Congress

Question 1

What do representatives represent?

Answer 1

Fach state must have at least one Representative, but the number that each state receives depends on their population.
House members are elected in small districts, with a population ranging from 500,000 to a little over 1 million people. Their role is to represent their district in Congress.

Question 2

How many reps and senators? how long terms?

Answer 2

435 voting members in hor
100 senators, 2 per state
Reps have two year terms and sens have 6 years (1/3 elected every 2 years)

Question 3

Constitutional to be reps and sens

Answer 3

Reps : 25 years old and citizen for 7
Sens: 30 years old and citizen for 9

Question 4

Parts of legislative process

Answer 4

Introduction
Committee
Timetabling
Second reading and vote
Third reading and vote
Conference committee
House approval
Sent for presidential action

Question 5

What happens in introduction stage?

Answer 5

A bill can go through the houses consecutively (one House and then the other) or concurrently (both Houses at the same time).

Question 6

What happens in committee stage?

Answer 6

HOR:

Including sub-committee hearings and mark-up.
Committee chairs can ‘kill’ a bill by pigeonholing it (i.e. leaving it untouched). The House Speaker’s power in choosing a committee can determine a bill’s fate.

Senate:

Committee
Including sub-committee hearings and mark-up.
Committee chairs can ‘kill’ a bill by pigeonholing it (i.e. leaving it untouched).

Question 7

What happens in timetabling stage?

Answer 7

HOR:

By the House Rules Committee, which is dominated 2-to-1 by the majority party. This stage is dominated by the majority party.

Senate:

By the Majority leader. The timetabling stage is therefore dominated by the majority party.

Question 8

What happens in second reading and vote?

Answer 8

HOR:

A simple majority is all that is required.

Senate:

A simple majority is all that is required.
However, a filibuster can prevent this in the Senate.

Question 9

Third reading and vote?

Answer 9

HOR:

A simple majority is all that is required.

Senate:

A simple majority is all that is required.
However, a filibuster can prevent this.

Question 10

What happens in the conference committee?

Answer 10

The conference committee is made up of an equal number of House and Senate members who reconcile the bills, which then need agreement from both Houses.

Question 11

What happens when sent for presidential action?

Answer 11

The president can sign, veto or leave the bill on his desk for ten days. A two-thirds majority in both
Houses can override any presidential veto.

Question 12

Strengths of legislative process?

Answer 12

• High level of scrutiny
• Protects states’ rights
• Prevents a tyranny of the majority
• With unanimous consent in the Senate, bipartisanship is required

Question 13

Weaknesses of legislative process?

Answer 13

-Incredibly slow
-Lack of bipartisanship leading
to gridlock
-Congressional politicians otter choose to focus on re-election over legislation

Question 14

Congress oversight of executive powers:

Answer 14

-Impeachment and removal of members of executive branch (e.g. the attempted impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998)
-Determining the funding available and agreeing on the budget for the president (e.g. the 2018 shutdowns)
-Declaring war (e.g. in the Second World War). Mostly this power iS now exercised by granting approval for military action rather than issuing a formal declaration of war.
-Investigation of actions of the executive branch (e.g. the ‘Russia’ investigation; see below)
-Ratification of treaties (Senate only) (e.g. the START Treaty
2010)
-Ratification of federal justices and other appointments (Senate only) (e.g. Neil Gorsuch in 2017)

Question 15

What happened during the Russia Investigation?

Answer 15

Following President Trump’s election in 2016, allegations surfaced about Russian interference in the US election. Russian confirmation of meeting with members of the Trump campaign, and Trump’s unexpected firing of FBI director James Comey, led to a number of investigations being launched into potential Russian interference in US elections by the:
• House Intelligence Committee
• Senate Intelligence Committee
• House Oversight Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee.

Most investigations are ongoing and have called in high-ranking officials such as Comey to give evidence.

Of the claims, Comey said:
There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever: the Russians interfered in our election.’

Question 16

Effective congressional oversight of the executive depends on:

Answer 16

• whether the House of Representatives, Senate and presidency are presided over by the same party or not
when the next election is, as Congress may be more focused on pleasing constituents than oversight
° which branch has the most recent mandate
° the poll ratings and popularity of the president, which can make Congress more or less likely to scrutinise him
“ national circumstances, as in times of national crisis, Congress often defers to the president.

Question 17

Congress ways of overseeing Supreme Court:

Answer 17

• the ratification of judicial nominees, following hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee
• the creation of lower courts
• justices can be impeached if they do not act in line with the constitutional requirement of good behaviour’
• Congress determines the number of justices on the Supreme Court
• Congress can initiate a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling.

Question 18

Demographics of 117th congress

Answer 18

.

