2. US Congress

Question 1

What are the 2 chambers in the Bicameral legislature?

Answer 1

• Senate - 100 members, 6 year terms, 2 from each state
• House of Representatives - 435 members, 2 year terms, members proportional to state populations

Question 2

What are some key facts of the election cycle?

Answer 2

• Elections every 2 years
• The whole House is up for re-election. The Senate has 3 tiers, so only ⅓ of Senators are up every 2 years
• There are no term limits
• Congressional elections in the middle of a presidential term are called mid-term elections

Question 3

What powers are given to Congress by the constitution?

Answer 3

• Legislative. They can also overturn a presidential veto with a ⅔’s majority in each chamber
• Representation. There must be congressional elections
• Amend the constitution. Shared role with the states. There must be a ⅔’s majority in each chamber
• Declare war

Question 4

What exclusive powers does the House of Representatives have?

Answer 4

• Impeach the President
• Elect the President if no candidate gets over 50% of Electoral College votes
• Begin consideration of all money bills

Question 5

What exclusive powers does the Senate have?

Answer 5

• Try an impeachment case
• Elect the vice president, if no candidate has - 50% of ECV
• Ratify treaties
• Confirm executive appointments

Question 6

Why is there a 97% re-election rate in the House and a 90% in the Senate?

Answer 6

• Use of office. Proven track record can attract public support and donations.
• Safe seats and gerrymandering.
• Pork-barrel legislation. (Research 2010 pork-barrel legislation ban).
• Financial advantage. Incumbents can attract more money than challengers

Question 7

What factors affect voting behaviour with Congress

Answer 7

• Public opinion/constituency
• Party/party leaders
• Caucuses (different from caucus elections)
• Interest groups and professional lobbyists

Question 8

What happens during the first reading stage when a bill may become a law?

Answer 8

• the bill is symbolically placed in a tray on the clerk of the House’s desk.
• It is not read out.
• There is no vote.
• There is no debate.
• This is purely a formality.

Question 9

What happens during the Committee stage when a bill may become a law?

Answer 9

• The most important stage of the process.
• The committee will extensively review the bill.
• They can call witnesses to give their feedback and ask for documents to be submitted from various different groups to review.
• If the bill is particularly complex, the committee can then break off into sub-committees to analyse it even further.
• When the bill has been reviewed, it is ‘marked up’. This means that the bill is sent on its way, with any changes or amendments added It is then signed off and sent to the floor of the House.
• A bill will only be marked up if the committee believes that it will be passed.

Question 10

What happens during the second reading stage when a bill may become a law?

Answer 10

• Once again, the House Rules Committee will decide on the timetabling of the bill and once that has been scheduled, the bill has its first chance to be debated on the floor of the House.
• Filibusters cannot be used in the House as limits are imposed on debates.
• Generally a bill is almost always passed by the House because the Committee will only submit it to the House if they’re sure it will be passed.

Question 11

What happens during the filibuster stage when a bill may become a law?

Answer 11

• At the second reading in the Senate, members opposed to a bill might try to talk it out by way of a filibuster.
• This means speaking for hours and hours about unrelated topics as a means of delaying the bill’s progress.
• Filibusters can be forced to an end by means of a ‘cloture’, whereas if a petition is submitted and signed by at least 16 senators and then voted for by 60+ of the Senate, the filibuster has to stop.
• The Senate has voted now however to stop a filibuster on judicial appointments.
• The longest ever filibuster was by Strom Thurmond which lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes

Question 12

What happens during the third reading and conference committee stage when a bill may become a law?

Answer 12

• The third reading is is the final opportunity to debate the bill with any amendments.
• At this stage, the bill is then voted on and passed on to the other chamber.
• If at the end of the whole process the Senate and House have voted on substantially amended versions of the same bill, a Conference Committee made up of key senators and congressmen can be called to thrash out any differences and agree on a final version.
• Nowadays these are usually avoided and differences are ironed out by the party leadership.

Question 13

What happens during the final stage (presidential action) when a bill may become a law?

