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Congress Flashcards

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1
Q

The structure of Congress: House + Senate

A

House 435 - 2 year term
Senate 100 - 6 year term

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2
Q

What are the 9 powers of Congress

A
  1. Legislative powers
  2. Overriding a presidential veto (JASTA)
  3. Initiating amendments to the Constitution
  4. Ratifying treaties (Senate)
  5. Declaring war (not used since 1941 as modern Ps avoid)
  6. Congressional oversight (approving federal budgets + committees)
  7. Confirming presidential appointments (Senate only)
  8. Impeachment and removal from office (House initiate Senate try)
  9. Electing the P in the event of a hung electoral college (last was 1824)
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3
Q

3 roles of Congress?

A
  1. Passing legislation
  2. Representing the people
  3. Overseeing the executive
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4
Q

How many congressional districts does the most populous state (California) with 40 million inhabitants have as of 2020?

A

53

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5
Q

How are smaller states overrepresented in the Senate?

A
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6
Q

Before being considered by the whole chamber, a bill is examined by a ….

A

standing committee

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7
Q

What is the criteria for becoming a member of Congress?

A

Age: 25 House 30 Senate
Citizenship : House 7 years Senate 9
Residency must be in the US

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8
Q

How can Congress be argued to not reflect the diversity of America?

A

Women severely underrepresented (28% vs 51% of population)
Same with Hispanics (9% vs 18%)

Only 1 atheist despite 23% of Americans being atheist!

‘Pale, male and stale’

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9
Q

However, what could suggest Congress more diverse than ever?

A

More women than ever before (currently 28%)

118th the most racially diverse (especially Bidens cabinet with 13 women 13 men and the majority of those women being from EM backgrounds! e.g. US ambassador to the UN African American Linda Thomas-Greenfield)

African Americans are pretty much equally represented (12% vs 13%)

The squad - A Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar and Pressley

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10
Q

What is America set to be by 2045?

A

Minority white

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11
Q

In 2019 what percentage of the US population were immigrants?

A

14%

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12
Q

In what Congress were 2 Muslim women elected and a record of 4 native Americans?

A

116th (2019-21)

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13
Q

What party are women better represented in?

A

Democratic party (105 vs 37 in Reps)

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14
Q

Which party better represents African Americans?

A

Democrats (58 vs 3)

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15
Q

Who are overrepresented?

A

Christians (88% vs 71% of population)

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16
Q

Why are such groups underrepresented?

A

Women and AA are underrepresented in state legislatures which lowers their chance of reaching Congress

Culture and traditions

Senators have to be physically present to vote which is harder for women as they are unable to take maternity leave

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17
Q

In 2018 who became the first senator to have a baby in office and convinced the Senate to change their rules and allow young children in the chamber?

A

Democrat Tammy Duckworth

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18
Q

Why are Hispanics better represented in the House?

A

Because of majority-minority districts where a majority of voters are from the same minority ethnic group

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19
Q

Who describes the Senate as the chamber to ‘cool’ legislation?

A

George Washington

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20
Q

What percentage of Americans disapprove of Congress?

A

70%

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21
Q

What are the 5 unique features of the legislative process?

A

Gridlock
Divided government
Unified government
Filibuster
Cloture

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22
Q

What was the longest filibuster in history?

A

Strom Thurmond 24 hours 18 minutes opposing the civil rights act 1957

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23
Q

Does Congress perform its legislative function effectively ? Yes:

A

Has passed transformative legislation such as Obamacare, CARES Act

Unified government allows legislation to be passed smoothly (for the most)

Even during times of hyper-partisanship compromise is possible (CARES Act 2020 and First Steps Act 2018 which reformed the CJS - 87-12 in the Senate)

Emergency legislation

Can reject legislation proposed by the executive

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24
Q

Does Congress perform its legislative function effectively? No:

A

Only 2-3% of bills become law vs 1980s with 6-7%

112th Congress passed 283 bills, making it the least productive congress in history

Gridlock is common especially during divided government

Senators can filibuster bills

Increased use of ‘closed rules’ by House Rules Committee preventing improvements

Presidential vetoes are rarely overturned since a supermajority of 2/3 in each chamber is needed

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25
Q

What are the 4 subtopics within oversight?

A

Investigating the executive

Confirmation of nominees

Impeachment

Senate ratification of treaties

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26
Q

Is oversight delegated power or implied power?

A

Implied as it is not specified in the Constitution

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27
Q

Define oversight

A

The process by which Congress oversees and scrutinises the activities of the federal government- important part of checks and balances

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28
Q

When may presidents face less scrutiny?

