Role of Senators and Representatives (AQA A-Level Politics): Revision Notes
Role of Senators and Representatives
Members of Congress have a crucial responsibility to represent their constituents effectively. This representative role is fulfilled through five main activities: communicating with constituents, passing legislation, committee membership, lobbying the executive, and constituency casework.
Communicating with constituents
Members of Congress maintain regular contact with the people they represent through various channels. They make frequent visits to their state or district, often holding town hall meetings where constituents can raise concerns directly. These face-to-face interactions allow representatives to gauge public opinion on key issues.
Modern communication methods have expanded significantly beyond traditional town halls. Social media platforms, emails, and traditional letters enable continuous dialogue between representatives and constituents throughout their terms, not just during election campaigns.
This constant communication ensures members remain informed about the views and priorities of those they represent, allowing them to carry these perspectives into congressional debates and votes.
Passing legislation
When debating, amending and voting on bills, members of Congress keep their constituents firmly in mind. They can adopt two distinct approaches to legislative decision-making:
Two Models of Representation:
Delegate model: Members vote strictly according to their constituents' expressed views, acting as a direct voice for public opinion.
Trustee model: Members vote based on what they judge to be in their constituents' best interests, even if this differs from popular opinion. This model was developed by Edmund Burke, an eighteenth-century British MP and political thinker, who believed representatives should be guided by their own judgement rather than public pressure.
Most members of Congress use a combination of both models, depending on the issue and circumstances. For example, they might act as delegates on highly visible issues where constituent opinion is clear, while adopting the trustee approach on complex technical legislation.
Committee membership
Strategic committee assignments allow members to protect and advance their state or district's specific interests. Members typically seek positions on committees relevant to their constituents' economic and social priorities.
Case Study: Pat Roberts and the Senate Agriculture Committee
From 2015 to 2020, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee. Kansas is a major agricultural state, making this position particularly valuable for Roberts' constituents.
He successfully steered a bipartisan farm bill through Congress, the Agriculture Improvement Act 2018, which provided Kansas farmers with billions of dollars in funding and improved access to crop insurance. This legislation had strong support from Kansas agricultural groups and producers.
This example demonstrates how committee membership can directly benefit constituents through targeted legislation that addresses their specific economic needs.
Lobbying the executive
Members of Congress actively lobby the executive branch to secure funding and policies beneficial to their constituents. However, this practice can be controversial, particularly regarding federal spending.
Pork barrel funding refers to the allocation of federal money to states or districts primarily to secure the support of key members of Congress, rather than because the spending serves a genuine national need.
The 'Bridge to Nowhere'
The most infamous example of pork barrel funding is the 'bridge to nowhere' project in Alaska. This proposed $400 million bridge would have connected a town to Gravina Island, home to just 50 people and an airport. The project became a symbol of wasteful government spending and was never built, though it continues to be referenced in debates about federal spending priorities.
Earmarking is the process of directing federal funding to a specific project within a member's district or state. Legislation passed in 2011 aimed to curtail this practice. The reform had some initial success: the pressure group Citizens Against Government Waste found significantly lower levels of pork barrel spending from 2012 to 2017, with approximately $3.7 billion spent. However, pork barrel spending increased dramatically in 2018 and 2019, averaging $15 billion annually, even though it is no longer formally earmarked for particular projects.
Constituency casework
Individual constituents frequently approach their representatives for help with personal problems involving federal agencies. This direct service helps build strong relationships between representatives and their constituents.
Common issues include:
- Benefit payment problems or applications
- Applications for US citizenship
- Government decisions affecting the constituent's life
- Documentation and bureaucratic challenges
Members of Congress employ staff specifically to assist constituents with these problems. Staff may help complete documentation, liaise between constituents and federal agencies, or advocate on behalf of constituents to resolve issues. This casework function, while often invisible to the general public, is a crucial part of representation that directly impacts constituents' lives.
Evaluating representation
Despite Congress as an institution being generally unpopular with the American public, individual members of Congress enjoy remarkably high re-election rates. More than 90% of incumbent House members typically win re-election, with Senate re-election rates nearly as high.
Re-election rates 2008-2020
| Year | House of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94% | 83% |
| 2010 | 85% | 84% |
| 2012 | 90% | 91% |
| 2014 | 95% | 82% |
| 2016 | 97% | 93% |
| 2018 | 91% | 84% |
| 2020 | 95% | 84% |
These high re-election rates suggest two possible interpretations. Firstly, constituents may feel their representatives are effectively advancing their interests. Secondly, the trend may reflect fewer competitive electoral districts, making it harder to unseat incumbents regardless of their performance.
Exam Tip: Two Aspects of Representation
When evaluating Congress's effectiveness in representation, distinguish between two separate aspects:
-
Individual representation: How well individual members fulfil their representative functions for their constituents through communication, legislation, and casework.
-
Descriptive representation: How well Congress as a whole reflects American society's demographic makeup in terms of race, gender, age, and background.
These are different questions requiring separate analysis. A member can effectively represent their district's interests while Congress overall may not be demographically representative of the nation.
Key Points to Remember:
-
Members of Congress represent constituents through five key activities: communicating, passing legislation, committee membership, lobbying the executive, and constituency casework
-
The delegate model means voting according to constituents' views, while the trustee model means voting for what the member judges to be in constituents' best interests
-
Pork barrel funding involves allocating federal money to secure congressional support rather than to serve genuine national needs
-
Re-election rates consistently exceed 90% in the House and approach 90% in the Senate, suggesting effective individual representation