Congress Flashcards
Explain the constitution and origins of Congress (reword)
Explain the influence of the majority and minority leaders on the work of Congress
Roles and responsibilities
- Maj leader usually works closely with the minority leaders (but they have very few specific powers, instead they must use ‘The power of persuasion’ )
- When several representatives are seeking recognition, the presiding officer in the Senate / Speaker of the House, will call on the majority leader first, then the minority.
- Maj leader will often work with committee chairs. Thus, also fashions unanimous consent agreements
– Harry Reid took over negotiations to put together the $787 billion economic stimulus package of 2009
– LBJ = “master of the Senate”
Representation
- Maj leader rep maj. party
– Mitch McConnell hailed as one of best maj. leaders - longest-serving Senate leader in history
– He coordinated the Republicans’ efforts in the Senate to oppose Obamacare
– May 2011 = McConnell joined other Republicans in announcing that he would not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless various programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, underwent spending cuts
- Min leader rep min party - spokesperson - party’s interests
– Minority Leader Gerald Ford = “As Minority Leader during [LBJ’s] Dem administration, my responsibility has been to propose Republican alternatives”
– Ford’s predecessor had even more visibility – dubbed “Ev and Charlie Show” (Everett Dirksen weekly meetings with Charles A. Halleck - min leaders in S + H)
– Even as min leader he introduced a constitutional amendment to permit public school administrators providing for organized prayer by students - dubbed the ‘Dirksen Amendment’
Legislation?
- They have the right of first recognition by speaker, enables maj leader to offer amendments, substitutes, and motions before any other – called “filling the tree”
– Robert Byrd = “the most potent weapon in the Majority Leader’s arsenal.”
- Maj leader schedules business on the floor by calling bills from the calendar and keeps members of his party advised about the daily legislative agenda
– Harry Reid (Dem), during Obama administration, was called “a dictator”
– Reid put legislation on the floor as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition - Reps point out they were allowed to vote on only nine of their proposed amendments
Explain the influence of the Speaker on the work of Congress
Responsibilities:
- Presides over the House and keeps decorum
- Oversees House staff –> appoints non-elected staff in House (e.g. Parliamentarian, Historian, General Counsel, Inspector General)
– Pelosi appointed Matthew Wasniewski = 4th historian of the US House of Reps (since 2010)
– Jonathan Meyer = 6th General Counsel (since 2021)
- Appoints members to committee posts
– Nancy Pelosi announced: -> Joseph Morelle serve on House Committee on Appropriations
-> Mary Peltola serve on House Committee on Natural Resources
-> Pat Ryan serve on House Armed Services Committee.
– Pelosi appointed Liz Cheney to Capitol riot Committee
Leadership:
- Most visible - explain leg. agenda to wider public
– Nancy Pelosi (2007-2019 and 2019-2023) = 1st female speaker of House. Prominent in shaping Obamacare (2010)
– Sam Rayburn (1940-1947, 1949-1953, 1955-1961) = 1 of longest serving speakers (17 years). Helped pass sig leg. = Marshall Plan (1948) + Taft-Hartley Act (1947)
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- Typically head of maj party - can assist passage of leg. by managing rules on the House floor
– Paul Ryan (2015-2019) = Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017) - united Rep maj.
– Tip O’Neill (1977-1987) (Dem- 1970s + 1980s) - helped pass Social Security Amendment (1983). Known for ability to build bipartisan consensus and using rules of the House to his advantage
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- Works closely with other leadership figures (e.g. House Majority + Minority Leader + leadership in Senate)
– Mitch McConnell and Charles Schummer (2017-present) (maj. + min. leader of Senate) - negotiated on issus like govt funding, COVID, judicial nominations
Relationships with other branches:
- Presides over joint sessions of Congress
- Works with Pres
– Tip O’Neill + Ronald Reagan (1981-1987) = (dem, rep) –> worked together on tax reforms (1981) and Social Security Reforms (1983)
– Newt Gingrich + Bill Clinton (1995-1999) = (rep, dem) –> welfare reform and Balanced Budget Act (1997)
– Nancy Pelosi + George W Bush (2007-2009) = (dem, rep) –> Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008) (dubbed “Wall Street bailout”)
– John Boehner + Obama (2011-2015) –> Budget Control Act (2011) + American Taxpayer Relief Act (2012)
Explain the seniority rule within Congress
Seniority Rule in Committees
= number of years of unbroken service that a member of a standing Congressional committee has on that committee
- The Rules of the House, Senate and caucuses have always given weight to seniority in allocating power.