A

During periods of high public approval ratings such as Bush 90% after 9/11

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29
Q

What 2 committees investigate the actions of the executive?

A

Standing and select - they hold hearings and can compel (subpoena) witnesses

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30
Q

What is a problem with such investigations?

A

They can be used to smear the political opposition with bad publicity rather than carrying out effective and truthful scrutiny

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31
Q

It is also a vast workload for Congress. What office supports Congress in investigating the audit of the executive?

A

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

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32
Q

However what has happened to the GAO recently?

A

It has been reduced in size for example staff in the GAO, Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office were cut by 45% between 1975 and 2015

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33
Q

What has the confirmation process been criticised for?

A

Its politicisation and controversial approvals such as VP + Senate President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote to confirm Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos in 2017 despite her lack of basic knowledge of education and arguing guns in schools would protect children from bears

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34
Q

Usually the Senate does not block nominations and refuse to confirm appointments. The President is encouraged to nominate high-quality individuals.

However, when was a time the Senate refused to confirm an appointment?

A

2016 Merrick Garland

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35
Q

Congress can impeach and try the president for ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours’.

What did the Democrats launch in 2018 after gaining control of the House?

A

A series of investigations into Trump that resulted in his first impeachment

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36
Q

How many Republicans voted to impeach Trump in the Senate during his 1st vs 2nd impeachment?

A

1st - just 1 Senator (highly partisan vote)

2nd - 7 Senators (57 guilty 43 not guilty)

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37
Q

What happened after Trump’s impeachment?

A

His approval ratings went up to 49%! Showed impeachment is not always an effective check on the president

38
Q

Give three international treaties that the Senate has rejected:

A

Treaty of Versailles (1920)- international isolationism for USA

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1999) - would have banned the testing of nuclear weapons

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012)

39
Q

What have recent presidents used instead?

A

Executive orders - allowing them to bypass oversight from Congress - Cheeky!

40
Q

Does congress fulfil its oversight function effectively? Yes:

A

Strong oversight during divided government

Standing and select committees investigations of the executive provide high-profile scrutiny

Congress is better able to check on an an unpopular or lame duck president

Congress can impeach

Fear of impeachment prompts the p and government officials to act within the law

President must work closely with Congress during negotiations to secure ratification

Senate can refuse to confirm presidential appointments

41
Q

Does Congress fulfil its oversight function effectively? No:

A

Members of Congress are generally reluctant to criticise the P if they belong to the same party e.g. during unified government

Congress’ lack of popularity makes it difficult to attack a popular president

Investigations can and often are politicised and partisan e.g. Select Committee on Benghazi

Investigations = time consuming and costly often yielding few results

No president has ever been removed from office - often due to party allegiance as we saw in 2020 and 2021

Senate has refused to ratify reasonable treaties

Confirmation process is highly politicised

Number of employees supporting Congress in oversight (e.g. the GAO) has reduced significantly in the last 50 years

42
Q

What is the power of the purse?

A

Only Congress can raise revenue for the federal government - all tax bills must start in the House and the Senate can amend them

43
Q

What happens when neither the executive nor Congress is prepared to compromise? Give an example.

A

Government shutdown - Trump 2018-19 35 day shutdown due to him not getting the funding he wanted for his border wall - cost the government $2.3 billion and an estimated $11 billion to the economy

44
Q

What functions is the government forced to shut down?

A

Non-essential functions such as benefits applications, environment and food inspections and national park visits

45
Q

What do they do in order to avoid ‘shut down’?

A

Temporary ‘continuing resolutions’

46
Q

How did Trump find a way to bypass Congress’ power of the purse in 2019?

A

He declared a national emergency so he could use emergency federal funding for his border wall

47
Q

Does congress use the power of the purse effectively? Yes:

A

One of the most powerful checks on the executive

Executive may be forced to make concessions to Congress to avoid a shutdown

Government shutdowns are relatively rare (only happening for a few days)

48
Q

Does Congress use the power of the purse effectively? No:

A

Shutdowns are unpopular and can be lengthy

Threat hovers over every budget negotiation

Presidents are unable to reduce the size of the federal budget so US debt continues to increase

Pork barrel funding is an unnecessary use of taxpayers’ money

Trump used emergency powers to bypass Congress’ power of the purse - sets a precedent for future presidents

49
Q

What are the 4 subtopics in party system?

A

Congressional caucuses

Party leadership

Party discipline

Partisanship

50
Q

What is a congressional caucus?

