Congress

Question 1

How many representatives in the House?

Answer 1

435

Question 2

How many people does each representative represent?

Answer 2

750,000 (as of 1911, it used to be 200,000)

Question 3

How many terms can a Congressman sit?

Answer 3

Unlimited - John Lewis has sat since 1987

Question 4

How many senators?

Answer 4

100

Question 5

How long does a Senator serve?

Answer 5

6 years, but there is an election cycle so 1/3 of them are re-elected every 2 years

Question 6

Example of the problem of incumbency?

Answer 6

2017-19: 93% of the Senate remained the same
2016: Incumbent Senators raised $12.6m for campaign - $1.5m by challengers.
‘Franking privileges’ - incumbents can get mail out to their constituents

Question 7

Example of Gerrymandering?

Answer 7

Illinois’ 4th district - Hispanic

Question 8

What power does the House have over power of the purse?

Answer 8

Appropriations Bills must start in the House.
The President must submit his yearly budget to the House - although the Senate has final word over approving it.
-> 2018: Trump requested budget for the EPA to be cut by 33%, it was cut by 6%

Question 9

What power does the House have over impeachment?

Answer 9

House starts the process of impeachment with a simple majority
-> 2008: 35 charges set against W Bush (mostly concerning Iraq War), but the Judiciary Committee pigeonholed them.

Question 10

What power does the House have over choosing the President?

Answer 10

If no one gets a simple majority, each state gets 1 vote on who should be President.
-> 1800: used to elect Jefferson.
Last time it was used was 1824

Question 11

What power does the Senate have over ratification of treaties?

Answer 11

Can reject Treaties with a 2/3 majority

-> 2012: Convention on the Rights of Peoples with Disabilities

Question 12

What power does the Senate have over confirmation of appointments?

Answer 12

-> Nomination of Brett Kavaunagh heavily scrutinised for his role in Mueller investigation into Russian interference in 2018. He was allowed in.

Question 13

What power does the Senate have over impeachment?

Answer 13

The Senate holds the trial.

A simple majority of Senators determines if they’re guilty.

Question 14

What power does the Senate have over choosing the Vice President.

Answer 14

Same as House, only happened in 1800 and 1824.

Question 15

What is the role of lobbyists?

Answer 15

Very significant (e.g. National Rifles Association)
2020: $3.5b spent on lobbyists - $3b every year since 2008
21 lobbyists for 1 senator

Question 16

What is the revolving door?

Answer 16

A door between the Public and Private sectors.

-> Lynn Jenkins set up a lobbying firm whilst she was still a Congresswoman.

Question 17

Example of majority-minority districts?

Answer 17

Minority group form majority of a district.

2015: 122 maj min districts, including Illinois’ 4th district is majority Hispanic
- > Cooper v Harris 2017: race in redistributing is racist.

Question 18

What are congressional caucuses?

Answer 18

Groups who share common interest

-> Black Caucus: 57 members

Question 19

What are caucuses in elections?

Answer 19

Town hall meetings when members of a party vote on who they’d like to appear on their ballot paper.
Alternative to a Primary.
-> Winning Iowa’s caucus is known to give a party a major advantage. In 2008, Mike Huckabee did, and he won much attention from it.

Question 20

What percentage of bills get to committee?

Answer 20

7% - the rest aren’t voted in by the Chamber or are pigeon holed
-> School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act stalled despite having 130 sponsors in 2007

Question 21

What happens at Committee?

Answer 21

A bill is marked up, if it passes, its sent back to the house?

Question 22

How does the Senate deal with scheduling bills?

Answer 22

Agreement between majority and minority leaders.

Question 23

How does the House deal with scheduling bills?

Answer 23

House Rules Committee

• Majority party dominates 2-1
• Only way to overcome this is with a 51% majority (e.g. 2008 Bipartisanship Campaign Reform Act)
• Decide debate time (e.g. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 limited to 4 hours and it was a closed debate).

Question 24

What does an open debate offer the possibility of?

Answer 24

Christmas Tree Bills
Other, often irrelevant, clauses are added in.
-> Alaska’s Bridge to Nowhere: $232m in Surface Transportation Extension Act 2011. It was never actually built.

Question 25

Example of filibustering?

Answer 25

2013: Ted Cruz spoke for 21 hours on Affordable Care Act - he even read Green Eggs and Ham!

