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US Politics > Congress > Flashcards

Congress Flashcards

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1
Q

House of representatives

A
  • the lower house of congress
  • total of 435 congressmen
  • elected for 2 year terms
  • represent congressional districts
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2
Q

Senate

A
  • upper house
  • 100 senators
  • 6 year terms
  • each state has senators
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3
Q

Origin of Congress

A
  • designed by founding fathers as compromise between large and small states
  • smaller states wanted New Jersey pan and large states wanted Virginia
  • settled on Connecticut Compromise
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4
Q

Role of congress

A
  • passing legislation
  • representing the people
  • overseeing the executive
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5
Q

PoC: legislative powers

A
  • initiates legislation
  • both houses must approve a bill then pass it to preident
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6
Q

PoC: overriding presidential veto

A
  • decides whether to amend or abandon bill or override veto
  • can override with 2/3 majority
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7
Q

Poc: initiating amendments to the constitution

A
  • needs 2/3 majority
  • once passed it is sent to states for approval
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8
Q

PoC: ratifying treaties

A
  • 2/3 majority
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9
Q

PoC: declaring war

A
  • both houses must vote
  • power not used since 1941
  • modern presidents avoid asking congress
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10
Q

PoC: congressional oversight

A
  • must approve federal budgets
  • committees allow oversight and investigation of the executive
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11
Q

PoC (senate only): confirming presidential appointments

A
  • required for all appointments into federal judiciary
  • needed for many appointments into executive
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12
Q

PoC: impeachment and removal from office

A
  • only HoC can impeach public official (simple majority)
  • only senate can try impeachments (2/3 for guilty)
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13
Q

legislative process in congress

A

1) examined by a standing committee (can amend and decide when to pass to main chamber)
2) if released, timetabled for debate
3) two versions (House and Senate) discussed by conference committee and one is agreed upon
4) released as conference report
5) final bill must then be voted upon by both houses
6) sent to president (if left on desk it becomes law after 10 days)

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14
Q

Composition of congress

A

Age: C= 25+ S= 30+
Citizenship: C= min 7 S= min 9
Residency: both must reside in state they represent

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14
Q

diversity in parties

A
  • in 2018 midterms more women ran for congress than ever as a reaction to Hilary Clinton’s defeat
  • 116th = 24% women 117th = 27%
  • women much more represented in the democratic party
  • republicans = 37/142 women
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14
Q

Congress is diverse

A
  • 117th most diverse (lowest prop of Christians highest prop of women)
  • 116th saw first two muslim women elected and four natives
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15
Q

Congress is not diverse

A
  • forecast to become minority white in 2045 but congress is comparatively ‘pale, male and stale’
  • Christians overrepresented in comparison to whole population
  • hispanics, blacks, women and atheists underrepreseted
  • hispanics 18% of population but 9% of congress 117th
  • 23% atheist population with one congressman
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16
Q

reasons for underrepresentation

A
  • many come from state legislatures where women and blacks are underrepresented (shortage of suitable candidates)
  • majority minority districts mean there’s more representation in HoR than senate
  • congress traditionally male dominated
  • its cultures and traditions slow to accommodate for women making it inhospitable (eg. senator swimming pool which permitted male senators to swim naked)
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17
Q

HoR terms of office

A
  • composition of House of Representatives changes dramatically every 2 years which reflects public opinion
  • party with a majority could change every election
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18
Q

Senate terms of office

A
  • senators at their post longer meaning more experienced (allows them to take decisions that might be unpopular but necessary)
  • senate is protection against volatile swings in public opinion
  • 1/3 up for re-election ever 2 year election cycle
  • less likely for majority to change as 2/3 of seats are not contested
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19
Q

party allegiance

A
  • dominated with main parties
  • 117th= HoR all main 2 Senate all main but 2
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20
Q

unique features of the US legislative process

A
  • gridlock
  • divided government
  • filibuster
    -cloture to end filibuster
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21
Q

oversight

A
  • the process by which congress oversees and scrutinises the activities of the federal government
  • not mentioned in constitution so its an implied power
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22
Q

political factors that influence oversight

A
  • during divided government the majority of one or both houses in congress can do oversight on its opposition in the executive
  • after winning HoR in 2018, democrats launched investigations into trump which resulted in his first impeachment
  • oversight weaker during unified government (only applies if president has control over their party)
  • despite owning both houses Trump struggled to repeal Obamacare
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23
Q