Answer 13

• When the bill has been approved by both houses of Congress, it arrives on the President’s desk.
• He can either:
• Sign it into law.
• Veto, or refuse to sign and block it. A veto can be overridden by a 2/3’s vote in both chambers. This is very unlikely however.
• ‘Line item’ veto – veto parts of the bill, approve the rest and send it back with these recommendations. E.g. budget appropriations bills.
• Leave it on his desk – if he takes no position on it or if he feels his veto might be overridden.

Question 14

What is a pocket veto?

Answer 14

• A sneaky technique that the president can use which is when bills submitted towards the end of a congress arrive on the President’s desk.
• If the President vetoes these bills, they cannot be revived until the new congress sits and then everything goes back to square one again

Question 15

What are the other alternatives of a bill becoming law if it doesn’t complete all the normal stages?

Answer 15

If a President is not 100% happy with a completed bill, but agrees with it in spirit and just feels that it needs some more changes; he can send it back to Congress, who if willing to compromise, can have another look at it and re-submit it to him again

Question 16

What was the 2013 Congress nicknamed and why?

Answer 16

• ‘Do nothing Congress’
• It was so divided between the Democrats and Republicans, there were only 15 bills passed the whole time

Question 17

What are two veto examples Obama made in the last congress?

Answer 17

• February 24, 2015: Vetoed S. 1, Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act. Override attempt failed in Senate, 62–36 (66 needed).
• October 22, 2015: Vetoed H.R. 1735, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

Question 18

What are the 4 features of the legislation process?

Answer 18

• Initiation
• Compromise
• Weak parties and party leaders
• Obstacles to Success

Question 19

How is initiation a feature of the legislation process?

Answer 19

• The President can initiate bills and ask Congress to consider them.
• They can also be initiated by the leaders in Congress, the Committee chairs or individual members.

Question 20

How is ‘Compromise’ a feature of the legislation process?

Answer 20

• A bill may originate in either chamber, or in both chambers at the same time.
• The real work is done at the committee stage, where politicians will trade-off with each other in order to get a final version through.
• If the Senate and House versions don’t match up, then a Conference Committee is convened.

Question 21

How is weak parties and party leaders a feature of the legislation process?

Answer 21

Not like in the UK. Politicians are very much free agents. ‘Folks back home’ debacle.

Question 22

How is Obstacles to success a feature of the legislation process?

Answer 22

• Divided government can lead to gridlock. Policy-based committees might try to obstruct bills and the appropriations committee might refuse to provide funding.
• Also, overriding a presidential veto needs a supermajority of 2/3’s in both chambers.

Question 23

How is senate different to House in legislation?

Answer 23

• Unanimous consent. On request from a Senator, if nobody objects, rules can set on how the bill is to be dealt with. This is normally to do with timing, whether the bill is to be given a full hearing and so on.
• Filibuster. Where individual senators can insist on continuing a debate in order to prevent a vote. There is now a ‘nuclear option’, where filibustering cannot be applied to executive branch nominees or supreme court nominations.
• Filibusters can be ended by a 60:40 vote known as cloture.

Question 24

How is House different to Senate in legislation?

Answer 24

• Role of the Rules Committee. Dominated by the House Speaker who has a great deal of power. This determines the legislative agenda.
• Closed rule. Where a bill can be discussed but no amendments made. This speeds up the bills passage

Question 25

What are the strengths of the legislative process?

Answer 25

• Checks and balances creates a pluralist democracy in which power is shared.
• Quality policy comes after detailed consideration of bills.
• Individual and states’ rights are protected as Senators can filibuster or insert amendments on the basis of their equal state power and interests.

Question 26

What are the weaknesses of the legislative process?

Answer 26

• Inefficiency/low output.
• High levels of partisanship.
• Poor-quality legislation owing to too much compromise

Question 27

What was the DREAM Act and why did it fail?

Answer 27

• (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors)
• Proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress aimed at providing a pathway to legal status and citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and have grown up in the country -
• It failed because of partisan gridlock, policy disagreements, changing policy dynamics

Question 28

Why do gun regulations policies fail and why are they hard to enforce?