- Changed with a limit of a 6-year term and the chair always coming from the maj party of the chamber
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Seniority Rule in Majority Chair
= Maj party committee member with the most seniority will be selected as chairman and thus be awarded the power to hire and fire most of the committee’s staff, to determine which majority party members will be appointed to subcommittees, and to control bills for consideration
– Kay Granger is chair of United States House Committee on Appropriations = aims to cut wasteful spending, conduct strict oversight of the Biden administration and focus funding on national security
– Cathy Rodgers is chair of Energy and Commerce Committee = wants to increase partisanship, secure “a clean energy future” and improve transparency about the prices hospitals charge patients
– Michael McCaul chairs Foreign Affairs Committee = wants to provide aid to Ukraine , but added Reps “are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check”
Seniority rule in Minority leader
- Min party member of the committee with most seniority gets to pick the minority party members of subcommittees and act as his party’s main spokesperson on committee matters.
- When bills drafted in the committee are reported out for debate the Chairman and the ranking minority member decide members of their party to debate
– Ranking member of Committee of Appropriations = Rosa DeLauro
– Committee on Armed Services (senate) = Roger Wicker
– House Committee on Agriculture = David Scott
Explain the importance of committees on the work of Congress
Legislation
- Speaker assigns bills to committees
- In Senate, maj. leader decides
- Committees then decide if they want to hear it (can get ‘pigeon-holed’)
- If not, ‘marked up’ (where amendments added)
- If they sup bill they will ‘order the Bill to be reported’
- If they can’t get out of committees, they die:
– Clinton’s healthcare reform
- In house, House Rules Committee set time limits, rules etc. on debates
- Conference committees join two differing versions of a bill - 10%
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Investigations
- Often topical issues + seek to find out whether something has a benefit to the US
- can subpoena evidence and witnesses to aid them in their investigation
– Senate Foreign Relations Committee = investigated the effect of NATO Enlargement
– Senate Banking Committee’s = Clinton’s Whitewater investments
- Can also ask foreign politicians to come and testify:
– MP George Galloway was called to give evidence over Iraq
- Select committees investigate issues more complex:
– ‘Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi’
– MLK + JFK assassination
Confirmation hearings (only senate)
- E.g. Supreme Court – Senate Judiciary Committee
- Director of the OMB needs conf.
– Armed Services Committee to discuss nomination of Melissa Griffin Dalton to be Under Secretary of the Air Force (Jan 2024)
– Foreign Relations Committee = Cardell Kenneth Richardson to be Inspector General (Jan 2024)
- 11 SC nom rejected by Senate
– Last = Robert Bork (1987)
– John Tower = Sec of Defence
Explain the legislative process
Explain congressional legislative devices
Fillibuster
- Parliamentary device that can disrupt the passage of legislation. Can only be used in the Senate
- ‘Killing off a bill’
- Group filibusters more influential than individual ones
- Majority over 60 seats is deemed filibuster proof
– Senator Strom Thurmond (1957)- Civil Rights Bill, 24 hrs
– Senator Rand Paul- 12 hrs
– Alfonse D’Amato- Defence Authorisation Act, 23 hrs
–113th Congress = 36 bills filibustered
Gridlock + shutdown (link to filibuster?)
= When legislation faces difficulties in being passed due to different party control in the legislature or executive
- Can occur in two places:
– If the House of Representatives and Senate are controlled by different parties
– Congress is united under one party, but the Presidency is controlled by the opposing party
- Gridlocks can lead to government shutdowns. There have been 4 shutdowns:
1) 1995-1996, President Clinton + Republican Congress unable to agree on spending levels, so the government shut down twice= 26 days.
