The Legislative Branch - Congress

Question 1

What is the House of Representatives?

Answer 1

The Lower house in Congress, made up of 435 representatives elected every 2 years who represent congressional districts. The number of representatives per state is based on the state’s size.

Question 2

What is the criteria for being a Congress(wo)men?

Answer 2

Members of the House must be 25+ years old, must’ve been citizens of the US for 7 years and must reside in the state they represent.

Question 3

What is the Senate?

Answer 3

The Upper house in Congress, made up of 100 members that serve 6 year terms, every 2 years 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election. There are 2 Senators per state.

Question 4

What is the criteria for being a Senator?

Answer 4

Senators must be 30+ years old, must’ve been citizens of the US for 9 years and have to reside in the state they represent.

Question 5

Why has the diversity of Congress been criticised?

Answer 5

It fails to reflect the diversity of society in the USA. In Congress, white, male, Christians are over represented which doesn’t match a society that is forecast to be minority white by 2045. However, the 117th Congress (2021-23) was the most racially diverse in history.

Question 6

Who are underrepresented in Congress and why?

Answer 6

Women, hispanics, atheists, African-Americans. This is because many Congress members first serve in state legislature where these groups are also under represented, so there is a shortage of suitable candidates. E.g there are only 27% of women in Congress while 51% of the population is female, and there are 0.2% of atheists in Congress, while 23% in the population.

Question 7

Who are ‘the Squad’ in Congress and how does it link to progressive politics?

Answer 7

It initially was a group of four congresswomen of colour formed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest congresswoman ever. ‘The Squad’ represented a new generation of progressive politics and has now adopted new members after 2020. After Clinton’s defeat in 2016, a ‘pink wave’ ensued and then decreased in 2020.

Question 8

What are the functions of Congress?

Answer 8

.Legislation - To initiate, debate, amend and pass legislation.
. Oversight - To oversee and investigate the activities of the government (an implied power).
. The power of the purse - To ensure that the people’s representatives give consent to taxation.

Question 9

Who leads Congress?

Answer 9

The House of Representatives elects it’s speaker, while the Vice President is the head of the Senate.

Question 10

What different jobs do the HOR and the Senate have?

Answer 10

Only the HOR can impeach the President and initiate tax laws and spending bills. Only the Senate approves presidential treaties and appointments. Both can tax, coin money, declare war as well as regulate foreign and interstate commerce.

Question 11

What is the process of Congress passing legislation?

Answer 11

The bill goes through committees, ammendments and floor debates. If the other house edits the bill then it must be reintroduced. If approved, it goes to the President’s desk and if they veto it then Congress can override the veto with a 2/3 supermajority.

Question 12

What is filibustering in Congress?

Answer 12

A tactic used to prevent a vote in the Senate. Senators can debate for as long as they wish, so filibustering Senators aim to speak for long enough to use up all the time available for voting. For example when Senator Murphy filibustered for 15 hours to force action on gun measures and when VP Harris backed the aim to end filibustering on abortion rights legislation.

Question 13

What is a cloture in Congress?

Answer 13

A cloture is the process for ending a filibuster. A 3/5 majority is needed to end the filibuster of a bill but only a simple majority is needed on a presidential nomination.

Question 14

What is a divided government and what is unified government?

Answer 14

A divided government is when different parties hold the presidency and at least one chamber of congress. A unified government is when one party holds the presidency, the HOR and the senate.

Question 15

What is gridlock in Congress?

Answer 15

A situation in Congress when no progress can be made because opposing factors are in stalemate e.g In 2024 Gridlock in Congress over assistance to Ukraine- hardline Republicans wanted to block the measure to send 60 billion dollars to Ukraine.

Question 16

What is a caucus in Congress?

Answer 16

A group of Congress(wo)men who work together to achieve similar legislative aims. Members of Congress belong to a congressional caucus - either the Republican or Democrat Caucus. Members of each party caucus elect a leader who acts as the floor leader.

Question 17

What is the role of the Speaker of the House of Representatives?

Answer 17

The speaker acts as the presiding officer and administrative head of the HOR. The Speaker sets the House’s legislative agenda, controls committee assignments, sets the vote and work calendar, and is responsible for keeping their party members unified behind major initiatives.

Question 18

What is partisanship and bipartisanship?

Answer 18

Bipartisanship is when parties work together and partisanship is when parties are opposed to each other and won’t work together.

Question 19

What do whips do in Congress?

Answer 19

They are responsible for counting heads and rounding up party members for votes.