investigating the executive

A
  • standing and select committees investigate
  • committees can compel (subpoena) witnesses to provide information
  • threat to investigate compels executive to act legally and reasonably
  • government officials may be called to account at a televised hearing (media scrutiny)
  • Government Accountability Office (GAO) supports congress to investigate and audit the executive
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24
Q

confirmation of nominees

A
  • needed for presidential appointments
  • refusing to confirm appointments is rare
  • confirmation encourages presidents to nominate high quality individual
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25
Q

confirmation process criticisms

A
  • a president who’s party controls the senate generally has their nominees confirmed even if they’re controversial
  • Trumps education secretary showed lack of knowledge when suggesting that guns in schools would help protect students from bears
  • senate can block a nomination for partisan reasons
  • 2016 republican senators refused to hold hearings on Obamas nominee
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26
Q

impeachment

A
  • can impeach and try presidents for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours
  • Bill Clinton never recovered from his 1998 impeachment despite his acquittal
  • can impeach gov officials
  • impeachment has never led to the removal of a president in office
    -impeachment effects public opinion (eg. Trump)
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26
Q

senate ratification treaties

A
  • president negotiates treaties and senate ratifies forcing them to work closely
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27
Q

treaties rejected by senate

A
  • treaty of versailles
  • comprehensive test ban theory
  • convention of the rights of persons with disabilities
28
Q

weakness of ratification

A
  • recent presidents often use their direct authority to make executive agreements with other countries to bypass senate oversight
29
Q

oversight is effective

A
  • strong in divided government
  • committee investigations high profile scrutiny
  • impeach
  • can refuse appointments
30
Q

oversight is not effective

A
  • congress reluctant to criticise president when in same party
  • congress lack of popularity difficult to attack popular president
  • investigations time consuming
  • senate rejecting some treaties isolates USA
31
Q

power of the purse

A
  • made to ensure that peoples representatives give their consent to taxation
  • only congress can raise revenue for federal government
  • all tax bills must start in House but senate can amend
  • ## shutdowns happen when they cannot compromise
32
Q

government shutdown

A
  • happens when congress and executive cannot compromise
  • in full shutdown non essential functions are closed and many employees sent home
  • extremely unpopular with public
  • 2018-19 Trump shutdown 39 days
33
Q

congressional caucuses

A

group of members of congress the work together to achieve similar legislative aims
- all belong to one of two party caucuses (unless independant)

34
Q

main party caucuses

A
  • HRC
  • SRC
  • HDC
  • SDC
35
Q

smalller congressional caucuses

A
  • act as subgroupings of members with a similar interest to advance
  • 2021 House Freedom Caucus committed to limited government
  • can be powerful even acting as alternative influence to the party leadership
36
Q

bipartisan committees

A
  • Bipartisan Heroin and Opioid Task Force
  • Congressional Black Caucus (but only 4 republicans have ever joined)
37
Q

party leadership

A
  • majority leader if they have majority in that chamber
  • minority leader of they do not have majority in that chamber
  • leaders act as ‘floor leaders’
38
Q

leadership role

A
  • plan the legislative agenda
  • coordinate their party for debates and votes
  • try and achieve party unity to achieve aims
39
Q

most high profile leadership position in congress

A
  • the speaker of HoR
  • elected by all members so belongs to majority party
40
Q

role of the speaker

A
  • preside over debates and keep order while in session
  • act as leader of majority party
  • determine legislative agenda for the house
  • choose members of conference and select committees
  • second to VP in line of succession
41
Q

speaker of the house: nancy pelosi

A
  • first female speaker
  • at the time most important position held by a woman in congress
  • led house of democrats to impeach Trump
42
Q

weak party discipline

A
  • party whips power to enforce party unity is limited
    -separation of powers prevents party leaders from offering government positions in exchange for support
43
Q

speakers influence on congressmen

A
  • decides who sits on the house rules committee
    -decides who chairs and sits on select and conference committees
44
Q

party leaders and discipline

A
  • determine which senators will serve on different committees (encourages senators to follow party’s direction)
  • often need to use their powers to convince members to support agenda
  • Eg. democrats unifying against border wall during longest shutdown in history
45
Q

withdrawal of party support

A
  • means of convincing congress to remain united
  • 2018 midterms many of Trumps critics resigned and were replaced by supportive
46
Q

partisanship

A
  • since 1990’s congress has become more polarised
  • divide between democrats and republicans leave little in the political centre
47
Q

reason for polarisation

A
  • reduced number of competitive electoral districts (164 in 1997 91 in 2020)
48
Q

polarisation increases partisanship

A
  • two parties become ideologically opposed
  • bipartisan more difficult to achieve increasing chances of gridlock
49
Q

attempts to increase bipartisanship

A
  • problem solvers caucus 2017 with 50 members
    -party leaders have also been prepared to compromise on key initiatives
50
Q

committee system

A

a system of different types of committees to divide workload
includes:
- standing committees
- select committees
- house rules committees
- conference committees

