Congress

Question 1

Powers shared by the House and the Senate

Answer 1

Equal ability to introduce, amend and vote on legislation. Both have roles in the process of impeachment. Votes in both houses needed to declare war (simple majority), override a veto/executive order and amend the Constitution (supermajorities). Confirming a newly appointed VP, as stipulated in the 25th Amendment, e.g. appointment of Gerald Ford after Spiro Agnew was removed for corruption (1973).

Question 2

Powers of the House

Answer 2

Responsible for the initial impeachment process, e.g. Clinton (1998) and impeachment of 3 circuit judges in the 1980s for taking bribes from a private rehab centre in return for harsher sentences for young offenders. Introduction of money-raising bills. In the case of a deadlock in the electoral college, responsible for appointing a President and VP.

Question 3

Powers of the Senate

Answer 3

Impeachment trials - supermajority required, e.g. Clinton found not guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice in 1999. Responsible for ratifying treaties, and as such must be kept in the loop by the President in order to maintain approval, e.g. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994, involved USA, Canada, Mexico) - President had to make alterations in order to maintain Senate support.

Question 4

Evidence for equal prestige of House and Senate

Answer 4

Constitutionally equal, equal legislative powers, equal salaries ($174,000).

Question 5

House Prestige

Answer 5

More democratic - can claim to have a stronger mandate. Representatives are often very high-profile within their own districts, e.g. Bobby Rush is widely seen as a hero in Illinois’ 1st District. The Senate was originally intended to merely be a check on the House.

Question 6

Senate Prestige

Answer 6

Harder to get into (fewer members, state-wide election), longer terms (6 years) to exercise democratic mandate, individual members’ votes are more influential, Senators represent more people in all but 7 states, seen as higher in the career progression of a politician - 48 former Representatives are currently Senators, none vice versa, greater national name recognition.

Question 7

Constitution: Article I, Section 1

Answer 7

Grants all legislative power to Congress, sets out its bicameral nature

Question 8

Constitution: Article I, Section 2

Answer 8

Sets out term length for Representatives, and conditions of eligibility - must be over 25, resident in the state at the time of the election, and have been a citizen for 7 years. Also sets out provisions for voting eligibility tests, which were struck down by the Voting Rights Act (1965).

Question 9

Constitution: Article I, Section 3

Answer 9

Sets out term length for Senators and conditions of eligibility - at least 30, citizen for 9 years, resident in the state, grants the power to conduct impeachment trials, gives the VP the casting vote in the case of a tied vote, states the Senators will be appointed by the state legislatures - struck down by 17th Amendment (1914).

Question 10

Constitution: Article I, Section 4

Answer 10

Gives discretion over the time and location of elections to the State Legislatures - this is no longer the case.

Question 11

Constitution: Article I, Section 5

Answer 11

States the size of a quorum in each chamber (a majority).

Question 12

Constitution: Article I, Section 6

Answer 12

Ensures the separation of powers by preventing any representative from taking any office under the authority of the government.

Question 13

Constitution: Article I, Section 7

Answer 13

States that all revenue-raising bills must originate in the House, states the procedure for overriding the Presidential veto.

Question 14

Constitution: Article I, Section 8

Answer 14

Gives Congress the power to collect taxes and borrow money on the credit of the nation, declare war, make all laws “necessary and proper” for carrying into force all powers previously described, and to regulate international and interstate commerce - commerce clause.

Question 15

Pork Barrel

Answer 15

The appropriation of government funds secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative’s district.

Question 16

Earmarks

Answer 16

Money reserved for a particular project - strongly associated with Pork Barrel, e.g. $2.5m for potato research, split between Idaho, Maryland, Maine and Wisconsin, $15m for Brown Tree Snake control on Guam since 1996. Banned in Congress, so now only the Federal Government can allocate funds for specific projects. Congress can, however, get around the ban - according to Citizens against Government Waste, $2.7bn was spent on projects requested by individual legislators in 2014.

Question 17

Arguments in favour of earmarks

Answer 17

Can help the administration to pass important pieces of legislation, e.g. Johnson secured a vote for cloture on the Civil Rights Act (1964) from Arizona Democrat Carl Hayden by promising funding for the Central Arizona Water Project. Additionally, some would argue that it is simply the legitimate objective of representatives to secure funds for their constituents, e.g. Harry Reid said “I have been a big fan of earmarks since I got here the first day.” in 2014.