Question 19

Areas/bodies Congress represents:

Answer 19

Congressional caucuses
Their party
Individual constituents
Districts/states as a whole
Descriptive representation
Interest groups

Question 20

Effective features of each house:

Answer 20

HOR:

-Shorter election cycle makes House members more responsive to constituents.
-Congressional politicians represent smaller numbers of people (usually).
-Party discipline is stronger in the House than in
the Senate.
-As representatives are based on population, more populous states can be better represented.

Senate:

-Senators represent the view of the whole state, not minor districts.
-Unanimous consent allows individual senators to be powerful in representing their state.
-Unanimous consent also makes party discipline weaker so Senators can represent their state better.
-Six-year terms means they can ‘get on with the business of government’.

Question 21

3 area where congressional power has changed and how:

Answer 21

Declaration of war:

Developments in weapons and technology mean wars are no longer fought or launched in the same way
Authorisations for the use of military force are more common than a formal
‘declaration of war

Passing the budget:

Increased bipartisanship in congress. Arguments over the budget are so frequent now that continuing resolutions have become more common place

Passing legislation:

A lack of bipartisanship has led to record low production of legislation, a power being usurped by some presidents through executive orders
A decrease in legislative output and a focus on the president as the head of government rather than a separation of powers

Question 22

Parties are important because:

Answer 22

-increased partisanship is clear, and has led to a fall in legislative output, and even government shutdowns
-differing parties control the presidency and Congress
-they control significant appointments and roles, especially in the House.

Question 23

Parties are not important because:

Answer 23

-parties are ‘broad churches’ - liberals and conservatives exist within both parties (see page 210 for more on party principles)
-party discipline is weak due to state loyalties
-unanimous consent gives individual senators greater individual power.

Question 24

Power of investigation (joint power) is vs isn’t effective:

Answer 24

-
For: Congress can investigate any aspect of the executive branch and highlight problems that
need correcting.

Against:

Investigations end in recommendations and Congress cannot bring criminal proceedings, meaning it can only apply pressure.

Question 25

For and against effectiveness of ratifying justices power (senate only):

Answer 25

For: As the Senate must approve nominees, they are usually thoroughly vetted, meaning the Senate should not have to reject nominees often, although they still can and do.

Against: The Senate is reactive in this power and can only
act once the president has nominated someone; they cannot continually reject nominees otherwise they look partisan.

Question 26

For and against effectiveness of electing the president of the electoral college is deadlocked power (house only):

Answer 26

For: The House has successfully exercised this power
in 1800 and 1824.

Against: This is largely a defunct power, but one that remains ‘just in case’

Question 27

For and against effectiveness of ratifying treaties power (senate only):

Answer 27

For:

The Senate has ratified (e.g. START Treaty, 2010) and rejected treaties (e.g. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2012).

Against: The president can manoeuvre around this power by not using the phrase treaty, as Obama did
with the Iran deal.

Question 28

For and against effectiveness of impeachment power:

Answer 28

For: While impeachment is rarely used, it is an
effective threat and Congress has shown it is willing to use this power.

Against: In all three full cases, the president was found
‘not guilty. Failure to successfully impeach makes it a weaker power. (Update for Trump and Biden)

Question 29

For and against effectiveness of declaring war power:

Answer 29

For: Congress has used this power 11 times (though
not since the Second World War) and authorises presidential military action.

Against: Congress arguably has little choice in authorising action, especially if their constituents favour action, such as after 9/11.

Question 30

For and against effective seas of oversight function:

Answer 30

For:

-Legislation is well scrutinised through a lengthy
process.
-With the increased likelihood of divided government, it reduces the tyranny of one branch.

Against:

-There is a lack of legislative output by Congress.
- It is difficult to overturn a president’s veto.
- The likelihood of presidential bills passing is
largely unhindered.

Question 31

Is congress proactive?

Answer 31

It is important to remember that Congressional power is often reactive - this means the president acts first (proactive) then Congress reacts. This still affords Congress lots of power For example, stripping abortion out of Obamacare or refusing to ratify the appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

Question 32

Key point about congress effectiveness over time

Answer 32

Congress is not simply ‘effective’ or ‘ineffective*. Its effectiveness changes over time - show this in your writing. Circumstances such as the timing of the next election, poll ratings and national events all affect effectiveness.

Question 33

Strengths and weaknesses of HOR

Answer 33

Strengths: Strong constituency links
Representation by population
Effective control by the majority party

Weaknesses: Short election cycle
Power of the Speaker means the minority party can be ignored
Shared legislative power

Question 34

Strengths and weaknesses of senate:

Answer 34

Strengths: Unanimous consent Power of the filibuster Six-year terms enable continuity
Representation of state interests,
not just the electorate

Weaknesses: Shared legislative power
Unanimous consent can cause gridlock
Overrepresentation of smaller states and underrepresentation of big ones