Question 20

What is the structure and function of the Standing Committee?

Answer 20

There are 20 permanent HOR standing committees and 16 Senate standing committees. The majority party in each chamber is the majority party in the standing committees. They carry out investigations on the executive and hold hearings during the committee stage of bills. They can question witnesses and allow Congress to manage a wide range of issues that need investigating and legislating.

Question 21

What is the structure and function of the Select Committee?

Answer 21

The Select Committees are temporary and are called when necessary. They are used to carry out a function that cannot be carried out by the permanent standing committees, as it is too complex or would span across a number of committees. A recent example is ‘Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi’.

Question 22

What is the structure and function of the House Rules Committee?

Answer 22

The House Rules Committee is permanent and in the HOR with 13 members, 9 for the majority party and 4 for the minority. When the bills are reported out of committee, it is up to the House Rules Committee to decide among all the bills submitted which ones will make it to the floor and when. It also decides whether amendments will be allowed - ‘open rules’ allows Congress members to suggest amendments while ‘closed rules’ doesn’t. Recently established a task force on the Trump assassination attempt and passed the Fix Our Forests Act.

Question 23

What is the structure and function of the Conference Committee?

Answer 23

The Conference Committee is temporary, and is usually composed of senior members of the standing committees of each house that originally considered the legislation. It only occurs when the HOR and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill. It investigates the specific bill, taking both versions of the bill and merging it into one. The versions of the bill are then send back to both Chambers to be voted on. It’s usage is decreasing, with it being used 67 times in the 104th Congress and then only 7 times in the 115th Congress.

Question 24

What is the purpose of senate-only committees?

Answer 24

They conduct hearings on executive appointments which will happen in advance of the appointee being subject to a senate wide vote.

Question 25

What is the role of the Committee chair?

Answer 25

They come from the majority party in the House and decide the direction the commitee will take and generally what bills get heard. E.g if the Republicans control the Senate then all Senate Committee Chairs will be Republicans. They are elected via secret ballots and are limited to a 6 year term, which was imposed by the Republicans in the 1990s.

Question 26

Why are US committees more powerful than UK committees?

Answer 26

US Congressional committees are significantly more powerful than their UK counterparts down to the power of subpoena. This power means that witnesses and evidence can be requested to come before the committee or face sanctions.

Question 27

What is the process of approving a bill in the Committees?

Answer 27

After a bill has had its first reading in Congress the bills are then assigned to a committee. In the HOR, the Speaker decides which committees get which bill while the Majority leader chooses in the Senate. E.g if it a bill on the Armed Forces then the House Armed Services Committee will be tasked with it. Then it is up to the committee to decide on which bills they are going to ‘hear’, Many bills will never get heard by the committees, this means that they are said to be ‘pigeon holed’.If a bill does get heard, then it is at this stage that Pork Barrelling happens the most. Committee members will add in amendments to the bills to benefit their constituents. If the bill can’t get reported out of committee, then they die. This happened with Bill Clinton’s Healthcare Reforms.

Question 28

What do Senators and Representatives do to represent the American people?

Answer 28

They sit on committees, attend town hall meetings, get involved on social media, go on visits to people in their constituency. They also debate, amend and vote on legislation. They pork barrel (lobby the gov for funds/ policies that would benefit their constituents). And they use congressional staff and offices to help their constituents with their problems.

Question 29

How may Congress(wo)men vote on bills to represent their constituents?

Answer 29

They may vote by following the delegate model - voting in their constituent’s views or by following the trustee model and voting in what they believe is in their constituent’s best interests.

Question 30

How do the President and Congress work together?

Answer 30

They rarely have public disputes - most recently was the Lewinsky affair under Clinton in 1998. If the bill is controversial then they have a policy of bargaining.

Question 31

What is the evidence that Congress is a broken branch?

Answer 31

. Partisanship has increased (Republicans in the HOR vote with their party 92% of the time).
. Filibustering is common.
. Congress doesn’t reflect the diversity of the population.
. Congress often fails to pass the budget, leading to a shutdown.
. Delegates too much authority to federal departments.

Question 32

What is the evidence that Congress is not a broken branch?

Answer 32

. There are still signs of bipartisanship and historic laws have been passed e.g the overhaul of the healthcare system by the 111th Congress.
. Filibustering allows the minority party to influence legislation.
. The 115th Congress was the most diverse with 102 minority members, showing diversity is getting increasingly more reflective of the US population.
. Congress gives legislative authority to federal departments and agencies.
. Opinion polls suggest voters are happy with their representation.