Question 18

Arguments against earmarks

Answer 18

It can be argued that earmarks lead to wasteful spending - spending for its own sake, when the money could be used for better purposes. E.g. $398m included for a bridge to a tiny island in Alaska which had 50 residents (became popularly known as the “Bridge to Nowhere”), included in the 2006 National Appropriations bill - Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens vehemently opposed the diversion of these funds away from his state to relief for Hurricane Katrina.

Question 19

House Rules Committee

Answer 19

Founded in 1789, aka The Speaker’s Committee - chaired by the speaker until 1910. Still essentially used by the speaker to control the House floor - sets rules that govern conduct and committee membership. Since the 1970s, has been balanced 7-4 in favour of the majority party, giving that party effectively absolute control of House rules. Powers include deciding how long and under what rules each bill will be debated by the whole House, e.g. in 2005 disallowed debate on amendments to check government power given by the PATRIOT Act (2001). Committee was controlled by the GOP, who generally favoured the Act.

Question 20

The Whip

Answer 20

The individual responsible for persuading representatives to vote in line with the party leadership - ranks behind the party leader in the respective chamber in terms of seniority.

Question 21

Stages of Whipping

Answer 21

1) Basic head count of Yeas, Nays and Undecideds
2) Whip team (9 deputies) approaches undecideds, tries to persuade with help on other bills
3) On the day of the vote, will tally votes to see if they will reach their desired outcome - if not may employ more sinister tactics, e.g. threat of removal from position, Presidential endorsement of a primary rival.

Question 22

Redistricting

Answer 22

The process of redrawing district boundaries - happens every decade in response to the US Census. 34 states give this power to the state legislatures, 7 to an independent body, and 3 to an independent body, but requiring the approval of the legislature. The power to do this is derived from the Apportion Act (1911) - set the number of reps at 433, with provisions for 2 more when New Mexico and Arizona joined.

Question 23

Wyoming Law

Answer 23

Some states are under-represented (e.g. Montana - almost 1m people, only 1 rep), with some over-represented (e.g. Wyoming - 490k people, one rep) - average district size is 640k people. Wyoming law would set all districts to the size of Wyoming - would have increased the number of reps to 542 in 2010.

Question 24

Gerrymandering

Answer 24

The process of redrawing district boundaries with the aim of engineering an electoral advantage for a particular party. E.g. 2003 Texas Redistricting shifted Laredo, a town on the Mexican border which is 95% Hispanic and tends to vote Democrat, from the 23rd District into the newly formed 28th District, which was heavily Hispanic overall and likely to vote Democrat, and replaced it with some strongly Republican suburbs of San Antonio in order to protect the incumbent Republican, Henry Bonilla. The gerrymandering was ruled to have been racially motivated, and was struck down under the Voting Rights Act (1965) in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006).

Question 25

Changes in district population

Answer 25

The number of Representatives has remained constant at 435 for over a century, but the US population has more than tripled in that time - critics argue that this dilutes the intimacy of the constituent-representative relationship - studies have shown that increases in district population have brought about falls in the accessibility and approval of Congressmen. There is another problem in that district populations can vary hugely within the 10-year census window, e.g. Nevada’s 2nd grew by 77% between 1990 and 2000 - Maryland’s 7th shrank by 10% in this period.

Question 26

Congressional Oversight

Answer 26

Responsible for reviewing and monitoring the actions of the executive branch, e.g. Darleen Druyun was questioned by the Senate Appropriations Committee in the course of the Boeing Tanker Scandal - grossly overpaid for aircraft from Boeing, who she then left the Air Force to work for. Committees are significant in this role, e.g. Select Committees in both the House and Senate played an important role in unraveling the Iran-Contra affair - US gov’t facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, and used the profits to fund the Nicaraguan Contra militia. Sometimes criticised for a “firefighter” approach, i.e. damage limitation to prevent a scandal, rather than true oversight.

Question 27

Voting Influences: Political Party

Answer 27

Often considered the most important factor - voting out of the party line may risk being labelled a DINO/RINO, and as such will face primary challenges. Especially prevalent on contentious issues, e.g. H.R.7 (2014) - prohibited taxpayer-funded abortions - only 3 Dems voted for, only 1 Rep voted against. May be confused with regional ideologies, e.g. Southern states tend to be pro-gun and also tend to be Republican, but Southern Democrats also often vote in favour of pro-gun legislation (e.g. John Barrow, Georgia).