Question 26

How to stop a filibuster?

Answer 26

A cloture motion, first signed by 16 senators then agreed by 3/5 of those present.
-> only 2 passed out of 139, 110th Congress

Question 27

How to amend differences between the houses’ bills.

Answer 27

1) If it is only a minor differences, the house leaders will settle it amongst themselves
2) if it is a major difference, a Conference Committee will be set up to remedy this.

Question 28

What is a pocket veto?

Answer 28

When the President neither signs nor vetoes a bill, but leaves it on his desk.
In this case, the bill will become law in 10 days (but it shows the President doesn’t support the bill). Unless, Congress adjourns before the 10 day period, in which case, the Bill dies!
Clinton – Partial-Birth Abortion Bill Veto 1996: failed to pass due to this.

Question 29

What are primaries?

Answer 29

People vote on who they want to see on their ballot paper.

• > Eric Cantor (republican) lost Virginia, 2014, to a tea part member for not speaking out against Obama.
• > Majority leader, Senator Byrd, spent 242 days in West Virginia to ensure he didn’t lose the next primary

Question 30

What is the idea of Umbrella Politics?

Answer 30

Each party covers the entire spectrum

-> there are moderate Republicans, like Mitt Romney, and paleo-conservatives, like Steve Bannon.

Question 31

How representative is the 115th Congress?

Answer 31

• 9.2% African American (12.6% in reality)

- 20% women (50% in reality)

Question 32

What’s the element of initiation in the legislation process?

Answer 32

the president can dominate the agenda, but bills are often introduced by the Senate and House Leaders. This is particularly the case when the party of the President is different to that of Congress.
W Bush could dominate the agenda more, partially because the House was Republican.

Question 33

What’s the benefit of compromise in the legislation process

Answer 33

seperation of powers and checks and balances make compromise necessary, both between parties and chambers. seen at compromise at conference committees.

Question 34

What’s the element of weak parties in the legislation process?

Answer 34

parties are weaker, so are the whips. umbrella politics makes it harder to make congressmen toe the line. partisanship causes gridlock.

Question 35

Pros and cons of legislative process>

Answer 35

+avoids reactionary politics
+pork barrell = representation
+length of the process ensures adequate scrutiny
+avoids TotM
-Pork Barrel: Alaska was given a budget of $398m to build a Bridge to Nowhere in the National Appropriations Bill 2006.
-too long to pass bills (unless leading party supprots said bill)
-spkaer sets agenda
-leading party has a majority in the conference committee
-deadlock
-small states too represented in Senate
-President has a veto

Question 36

What are the obstacles to success?

Answer 36

• Easier to stop than make change
• gridlock between chambers when their agendas differ
• there has been a recent lack of conference committees: less scrutiny!

Question 37

examples when change has been made quickly

Answer 37

Special Envy to Moniter and Combat Anti-Semitism Act 2021 took 10 days to pass.

Question 38

is the legislative process effective

Answer 38

+avoids reactionary politics
+pork barrel is representation
+lengthy ensures scrutiny
+avoids totm
-pork barrel; $223m to build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska
-too long to pass bills unless supported: Obamacare took 9 months to pass just because of complaints from Republicans.
-speaker sets agenda: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was limited to 20 hours in 2017
-Leading party has majority in conference committee
-small states are overrepresented
-president has a veto

Question 39

What centrists have been replaced in the house

Answer 39

2010: Arlene Spector (centre dem) by Pat Tomney (conservative) in Pennsylvania

Question 40

what does congress being a watchdog v lapdog depend on

Answer 40

Party control
Popularity of President
Presidents mandate (e.g. Clinton won 49 states in ECV)
Term (3 of 4 of Bush’s veto overrides in 2nd term, after approval ratings had dropped to 25%)

Question 41

What happened to Robert Bork’s nomination

Answer 41

July 1987: Reagan recommended Bork to succeed Justice Powell. Opposition over Bork’s role in the Saturday Night Massacre.
October 1987: Senate rejects Bork 58-42.
February 1988: Kennedy brought in 97-0

Question 42

What happened to Merrick Garland’s nomination

Answer 42

2016: Obama recommends Merrick Garland to replace Scalia
Due to the Thurmond Rule, the nomination was made null and void (despite this, Barrett’s nomination by Trump went through!)