Congress Flashcards
Structure of congress
Bicameral nature, the membership of Congress and the election cycle.
The House is elected every two years, representatives are elected by constituents and the number of representatives in a constituency is proportional to the size of the constituency; Senate is elected every six years (⅓ is elected every two years) and each state has two senators
Congressional elections and the significance of incumbency
Congressional elections in the U.S. are held every two years for the House of Representatives and every six years for the Senate. These elections play a crucial role in determining the composition of the legislative branch, which influences how laws are passed, oversight is conducted, and national policies are shaped.
House of Reps elections
435 seats up for reelection every 2 years The number of representatives each state gets is based on its population (determined by the most recent Census), with each district electing one representative.
Winner-takes-all system, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.
Senate elections
Senate elections occur every two years, but only one-third of the 100 seats are up for election at a time.
Senators serve six-year terms, which means they spend more time in office between elections compared to House members.
Senate elections are also winner-takes-all, with each state electing two senators, regardless of population.
Progressive Caucuses ( in response to ACA 2010)
he Congressional Progressive Caucus, made up of the most liberal House Democrats, strongly pushed for including a public insurance option or government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.
Members like Rep. Raúl Grijalva and Sen. Bernie Sanders from the progressive wing argued a public option was essential to provide a more affordable alternative and increase competition.
However, this progressive priority faced opposition from conservative and centrist Democrats wary of an overly expansive government role in healthcare.
Blue Dog coalition
The Blue Dog Coalition of moderate and conservative House Democrats from swing districts raised concerns about the overall cost of the ACA and specific provisions like the individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase insurance.
Members like Rep. Mike Ross from Arkansas fought against the individual mandate, viewing it as overreach of federal authority over individuals’ personal choices.
The Blue Dogs’ opposition to the public option and individual mandate put them at odds with the Progressive Caucus’ demands.
This faction also consists of others such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin who is viewed as a Blue Dog due to his 60% Party Unity score and his voting record where he has consistently voted against his party in favour of the republicans. This further contributes to the idea of a 50 party system whereby the ideology of parties is separated across all 50 states.
New democrat coalition
This pro-business, centrist Democratic group favoured market-based approaches over expansions of government-run programs.
They aligned more with the Blue Dogs in opposing the public option pushed by progressives as anti-competitive.
But some New Democrats like Ron Kind also had reservations about the individual mandate’s impact on employers and the private insurance market.
Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to favor a particular political party or group, often at the expense of fair representation. It is a strategy used by political parties in power to influence election outcomes by designing districts in ways that benefit their own candidates or disadvantage opposing parties. Gerrymandering can occur in two main forms:
Partisan Gerrymandering: Manipulating district boundaries to favor one political party over another.
Racial Gerrymandering: Drawing district lines to either dilute the voting power of racial or ethnic minorities or concentrate them in a single district to minimize their influence elsewhere.
E.g - North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District (1990s):
One of the most infamous examples of gerrymandering in modern history occurred with North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District, which was drawn in a highly irregular shape, stretching over a long and narrow area from Charlotte to Greensboro. The district was designed to pack as many African American voters as possible into one district to ensure that a Black representative (in this case, Mel Watt) would win the seat, but also to limit their voting power in surrounding districts. This form of racial gerrymandering was challenged in court, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Shaw v. Reno (1993) that the district’s design violated the Constitution’s requirement for equal protection.
Power of the purse
The House holds the ‘Power of the Purse’ - only the House can control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds.
Border Wall Funding Battles (2018-2019) - The Democratic-controlled House used its spending power to deny funding for Trump’s proposed border wall, leading to a 35-day government shutdown.
Party control
Party Control; There is evidence to suggest that congressional oversight of the executive is only really effective when Congress or one house of congress is not controlled by the President’s party.
For example, Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016 was defeated by the Republican controlled senate.
Whereas, in times of united government, oversight can drop significantly.
This happened during George W. Bush’s 8-year term, where congressional oversight was often non-existent.
From homeland security, to the conduct of the Iraq war, from allegations of torture at Abu Ghraib to the surveillance of domestic telephone calls by the National Security Agency (NSA), Congress had mostly ignored its responsibilities.
Party Polarisation
Party polarisation; Party polarisation causes a strain on the relationship between parties and the president.
Party polarisation is exacerbated in times of divided government.
Sometimes party polarisation prevents Congress and the president from cooperating. Party polarisation often means that the opposition party will oppose the president’s policy programme, which sours the relations between the two branches.
However, there are times of bipartisanship which enable a working relationship between congress and the president.
This was shown in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) in 2020, the Bipartisan Budget Act in 2013, and the 21st Century Cures Act (2016).
Policy Area
Policy area; Congress’s ability to influence the president is greater for domestic policy than it is for foreign policy.
In areas of foreign policy, the president often uses executive agreements to circumvent the senate.
This was shown by Obama passing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015 concerning the Iranian nuclear programme with very little oversight from the senate.
Similarly in 2018, Trump was able to abandon the Iran Nuclear Deal with little insight from the Senate.
Congress has much more influence on the president in terms of domestic policy.
This was seen when Obama was frustrated by Congress which thwarted his attempts to pass legislation on gun control and immigration.
Trump also struggled with Congress over his immigration policies, and also failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Election cycle
Members of Congress are more likely to please their district/state rather than the president in the run up to the election. They essentially prioritise their own re-election above the wishes of the president.Congress overrode Obama’s Justice against Sponsors of Terrorism bill in 2016. Democrats did not wish to seem ‘soft’ on terrorism in the run up to their re-election, despite many of them supporting the legislation. Therefore, as an outgoing president, there was little that Obama could do to persuade anyone to support his stance.
Approval ratings
Presidential approval rating; Congress can exert less influence when approval ratings are high, and more when they are low.
In 2005, when George W. Bush was attempting to reform social security, Congress was able to capitalise on his low approval ratings in order to frustrate his attempts. At that time his approval ratings were around 35% according to a GallUp poll.
This was entirely different from September 2001, where W. Bush enjoyed the highest presidential approval rating ever recorded, following the 9/11 attacks. He enjoyed a 90% approval rating.
Biden’s current approval rating sits at only 38%. His low approval rating, and the fact that he is considered to be a ‘lame-duck’ outgoing president, means that Congress, especially the opposition party are able to exert a much higher level of influence over him.
Trump’s approval ratings have been the lowest of any president since WWII. He averaged at 41% approval during his entire presidency.
Congress Approval ratings
Congressional approval rating; Congressional approval ratings are important too, and recent years have seen approval ratings of Congress at historic lows.
Polls have linked this low approval rating of congress to long-standing trend of low trust in government among Americans, which started after the Vietnam War and the aftermath of Watergate.
Congress is seen by Americans as self-interested and unproductive - given that it only has a success rate of around 2-3% in passing new legislation.
Whilst president approval ratings are often low, they have not reached the same lows as seen in Congress. As a result, Congress can often find it hard to exert influence over the president.
In 2019-20 Trump’s approval rating was at 41%, whilst Congress’s was down to just 18%. In this case it was hard for Congress to argue that it possessed greater legitimacy than the president when Congress members criticised his policies.
