Congress - Scriven Flashcards
Differences between house of representatives and senate
House = lower
Senate = upper house
House serves 2 years in office
Senate serves 6 years in office
The entire house stands in the election
Only 1/3 stand in the election
Explain filibuster
When an individual/group attempt to talk a bill to death by talking and not stopping
What is cloture
If 3/5 of the senate vote to end a filibuster they can
Connecticut compromise
The division of congress into two chambers - House of Representatives and senate (bicameral)
Explain the necessary and proper clause
Congress shall have the power to pass any law to fulfill its duty of the law making body
Concurrent powers (joint)
Equal legislative powers
Override veto
Initiate constitutional amendments
Declare war
Confirm appointed VP
Exclusive powers - HOR
Initiate money bills
Vote on impeachment
Elect president should the electoral college deadlock
Exclusive powers - senate
Confirm presidential appointments
Ratify treaties
Try the accused in cases of impeachment
Elect vp in case of electoral college deadlock
The House of Representatives
Lower house
Members called representatives
213 democrats
218 republicans
5 delegates
Senate
Upper house
Located in the capitol building - rotunda hill Washington DC
Members called senators
47 democrats
49 republicans
4 independents - vote with democrats
Olsen’s law
A legislature that passes more than 90% of the bills that it considers into law is a weak legislature
They are not making laws - merley rubber stamping decisions that were made elsewhere
Uk parliament on average passes 98% of bills it considers into law
US congress passes 2%
Comparing congress and paliament - legislation
Congress -
Does not fail the Olsen test and is given credit for not ‘rubber stamping’ laws however it fails to legislate e.g gun control
On average only 2% is passed each session
Loses influence through federalism
Parliament -
Passes legislation too easily and the executive dominates it however it is a legislature that legislates
Significant laws passes- HRA, devolution, gun control after dunblane,CRA, HOL reform and withdrawal from EU
4 key areas when comparing legislation
1- legislation- considering legislative bills put before it and passing them into law or rejecting them
2- oversight and scrutiny - checks and balances on other branches of govt - executive - president/PM/ cabinet and judiciary = monitor, discipline and criticise
3- representation - who do they represent as elected members (voters, themself, party, country?) - resemblence theory- demographic representation of different groups in society
4- recruitment - how effectively do they encourage individuals to stand for election to the legislature and do they recruit to higher office - cabinet, president,PM?
Parliaments key strengths
-ability to question members of executive directly e.g PMQ’s
-a range of parties are represented in HOC
-govt can implement its programme with relative ease
-diverse HOC
-growing expertise in HOL
-all PM in 20th century have served as back bench MP’s
Parliaments critics
-does not provide effective check on govt
-HOL is weak
-second chamber is unelected
-committees remain either dominated by party (Public committees) or relatively toothless (select committees)
-fails olsens rule
Congress main strengths
-strong well established committee system
-two powerful chambers reduce the chance of one party dominating the executive
-checks on executive e.g advice ands consent and veto override
-14/16 of most recent VP nominations for democrats were senators
-2/3 most recent presidents were senators
- 2 year election cycle improves accountability to voter
Congress’ critics
-often too ‘bastion of negotiation and negation’ - very effective at stopping things happening
-effectively only 2 parties represented
-impeachment never been used
-senate exceptionally unrepresentative of USA
-high levels of incumbency-especially in senate
-congressional cares is a rare route for president
-‘revolving door’ in HOR
-strong influence of powerful intrest groups on individual members of congress and committees
Congress
Congress is the name of the legislative branch of US politics – it has a balanced by cameral structure meaning it has 2 chambers an upper and a lower one of equal legislative power
The upper chamber is known as the Senate and the lower chamber is the House of Representatives
It has 335 members made-up of 100 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives - in addition there are 5 delegates who represent the District of Columbia, American Samoa, The US Virgin Islands, Guama and the northern Mariana islands Finally there is one resident commissioner from Puerto Rico. These delegates and commissioners sit in the House of Representatives
Congress and the constitution
The constitution refers to Congress in article 1, it divides Congress into two chambers the House of Representatives and the Senate this is known as the Connecticut compromise.
The powers of Congress are also detailed those that are explicitly referenced in the constitution as known as enumerated powers however Congress does not have powers that are not explicitly included in the constitution. These powers known as implied powers under rise from the final clause of article 1 Section 8 known as the necessary and proper clause or the elastic clause
The necessary and proper clause
This means that in order for Congress to fulfil its duty as a lawmaking body they should be able to make all laws which are necessary to fulfil this duty. This belief often brings Congress into conflict with the individual states over the issues of whether something is an in a federal jurisdiction or the state jurisdiction such as the issue of federal income tax
House of representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower Chamber of Congress the number of representatives allocated to each state is proportional to its population to the more populous states receive them more representatives. California has the largest number of representatives total in 53 where states like Alaska Montana and North and South Dakota only have one
Each state is divided into areas called congressional districts and each member represents their district unlike in the UK where by constituencies have names such as Newcastle West, US congressional districts have number Districts therefore become for example the California 8th district or ohio 12 district
The senate
Every state has two senators to represent them this means that every state is equal in the Senate unlike the House of Representatives. Senators serve six year terms and are elected in thirds. This means that in every election cycle only 1/3 of the senators are seeking reelection, this means that the make up of the Senate is unlikely to change greatly between election cycles.
The Senate is lead according to the constitution by the vice president, who holds the title president of the Senate however, in practise the Senate is led by the Majority Leader
The Senate is also unique in US politics by having the power of unlimited debate, however whilst this can be a good thing it can use to delay legislation and for political purposes. In order to disrupt the passage of legislation or appointment senators can filibuster a bill.
Notable filibusters have included senator Strom thurmond in 1957, he filibustered a civil rights bill for 24 hours and 18 minutes, or more recently senator Rand Paul filibuster during the appointment of John Brennan as CIA director at 12 hours 52 minutes. Individual filibusters are normally unsuccessful but group filibusters can be more successful
However if 3/5 of the Senate votes and a filibuster they can’t this is known as a cloture motion
Congressional committees
Committees form a very important part of the legislative process and as such Congress has a huge number of committees. Congress has standing committees which generally shadow department’s of federal government and select committees which he used for special investigations
Powers
Congress holds considerable powers that are given to it by the US constitution- these are called enumerated powers however the powers of Congress can be divided into 3 categories concurrent, House and Senate. Those powers reserved to the house or Senate are known as exclusive powers
Concurrent powers
Equal legislative power
Override presidential veto
Initiate constitutional amendments
Declarations of war
Confirm appointed vice presidents
Powers of the house
Initiate money bills known as power of the purse
Vote on impeachment
Elect president should the Electoral College deadlock
Powers of the senate
Confirm presidential appointments
Ratified treaties
Try the accused in cases of impeachment
Elect the vice president in the case of Electoral College deadlock