2) 2013: standoff over funding for the Affordable Care Act= 16 days
3) December 2018 and January 2019, a dispute over border wall funding led to a shutdown= 35 days; partial shutdown because Congress had previously passed 5 / 12 appropriation bills.
– 2023: Congress struggled to pass the federal budget because policymakers couldn’t agree on whether (or how) to raise the debt ceiling
– 2013: Republicans blocked President Obama’s judicial nominations
Ronald Reagan + George W Bush faced divided Congress
Log-rolling
- Where 2 or more lawmakers agree to support each other’s legislative proposals, often exchanging votes to achieve their shared goals
– Compromise of 1850: 5 bills that resolved issues relating to slavery + territorial expansion after Mexican-American war
– Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare)– different lawmakers agreed to support the bill for different benefits. E.g. Senator Mary Landrieu (Louisiana) received funding for Medicaid expansion in her state for her vote
– Tax Reform bill (2017)
Pork-barrelling
= allocation of federal spending for projects specifically designed to bring money or benefit to an elected representative’s constituents
– Montana State University= $740,000 research into weed control through sheep grazing
– Big Dig High Project= moved 3.5 miles of highway underground, initially cost $3 bn, ended up costing $14.6 bn
– ‘Alaska Bridge to Nowhere’, costed $398 million but never got off the ground
– 2010– Citizens Against Government Waste organisation: 9,000+ examples of pork-barreling attached to legislation
Explain the concurrent powers of Congress
Explain the exclusive House powers
Power of the purse
— PoP= the ability to tax and spend public money for the Federal Government.
— Outlined in Appropriations Clause & Taxing and Spending Clause.
— US Federal Budget will be passed by Congress, but typically presented to Congress by Pres, who add amendments
— (e.g. ended the Vietnam War, through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 = suspended all federal funding for war)
- Vote on Impeachment
- 3 Pres
- 8/20 guilty
- 15/20 justices
- Most rec. with federal judge Thomas Porteous in 2010. Others: Pres Clinton in 1998 for perjury + obstruction of justice)
Elect a President should the Electoral College deadlock
— e.g. 1824: John Quincy Adams chosen by house, even tho Andrew Jackson got more votes
Explain the exclusive Senate powers
Confirm Presidential appointments
- E.g. Supreme Court – Senate Judiciary Committee
- Director of the OMB needs conf.
– Armed Services Committee to discuss nomination of Melissa Griffin Dalton to be Under Secretary of the Air Force (Jan 2024)
– Foreign Relations Committee = Cardell Kenneth Richardson to be Inspector General (Jan 2024)
- 11 SC nom rejected by Senate
– Last = Robert Bork (1987)
– John Tower = Sec of Defence
Ratify Treaties
– Treaty of Paris (1763)
– United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (2018)
– New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW START) in 2010 required negotiation by Pres + supermajority (2/3) in Senate
- During first 200 years, Senate has approved more than 1,500 treaties, only rejecting 21
– Treaty of Versailles rejected twice
– Clinton: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1996) rejected
– Obama: Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012)(treaty) rejected
– Jimmy Carter: Panama Canal Treaty (1977)
Try the accused in cases of impeachment
– Impeachment of Harry E. Claiborne (1986) established a special trial committee to hear evidence and report to the full Senate
– Alcee Hastings (1989), Walter Nixon, Jr. (1989), and Thomas Porteous (2010), all of whom were convicted
– Nixon challenged the use of an impeachment committee on constitutional grounds = Nixon v. United States (1993), Sup Court upheld Senate’s right to determine its own procedures, including the use of a trial committee
– 8/20 guilty
– 15/20 have been judges
Elect the Vice President in the case of Electoral College deadlock
– 1837 Richard M. Johnson first (and only) to be elected by Senate
Explain the importance of representation in Congress
Rep party- maj + min leader
Rep state interests?
