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Congress Flashcards

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1
Q

Bicameral?

A

majority needed in both houses for legislation to be passed

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2
Q

Senate make up

A

2 per state

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3
Q

Representative make up

A

proportionate to the state e.g Alaska has 1 and Texas 38

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4
Q

Senate main positions

A

President of the Senate - held by V.P and has the power to break the tie vote in the Senate
Majority leader - elected by the party with the majority, spokesperson (currently Chuck Schumer)
Minority leader - elected by the party with a minority and is the spokesperson (Mitch McConnell)
both leaders coordinate their legislative agenda

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5
Q

Congress main positions

A

Speaker - de facto leader of the majority party and is the spokesperson for their parties position (Mike Johnson)
Majority leader - second highest ranked member and responsible for scheduling legislation
Minority leader - elected by the party with minority and spokesperson

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6
Q

Power given to Congress

A

Article 1 gives it the power to pass legislation, declare war and elastic clause, A.2 gives power to overturn P’s veto and Article 5 amendment process

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7
Q

Senate power?

A

try impeachment cases, ratify treaties (both need 2/3 agreement), confirm executive appointments

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8
Q

HoR power

A

impeach president or any other federal official, initiative revenue-raising bills and elect president if no candidate has over 50%

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9
Q

Senate more prestigious?

A

represent entire states, serve 6 term, only 100 so easier to gain important role, good launch pad for presidential campaign as can build national profile and important executive power

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10
Q

Example of senate being more prestigious

A

of the new 8 senators in 2022, 3 had been members of the HoR but none of the 74 Congresspeople elected had been senators AND Truman, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Obama and Biden had all served in the Senate

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11
Q

3 representation model

A

Trustee model - believes that elected reps are given responsibility to make own judgement (Senate)
Delegate model - should base decision on voting the wishes of their constituents (HoR)
Resemblance model - descriptively representative

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12
Q

Why are midterms importnat?

A

Referendum on the first two years of Presidency e.g in 2018 Democrats gained control of the House and in 2022 the Republicans also gained control of the house (anticipated red wave didn’t come)

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13
Q

Incumbency success

A

94% of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2022 in the HoR were elected and in 2022 in the senate 28 incumbents who ran won (only 9 defeated in 2022 in HoR)

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14
Q

significance of incumbency (use of office)

A

establish popularity and attract funding from major donors - greater name recognition ( in 2022 Senate incumbents raised 14X the amount challengers raised - $29M v. $2M) and gain a good reputation within their state/district through visits

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15
Q

safe seats (Significance of incumbency)

A

FPTP has led to a number of safe seats

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16
Q

Gerrymandering (Significance of incumbency)

A

Congressional District boundaries redraw to benefit a party e.g REDMAP 2008 where district lines were redrawn to benefit Republicans, Dems went from 12/18 districts to 5/18

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17
Q

Pork Barreling (Significance of incumbency)

A

amendments to legislation that would benefit a particular group in their constituency - $26B spent on earmarks in 2023, and Senator Richard Shelby alone passed 18. Bridge to nowhere - bridge to 50 residents cost $223M.

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18
Q

Increasing challenges to incumbents

A

1982 - 2016 74 incumbents lost primaries in 2022 there were 14 alone

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19
Q

Incumbents challenges by extremists

A

AOC winning New York 14th congressional district or 6 republicans supported the second impeachment of DT and 4 were unseated by Trump backed challengers

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20
Q

Incumbents becoming more extreme

A

threats of challengers have led to changing behaviour e.g John McCain toughened up stance on immigration

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21
Q

Parties (factor affecting Congressional voting behaviour)

A

not as united and voting on party lines not common - party leaders aren’t in charge of government and so lack patronage power. BUT there still is pressure as every week the party caucuses meet to try and united behind proposals. Society is more partisan and divided on party lines

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22
Q

example of unified parties

A

half of all votes in the first few years of the 21st century being party voters

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23
Q

example of partisanship in society

A

No democrats voted for Trumps Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and no Republicans voted for Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act

24
Q

Caucuses (factor affecting Congressional voting behaviour)

A

different factions within and between political parties who often vote together and act as a group to increase their importance and influence

25
Q

Two examples of caucuses

A

House Freedom Caucus - played a key role in removing Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker in October 2023. Congressional Progressive Caucus which is the furthest left wing faction and sought to pass legislation like Green New Deal and Medicare for All