A

A group of congress(wo)men who work together to achieve similar legislative aims

51
Q

Most members belong to a variety of different caucuses, but all belong to one of the two party caucuses (unless they are an independent and wish to remain separate yet Sanders and King both choose to caucus with the Dems).

What are the 4 main party caucuses?

A
  1. House Rep caucus
  2. Senate Rep caucus
  3. House Dem caucus
  4. Senate Dem caucus
52
Q

Smaller congressional caucuses act as ‘subgroupings’ and their aims are often ideological.

Give 1 Rep caucus and 1 Dem caucus + their aims

A

Rep House Freedom caucus - in 2021 45 members with a commitment to limited government

Dem Congressional Progressive caucus made up of over 100 progressive Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Pressley and Omar - ending America’s broken for-profit healthcare system, raising minimum wage and eradicating political corruption

53
Q

Give an example of a bipartisan caucus:

A

Bipartisan Heroin and Opioid Task force

Climate solutions caucus

Congressional black caucus (but only ever had 4 reps)

54
Q

Give an example of a time when a small caucus wield much power:

A

At the start of 2018 Rep House Freedom caucus opposed Trump’s budget which meant the Reps had to depend on the Dems to pass the bill

55
Q

What to the majority and minority leaders act as and do?

A

Floor leaders who plan the legislative agenda and coordinate their party for votes and debates - they try to achieve party unity

56
Q

Who is the speaker elected by?

A

All members of the House so belongs to the majority party

57
Q

What does the speaker of the House do?

A

Presides over debates and keep the House in order. They determine the legislative agenda for the House and choose members of conference and select committees

58
Q

Where does the Constitution place the speaker second to?

A

The Vice President

59
Q

When did speaker Nancy Pelosi, first female speaker, serve between?

A

2007-2011 and 2019-2023 - resigned in 2023 but she continues to sit in the House

60
Q

What did she lead the House to do in 2019?

A

Impeach Trump

61
Q

Who is the current speaker of the House?

A

Rep Mike Johnson

62
Q

SYNOPTIC LINK: While Pelosi and VP Harris have arguably been the most powerful women in US history, the glass ceiling still remains for what roles?

A

President
Chief justice of the SC
Senate majority leader
Women are also underrepresented

63
Q

Party discipline has traditionally been weak. Why may this be?

A

Numerous different factions

P doesn’t sit in the legislature

Separation of powers prevents party leaders from offering government positions to members of congress in exchange for support

64
Q

But what committee does the Speaker decide who sits on?

A

The House Rules Committee

65
Q

What happened in 2018 with Trump’s party and their turning of support?

A

Many of his critics resigned from Congress and were replaced with supporters

66
Q

Although party discipline is generally seen as weak, Congress has become more ____ and ____ over the last 2 decades

A

partisan and polarised

67
Q

Partisanship.

In the 1980s most congress(wo)men were politically centrist which promoted bipartisanship. But since the 1990s parties have become more polarised.

Give one reason why this may be:

A

The decreasing amount of competitive electoral districts - 164 in 1997 but just 97 in 2020

68
Q

What caucus was set up to try and increase bipartisanship?

A

The Problems Solvers Caucus in 2017 with 50 members from each party - led the way for the First Steps Act 2018 and Bipartisan Infrastructure bill 2021

69
Q

What are the 4 types of committee?

A

Standing
Select
House Rules
Conference

70
Q

Summary of standing committees:

A

Permanent and each focus on a specific policy area e.g. agriculture of defence

20 House 16 Senate

Much work done within subcommittees

Parties represented in the same proportion as either House or Senate

Responsible for holding hearings during the committee stages of bills AND carry out oversight of the executive (focused on the committee’s policy area)

Senate standing committees have the additional task of considering presidential appointments

Often policy specialists

Senate Judiciary Committee supported Rep Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to not hold hearings for Merrick Garland in 2016

71
Q

Summary of select committees:

A

Set up to deal with specific urgent issues - don’t work on legislation more the issue in question

Prevent standing committees from being overloaded

Most are temporary but few are permanent ie Select Committee on Intelligence which investigated Russian interference into the 2016 P elections

High-profile detailed scrutiny in the public’s interest

However investigations can be politicised as we saw with House Select Committee on Benghazi aiming to tarnish Hillary Clinton’s reputation as Secretary of State in 2012

72
Q

Summary of House rules committee:

A

Type of standing committee that sets the ‘rules’ for bills (open or closed) and determines how much time they will have on the floor.

