congress (representation, legislation and oversight of executive)

Question 1

Descriptive representation -race

Answer 1

YES- Native americans make up 1% in congress and 1% in population

NO- African Americans 9% in congress and 13% population

Hispanics 9% in congress and 18% population

Question 2

descriptive representation- Gender

Answer 2

NO- women make up 51% of population

27% of seats in HOR and 24% in senate

Question 3

Ideological representation

Answer 3

YES- Ideological Representation: Parties are broad churches and represent all sides of the political spectrum to get more voters through things like caucuses.
E.g Freedom Caucus represents the far right side of the Republican party whereas the

Republican Governance Group represents a centrist/centre-right view

NO- There are only two parties and independents are usually unsuccessful.
3 independents in the Senate but they’re in Democratic caucuses.

Question 4

Geographical representation

Answer 4

EVERY STATE GETS 2 SENATORS E.g Hawaii is an island state located away from the mainland us and it has two senators like every other state

Furthermore, states are given HOR to reflect the geographical variations

BUT

The senators allocated to each state is the not proportional because states can have very different population sizes such as california with a population size of 39mil and wyoming with 580k meaning their not being equally represented

Question 5

congress effectively carried out legislation- LEGISLATION IS SWIFT AND EFFECTIVE

Answer 5

2020 CARES ACT as coronavirus response. introduced march 18, passed in senate unanimously march 25 and signed by Trump march 27

BUT

In situations of divided government. legislation is hard to pass
E.g the 2018 35 day government shutdown because of Trumps refusal to accept 2019 fiscal year appropriations bill (over us mexico border) which shut down 9 govt depts with 800,000 employees and costed the US government $11 billion

Question 6

Congress effectively passed legislation- checks and balances ensures the quality of legislation

Answer 6

This can be seen through the republican dominated congress in 2010 where it was hard for Obama to fulfil his policy objectives in healthcare reform, immigration etc.
An example of this was the gruelling passage of the ACA

BUT

this is partisanship in legislation
For example, in 2019 there was another government shutdown over disagreements over border security functioning

February 9 to february 29

Question 7

Congress passed legislation effectively because it represents

Answer 7

e.g minority majority districts increased the number of minorities in government (45 blacks)

but

not representative of minority ideological groups. 2 independents in senate but part of republican caucauses

also geographical
so electorate is not represented in legislation

Question 8

oversight of executive- treaty ratification

Answer 8

e.g 1992 clinton nuclear test ban treaty

2012 protection of people with disabilities in un

Question 9

Veto override

Answer 9

2016 obama vetoes justice from sponsors of terrorism act which is overturned in senate

Question 10

power of the purse

Answer 10

government shutdown in 2018-19 over trump border wall

2015 iran nuclear deal