– Tip O’Neill introduced a $1-billion jobs bill in election - House Leader Robert H. Michel (Peoria, Illinois) opposed the bill - O’Neill delivered an address in Peoria that showed how many infrastructure problems in Peoria would be fixed by the bill. Matthews wrote that “by hitting his rival where he lived, O’Neill translated a debate over national economic policy to the local level”
Rep society
- 118th Congress
– 72% male
– 28% female
– 74% white
– 11% black
– 88% Christian
– 0.2% unaffiliated
Dems:
– 59% male
– 59% white
– 76% Christian
Reps:
– 83% male
– 89% white
– 99% Christian
Age:
1983– House = 49
Senate = 54
2023– House = 58
Senate = 64
Women:
– Dems- 1992- ‘Year of the Woman- doubled no. of women in Congress
– 1979-1980 = 16 (House), 0 (Senate)
– 2017-2018 = 83 (House), 21 (Senate)
– Of 83 elected, 62 Dems, 21 Rep. Of 21 elected, 16 Dems, 5 Rep.
– 2016 = 19% (House), 21% (Senate)
African-Americans:
– 1993-1994 = 38 (House)
2017-2018 = 46 (House), 4 (Senate)
– Only rep. in Senate in 2005-2006 = 2
Hispanic-Americans:
– 115th Congress
4 states represented by Hispanic in Senate (Florida, New Jersey, Nevada, Texas)
– 34 Hispanic house members: 25 Dems. 9 Reps
– Hispanics = 8% house, 4% senate
Jobs:
– House- 40% lawyers, Senate- 60% lawyers
– House- 53% banking/business, Senate- 42%
– 60% previous politicians
Explain the influences on Congressional voting
Pressure Groups
- Form close relations with member of Congress and with members of committees and executive departments.
- Provide funding to Congressional candidates (‘the greenback always rules’) - interest groups ask politicians to sign a pledge. – Republicans signed a ‘no new taxes pledge’ = no Republican in Congress voted for a tax increase for 20 years (95% signed pledge)
– If a company that makes weapons systems wants to influence a defense bill, it will lobby members of the Armed Services Committees in the House and the Senate or the House and Senate appropriations committees if the bill requires new funding
- They publicise voting records
– Christian Coalition issues “voter guides” on issues such as school prayer and abortion
– Kevin McCarthy = received $886,000 from lobbyists
– Maria Cantwell = $668,000
The Administration
– Members of the executive branch including POTUS (power of persuasion), VPOTUS, cabinet members
- Said - distance from Congress to White House = “a mile and a half is a long way”
– LBJ - ‘Johnson treatment’ + using his years of experience in the Senate as a former Majority Leader
– Obama - Rose Garden Speech 2013 (convinced of need to take military action in Syria over govt’s use of chemical weapons)
– Trump transported entire Senate to White House for briefing on North Korea in 2017
– Obama had meetings with Rep Speaker John Boehner to advance his leg agenda
Political Party
– Congress members can be pressured by other members and expectations of their party
- Parties in US becoming increasingly polarised with each other - more partisan
– Reps vote for guns and against abortion:
– Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 = passed in House (219-210), failed in Senate (only 1 Dem = Joe Manchin, against, all Reps against)
– Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 - passed = 51-48
– Climate change = 21% (Reps) v 78% (Dems) = top priority
– Inflation Reduction Act (2022) (money to climate change) - not a SINGLE Rep voted for it in House or Senate!
– 2024 Legislative Branch Funding Bill - 214-197 (Reps + 4 Dems v Dems)
– 117th Congress = 54% of the leg passed was partisan
– 79% of 136 pieces of legislation passed in House in 2023 were partisan
Personal Beliefs
– The personal beliefs of a legislator will guide who they vote, regardless
– House Rep member Walter Jones voted against his party 1/3 of time
– Dem Collin Peterson - 30%
– Dem Joe Manchin set to block key Biden energy plan
Explain the effect of increased partisanship on the work of Congress
Legislation
-How much is passed, type is passed
– e.g. of partisanship leg
Gridlock + govt shutdown
When legislation faces difficulties in being passed due to different party control in the legislature or executive
- Can occur in two places:
– If the House of Representatives and Senate are controlled by different parties
– Congress is united under one party, but the Presidency is controlled by the opposing party
- Gridlocks can lead to government shutdowns. There have been 4 shutdowns:
1) 1995-1996, President Clinton + Republican Congress unable to agree on spending levels, so the government shut down twice= 26 days.
