Chapter 8: Congress Flashcards
- Why is Congress comprised of a House and a Senate? What are the benefits and drawbacks of this
arrangement?
To represent the interests of the people through the House, and represent the interests of the States through the Senate. This allows for legislation that has been thoroughly reviewed by both chambers allowing many interests to be heard. They control the money so the people and States have a say in how it’s used. And of course, Congress runs all the bureaucratic departments. But this results in the change being a long tedious journey. Of course, because a lot of different people with views are in office, these individuals must agree on just about everything and compromise relentlessly to get legislation passed. Not to mention the different constituencies that representatives represent, the different term limits, and of course modes of election. All of those factors make it hard for any one party from gaining a majority and exercising their legislative power.
- What power is granted only to the House, and which power is granted only to the Senate? What was the
the reasoning behind granting these powers to the House and Senate separately?
The House is the only branch that can create revenues bills since they are closest to the people of the States. They have the power to begin impeachments for elected officials, but again they are only responsible for starting the procedure. The House also has the power to elect a president in the extremely rare case of a tie in the electoral college.
The Senate has the power to confirm presidential nominations for, say, the Supreme Court. The Senate has the power to convict government officials in the impeachment procedure, essentially they act as the jury and decide if the person is guilty of the crime or action they are accused of. And in the case of a tie in the electoral college, they have the right to vote in the vice president.
I would say to spread out the power, allowing one chamber all of the listed powers would result in a lot of exploitation. And of course, some issues would need to be decided by the chamber closest to the people, in the instance of taxation. And others should fall on to the chamber with the most experienced and hardened politicians.
- What are the structural differences between the House and Senate? (e.g., how many members; how often are
they elected), and the cultural differences between the two?
The Senate is made up of 100 members, 2 from each state. Each Senator has a 6-year term, with no term limits, and every 2 years 1/3 of the seats are up for re-election. In the House, there are 435 members, depending on how many districts there are in a state that is the number of representatives a state sends to the House. Each member serves for 2 years, with no term limits. Due to the nature of having so many members the House has a very procedural culture, having centralized leadership with power flowing from the top down to the bottom. Again due to the sheer amount of people rules and structure must be made to assist in the completion of important work. Members have limited time to speak and must ask for permission to be given more time. Procedures are also very limited and strict having to be followed in order to, for example, reform legislation. The Senate has fewer members and by that nature they have a decentralized leadership style, allowing individuals more autonomy and influence. Yes, they have a majority leader, but individuals are given powers to fight the majority, such as the filibuster. And of course, due to there being fewer members norms and traditions is the guiding principle. Often members are expected to look past the partisan barriers and work together to have work done.
- What are the steps in the lawmaking process, from beginning to end? Provide a description for each step, and
don’t forget about presidential options. Also, where can legislation “die” in these steps, and where is legislative
death most common?
First, it’s introduced in either the House or Senate, any member of Congress can introduce any piece of legislation. Most aim to get co-sponsors to increase the chance of legislation making it farther, the introduction can be symbolic ( meaning they only do so to voice support or acknowledge an issue) or it can be substantive ( the legislation is actually meant to bring about so form of change).
After that, it goes to a committee which is a small group of members from the House or Senate who oversee and debate legislation that would fall under their department. They consider it and may even alter it. Can or cannot be voted on, if voted on and supported it passes. If not voted on at all or fails to gain enough support it dies. This is where MOST LEGISLATION DIES because the legislation may have simply never had a chance of passing, the legislation may have simply been bad, or partisanship stopped progress from being made ( perhaps Republican legislation lands in Democrat-majority committee, where upon seeing that it’s from a Republican, vote against or ignore the legislation).
If it passes it’s sent to the House or Senate floor (depending on where it was introduced it then goes to the other chamber) here they debate on it and can vote, if voted against it dies, or if ignored and not brought out for debate, again, it dies.
After that, it’s sent to a conference. This is necessary since each chamber of Congress may have altered it in different ways so the legislation that gets to the end may not have been the same as it started, so this conference takes both versions into account and tries to hash those out and compromise to make the legislation passable. If compromise CANT be made it DIES, if it can it’s sent back and voted on again.
Assuming it’s voted for it is then sent to the President. If Congress is in session and President signs it, it becomes law, if they don’t sign it within ten days, it becomes law. But if for some reason she or he disagrees with it, they may veto it, sending it back with the reason why they disagree with it. But the veto can be overridden with a 2/3 vote on it in the Hosue and Senate. If Congress is not in session and the president signs it, it becomes law. If they don’t sign it, it is vetod nad cannot be overridden.
- What are standing committees? What are the main purposes of standing committees, and how are they
structured? What are select and joint committees? What about conference committees?
