2.2.2 - Legislative Function of Congress Flashcards
What are the six stages of the legislative process in Congress?
1) Introduction
2) Committee stage
3) Timetabling
4) Floor debate and vote on passage
5) Conference committee (optional)
6) Presidential action
1) Introduction
Introduction phase = formality - no debate and no vote
How many Bills are introduced in a typical Congress and how many make it into law?
Anywhere between 10,000-14,000 Bills are introduced in a typical Congress - only around 2-4% make it into law
2) Committee stage
The most important stage - more Bills fail here than at any other stage - only Bills with a significant support (EG Pres, interest groups, etc) are given hearings - standing committee members are widely regarded as policy specialists in their policy areas and have full power of amendment at the committee stage - the committee then ‘reports out’ the Bill once all changes are made
What is pigeon-holing?
When legislation is put to one side by a committee with no actions taken on them at all
What are the four things done by a standing committees report on a bill?
1) States the main aims of the Bill
2) Reviews the amendments made by the committee
3) Estimates the cost of implementation
4) Recommends further action to be taken by the full chamber
3) Timetabling
Many Bills waiting to come to the floor for debate - creates a legislative traffic jam - dealt with in the Senate through unanimous consent agreement between Senate majority and minority leaders over the order in which Bills will be debated on the floor - the House deals with this through the House Rules Committee which decides the order of Bills in the House
What is a unanimous consent agreement?
An agreement in either the House or Senate made without objection, to waive the chamber’s normal rules
The importance of the House Rules Committee
The House RUles Committee is one of the standing committees in the House - its function is to prioritise Bills coming from committee stage for debate on the House floor - its membership is unusual in that it is much smaller and much more skewed to the majority party than the other committees - in 2022 it has 9 Dems and 4 Reps - the chair of this committee is considered one of the most influential members of Congress
4) Floor debate and passage
This is the first time a Bill can be debated by the whole chamber in both chambers - amendments can usually be made - votes taken on amendments and the whole Bill at the end of debate only require a simple majority - in the Senate a filibuster may take place to slow down legislation EG Dec 2010 Bernie Sanders 10 hour filibuster against a bipartisan tax deal between Obama and the Reps - after debate each chamber votes on whether to keep the Bill - however if there are major differences in the House and Senate versions of the Bill it will pass onto the conference committee
What is a filibuster and how can it be stopped?
A filibuster is a device by which one or more senators can delay action on a bill or ant other matter by debating it at length or by other obstructive actions - it can be ended through a ‘cloture’ petition which must be signed by 16 Senators and then voted for by 3/5ths of the Senate (60 Senators) - eventually Dem and Rep clamp down on this and by 2017 a simple majority is required to end a filibuster for executive and judicial branch nominations (the nuclear option)
5) Conference Committee
Conference committees are congressional committees where delegates from each chamber would meet to reconcile differences in legislation to produce an agreed report that would then be voted on by both chambers - this has declined in use recently with only 7 times a bill has been brought before it in the 115th Congress
6) Presidential action
4 things Pres can do with a bill from Congress
1) Sign the bill into law
2) Leave the bill on their desk (these become Bills without the Pres’ signature within 10 working days)
3) Regular veto
4) Pocket veto - if a Bill is awaiting Pres’ action when the legislative session ends; that bill is lost - Clinton was the last Pres to use this in 2000
Strengths of the legislative process (what the FFs intended)
The FFs designed the process to be difficult to encourage compromise and bipartisanship - in this regard the legislative process is working as envisioned as only 2-3% of all bills become law
Weaknesses of the legislative process
The rise in partisanship over recent years has meant that the two parties have found it far more difficult to pass legislation, especially during divided gov - this would suggest that the legislative process is inherently weak and flawed as the process is now so challenging that at times the passage of legislation is too difficult
