Congress Flashcards
what is representation in Congress compared to society
27% of the House and 24% of the Senate are female, compared to 50.8% of society as a whole. 23% of the House and Senate are of an ethnic minority, compared to 38% nationally
how regularly are house elections
every 2 years
how much time do legislators spend on re-election
50%
who is Charles Schumer
senate majority leader
who has Charles Schumer been an advocate for
the defence of wall street
how much has Charles Schumer raised
$62.2 million
how much of Charles Schumers money came from financial companies
27%
what percent of people support mandatory background checks
90%
when was a bill to introduce background checks defeated
2013
what happened to the gun background checks law
it was defeated by a filibuster by republicans
what did Obama say about the filibuster
senators were “worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-second amendment”.
how has the representation of women improved
145 women in the 117th Congress, whilst there were 17 in the 96th Congress (1979-81).
how has the representation of ethnic minorities improved
124 lawmakers are of an ethnic minority, compared to 63 in the 107th Congress of 2001.
what has happened to approval ratings
2016 poll found that 46 of 100 senators had approval ratings of 50% of higher.
what are congress members concerned with doing
‘bringing home the bacon’, securing projects which are seen as necessary by their constituents, such as Boston’s Big Dig in 2003.
what does earmarking only do
“greases the wheels”
what outweighs constituents
money
who is the longest serving house rep
John dingell
how long did John Dingell serve in the house
59 years 21 days
where must legislation be agreed
in both houses
what had a partisan divide over it
the patient protection and affordable care act
what did the divide over the ACA lead to
a 16 day shutdown
what was partisanship like in the 113th congress (2012-14)
Representatives voted with their party party 92% of the time, while Democrats in the Senate reached a figure of 94%
how many republicans voted for the ACA
none
when did the democrats lose the house
2010
when did the democrats lose the senate
2014
how much legislation passed in 2012-14
296 pieces
when was the do-nothing congress
1948
how many bills did the do nothing congress pass
906
what does the use of filibuster lead to
every bill practically needed a supermajority
how do you stop a filibuster
you need closure procedure
how many votes needed for a filibuster closure
60 senators
how many times has the closure motion been used
8 times from 1917 to 1970
what is madisonian principle
compromise, compromise, compromise
what did Madison say about the existence of supermajorities
“shield to some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial methods”
what did Alexander Hamilton say about super majorities
they “established a salutary check upon the legislative body”
what do filibusters ensure
ensure that the minority party is able to influence legislation, once again avoiding this tyranny of the majority.
what are budget reconciliation bills
they can only debate for 20 hours and need only a simple ,majority, meaning that the majority party will easily dominate the party in the minority
despite gridlock what is congress still able to do
introduce important legislation
what was passed in 1964
CRA
what did the CRA do
prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin
what does the theorist Loomis argue
“the barriers to passing legislation are substantial”
what was bill success rate in 2012
2%
what did the 116th congress pass
a measly 344 pieces of enacted legislation
what did the 95th congress pass
804 pieces
when was the 95th congress
1977 - October 1978
what should oversight involve
the prevention of wasteful spending, the protection of liberties and rights, the insurance that there is compliance with the law, the gathering of information for laws and the evaluation of executive performance.
what is oversight dependent on
the power of the president
what did the George W Bush premiership hold
a majority in both houses until January 2007
what happened to oversight between 2003 and 2005
the senate armed services committee held no hearing on combat operations in Afghanistan and only 9 on Iraq, making up 9% of their total overall hearings
what talked about poor oversight during 2003 and 2005
when congress checks out - Ornstein and Mann
how many hearings were there in 2003-04
37
how many hearings were there in 1993-94
135
what has the senate ignored
their duty of giving advice and consent on appointments
what did the senate do after the death of justice Antonin Scalia
the hastily announced they would not even consider the nomination of Merrick Garland, despite him being an excellent choice and having previously received praise from Senate Republicans
when did Justice Antonin Scalia die
February 2016
what did the senate do after rejecting Garland
they would fast track Amy Coney Barratt
what happened between 1949-2013 to nominations
168 presidential nominees were filibustered, with a whopping 82 being used during the Obama administration.
when did Bush lose both houses
2006 mid terms
what happened did Bush lose both houses
the number of hearings about combat operations increased dramatically
how many hearings were there after 2006
100 on the Iraq war in the first two months alone
who carried out the hearing into the Watergate scandal
the select committee on campaign practices
when was the Watergate scandal
1973
what hearings were there in October 2013
successful hearings over Healthcare.gov
how much money did Healthcare.gov waste
£300 million
who resigned due to the hearings into Healthcare.gov
Kathleen Sebelius
what are select committees simply an example of
ideological point scoring
what was established in 2014
the select committee on Benghazi
what was the select committee on Benghazi formed off the back of
an attack on a US diplomatic compound
why was the Benghazi hearing of concern
there had been nine different House and Senate committee investigations, 17 hearings and 6 reports on Benghazi, none of which had upheld the claim that the Obama administration had misled the public over the cause and nature of the attack.
who ratifies federal judges
congress
who are judges who were confirmed with the highest recommendation
Neil Gorsuch and RBG
which justice was impeached in 1804
justice chase
why are veto overrides ineffective
due to the need for a supermajority
how many times has the counter veto been used
twice since 2009
how have presidents found ways around the constitutional powers of Congress
executive order create pseudo-legislation and pseudo-treaties
Where has congress used the counter veto to great effect
they veto’d Obama’s veto to pass the justice against sponsors of terrorism act
what would did the justice against sponsors of terrorism act
it would have allowed families who were affected by 9/11 the ability to sue Saudi Arabia
why is passing legislation so hard
The process is so challenging and the congressional session is short
