3. Congress Flashcards
What is the structure of Congress?
- bicameral (2 chambers)
- congressional elections are held every 2yrs
- senators serve 6yr terms while representatives serve 2yr terms
- one third of the Senate seats and all House of representatives seas are contested at each election.
- seats of HoR are allocated from population size of each state e.g. California 53 seats
- senate receives two seats per state
What are the roles of congress?
- passing legislation
- representing the people
- overseeing the executive
- declaring war
What are the powers of congress?
- legislative powers (both houses)
- overriding a presidential veto
- initiating amendments to the constitution
- ratifying treaties (senate only)
- declaring war
- congressional oversight
- confirming presidential appointments (senate only)
- impeachments and removal from office
What is the function and the effectiveness of congress’ legislative powers?
- to initiate, debate, amend and pass legislation
- either chamber can block, senators can filibuster
- effectiveness:
+ only 2-3% bill become law (dropped from 6-7% in 1980s)
+ frequent filibusters allows members of the senate to kill off legislation
+ increased use of closed rules
What is the function and the effectiveness of congress’ oversight?
- to oversee and investigate the activities of gov
- congressional committees can hold hearings and investigate gov actions
- congress can compel witness to provide information
- effectiveness:
+ oversight is weaker when one party holds both houses
+ investigations can be lengthy and time consuming with few concrete results
What is the function and the effectiveness of congress’ power of the purse?
- ensures that the peoples representatives give their consent to taxation
- only congress can raise revenue
- approval needed from both houses
- effectiveness:
+ congress can extract key concessions from the president in return for passing the budget
+ if a compromise cannot be reaches with the executive, congress can refuse to pass the budget = gov shutdown (Trump had two; one in 2018 for 3 days and the second 2018-19 for 35 days costing $5B)
What is the composition of Congress?
-2018:
+ Women (HoR:19% Sen:22%)
+ African Americans (HoR:11% Sen:3%)
+ average age: 62yrs
What are the terms of office?
- 6yrs Senate
- 2yrs HoR
- senators are in post longer, so should become more experienced
- composition of HoR allows for reflection in public opinion every 2yrs
What are the party alliances in Congress?
- all members of HoR are either Rep or Dem
- all but 2 members of the senate are Rep or Dems
_ 2 senators are independents e.g. Sanders
What are the congressional caucuses?
- members of congress belong to congressional caucuses:
+ the interests are often ideological e.g. House Freedom Caucus represents conservative republicans
+ some congressional caucuses include members from both parties e.g. Bipartisan Heroin task force
+ smaller caucuses can act as an alternative influence to the party leadership e.g. House Freedom caucus opposed Trumps budget at the start of 2018
What are the party leaderships within Congress?
- each party caucus elects a leader (known as majority leader if their party has the majority and vice versa)
- they act as floor leaders in both chambers, co-ordinating their parties for votes and debates
- Speaker is elected by all members of the House and is a member of majority party
What is the party discipline within Congress?
- party discipline has traditionally been weak
- As congress has become more partisan, members have become more likely to vote in line with their party
- 2018 Trump controlled both houses but failed to persuade members of their own party to vote for the budget = 2 gov shutdowns
What is the partisanship within congress?
- members of congress have become increasingly polarised over the past two decades
- this makes bipartisanship more difficult and gridlock more likely to occur
- party unity votes have increased significantly
What is the committee system in Congress?
- a system of different types of committee used by Congress to divide up its workload
- includes:
+ standing committees
+ select committees
+ house rules committee
+ conference committees
What is the standing committee?
- permanent, each fouces on specific area of policy e.g. foreign affairs
- parties are represented in the same proportions as in the senate or House
- they hold hearings, listen to and question witnesses and vote on bills should go to house or senate
- they also conder presidential appointments
-hearings are often high profile and attract media - long term members become experts
- allow congress to manage efficiently the wide rang of issues
What are the select committee?
- most are temporary, generally made up of members from one house
- usually investigate one specific question e.g. house select committee on Benghazi 2014-16
- provides focused scrutiny and investigation of important issues
What is the house rules committee?
- a standing committee in the HoR, favours majority party 2:1
-set the rules for bills, determining how much time they will be given on the floor - has enormous power; it can determine what is discussed when, for how long and in what way
What are the conference committee?
- temporary - specific bills
- consider two different versions of the same bills and merge then into one combined bill
- important role for developing legislation
What is the delegate model of representation?
- representatives vote according to their constituents wishes, ignoring their own judgement if it conflicts with that of their constituents
What is the trustee model of representation?
- representatives should vote according to their best judgement not their constituents wishes
- assumes that representatives are better placed to make decisions than constituents as they have a better understanding of the issues
What are the joint powers of the house of representatives and the Senate?
- legislation
- oversight
- overriding presidential veto
- initiating amendments to the constitution
- declaring war
What are the joint powers of the house of representatives and the Senate?
- legislation
- oversight
- overriding presidential veto
- initiating amendments to the constitution
- declaring war
What are the differences between the powers of the house of representatives and the Senate?
HoR : Senate
- confirming appointments
n/a : sole power to confirm
- power of the purse
only the HoR can initiate money bills : senate can amend moeny bills (both chambers need to agree to pass the bill)
- impeachment
house has sole power of impeachment (choses whether to charge or not) : senate has sole power to try (guiltily or not)
What is Congress relationship to the exectuive?
- regular contact and meetings between presidents administration and members of congress
- office for legislative affairs is a gov departments which exists to lobby members of congress to vote to presidents legislation
- administration will call in favours and make deals to secure votes
What is Congress relationship to the Supreme court?
- USSC can rule that an act of Congress are unconstitutional and therefore no longer law
e.g. 1996 Defence of Marriage Act was struck down by 2 USSC ruling (united states v Windsor and Obergefell v Hodges) - Senate plays key role in the confirmation of USSC judges
- Congress has the power to impeach and try USSC judges