Answer 28

• Gun regulation policies have often failed to pass in the U.S. Congress due to powerful pro-gun interest groups, differing interpretations of the Second Amendment, political polarisation, fear of backlash from constituents, campaign financing, Senate rules, and a regional urban-rural divide, among other factors.
• These complexities make it challenging to pass comprehensive gun control measures in the United States

Question 29

What are examples of policies made by Congress that were successful?

Answer 29

• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010
• The Freedom Act 2015

Question 30

What are the factors that limit impact of Congress?

Answer 30

• The President
• Partisanship
• Congress is internally divided
• The Supreme Court

Question 31

What powers of oversight does congress have other the executive branch?

Answer 31

• Vote on presidential proposals e.g. Laws initiated or supported by the president,
  Amend laws (weak) initiated or supported by the president, and more.
• Overturn a presidential veto - (Obama JASTA - You need a ⅔’s majority to get it through)
• Declare war - (1941 declaration against Japan)
• Senate ratification of appointments
• Senate ratification of treaties - President will sign treaties but the Senate has to approve it
• Impeachment and removal of members of the executive branch. (Biden currently but vote from the senate which has democratic majority therefore probably won’t be removed)

Question 32

What did Obama Care/ ACA (Affordable Healthcare Act) remove?

Answer 32

Public option because some democrats did not support, stupak Pitts amendment profiled democrats and republicans to block abortion access to be free under Obamacare.

Question 33

What does ratification mean?

Answer 33

Approval

Question 34

What are the two main committees which are very important parts of the oversight process?

Answer 34

• Select Committees is a special committee set up to investigate something
• Standing committees who are fixed committee that approves presidential nominees

Question 35

What are most committees and what do they oversee?

Answer 35

Most are policy-based and will generally oversee departments and hold hearings for executive members.

Question 36

What does The House Committee on Oversight and Reform oversee?

Answer 36

The executive branch and its members (Compared to the U.S. the UK have the Liaison Committee which is similar)

Question 37

What other committee can also be set up to carry out investigations?

Answer 37

• Temporary committees
• The House Select Committee on Benghazi in 2014

Question 38

Why was the last congress criticised relating to oversight?

Answer 38

They were dominated by Republicans and was criticised for a lack of oversight on President Trump.

Question 39

Are the president and Congress working on domestic or foreign policy?

Answer 39

• If it’s a domestic policy that they’re working on, it probably won’t be done because their opposite sides
• however if it’s foreign policy, there will be a breakthrough because it’s in the country’s national interests
• e.g. OCULUS - Military alliance between Australia and U.S. - No opposition from Republicans

Question 40

How popular is the president, Congress or a specific policy with the general public?

Answer 40

• If the president is popular than Congress will most likely stick behind them - a lot of Republican states supported Obamacare
• Roe v Wade - American public are more pro choice in general

Question 41

Does the president have effective leadership and persuasion skills (using examples)?

Answer 41

Biden was successful in Senate because he could communicate with both Republican and Democrats and was very persuasive however after becoming president he’s been seen as not very effective.

Ronald Reagan who was a conservative Republican. He developed a good relationship with Democrats and worked well with them (e.g. the 1982 budget)

The polar opposite is Barack Obama - he isn’t a compromiser and doesn’t like challenge. He lacked the personal skills to get things done if working with the other side. In contrast, you could argue that the other side didn’t make it easy for him to work with them due to the theory of them making it difficult because of his race

Question 42

Who has the stronger or more recent mandate: Congress or the president?

Answer 42

If a president comes in all guns blazing, he has the upper hand until it comes to the midterm Congress election and lost congressional majority, Congress has the upper hand

E.g. Trump was obsessed with the idea that he had one the election was because of this for his own ego - couldn’t believe Hilary Clinton had around 3 million more votes than him

Question 43

What are Congress’s limits on the Supreme Court?

