Congress Flashcards
Unique powers to the house
and the Senate
House - power of the purse, start impeachment
Senate - ratify treaties, confirm appointments, try impeached candidates
Shared - Legislation, overriding the veto, declare war, oversight/ investigation, constitutional amendments
Examples of a veto being overridden
Obama vetoed the Justice against Sponsors of Terrorism Act for foreign relation reasons, was overwhelmingly overridden in Congress
Examples of Congress rejecting laws
Repeal of Obamacare, attempted 6 times and failed every time
John Lewis Voting Rights Act stopped by southern states
The threat of defeat often curtails efforts i.e. recent debt ceiling raising was a big compromise, post-Uvalde gun control was tempered down
When did the Senate reject a SC candidate
Cabinet member
Rejected Merrick Garland - Obama’s nomination due to electoral closeness
Susan Rice for secretary of state was withdrawn, not voted down, in 2012
Factors influencing voting in Congress
Parties
Caucuses
Leaders
Policies/ personal stance
Election cycle/ national events
When considering the strength of Congress in:
Legislation
Representation
Scrutiny,
what 3 themes would you analyse with
Legislation:
Frequency, quality and impact
Representation:
Constituents, social demographics and pluralism
OVerisght:
Foreign affairs, governmental affairs and broader domestic policy
What article is Congress in, what is its role
Article 1 - it is granted all legislative powers and is expected to organise the executive and judiciary, along with the other mentioned powers
Is the Senate or House more powerful - 3 points
Represent
Legislate
Oversight
… try and sneak in waning importance to the President “chief legislator” and SC + Senate as a political springboard for governorship + President
How many bills that are introduced to committees get at least one vote
<10%
Brief outline of the legislative process for both houses
Referred to committees, amended and reported (or ignored), timetabled by the majority leader or House Rules Committee, voted and amended in a floor debate (less strict in the Senate), resolve differences between both houses and send it to the President
Ways in which the speaker of the house is powerful
Dictates order of bills in Senate, or appoints those that do so in the House.
Chief of negotiations with other chamber and President i.e. recent debt ceiling negotiations.
Appoints members to committees i.e. gave Freedom Caucus high-profile spots on energy, defence, House rules etc.
Often is elected on a small manifesto/ pledge card - offers a centralised, alternative agenda to challenge the President’s
What did Trump do to the GOP - who has it removed
Brought it more to the right + centralised it around him. Removes the broad church aspect i.e. why so many were keen to get his endorsement in the mid-terms. Liz Cheney voted out. Lisa Murkowski was supported by Senate Republicans but her local part was against her.
What has increasing partisanship meant for voting - impacts on functions of Congress
Parties vote in blocs more and more - less influence of low-key caucuses i.e. African-American caucus. Legislation often stalled on party lines - gun control, Respect for Marriage Act
Oversight often politicised - McCarthy set one up looking into how Democrats use the gov to demonise conservatives - barrage of investiagtions into Hunter Biden… Means actual oversight is diminished
Knock-on effects to representation as worse quality legislation is passed
Incumbency rate - some theories for why
90+%, higher in the House. Incumbents are often better funded, have a better record of action in government to point to and may benefit from gerrymandered districts
Example of a policy which has faced in-party resistance… parties aren’t everything
Affordable Care Act faced a large Blue dog Bloc in the Democrats, who wanted less expense + no abortion provisions and compromised it down… still passed
Then its attempted repeals have never passed - 70 attempts, in partial or fully, never succeeded. Main times due to Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - constitutent support
