02 February 2009
Discussion on How Federal Policy is Made in America
Parliamentarian, lobbyist explain policy-making from their perspectives
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Introduction
Narrator:
In Washington, people hear a lot about policy. What exactly is policy? And how is it made? Policy can be described as a plan or strategy that identifies goals and the possible courses of action along with management and administrative tools that the government can use to accomplish those goals.
The impact of the U.S. federal government's policies on the functioning of America even at the most local level can be significant. The policymaking process tries to account for the views of as many groups as possible. To manage and facilitate this process, many entities, ranging from members of Congress and their staffs, to advocacy and lobbying groups, as well as the news media and even individual citizens, all play a part in how policies are made.
John Sullivan:
I've been in the Office of the Parliamentarian of the House of Representatives for 21 years. I'm only the 4th parliamentarian the House has had since World War One. The Parliamentarian is appointed by the Speaker without regard to political affiliation.
Narrator:
John Sullivan is the parliamentarian in the U.S. House of Representatives, one of the two chambers of Congress, the other being the U.S. Senate. He helps the congressional leadership organize the legislative process.
Chris Hessler:
We focus on next generation energy and environment technologies. So our job is to sort of sit between the industry folks and the government folks and help them speak to one another.
Narrator:
Chris Hessler is a lobbyist. He is one of many professionals in Washington who represent the views of almost every interest in American society. Chris and John join us today to help us explore lawmaking in America's capital.
Policymaking principles
Narrator:
Society is always adapting to fit new realities. By the time a new law has been researched, drafted, passed and sent to government agencies to be implemented, it is possible the underlying policy is no longer linked strongly to the needs of society. To make sense of how policies should adapt to new realities, principles must be followed to ensure all views are included in the policymaking process.
John Sullivan:
The goal is to honor the notion of fidelity to precedent as a good way to develop consistency and predictability and a sense of fairness. When similar facts arise, the answer ought to use the same rationale and reach the same sort of conclusion as before to give people living their lives some expectation of how disputes among them are going to be resolved.
Narrator:
The key to smooth policymaking is a process that everyone agrees to follow. The making of laws, in contrast, is governed by very specific procedures.
Chris Hessler:
It's best to think about policymaking as a set of relatively clear procedures overlaid on a backdrop of very complicated personal interactions. To understand how a bill becomes a law, you have to start with the civics lessons that we all got in grammar school where you had the nice chart of the Congress and a bill going from subcommittee up to committee, up to the full House of Representatives and over to the Senate, and then they do their own version, and then you go to conference, and it goes to the President.
Narrator:
Around these rules are other factors that can influence how some policymakers view proposals. Policymaking is a function of the executive branch of government, which is headed by the president. Policies can be influenced by citizens, nonprofit groups and businesses.
Chris Hessler:
Lobbying is explicitly pleading your case to the government. Advocacy can have a much broader context of pleading your case to the general public.
Narrator:
If a law is to be passed, it requires cooperation and the legitimate representation of minority interests. In some policy areas, like the environment where many interests are affected, consensus is key.
Chris Hessler:
Absolutely. When it comes to energy and environmental policies, consensus building is terribly important. There are a lot of stakeholders, there are a lot of people with an interest in the outcome from a variety of different perspectives. And Congress, as a body, tends to need some degree of consensus to act on environment or energy legislation.
Narrator:
The term “Congress” refers to both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but they are separate groups, governed by different rules.
John Sullivan:
Maybe the single most marvelous thing the founders did in the Constitution was to compose the two bodies in the legislature in the way they did and have the Senate represent the states and have the House represent the populace.
And the two bodies are very different just in their structure and in their culture and certainly in their procedural approaches.
Narrator:
Each house of Congress has a role in passing laws, but their structure is different. The House of Representatives has more members and moving legislation forward is more competitive in many ways. The Senate has only 100 members, two from each state. The smaller number and longer terms affect how the Senate behaves.
John Sullivan:
Rather than being driven by a simple majority rule culture, it is much more consensus-oriented. It's more stable, only one-third of the body turns over every two years and they're staggered so that 33-34 seats are up for election every two years whereas in the House all 435 seats are up every two years.
Congress, committees and legislation
Narrator:
Making policy is a function of the executive branch of the U.S. government. Article I of the American Constitution gives the power to pass laws of the federal government to the Congress. The Congress is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The consent of both chambers and the signature of the president are needed for a bill to become law. Sullivan explains one of the chief differences between the two houses of Congress.
John Sullivan:
The ability of a simple majority to bring things to fruition in the House. I think the founders designed the house with a bias toward initiative. The counterpart for that in the Senate, their default method of proceeding is unlimited debate and unlimited range of amendment.
Narrator:
America’s founders reasoned that if two separate groups must both approve all legislation, there would be little danger of Congress passing laws carelessly. One chamber acts as a check on the decisions of the other.
John Sullivan:
When it comes down to conference committee between the House and the Senate, they are each zealously advocating the position of their body and party differences are less apparent. And that's largely decided on the bases of subject matter jurisdiction. Sometimes that can be a very complex situation.
Narrator:
The rules of Congress are designed so that both chambers have to work together to pass laws. Each chamber has the power to introduce legislation on most subjects, although appropriation bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Likewise, each chamber can vote against legislation passed by the other. If there is disagreement about some language in a bill, rather than outright rejection of the entire measure, a conference committee is appointed where members from both chambers work out a compromise acceptable to both sides.