Small membership of 13

2:1 ratio

115th Congress 56% bills under closed rules - threat to democracy and disadvantaged the minority party

Chair of the House Rules Committee often received millions in donations as Pete Sessions did between 2013 and 2019 from corporations and PGs - he reportedly used his position to oppose amendments which would have relaxed laws around marijuana in states where it is legal

73
Q

Conference committee summary:

A

Temporary set up to consider a specific bill when the senate and the house have passed 2 different versions of the same bill

Have been used less frequently in recent years e.g. 104th congress 67 but just 7 in the 115th congress

Party leaders increasingly prevent bills from reaching this stage because then the shaping of the bill is out of their control - instead they ask one chamber to adopt the other chamber’s version

74
Q

What are the 5 representative roles of senators and House representatives?

A
  1. Communicating with constituents
  2. Passing legislation
  3. Committee membership
  4. Lobbying the executive
  5. Constituency casework
75
Q

Communicating with constituents

A

Visits to states or districts, social media, letters, emails

76
Q

Passing legislation

A

May follow the delegate model or trustee model more so than mandate (due to weak party discipline)

77
Q

Committee membership

A

Congress(wo)men may sit on committees that allow them to defend their state’s interests

e.g. from 2015 to 2020 the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee was Pat Roberts, senator for the agricultural state of Kansas - Roberts steered a bipartisan farm bill through Congress (the Agriculture Improvements Act 2018) which gave farmers billions of dollars in funding and better access to crop insurance

78
Q

Lobbying the executive

A

Lobby the executive for funds or policies that will benefit their constituents

Is controversial because the federal government may allocate funding to states or districts to secure support of members of congress, not because the spending is necessary

This is known as pork barrel funding

Notorious example is the ‘bridge to nowhere’ a pledged $400 million to join a town in Alaska to Gravina Island home to about 50 people and an airport

79
Q

What legislation was put in place to try and limit pork barrel funding and ‘earmarking’ for particular projects?

A

2011 Bipartisan Control Act

80
Q

Who found this did have an impact? However when did pork barrelling start to increase again?

A

PG Citizens Against Government Waste 2012 to 2017 lower levels although $3.7 billion was still spent - in 2023 the PG released the ‘Congressional Pig Book’ which found a whopping 7,396 earmarks at a cost of $26.1 billion ! This was an increase of 38% from 2022

Rose again between 2017 and 2019 to $15 billion each year

Democrats trying to resurrect pork barrelling

81
Q

Constituency casework

A

Members of Congress are often approached by constituents asking for help with problems, particular those involved with a federal agency e.g. problems with benefits applications

82
Q

Evaluating representation: How many congress(wo)men were incumbents in 2022?

A

94%

83
Q

What was so significant about incumbency in the Senate in 2022?

A

It was the first time since the 17th amendment that ALL incumbents won their re-election bids

84
Q

What 5 powers do the House and Senate have joint powers over?

A
  1. Legislation
  2. Oversight
  3. Overriding a presidential veto
  4. Initiating amendments to the C
  5. Declaring war
85
Q

However what only chamber can confirm P appointments, ratify treaties and try impeachments?

A

The Senate

86
Q

Congress’ relationship to the executive: What Office is part of EXOP and lobbies members of Congress to vote for the Ps legislation?

A

Office for Legislative Affairs

87
Q

Relationship to the Supreme Court: What can the SC do, and what can Congress do to try and counteract this?

A

Rule Acts unconstitutional (e.g. Obergefell reversing DOMA 1996) - Constitutional amendment but this is INCREDIBLY difficult

88
Q

Is Congress the broken branch of government? Yes:

A

Yes:

There is frequent gridlock

Only 2-3% of bills become law

Increased partisanship

Low approval rates

Government shutdowns are unpopular and disruptive

Politicised appointment process

Investigations are more about political point-scoring

Unnecessary pork barrel funding

Trump’s impeachment voted on partisan grounds

Democratically unelected SC Court can declare laws unconstitutional

Uncompetitive districts = polarised and divided Congress

Congress has not declared war since 1941 despite regular military action by the USA

89
Q

Is Congress the broken branch of government? No:

A

Major legislation is still passed every year

Bipartisan compromises are possible e.g. First Steps Act

CARES Act showed Congress could respond to national emergency

Incumbency is high

Congressional investigations provided much needed scrutiny and oversight of the executive

Power of the purse allows Congress to hold the executive to account

Congress has impeached and tried 3 presidents

Senate confirmation of SC justices encourages presidents to choose experienced nominees who will stand up to public scrutiny

Polarisation in Congress is a representative of a divided USA

90
Q

What caucus are most of the African Americans in Congress a part of?

A

The Congressional Black Caucus - aims to ensure civil rights and that black people aren’t marginalised

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