Answer 43

• Congress can overturn a court ruling through constitutional amendment. This rarely happens however. The exception would be the 26 amendment (1971) that lowered the voting age to 18, overturning Oregon v Mitchell (1970) which had allowed states to retain a voting age of 21.
• The Senate conducts hearings and votes on presidential supreme court nominees
• When a vacancy comes up in the Supreme Court the president will interview candidates and will then decide who he wants to put forward then that candidate will go through the senate doing interviews and then being voted on whether they approved or not.
• The only presidential nominee that has ever been rejected by the senate is Robert Bork due to his involvement with ‘watergate’
• Harriet Myers 2005, nominee of President Bush - Republicans thought she was too soft on abortion and democrats didn’t like how she didn’t have any federal experience and the American BAR Association rated her as a qualified whereas at other judges has been very qualified- she withdrew
• Supreme Court justices can be impeached and removed by congress. Rarely used. 1804 Samuel Chase – impeached by the house but acquitted by the senate.
• Congress also has the authority to determine the total number of Supreme Court justices, although apart from a threat to increase the number during the Roosevelt administration, this has never occurred.

Question 44

Why has partisanship and polarisation increased?

Answer 44

• In the 1970’s, there was a great deal of bipartisanship between Republicans and Democrats, particularly in the Senate.
• Since the 1980s however, the two parties have become increasingly unified owing to a number of reasons: Civil Rights and the disintegration of the Democratic ‘solid south’, Bill Clinton’s personal life, The presidency of George W Bush - (911, patriot act, gulf war), and more.
• Despite all of this, there are still instances of bipartisan cooperation: immigration reform after the 2012 election (passed in the Senate, blocked by the House however), the removal of the senate filibusters for judicial appointments and the overturning of Obama’s veto on allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government

Question 45

Why has there been less output in legislation and how is there gridlock?

Answer 45

• Given the fact that the government has been divided for much of the last 10 years, there has been far less output in legislation.
• The Republicans’ refusal to consider Obama’s budget proposals and health care led to a financially disastrous budget shutdown in 2013.

Question 46

How does the presidents power of congress change?

Answer 46

• Under divided government, the president’s power is substantially reduced – Obama 2011-16, Bush 2007-08.
• When there is unified government, his powerful is substantially increased.
• As there is no effective ‘whipping’ system (like there is in the UK Parliament) and no party manifestos, politicians are free to vote as they choose so party unity is encouraged.
• Higher party unity has characterised the past few years as politicians have reacted to the increasing polarisation in US society in general.
• This has led to party leaders like former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell becoming much more powerful when he was in office.
• Some members can occasionally peel away however: the late John McCain voted against the repeal of Obamacare and Senator Joe Manchin was the only Senate Democrat to approve all of Trump’s executive branch nominees.

Question 47

How has the rise in importance of foreign and military policy change powers of congress?

Answer 47

• Has arguably undermined congressional power as international affairs became increasingly controlled by the presidency.
• As military action became faster, more complex and more deadly, the president, surrounded by superior executive resources, has been able to exert greater control over military policy.
• Congress has attempted to exert authority with the War Powers Act of 1973

Question 48

How has the nationalisation of mid-term elections change powers of congress?

Answer 48

• Has centralised greater power in the Hands of the House Speaker.
• Under divided government this has allowed the speaker to act as a significant rival to the president, suggesting an increase in the collective power of Congress

Question 49

How has partnership change powers of congress?

Answer 49

• Has created greater extremes in Congress’s reaction to the presidency and the extent to which they have attempted to restrict the executive branch.
• Under divided government, partisanship has arguably strengthened the power of Congress as it becomes more determined to challenge presidential power

Question 50

What is meant by an ‘imperial presidency’?

Answer 50

• The term was first coined in Arthur Schlesinger’s 1973 book ‘The Imperial Presidency’.
• The argument was that since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, presidents had broken free from Congress’s ties particularly in the area of foreign policy e.g. Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis (1961-63) Kennedy, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) Johnson etc.
• Schlesinger argued that although presidential domination might have started with foreign policy, it had now spilled over into domestic policy too - Nixon’s actions in the Watergate scandal
• This argument is negated however by the fact that Congress brought down Nixon under threat of impeachment and forced him to resign.

Question 51

How has congress re-asserted itself in foreign policy after the policies made between 1950-70?

Answer 51

• Case Act (1972) forces presidents to inform Congress on agreements made with foreign states.
• War Powers Act (1973) grants Congress special statutory authorisation.
• Ford (1974-76) and Carter (1977-81) both had their hands tied as a result - Ford had to watch whilst North Vietnamese communists overran the south thereby ending the Vietnam War. Carter had to watch as the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

Question 52

What did Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush do during their time enrolled as President that were successful and also negative?

