Congress Flashcards
Where in the constitution does it lay out the powers of congress
Article 1
How was congress designed by the 5 founding fathers
- so it’s powers douldn’t be removed
- congress was designed to be most accountable branch to voters
- house of reps elected every 2 years
- to be able to protect rights of states from within federal gov and to challenge and limit power of newly formed presidency
What is the structure of congress
- bicameral (made up of 2 chambers), house of reps and senate
- house of reps directly appointed, senate appointed by state legislatures, each state gets 2
- House should represent popular sovereignty, while senate acts as a safeguard against it ensuring every state has a voice
Why and when was it decided that senate would become an elected chamber
17th amendment 1913
- due to concerns over power of industrial monopolies to control state legislatures and influence appointments of senators
What is the size of the house of reps in congress
435 house of reps, each one roughly represents 765,000 people
What is the election cycle of congress
- congressional election occurs every 2 years.
- uses FPTP
- In every congressional election, every seat in house of reps is up for election as well as 1/3 of seats in the senate
What are midterm elections
- often seen as a referendum on performance of president so far, it isn’t unusual for the president to loose a chamber.
- hard for a president to achieve everything in 2 years between election and midterms, especially because of seperation of powers
What does incumbent mean
Person who holds a political office, usually referring to president, a senator, or member of house of reps
How is congress made in a bicameral nature
- 2 chambers,
- 100 senate members, 6 year terms, 2 from each state
- 435 house of reps members, 2 years terms
What’s an example of congressional elections being expensive
- 2020, congressional elections cost 7 million dollars, with 9/10 most expensive senate races ever
What’s an example of if the incumbent is already well known, they don’t need to spend as much money
- senate Republican leader McConnell spend 34 dollars per vote, compared to 92 dollars a vote from his democratic challenger
What congressional advantages do incumbents have
- provided with a website so they can explain political beliefs, demonstrate policy
- franking priviledeges, cost of mailings to their constituents is provided by congress.
What is gerrymandering
Where a states governing party draws the boundaries of each constituency to give it an electoral advantage, producing relatively few swing seats, giving the incumbent the advantage
What impact does the election cycle have on congress
With seats up for election every 2 years, control of congress and presidency or 2 houses can be split between 2 parties, which has become more common in recent history
Eg: since 1969, US government has been split 70% of the time
What are the powers the house of reps hold
- power of the purse
- impeachment
- choose the president if electoral college is deadlocked
What are the concurrent powers in congress
- creating legislation
- override president vetos
- propose constitutional amendments
- declare war
- confirm new vice president
- investigation
What are the powers of the senate in congress
- ratifying treaties
- confirm appointments
- to try cases of impeachment
- choose president if electoral college is deadlocked
What’s an example of congress creating/amending legislation in the Biden administration
- Biden ‘build back better plan’, consisted of 3 parts, recovery, infrastructure, social security. Recovery plan passed but other 2 were held up in congress with senators such as Manchin and progressive democrats objectifying to the 2 parts of his proposed package.
What’s an example of congress amending/creating/rejecting legislation in the Trump administration
- congress’ refusal to pass legislation finding the trumps border wall led to the longest shutdown in government history
What’s an example of congress overriding a presidents veto
- 2020, congress overrode Trumps veto of national defence authorisation act with bipartisan cooperation between republicans and democrats
What’s an example of congress declaring war
- after attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, Roosevelt’s asked congress to formally declare wad
What’s an example of congress doing an investigation
- congress has the power to subpoena - ordering someone to attend a hearing and compel them to give evidence
- eg: 4 congressional committees investigated alleged Russian interference in 2016 presidential election
What’s an example of the house of representatives using the power of the purse
- 2018, trump requested budget for environmental. Protection be cut by 1/3, however house repubs had it only cut by 6%
What’s a an example of house of reps bringing charges of impeachment
- happened to trump twice, second time was a week before his term expired
