Political Science 111

Introduction to American Politics  

Dr. Sellers

November 12, 2003

Paper #3

This week’s assignment requires you to analyze the content and legislative history of a bill that was introduced in the current congressional term (the 108th Congress, 2003) or either of the previous two congressional terms (the 107^th Congress, 2001-2002, or the 106^th Congress, 1999-2000).  Use this information to answer three questions about the legislation: 

1. Who are the supporters and opponents of the bill, both inside and outside Congress?  Consider coalitions based on region, party, institution (House versus Senate), or any other relevant factor.

2. Are the benefits of the bill public or private?  The costs of the bill?  Use the definitions of public and private costs and benefits provided by Kernell and Jacobson (pp.199-202).

3. Over the course of the legislative history, how did the supporters and opponents of the bill attempt to manipulate these costs and benefits in order to further their position in the debate over the bill?

You need to write your paper on a bill related to one of the seven current events questions that you just completed.  By noon tomorrow, I will post on the class web site a list of topic assignments.  Once you have found out your topic assignment, you need to find a bill on this topic that a representative or senator introduced during either congressional term.  When choosing a bill, try to select the one with the longest legislative history.  Such a lengthy history will provide you with more articles and information, which will make it easier to write the paper. Also, avoid bills that are commemoratives and private bills; these bills are often routine and do not lend themselves to interesting analysis (nor good papers). 

Once you have selected a bill, you must answer the three questions listed above.  When you find a piece of legislation with public or private costs and benefits, investigate the legislative history of the bill.  Figure out whether certain groups or coalitions received disproportionate costs and benefits under the bill, and whether their actions involving the bill reflect these costs and benefits.  For evidence on these points, you can turn to roll call votes on the bill, as well as new stories about the bill.

To find a relevant bill and related information, you can turn to several sources.  The most useful is Congressional Quarterly’s web site of legislative information.  A link to the site is located here.  This site allows you to search for bills on a particular topic during any recent congress.  Once you find a bill, the site provides a detailed legislative history of the bill, as well as hypertext links to related speeches by congressmen in the Congressional Record and related news articles in Congressional Quarterly’s news publications.

You can also find bills on a particular topic by searching the Thomas data base of pending legislation, maintained by the U.S. House of Representatives.  Once you select a particular bill, you can find its legislative history by turning to the Congressional Quarterly site provided above, or to  Congressional Universe in Lexis-Nexis.  At this site, select “Bills”, and then “Bill Tracking by Number”.  Type the name of your bill (e.g., H.R. 4267), and click on “Search”.  The search will produce a detailed history of how the bill changed while moving through the legislative process.  The search results will also contain a hypertext link to a limited search for news articles about the bill, and another link to the bill’s actual text. 

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about any aspect of the assignment, particularly choosing a bill.  You should type your paper, using 1-inch margins and a font no smaller than 10 point.  The paper can be either single- or double-spaced.  The maximum length is one page of text; when grading, I will not read any material past this one page (except citation information in a bibliography).  The paper should contain appropriate in-text citations for any sources used.  The detailed information for each citation should then appear in a bibliography on a separate page.  The paper should contain a blank cover page containing the student's name, the class, and the number of the paper.  The paper is due at the start of class on November 24.  Papers turned in after the middle of class will be considered late.  Paper grades are lowered by ten points (out of 100 total points) for each 24-hour period (after the start of class) that they are late.  Finally, the Honor Code binds all answers; make sure that you pledge your work.