Congress Flashcards
What does congress do?
- Make laws A1 (S8)
- Represent the people- Constituency or casework
- Oversight- overseeing the executive branch
- Advice and consent- confirm executive appointments, ambassadors, federal judges and treaties
- Have the power to impeach
How does a bill become a law?
- Member introduces legislation/bill
- Rules committee refers bill to appropriate subject matter committee (house majority party controls this committee)
- In committee bill is debated, hearings are held, bill is acted upon and marked up
- Final draft of legislation reported out and voted by the full chamber
What role does party play in the legislative process?
Congressional action is planned and coordinated by party leaders in each chamber
- Speaker of the house- chief presiding officer of the HOR can influence the legislative agenda, fate of individual pieces of legislation and members positions within the house
-Majority leader, minority leader
-Whip- party member in house or senate responsible for coordinating party’s legislative strategy, building support for key issues and counting votes
Why do incumbents get reelected at such high rates in spite of low approval ratings?
We like our individual member of congress but dislike the institution as a whole
Organization of congress
- Parties- Organize congress to form majorities
- Committees- Where the work of lawmaking happens
Constituency
Residents in an area from which an official is elected
Bicameral legislature
- Senate to represent states (100)
- House of representatives to represent people of US (435)
Delegate vs Trustee
Delegate: Acting on express preference of constituents (voting)
Trustee: Representative votes on what they think is the best for the constituency
Descriptive vs substantive representation
Descriptive:
-Where representatives have the same racial, ethnic, religious or educational background as constituents. -Based on principle that if two individuals are similar in ways then one can correctly represent the others views
Substantive:
-Where representatives are held accountable to their constituency if they fail to represent that constituency properly.
-Incentive for representatives to provide good representation when their background and views differ from their constituency
Apportionment
Redistribution of seats among the states
Conference committees
Joint committees between H & S to hammer out differences of legislation that has passed both houses
Standing committees
Permanent committee with power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject like finance or agriculture
Gerrymandering
Drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give unfair advantage to a political party or ethnic group
Rules regarding bills
- Open rule- allows member to offer an amendment
- Modified open rule- allow only amendments that have been preprinted and/or time limit on consideration of amendment
- Structured rule- Limit amendments to a bill to only those designated in a special role
- Closed rule- Prohibits any amendments being offered
Filibuster
Tactic used by members of the senate to prevent action on legislation by continuously holding the floor and speaking until majority backs down
- Once having the floor senators have unlimited time to speak
Cloture
Procedure that can be used to end a filibuster, takes a 3/5 majority to impose time limit upon whomever is speaking and end debate
Presidential action regarding legislation
-President has 10 days to sign or veto a law
-If president doesn’t act while congress is in session, the bill becomes a law after 10 days
-vetoes can be overidden by 2/3rds vote in each chamber
What influences congressional decision-making
- Constituency
- Interest groups
- Party
Markup
Session in which a congressional committee rewrites legislation to incorporate changes discussed during hearings on a bill
Unorthodox lawmaking
Set of legislative procedures that deviates from regular order, reflects greater control from party leaders, less deliberation from members
-Use of closed rules
-Multiple referral- sending to many committees
-“Ping-ponging”- sending back and forth to house and senate without use of conference committee
-Omnibus budget bill
What is the difference between the lawmaking process in the house vs the senate?
The house has the rules committee