51
Q

standing committees

A
  • permanent
  • focuses on particular policy area (eg. foreign affairs)
  • 20 house 16 senate
52
Q

what are standing committees responsible for

A
  • holding hearings during committee stage of bills
  • carry out investigations and oversight
  • can influence whether a nominee is considered by the senate (eg. Merrick Garland nominated by Obama but members of senate judiciary committee supported Mitch McConnell’s refusal to hold hearings on the appointment
53
Q

select committees

A
  • set up to deal with specific emergency issues
  • most are temporary except 2 committees for intelligence
  • carry out high profile and detailed hearings in the public interest
54
Q

house select committee on benghazi

A
  • set up to investigate 2012 terrorist attack in which ambassador of libya was killed
  • spent $7 million
  • questioned Hilary Clinton for 11 hours
  • released 800 page report 2016 which didn’t find new evidence against Hilary
55
Q

house rules committee

A
  • 13 members
  • weighed in favor of the majority party 2:1
56
Q

role of house rules committee

A
  • sets the rules for bills
  • determines how much time they will have on the floor
  • determines whether amendments will be allowed
  • determines what is debated on the floor of house
57
Q

consequences of committee rules

A
  • number of bills debated on closed rules has increased (115th = 56%)
  • prevents legislation from being improved
58
Q

chair of house rules committee

A
  • Pete Sessions (2013 - 2019) received millions in donated for his campaign funds as reslt of his influence
59
Q

conference committees

A
  • set up to consider a specific bill
  • occurs wen the house and the senate have passed different versions of the same bill
  • they sit down and merge the two bills
  • party leaders increasingly prevent bills from going to conference committee because because the shape of the final bill will be out of their control
60
Q

examples of use of conference committees

A
  • 104th 67 conference reports vs 7 in 115th
61
Q

ways in which congress represent their constituents

A
  • communicating
  • passing legislation
  • committee membership
  • lobbying the executive
  • constituency casework
62
Q

communicating with constituents

A
  • through visits to their state or district including town hall meetings
  • through social media, letters or emails
63
Q

passing legislation

A
  • debate, amend and vote
  • may follow delegate or trustee model
64
Q

committee membership

A
  • sit on committees that allow them to defend their districts interests
  • Eg. 2015-2020 Pat Roberts steered bipartisan farm bill giving farmers billions for better access to crop insurance
65
Q

lobbying the executive

A
  • for funds or policies that would benefit their constituents
  • federal gov may allocate funding to secure support which is controversial (pork barrel funding)
  • legislation in 2011 aimed to limit pork barrel funding but it increased dramatically in 2018-19
66
Q

constituency casework

A
  • problems raised by constituents about federal agency (eg. issues with benefit arrangements)
  • congress use their staff to help (eg. by supporting them in documentation)
67
Q

house and senate have joint powers in:

A
  • legislation
  • oversight
  • overriding presidential veto
  • initiating amendments
  • declaring war
68
Q

congress and executive

A
  • president has frequent meetings with members
  • Executive office of legislative affairs lobbies members of congress to vote for the presidents legislation
  • cabinet officers and key figures can reach out to congress to confirm their support on key votes
  • president may use their informal powers to persuade members of congress to support their agenda
69
Q

congress and the supreme court

A
  • ability to rule things unconstitutional gives SC control over control
  • 1996 DOMA passed by congress which was later struck down by two supreme court rulings
  • senate responsible for confirming, impeaching and trialing supreme court justices
70
Q

congress is a broken branch

A
  • frequent gridlock
  • only 2-3% of bills become law
  • government shutdowns
  • congress has not declared war since 1941 despite regular military action by USA
71
Q

congress is not a broken branch

A
  • major legislation passed every year
  • bipartisan compromise still possible (eg, First Step Act 2018)
  • CARES act shows congress can unite in times of national emergency
  • congress has impeached and tried three presidents

US Politics (8 decks)

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