2.3 Interpretations and debates around Congress. Flashcards
How do leaders work in the legislature?
In each chambers, members of each party elect a leader who is designated as majority leader or minority leader
HoR also have speaker who is drawn from the majority party
Who is usually seen as ‘leader of the opposition’
Speaker of HoR - seen in 2019 with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumers joint speech after Trumps border announcement
Also seen with Paul Ryan w. Obama
What does the speaker of the HoR do
House majority leader essencially works for them
- Referring bills to committees
- Appointing the majority members of the house rules committee
- Intepreting and enforcing rules of the house
- Appointing select committee and conference committee chairs
Partisanship
A situation where members of one party regularly
group together to oppose members of another party,
characterised by strong party discipline and little cooperation
between parties
A reason for more partisanship within congress
Over the past few election cycles, both parties in the Senate have lost prominent centrists and their places have been taken by far more ideological members.
Example of a centrist being replaced with a more ideologically motivated person
Rashida Tlaib with Brenda Jones
Do parties play an important role in Congress? (Yes)
• Leadership in Congress is run by the parties.
• Committees in Congress are organised by the parties.
• With increased partisanship, party discipline is much stronger in
Congress than it used to be.
• Party is an important determinant of voting in Congress.
• It is almost impossible to be elected to Congress without being a
major party candidate
Do parties play an important role in Congress? (No)
Views of constituents can often outweigh party considerations —
especially for House members.
• Parties have no control over candidate selection.
• Both parties are made up of ideological factions that compete
with party cohesion.
• The executive branch has few ‘sticks or carrots’ with which to
incentivise party discipline.
• Congressional leadership, likewise, is fairly impotent in the face
of opposition
