Congress Flashcards
What is the current composition of the House and Senate
House- 213 DEM/ 221 REP
Senate- 48 DEM/ 49 REP, Three independent- Angus King, Bernie Sanders, Krysten sinema
What is the current rate of incumbency in House/ Senate?
House- 95%
Senate- 84%
What is teh significance of teh Georgia Senate elections in 2020?
Two senate seats up, in Georgia must win over 50% of votes
despite georgia having two rep incumbents, dems won both seats, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock
What is the impact of election cycles in Congress?
President- “lame duck” president after mid-terms of second term, can damage mandate
Congress- can damage ability to pass budgets e.g. 2023 budget,
Which chamber in Congress has more powers?
House- power of the purse, Bringing impeachment charges, choosing president if electoal college is deadlocked
Senate- Ratyfying treaties, trying cases of impeachment, confirming appointments, choosing vice potus if electoral college is deadlocked
Concurrent powers of congress
Creating Legislation- President must ask congress if they wanted to pass legislation e.g. Trump, 2017 tax cuts and jobs act, can be impacted by party factions e.g. Bidens Build back better Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema
Overiding Potus veto- Trump used 10 in 4 years, Congress overode 1, Bush used 12, Congress overode 4
Exclusive powers of House
Power of the purse- set out in constitution, President sends budget to House budget committee, eg. Trumps cutting of EPA by 1/3 down to 6% by Rep controlled House
Charges of impeachment- Article 2, Section 4 gave House ability ot bring charges of impeachment
Exlusive powers of the Senate
Ratifying treaties- passed by a 2/3 super majority, 20110 Senate voted to ratify START treaty, can be bypassed by Executive agreements
Confirming appointments- confirm by simple majority appointments made by POTUS, includes SCOTUS e.g. Amy Coney-Barrett by 52-48 in senate and Mike Pompeo 57-42 in senate after firing of rex tillerson
Trying cases of impeachment- must be found guilty by 2/3 MAJORITY, AND WOULD be immeditely removed from office , eg.g Judge Porteous in 1999
Tommy Tubervile example
US Senate, motions can be blocked by a single senator, e.g Tuberville using right to hold on military appointments over civilian members of the military recievign compensation over trips for outer state abortions.
Congress does fulfil its representative function
ACA, passed in 2010, to show bipartisan Act
American Rescue Act- helped businesses struggling with covid $1.9 trillion stimulus package
1117th congress- 1/4 is african american compared to 5 members in 1965
delegate model leads to regular 2 year election cycles
Congressional Caucas provides a broad church “ Dobbs Franks bill”