Standing Committees are permanent committees that serve to help Congress get work done. Across both chambers, there are 535 members, so if the legislation had to be approved by everyone nothing could ever get done. So instead members are split into committees that represent different policies areas, and legislation that tackles a specific policy area gets sent to the committee that is most similar. And of course, members typically serve in a committee for a long time so the more experienced they become in that committee the easier and faster legislation can be considered. The first characteristic of standing committees structure is that the majority party, in both chambers, gets to appoint the chair of each committee. The second characteristic is that committees are structured in proportion to the party’s lead. So the leading party will get more members of their party on the committee according to their lead in the chamber. This is important since Democratic lead legislation would have a better chance of passing if all committees are led by and had a majority of Democratic members.
Select committees are temporary and are issue-specific. Often have very little power as they usually just report back to the full house.
Join committees are comprised of members from both the House and Senate and again no real power as they report back.
Conference committees are temporary and are formed to look at the different alterations made to a piece of legislation in the hopes of creating a compromise that would allow the legislation to pass.
- What are the primary leadership positions in the US House and US Senate (top three in each)? Describe their
responsibilities, and also describe at least one of the primary powers of each.
In the House, the strongest leadership position is the Speaker of the House. This individual determines if legislation will be brought on the floor for a vote, and they can determine who sits in a committee, as well as for deciding who is the head of that committee, and again the speaker is voted in by the majority party. Next is the Majority leader who manages the day-to-day affairs of the House, not too much power, their primary task is to carry out what the Speaker has planned.
Following that is the Minority Leader their primary responsibility is to voice the interest of the minority party. And they’re capable of finding ways to water down, and even block legislation from the majority party.
On the Senate side, the strongest position is the Senate Majority Leader, they are essentially equal in power to House’s speaker. This individual is capable of what was listed for the speaker of the House. Next in position is the minority leader who again voices the interest of the minority party, fighting against majority legislation. After that is the majority and minority whips. The majority whips usually get a count of what their party will vote on legislation, they then report it to the speaker and if they like the numbers will decide to put the legislation up for a vote. Whips are also key to enforcing and keeping members in line, often it is up to these individuals to convince members that are out of line.
- How does the committee structure help members of Congress meet their goals?
The structure of committees inherently gives its members more power or the capability to increase their odds of being reelected. For instance, being part of a powerful committee such as the appropriations committee results in a lot of legislation coming your way, so by being a member you can gain reputation or favor from other members as they will seek your support to get legislation passed. And joining a “reelection committee” such as an infrastructure you can pass legislature that physically benefits your district. So when reelection comes around you can point at all the work you’ve done for your constituents.
- What is the difference between the delegate, trustee, and politico models of representation? Which is most
common, and how (or, when) is it best utilized?
Those who follow the delegate model do the bidding of their constituency. Some members take this approach, and it’s mostly used on easy issues such as same-sex issues, and immigration.
Those who follow the trustee model argue that their constituents might not know what’s best, so they should trust them to do what they think is right. Again, some strictly ONLY use this model, and it’s mostly utilized when facing hard issues such as foreign affairs, or taxing.
Most representatives follow the politico model, which is basically a mix of both or perhaps switching between trustee and delegate depending on the issue. So people of this mindset would vote for what they think is best on difficult and complex issues and vote for what their constituency wants on simple matters.
- What are term limits? Do both Congress and the presidency have term limits imposed? Discuss at least two
perceived benefits and two perceived drawbacks of term limit
Term limits are a restriction on how many times you are allowed to run for office. Congress has no term limits, the presidency is limited to two terms. One perceived benefit is that term limits will bring in new ideas and energy since term limits will result in new, and potentially young, representatives. Another perceived benefit is that term limits will force representatives to act since they only have a limited time and office, and thus can’t push it down the line and act for it later. One perceived drawback is that term limits will create more lobbyists since representatives won’t have a job in Congress anymore and thus will seek personal gains. And perhaps while they ARE in office they may only focus on things that help their legacy or perhaps find ways to seek lobbyist approval for their later job as a lobbyist. And the perceived drawback is the limit put on voter choice, perhaps a representative is really great at his job and the voters are happy with them. But they are going to be termed out and their new choices aren’t anywhere as promising as the person they’ve been voting in.
- What are the primary differences between the Nevada Legislature and the US Congress? Discuss three.
The NV legislature has term limits, the US Congress does not have any term limits whatsoever. Nevada legislature can call in special sessions for projects or anything else that may require, US Congress does not hold any special session at all. And finally, interest group influence is stronger in the NV legislature as you’ll have a lot more individuals that are prone to that type of influence, as well as a lot of new members that won’t really know how to resist pressure. Interest group influence is still a thing in the US Congress, but that influence is a lot weaker.
