Party Member, Delegate for District, Scrutineer of Governments

The roles of members of Congress - Congressmen - are many and varied. Much like MPs in Britain they are responsible for representing the interests of a certain area and group of people. In America, this can be a whole State (for a Senator) or a district of approximately 600000 people (for Representatives). As members of political parties, congressmen also have a role to fulfil as scrutineers of governments, both through their voting in Congress and their membership of Congressional committees.Finally, Congressmen are all members of political parties, mostly the Republicans or the Democrats. Although party affiliation in American politics is a lot less important than it is here in Britain, members also have a role to play as party members, and therefore national representatives of that party.

It is largely these factors that members of Congress consider important, and which affect their voting in Congress. We have seen that, in America, politicians only very loosely identify with their parties. In fact, the parties are often used merely as conduits to power for many Congressmen.It is indeed sometimes hard to even find out for which party certain members stand for, so slight is the perceived importance of party affiliation to some Congressmen. Political parties in the US do not experience the same kind of cohesion that we associate with voting in the House of Commons in Britain, due to a lack of any real way to enforce party discipline on their members, and therefore there is little or no compulsion for Congressmen to act in a way that suits their party. Indeed, in 1996, only 80% of Democrats voted with their party on average (across both Chambers).

In addition to this fact, the number of roles performed by Congressmen that actually relate to their party are very small. All things considered, this can be used as strong evidence to support the assertion that Members of Congress would not consider their role as a party member to be overly important compared with others which they enact. More important to Congressmen, however, is their role as the delegate for a district or area. This is especially so for members of the House of Representatives, as we shall see.

One common thread that unites almost all politicians is the desire for re-election, for an opportunity to continue in Office.In order to do this, it is clearly necessary to maintain the support of one's electorate - the nation as a President, the State as a Senator and so on. Legally, Congressmen must be an inhabitant of the State that they represent, and indeed many Congressmen have been born and bred in that State. There are, however, exceptions; such as Robert Kennedy, who was Senator for New York whilst resident in both Massachusetts and Virginia. For members of the House of Representatives, who are elected every 2 years, it is especially important to maintain the support of their electorate.For Senators the situation is slightly different.

They are up for re-election every 6 years and consequently are less pressurized to be constantly satisfying to their State's population. It is evident from the above that a Member's role as a delegate for a district is very important to them. It is the means of constituency and local representation in the 'great democracy' that America claims to be, and as such is very important both to the ordinary people of the electorate and also to those who make up this great democracy, it's elected officials.It is also, of course, important as regards every Member's principal aim - re-election.

As a single Congressman, one's powers of scrutiny of the government are limited. The two principle methods of governmental scrutiny are through Congressional committees, which are made up of Members of Congress, and voting in Congress itself. This is obviously an important role for Congressmen, but is it important to the Members themselves? It is not unfair to suggest that many Congressmen, especially Senators, one day hope to become President themselves.Therefore, their role as scrutineers of the government - essentially the Presidency - will if nothing else give them the opportunity to learn about what is politically popular and what is not.

In addition, it is the role of Congress itself to hold the Presidency and the government accountable for their performance in power. This system of checks and balances is one upon which the entire system of government in the USA is based in the constitution, and is one of extreme importance to the people of America. As such, it is important to Congressmen too.To be seen not to be holding these principles in the highest esteem would inevitably result in a severe public backlash - and no re-election. Scrutiny of governments, therefore, is also highly important to Members of Congress. In conclusion, we know that Congressmen have a variety of roles to play.

In addition to those mentioned, they perform a legislative function, introducing bills to Congress either of their own accord or on behalf of others, and they liase with pressure groups (extremely important bodies in American politics).A Congressman, however, would argue that his or her most important function is none of these. Technically it may be different, but most important to any Member must be any role that involves either aiding or harming their chances of re-election. To this extent, it must be either their role as a delegate for a district or as a scrutineers of governments.

Of these two, the more likely to actually affect one's chances of re-election is naturally the delegatory function, and it is for this reason that I believe this role to be that which Members of Congress would consider to be their most important.