Answer 52

• Reagan once again took a central presidential role in foreign affairs: ‘Star Wars’, negotiations with Gorbachev, ending the Cold War. Helped along by a booming economy (admittedly fuelled by a rising deficit).
• Bush sr had mixed successes: foreign affairs – a success, the economy – recession.
• Clinton was almost brought down by Congress over the Lewinsky affair, but survived his impeachment trial.
• Bush jr, started as a divisive figure after the 2000 election conundrum, popular as a ‘unifier-in-chief’ after 9/11, gradually lost popularity after the Iraq War and another economic recession.

Question 53

What were Obama’s executive orders on immigration, Cuba and gun control?

Answer 53

• November 20th, 2014, President Obama began a series of controversial moves and signed an executive order over the heads of Congress, legalising the status of millions of undocumented immigrants and their children already living and working within the United States.
• Lifting on the ban on Americans travelling to Cuba.
• Other executive orders followed on gun control.

Question 54

What is a problem with the constitution about executive orders?

Answer 54

They’re unspecific and raise questions about one of the key roles of Congress, scrutiny of the Executive.

Question 55

What has happened to Obamas executive orders since his departure?

Answer 55

• Obama’s executive orders have now been reversed by Trump.
• These orders have compounded the bitter partisanship that has taken root.

Question 56

What is an executive order?

Answer 56

An unspecified mechanism where the president can make law or undo a law without going through Congress

Question 57

What is a delegate model?

Answer 57

Elected by the people and must do everything to listen to them and respond to their wishes.

Question 58

What is a Trustee model?

Answer 58

Elected by the people but must use own expertise to make judgements on what is best for the people.

Question 59

How is congress representative?

Answer 59

• Separate elections for president and congress – more choice, allows for ‘split ticket’ voting - 1984 registered democrats voted for Ronal Reagan but voted for democrat Congress
• Two elected chambers – allows for the often different approach taken by house members and senators.
• Frequent elections and 2 year house terms – highly sensitive to public opinion.

Question 60

What are some arguments that Congress is not representative?

Answer 60

• FPTP and gerrymandering – red and blue states, impact of majority- minority districts e.g. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Represents the Bronx and parts of Harlem (which are majorities black and Latino). She’s very left
• Social representation – race, sex etc.
  Same percentage of black members of Congress to the population (11-12%) etc.
• Influence of pressure groups – “the best congress money can buy”, Senator Ted Kennedy.

Question 61

What was the decision in the Citizens united case (2010)?

Answer 61

The decision in this case was that there could not put a cap on the amount of donations made to political campaigns, because if you put limits on political campaigns that does against the freedom of speech

Question 62

What was the MCCain - Feingold Act (2004) (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act) about?

Answer 62

• MCCain was Republican, Finegold was democratic - regulate the financing of political campaigns.
• It aimed to limit in the influence of money in politics and reduce the role of soft money, which are contributions made outside the federal limits and are not regulated by federal law

Question 63

How did African American representation in the House of Reps get a significant boost?

Answer 63

• When Federal Courts allowed special district boundaries to be drawn to ensure black majority districts (gerrymandering)
• The results can look very strange. The most famous ‘majority-minority’ district is North Carolina’s 12th district.

Question 64

What do critics claim about the gerrymandering of African American representation?

Answer 64

That it gives African Americans special treatment; they point to the fact that Americans have elected a black president and that blacks can also win in the Senate, where there is no gerrymandering, but the results have undoubtedly led to a boost in the number of African American representatives in the House

Question 65

How are the demographics changing in the US?

Answer 65

• The number of ethnic minorities is increasing. That democratic tends to be younger. Conversely the percentage of white Americans is falling and that demographic tends to be older.
• Party support amongst white people in America means that if only white people voted in every election since world war they’d be Republican presidency
• Younger people, minority communities, graduates are most likely to vote democrat however voter turnout slows down this trend as older people are more likely to vote

Question 66

What is gerrymandering?

Answer 66

The political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class