groups to be the most influential. The reason being is because of all the help they provide, and,
in a way, help make things easier. Also, because they have a ton of money for campaigns so they can really get
themselves, their names, and idea out there to the public.