26
Q

Example of Caucuses for represenation

A

Congressional Black Caucus

27
Q

lobbyist (factor affecting Congressional voting behaviour)

A

pressure from these groups to vote a certain way as they have a certain political agenda and seek to convince in a way that benefits them. 12,000 lobbyists and in 2021 $3.78B spent

28
Q

interest groups (factor affecting Congressional voting behaviour)

A

AARP have large, active membership so members can mobilise to create the threat of removal of members and can mobilize public opinion or NRA which was successful in preventing Obama administration from passing legislation limiting guns after a number of school shootings

29
Q

Electoral incentives and public opinion (factor affecting Congressional voting behaviour)

A

if they don’t take public opinion into account they run the risk of failing to be re-elected, sometimes means voting against the party line to win support for voters. Congresspersons with safer seats or intend to stand down at next election will vote against party line more

30
Q

example of Congresspeople voting against party line for constituency

A

Two House democrats voted against impeachment as they represented districts which had voted for Trump in 2016 and Joe Manchin often votes with Republicans due to representing West Virignia, was the reason for Biden’s Build Back Better Bill in 2021

31
Q

Percentage of women in Congress

A

28% (150 vs. 100 10 years ago)

32
Q

Percentage of ethnic minorities in Congress

A

25% (137 v. 86 10 years ago)

33
Q

Congress people LGBTQ+ v. population

A

2% in Congress identify v. 6.5% of US

34
Q

Congress people with college degrees v. public

A

94% v. 38%

35
Q

1st stage of legislative function

A
  • pass through both chambers
  • send to a standing committee which can either reject it (majority) or accept it to continue)
36
Q

Committee stage

A

Standing committees hold hearings in relation to the bills that they accept - different standing committees for different areas

37
Q

How many committees in senate and HoR

A

16 in Senate and 20 in the House

38
Q

Timetabling stage

A

Decides which bills get to be debated and voted on in the floor - and how

39
Q

Example of differing house views

A

Supreme Court Security Funding Act was passed in the House but in Senate significant amendment including its name being changed to the CHIPS and Science Act

40
Q

Conference committee/reconciliation

A

bill looks different at the end of the stages in both houses and so the Conference Committee - members in both houses, come together to create a version of the bill which is then voted on again in the chambers

41
Q

How bills did the 117th congress pass?

A

365, but 10,000 bills introduced in each congress

42
Q

Filibustering?

A

doesn’t require speaking but shows and intent and then needs 60 votes to pass it in the Senate e.g For the People Act which would expand voting rights and reform campaign finance was filibustered

43
Q

Why was the 2010 DREAM Act prevented from passing?

A

Due to filibuster and they failed to reach a closure motion

44
Q

How many committees and subcommittees?

A

200

45
Q

Important Committees

A

House Appropriations controls legislation involving government expenditure and the Senate Foreign Relations committee plays a key role in scrutinising the executive’s foreign policy

46
Q

why are committees important?

A

use their specialist knowledge in a particular area or represent the particular interests of their district

47
Q

Strengths of legislative process?

A
  • Bipartishanship in times of crisis - can be overcome like the CARES ac in 2020
  • Multiple veto points to ensure scrutiny
  • committees have experts - informed and effective legislation
  • president check on congress
48
Q

Weaknesses

A
  • high failure (2%) passed
  • partisanship and divided government leads to gridlock
  • filibustering is a tool for minority obstruction
  • Complex and there are too many veto points as barriers
  • influence of lobbying and special interest
49
Q

filibuster good?

A

During 1930s Senator Long filibustered against bills that he through favoured the rich over the poor. Senator Morse used it to educate the public on issues he considered to be of national interest

50
Q

Example of bills Biden has passed?

A
  • reduction act, American rescue plan, infrastructure and investment act and appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson
51
Q

Why is oversight powers of Congress weaker on foreign policy?

A

enacted by president alone and through executive orders and agreements rather than through legislation or treaties

52
Q

Example of Senate Committee hearing?

A

Senate Intelligence Committee investigated Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election for 3 years

53
Q

Example of HoR committee hearing

A

2023 they held a high profile on if the US government was covering up the existence of aliens

54
Q

Example of distance between Democrats and Republicans

A

voting patterns with cross party collaboration has become less common e.g near universal Republican opposition to the ACA 2010 and the universal Democrat opposition to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

55
Q

Example of Congress controlling military spending

A

National Defence Authorization Act

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