John Sullivan:
It's often the case that the House will send to the Senate a bill to bill to authorize appropriations for national defense for the coming fiscal year, but when it hits the Senate it's amended variously with all manner of things, and sometimes things that have nothing whatever to do with national defense. And so when its time to go to conference between the House and the Senate on that legislation, then the Speaker has to take a look at the Senate amendment to the House bill and see that members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and members of several committees that have environmental jurisdiction also need to attend because the Senate has brought into the dispute between the two houses these other topics as well.
Narrator:
One of the major characteristics of the Congress is the important role committees play in its proceedings. The U.S. Constitution actually makes no provision for the establishment of committees. But nevertheless, the committee system has evolved over time and plays a major role in how legislation is shaped and becomes law. Each committee specializes in specific subject areas like foreign affairs, defense, banking, agriculture, or commerce. Almost every bill introduced is referred to one of these committees for study and recommendations.
John Sullivan
The foundation of the committee system is the assumption that by having members dwell their attention on a certain subject matter area, they will develop expertise in that area, and collegially on that committee and that subject area, they will serve as filters and refiners of ideas.”
Chris Hessler:
The term “lobbying” goes back to Washington's origins practically. It goes all the way back to the Abraham Lincoln administration when lobbyists met in a hotel in Washington in the lobby to try to grab members of Congress or other important people who were staying at the hotel.
Narrator:
Many businesses have government relations offices to represent their interests in Washington. These representatives help educate policymakers on how legislation will affect the industries they represent.
Chris Hessler:
Despite the bad reputation lobbyists have in this country, we have a specialized knowledge that is useful. Understanding how the government works is something that takes time and is not self-evident. That's where lobbyists come into the picture. Fundamentally, knowledge of the government and deep knowledge of the specific area is really important.
Narrator:
The creation of laws in America involves many steps. It is a process in which costs and benefits of various approaches are assessed and analyzed. Federal laws apply to all states, and achieving fairness frequently involves balancing federal and state rights or weighing the needs of society against the individual rights of citizens. There are many ways that organizations and institutions attempt to influence legislators and their voters. Although the rules of the legislative process are clear, what laws eventually emerge is subject to many factors.
Chris Hessler:
What becomes much more interesting and complicated is there are people – individual agendas and interests making that system work at every stage of the process and they have varying relationships, they have varying objectives. All of them are trying to get to some greater outcome but not many of them would define the better outcome exactly the same way.
Narrator:
Competing interests try to influence laws and regulations. Over the years, many in America have expressed concern that lobbying has expanded too much and has too much influence in how the nation’s laws and regulations are made.
Chris Hessler:
It's hard to say that lobbying has expanded in a significant way but whenever there has been an interest in what the government has been doing, whether it's a corporate interest or a private interest, I think that people have been active for decades. That's what democracy is. It's allowing a large number of people to work together through a system to reach an outcome that is reasonably acceptable to the majority.
Actors
Chris Hessler:
The government does more now, it's bigger now, it is a much more complex mechanism than it was 20 years ago, 50 years ago, and so there are more reasons for people to interact with the government in a lot of different ways, so I think that in that sense, lobbying or advocacy has expanded with the government.
Narrator:
The U.S. system of government is designed to be accessible to citizens and is open to a wide variety of opinions. The policymaking environment and institutions involved have grown and evolved over time, just like the government itself. Policymaking in Washington involves a range of participants that all influence the process in one way or another.
There are special interest groups and nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. These are private organizations with members who share common interests on public policy. There are thousands of such groups representing almost every conceivable interest. Trade associations represent the interests of an industry or profession. And labor unions play a significant role by speaking out on issues such as trade, workplace safety, and health care. Even individual citizens can make their voices heard. Activities can include writing to elected officials and the editors of local newspapers, and attending hearings and other functions where policies are debated.
Chris Hessler:
Policymaking, at least in this country, is highly involved. You know, even if the President of the United States says “I want this to happen” it takes a lot of other actors. There are a lot of different people who act on those stages, on those different levels.
Narrator:
The role of the news media is also important and changing. Journalists influence public policy by putting policymakers under constant scrutiny. Especially with the advent of the Internet, public officials realize that almost anything they say or do can end up in a news report. The news media also conduct independent analysis of public policy issues to educate the public.
Chris Hessler:
It's an important component because policymakers get their information like everyone else, from newspapers, and TV, and radio. It's also important because there's a certain momentum to opinions. As people begin to hear the same thing repeated in more and more environments, it tends to gather the weight of truth.
Narrator:
How the future of policymaking will be influenced by new media formats will change. Even before the Internet, the expansion of transportation options made the people’s representatives more accessible.
John Sullivan:
In 1789 there were 65 members of the House, most of whom needed days to arrive at the seat of government from their homes. Now, there are 435 members of the House, most of whom go home to see their constituents every weekend.
Narrator:
In the early days of the American republic the population was quite small and so was the government. Members of Congress had general knowledge and could deal effectively with most subjects. But today, the complexity of legislation means special knowledge is needed and that members of Congress can gain significant expertise in their committee’s subject areas. However, the fast pace of modern life, fueled by technology, makes it more difficult to give all subjects the attention they deserve.
John Sullivan:
I think it has come at a price for the committee system because things move more quickly and there's less time, less invested in this filtering and refining process on average than there used to be. More legislation hits the floor of the House without the benefit of a full committee report to the House on it.
Narrator:
This podcast is produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs. Links to other Internet sites or opinions expressed should not be considered an endorsement of other content and views.
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