Congress Flashcards
Membership of the House of Representatives
Two-year terms
Must be at least 25 years old
Must be a US citizen for at least seven years
Must be a resident of state they represent
Membership of the Senate
Six-year terms
Must be at least 30 years old
Must be a US citizen for at east nine years
Must be a resident of state they represent
Joint powers of both houses
Legislation
Oversight
Initiating constitutional amendments
Impeachment
Declaring war
Sole power of the House
Initiating money bills
Sole powers of the Senate
Confirming appointments
Ratifying treaties
Senate > House
Represent the entire state, not just a congressional district
Longer term length
More esteemed as less Senators than members of the House
More likely to gain a leadership position more quickly
Launching pad for a Presidential campaign
Significant exclusive powers
VS
Closer bond with constituents
More direct impact
Types of congressional committees
Standing committees
House Rules committee
Conference committees
Select committees
Standing committee features
Permanent
Policy specialist
Exist separately in both houses of Congress
Most are divided into sub-committees
Comprised of around 18 members in the Senate, 30-40 in the House
Party balance proportional to that which exists within the chamber as a whole
Members seek assignments on committees that are closest to the interests of their district or state
Which standing committee are both of North Dakota’s senators members of?
The Senate Agriculture Committee
Standing committee functions
Conducting the committee stage of bills
Conducting investigations within the committee’s policy area
Confirming presidential appointments
House Rules Committee
A standing committee of the House responsible for prioritising bills coming from the committee stage on to the House floor for their debate and votes
Gives a ‘rule’ to a bill, setting out the rules of debate
Membership is smaller and more skewed towards the majority party than other standing committees
Types of rule that can be given to a bill by the House Rules Committee
Open - permit unlimited amendments
Modified - limit the total number of amendments
Closed - forbid any amendments
Conference committees
Ad hoc
Set up to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the same bill
The reconciled version of the bill must be agreed by a vote on the floor of each house
Likely to draw up what will become the final version of the bil
Power is checked by the ability of the House and Senate to refuse to sign up to their compromises version.
Select committees with an example
Ad hoc
Set up to investigate a particular issue which does not fall within the policy area of a standing committee, or is so time consuming that a standing committee would become tied up with it, preventing the standing committee from fulfilling its other functions
eg. Benghazi select committee set up in 2014 by John Boehner
Legislative process
Introduction
Committee stage
Timetabling
Floor debate and vote on passage
Conference committee (optional)
Presidential action
Introduction
Formality - no debate nor vote
Between 10,000 and 14,000 bills introduced each Congress - only 2-4% make it into law
Committee stage
Only bills with a good deal of support are given hearings
Standing committees given full power of amendment to alter the bill
Vile on standing committees
‘They are the sieve through which all legislation is poured’
Timetabling
Senate- unanimous consent agreement
House - House Rules Committee
Floor debate and vote on passage
Filibuster
Cloture petition
Requires 16 senators to sign petition, then 3/5 of the entire Senate to vote for it
Options for presidential action
Singing the bill into law
Leaving the bill on his desk
Regular veto
Pocket veto
Reasons for difficulty in passing bills successfully through Congress
Volume of bills introduced
Complicated process
Requirement for super-majority votes
Both chambers possess equal power
Chambers can be controlled by different parties
Congress may be controlled by a different party to the executive
Denenberg on complicated legislative process
‘bastion of negation’
‘legislative labyrinth’
‘a built-in negative bias’
Senator Jim DeMint on congressional oversight
‘political posturing and demagouging’
Models of representation
Delegate model
Trustee model
Methods of representation
Engagement with constituents (constituency)
Fulfilling the representative function (DC)
Pork barrel politics
E-democracy
Factors affecting voting in Congress
Political party
The administration
Pressure groups
Colleagues and staff
Personal beliefs
Constituents
Functions of congressional caucuses
Educational
Agenda-setting
Encouraging support for their proposals in votes on the floor of each chamber
Examples of congressional caucuses
Blue Dog Coalition
The Tea Party
Descriptive representation statistics
Women - 50% vs 20%
African American - 10% vs 13%
Hispanic - 10% vs 18%
Why is the House of Representatives more representative of race than the Senate?
The federal courts have allowed states to draw congressional district boundaries to create districts that are likely to return a Representative from an ethnic minority group
Known as ‘majority-minority’ districts
Often geographically distorted as they attempt to group together sometimes scattered pockets of minority voters
eg. North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District
Where in the Constitution is congressional oversight of the executive implied?
Article 1, Section 8
Law passed by Congress
American Recovery Reinvestment Act (2009)
Pro importance of parties in Congress
Leadership in Congress is run by the parties
Committees in Congress are organised by the parties
Impossible to be elected without being a major party candidate
Anti importance of parties in Congress
Views of constituents can outweigh party considerations
Parties have no control over candidate selection
Idealogical factions of parties undermine party cohesion
Blue Dog coalition (congressional caucus)
Group of mainly southern House Democrats
Fiscally conservative
Formed in 1995 in the wake of significant Republican gains
Gives a voice to conservative, moderate, centrist Democrats
Influential in passing welfare reform (1995-96)
Fallen from 37 members in 2004 to 18 in 2018
How many times has the Senate initiated impeachment proceedings?
How many of these impeachment proceedings resulted in a conviction?
19
8
Average number of bills passed by a Congress
396
