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Politics Paper 3 > Congress > Flashcards

Congress Flashcards

1
Q

what is representation in Congress compared to society

A

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

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2
Q

how regularly are house elections

A

every 2 years

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3
Q

how much time do legislators spend on re-election

A

50%

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4
Q

who is Charles Schumer

A

senate majority leader

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5
Q

who has Charles Schumer been an advocate for

A

the defence of wall street

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6
Q

how much has Charles Schumer raised

A

$62.2 million

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7
Q

how much of Charles Schumers money came from financial companies

A

27%

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8
Q

what percent of people support mandatory background checks

A

90%

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9
Q

when was a bill to introduce background checks defeated

A

2013

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10
Q

what happened to the gun background checks law

A

it was defeated by a filibuster by republicans

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11
Q

what did Obama say about the filibuster

A

senators were “worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-second amendment”.

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12
Q

how has the representation of women improved

A

145 women in the 117th Congress, whilst there were 17 in the 96th Congress (1979-81).

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13
Q

how has the representation of ethnic minorities improved

A

124 lawmakers are of an ethnic minority, compared to 63 in the 107th Congress of 2001.

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14
Q

what has happened to approval ratings

A

2016 poll found that 46 of 100 senators had approval ratings of 50% of higher.

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15
Q

what are congress members concerned with doing

A

‘bringing home the bacon’, securing projects which are seen as necessary by their constituents, such as Boston’s Big Dig in 2003.

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16
Q

what does earmarking only do

A

“greases the wheels”

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17
Q

what outweighs constituents

A

money

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18
Q

who is the longest serving house rep

A

John dingell

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19
Q

how long did John Dingell serve in the house

A

59 years 21 days

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20
Q

where must legislation be agreed

A

in both houses

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21
Q

what had a partisan divide over it

A

the patient protection and affordable care act

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22
Q

what did the divide over the ACA lead to

A

a 16 day shutdown

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23
Q

what was partisanship like in the 113th congress (2012-14)

A

Representatives voted with their party party 92% of the time, while Democrats in the Senate reached a figure of 94%

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24
Q

how many republicans voted for the ACA

A

none

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25
Q

when did the democrats lose the house

A

2010

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26
Q

when did the democrats lose the senate

A

2014

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27
Q

how much legislation passed in 2012-14

A

296 pieces

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28
Q

when was the do-nothing congress

A

1948

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29
Q

how many bills did the do nothing congress pass

A

906

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30
Q

what does the use of filibuster lead to

A

every bill practically needed a supermajority

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31
Q

how do you stop a filibuster

A

you need closure procedure

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32
Q

how many votes needed for a filibuster closure

A

60 senators

33
Q

how many times has the closure motion been used

A

8 times from 1917 to 1970

34
Q

what is madisonian principle

A

compromise, compromise, compromise

35
Q

what did Madison say about the existence of supermajorities

A

“shield to some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial methods”

36
Q

what did Alexander Hamilton say about super majorities

A

they “established a salutary check upon the legislative body”

37
Q

what do filibusters ensure

A

ensure that the minority party is able to influence legislation, once again avoiding this tyranny of the majority.

38
Q

what are budget reconciliation bills

A

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

39
Q

despite gridlock what is congress still able to do

A

introduce important legislation

40
Q

what was passed in 1964

A

CRA

41
Q

what did the CRA do

A

prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin

42
Q

what does the theorist Loomis argue

A

“the barriers to passing legislation are substantial”

43
Q

what was bill success rate in 2012

A

2%

44
Q

what did the 116th congress pass

A

a measly 344 pieces of enacted legislation

45
Q

what did the 95th congress pass

A

804 pieces

46
Q

when was the 95th congress

A

1977 - October 1978

47
Q

what should oversight involve

A

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.

48
Q

what is oversight dependent on

A

the power of the president

49
Q

what did the George W Bush premiership hold

A

a majority in both houses until January 2007

50
Q

what happened to oversight between 2003 and 2005

A

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

51
Q

what talked about poor oversight during 2003 and 2005

A

when congress checks out - Ornstein and Mann

52
Q

how many hearings were there in 2003-04

A

37

53
Q

how many hearings were there in 1993-94

A

135

54
Q

what has the senate ignored

A

their duty of giving advice and consent on appointments

55
Q

what did the senate do after the death of justice Antonin Scalia

A

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

56
Q

when did Justice Antonin Scalia die

A

February 2016

57
Q

what did the senate do after rejecting Garland

A

they would fast track Amy Coney Barratt

58
Q

what happened between 1949-2013 to nominations

A

168 presidential nominees were filibustered, with a whopping 82 being used during the Obama administration.

59
Q

when did Bush lose both houses

A

2006 mid terms

60
Q

what happened did Bush lose both houses

A

the number of hearings about combat operations increased dramatically

61
Q

how many hearings were there after 2006

A

100 on the Iraq war in the first two months alone

62
Q

who carried out the hearing into the Watergate scandal

A

the select committee on campaign practices

63
Q

when was the Watergate scandal

A

1973

64
Q

what hearings were there in October 2013

A

successful hearings over Healthcare.gov

65
Q

how much money did Healthcare.gov waste

A

£300 million

66
Q

who resigned due to the hearings into Healthcare.gov

A

Kathleen Sebelius

67
Q

what are select committees simply an example of

A

ideological point scoring

68
Q

what was established in 2014

A

the select committee on Benghazi

69
Q

what was the select committee on Benghazi formed off the back of

A

an attack on a US diplomatic compound

70
Q

why was the Benghazi hearing of concern

A

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.

71
Q

who ratifies federal judges

A

congress

72
Q

who are judges who were confirmed with the highest recommendation

A

Neil Gorsuch and RBG

73
Q

which justice was impeached in 1804

A

justice chase

74
Q

why are veto overrides ineffective

A

due to the need for a supermajority

75
Q

how many times has the counter veto been used

A

twice since 2009

76
Q

how have presidents found ways around the constitutional powers of Congress

A

executive order create pseudo-legislation and pseudo-treaties

77
Q

Where has congress used the counter veto to great effect

A

they veto’d Obama’s veto to pass the justice against sponsors of terrorism act

78
Q

what would did the justice against sponsors of terrorism act

A

it would have allowed families who were affected by 9/11 the ability to sue Saudi Arabia

79
Q

why is passing legislation so hard

A

The process is so challenging and the congressional session is short

Politics Paper 3 (33 decks)

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