Question 28

Voting Influences: Constituents

Answer 28

Failing to look after/represent constituents may result in electoral defeat, although 94% re-election rate suggests this risk is minimal. Compatible with the “delegate” model of representation. When there is a clash between party and constituents, constituents often win out, e.g. both Democratic Senators for Colorado voted against the Assault Weapons Ban (2013).

Question 29

Voting Influences: The Administration

Answer 29

Legislation is often initiated by the administration, who will have a keen interest in keeping in touch with legislators. State of the Union Address can put pressure on members, especially if it is well-received, e.g. Clinton 1996 Welfare Reforms. There may be a “Two-way street of cooperation,” whereby the President promises not to oppose certain pieces of legislation in return for favourable Congressional treatment of others - Clinton often employed this tactic, e.g. Brady Bill (background checks) passed with Republican support, whilst Clinton’s welfare reforms pleased the GOP.

Question 30

Voting Influences: Pressure Groups

Answer 30

Often able to achieve direct contact with members, and are able to sponsor advertisements supporting/opposing members at election time, depending on the positions they have taken, e.g. the NRA’s “Stop The Gun Ban” campaign arguably contributed to the failure of the Assault Weapons Ban (2013) - NRA has a track record of ousting anti-gun representatives, e.g. spend $360k on the Colorado Recall Election of 2013, in which incumbents John Morse and Angela Giron were defeated - both had helped to expand background checks and impose magazine capacity limits.

Question 31

Standing Committee

Answer 31

Permanent, policy-specialist committees found in both the House and the Senate. Their party balance reflects the majorities in each chamber. These committees serve to scrutinise legislation and investigate their area of expertise, whilst in the Senate alone they may be tasked with beginning the confirmation process for presidential appointments. E.g. US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions, responsible for public welfare, equal employment opportunity, disability and public health, amongst other things - recently conducted investigation into “Fixing No Child Left Behind.”

Question 32

Select Committee

Answer 32

A committee set up on an ad hoc basis to investigate an area that does not fall under the jurisdiction of any one standing committee, e.g. House Select Committee on Benghazi, Iran-Contra Select Committees.

Question 33

Conference Committees

Answer 33

Set up in order to resolve significant differences between Senate and House versions of the same bill - ad hoc and temporary.

Question 34

Significance of Committees

Answer 34

Have a life-or-death influence over legislation - can kill it by not discussing it, or not scheduling it for debate - this power ultimately resides with the committee chair. Instrumental in log rolling - bargaining over votes, i.e. Having Dems support a traditionally Rep bill, in return for vice versa, e.g. USA FREEDOM Act - between House Judiciary Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Question 35

Criticism of Committees - Decentralisation

Answer 35

Ever smaller groups dictate what legislation gets passed - undemocratic, and worsened by the growth of sub-committees since the 1970s.

Question 36

Criticism of Committees - Inefficiency

Answer 36

Multiple points of veto make the legislative process slow and clumsy - major legislation may well fall under the jurisdiction of multiple committees, thus bringing about multiple opportunities for it to be defeated.

Question 37

Criticism of Committees - Over-Amendment

Answer 37

Log-rolling leads to multiple amendments being made by each relevant committee - the bill that is debated may barely resemble the original bill.

Question 38

Criticism of Committees - Speed

Answer 38

Slow hearings are a major cause of delays

Question 39

Criticism of Committees - Iron Triangles

Answer 39

Committees may be influenced by interest groups, who are able to provide electoral support for members, and by the administration, which is able to provide federal funding for desirable legislation, e.g. Boeing Tanker Scandal, though Senate Appropriations Committee eventually helped uncover corruption, members Ted Stevens and Patty Murray initially secured the necessary funding in the 2002 Defence Appropriations Bill - a Congressional aide later admitted that this was done with the fact that Boeing were in financial trouble in mind.

Question 40

Criticism of Committees - Point-Scoring

Answer 40

Politicians may take advantage of the limelight during high-profile hearings in order to improve their own political standing rather than to productively scrutinise the bill, e.g. Diane Feinstein, prime mover behind Assault Weapons Ban (2013) vs. Ted Cruz on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Question 41

House Demographics

Answer 41

54% GOP
44% Dem
20% Female
6% Ethnic Minority
1% LGBT (Tammi Baldwin)

Question 42

Senate Demographics

Answer 42

56% GOP
43% Dem
19% Female
20% Ethnic Minority
1% LGBT

Question 43

Percentage of bills that became laws in 2013

Answer 43

1%