Another author that believes party plays an important role in controlling congressional actions is Rohde. He also believes that the party’s strength is conditional. Where Cox and McCubbins argue that the majority party is always in control (of the agenda, procedures, etc), Rohde extends this argument by stating that a party is only as strong as it proportionate membership in Congress and on its homogeneity of ideologies within its own party. In one article, Rohde concludes that the majority party does in fact have influence on control in Congress because a party will change special rules so that they will benefit whatever policies they want to enact. Rohde approaches the level of party influence in Congress by the strengthened leadership within parties due to the agents who put them in these positions. The stronger the leadership within the party, the more homogeneous the preferences, the more control the party has over legislation.
Another article that supports the conclusion that parties do matter in Congress is Aldrich, Berger, and Rohde. This is also justified by the claim of conditionality. “Conditional Party Government”, or CPG is varies in strength with the “variability in the preferences legislators seek to reveal publicly and enact legislatively” (Aldrich, Berger, and Rohde 25). When a party is more homogeneous in preferences, and the two parties have different ideologies, then that that party which is in control will dominate policy decision-making positions in its party affiliates. This is because the member that is associated with the party in charge will vote with the party if that will enhance his or her goals as well. In Aldrich, Berger, and Rhode, Parties do matter to the preferences of what legislation will be addressed in Congress.
Sinclair, in her article about task forces, mentions that leadership in Congress must promote “Keeping peace within the family.” In her article the party matters in Congress because to promote a strong majority, members of the party must cooperate with the leaders of the party to achieve cooperation. Task forces are set up by majority party leadership to include more members of the party, especially junior members. These task forces involve more members, which will allow creating strategies in legislation policy that will satisfy a larger number of policies and will allow for rank-and-file members to have a voice in the decisions that are applied to the legislature.
However, Krihbel views the party as irrelevant to the decision-making process and structure within Congress (Rohde). To Kriehbel, the party does not play an important role in committee actions and in making special rules. Committees are powerful in a legislature because they acquire information and solve the issues given to them. This gives committee a monopoly on agenda control and information. These committees are then affected by the votes in the majority chamber. The way a member votes in the floor determines what will happen in the legislation of the committee brought to the floor.
Fenno does not agree with the party government structure in Congress. Fenno concludes in his article that committees, especially ones that play a major role in influencing legislature, have control of legislature. In his article, committees have had a stable structure because of integration, which would lead to support for committee goals rather than party goals. He believes that this is the key feature of legislative politics. For example, the Appropriations Committee in the House has had relatively small change in procedures which has lead to a belief that members within this committee will spend more time on issue within its expertise then those outside of it.
Within these articles, I found that the party does matter to legislative politics. A member’s party affiliation affects how he will vote and what he will promote in policy legislature. Avoiding the party leadership’s suggestions could result in a lack of attention for the policies the member promotes. When the legislator’s party is in power (the majority in Congress), then its effects are more noticeable. A member who supports the party will have more of a chance to have his legislation heard. This does support the fact that democracy does work in America. The Constituents that vote for the Congress member affiliate themselves with a particular party. This party has a specific ideology. When in Congress if this party is in the majority, then those issues that promote the ideology of the party will be promoted. So party government in Congress is important when conditions are satisfied to promote its ideology. .