2) 2013: standoff over funding for the Affordable Care Act= 16 days
3) December 2018 and January 2019, a dispute over border wall funding led to a shutdown= 35 days; partial shutdown because Congress had previously passed 5 / 12 appropriation bills.
– 2023: Congress struggled to pass the federal budget because policymakers couldn’t agree on whether (or how) to raise the debt ceiling
– 2013: Republicans blocked President Obama’s judicial nominations
Ronald Reagan + George W Bush faced divided Congress
Weak President
- FDR, Truman, LBJ - all same party (Dems)
– Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, Obama - divided
– Ford: Dems accused him of doing too little to help Americans suffering from the economy
– Congress overrode President Ford’s veto of the $56 billion appropriations bill
– House voted to kill off Ford’s plan for a gradual rise in oil prices over 39 months
Confirming Presidential appointments
- Sup Court
- Senate Confirmation Vote
Explain the effect of party leadership on the work of Congress
Legislation
-Speaker + maj & min leader
– Harry Reid took over negotiations to put together the $787 billion economic stimulus package of 2009
– LBJ = “master of the Senate”
– Harry Reid (Dem), during Obama administration, was called “a dictator”
– Reid put legislation on the floor as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition - Reps point out they were allowed to vote on only nine of their proposed amendments
– Dirksen Amendment
Representation
- Maj leader rep maj party
- Min leader rep min party
- Speaker rep everyone
- Presiding Officer of Senate everyone
– Mitch McConnell hailed as one of best maj. leaders - longest-serving Senate leader in history
– He coordinated the Republicans’ efforts in the Senate to oppose Obamacare
– May 2011 = McConnell joined other Republicans in announcing that he would not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless various programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, underwent spending cuts
- Min leader rep min party - spokesperson - party’s interests
– Minority Leader Gerald Ford = “As Minority Leader during [LBJ’s] Dem administration, my responsibility has been to propose Republican alternatives”
– Ford’s predecessor had even more visibility – dubbed “Ev and Charlie Show” (Everett Dirksen weekly meetings with Charles A. Halleck - min leaders in S + H)
Relationship with other branches
- Speaker works closely with Pres
Explain the effect of bipartisanship on the work of Congress
Legislation
- Power more decentralised in Senate - smaller size - greater potential for co-operation between parties than the House (esp. if maj & min leaders forge an effective relationship)
– Climate Solutions Caucus = bipartisan Senate Caucus consisting of Dems, Reps + Independ.
– 115th Congress + 116th Congress, members of Problems Solvers Caucus released proposals on important issues where they believed Dems + Reps could work together –> proposal to repeal the medical device tax became law
– 113th Congress - Sen. Murkowski = 33/43 bills drew cosponsors
– 107th Congress - Sen. McCain = 31/45 bills drew cosponsors.
Bipartisan cosponsors: Murkowski = 85%
McCain = 67%
(both had high legislative effectiveness scores compared to other members)
– Dems worked with Rep Ronald Reagan during 1980s
– Biden + bipartisan group of Senators agreed on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package
– Reps + Dems came together on Military Sexual Assault Prevention (2021)
– Obama + Congress passed bipartisan leg = “Jumpstart our Business Startups” (JOBS) Act
– The ‘Era of Good Feelings’ (1815-1825)
Times of crisis
– 1981 - Ronald Reagan = faction of conservative Dems in House to pass tax + spending cuts (high unemployment & inflation)
– 1990 - George HW Bush = Dems agreed to bipartisan budget deal under the threat of cuts in domestic + defense spending
– 2011 - Obama = Republican leaders negotiated a package of spending cuts
– 2020 - Trump = Dem majority in House agreed to bills to fight the COVID
(As a side note- influences of bipartisanship - one is united/divided govt. United- rely on own party - don’t need bipartisanship
– 1993, Clinton + Dems passed tax + spending increases without Reps support
– 2009, Obama + Dems developed an economic stimulus bill with no Reps
– 2017, Trump only Reps to pass major tax cut bill)
