Functions of congress: Oversight Flashcards
Define oversight
Oversight is the congressional review and investigation of the activities of the executive
How is oversight usually exercised?
Largely exercised through the checks and balances in the presidential topic. However, other factors can also influence the relationship between congress and president
List the factors influencing the relationship between congress and the presidency
- Party control
- Party polarisation
- Policy area
- Election cycle
- Presidential approval rating
- Congressional approval rating
- National events
What is the only time that oversight is really effective?
There is a general consensus, and a lot of evidence to support this consensus, that oversight is only really effective when congress is controlled by the party that is not the president’s
Substantiate the idea that oversight is only really effective during times of divided government
Almost all modern day examples of senate rejections of presidential appointments have come when the president’s party has not controlled the senate. A D senate rejected Reagan’s nomination of Bork to the SC in 1987. This was true when the Senate rejected GHWB’s nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense
The R Senate did this to Clinton in 1999 with his nomination of Ronnie White to be a federal trial court judge and over his Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
When is oversight likely to be weak?
Oversight can drop considerably in times of unified government, as happened during the first 6 years of GWB’s time as president.
Make the case that the lack of oversight enjoyed by GWB during his periods of unfied government were somewhat extreme
When the Ds controlled congress for the first two years of Clinton’s reign, there were 135 oversight hearings, whereas there were only 37 in the 2003-4 congressional session
How did things become more difficult for GWB when the Ds took control of congress?
GWB found himself facing some very feisty committee chairs after the Ds took control of congress. The Senate Appropriations Committee chair Robert Byrd told the secretaries of state and defense, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2007: ‘Congress is not a rubber stamp or a presidential lapdog, obedient and unquestioning. Oversight is among our most important responsibilities and has been neglected for too long
What has party polarisation seen the main parties do in relation to one another?
This has seen the parties grow ideologically further apart since the 1980s
What does party polarisation do to the relationship between congress and the president?
This often causes a strain in relations between parties and the president
When is the strain party polarisation causes between congress and the president most evident?
This is exacerbated during divided government, but it would be a mistake to say that it stops congress and the president from cooperating on occasion
Give some recent examples of legislation that shows bipartisanship
The 2012 Jobs Act, 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act, 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, 2016 21st Century Cures Act and 2020 CARES Act
Describe the frequency of bipartisan cooperation
Infrequent
What does party polarisation mean that congress will often do to presidential legislation?
Party polarisation means that parties will usually oppose the opposing president’s policy programme, inevitably souring relations between the two branches
In which kind of policy area is congress most influential?
Congress can influence the president more in domestic policy than in foreign policy
Why is congress not so influential in terms of foreign policy?
In foreign policy, presidents can use executive agreements to circumvent congress, as Obama did with his 2015 JCPOA and as Trump did when abandoning the Iran nuclear deal in 2018
Give an example of congress frustrating the president in terms of domestic policy
Obama was frustrated by congress thwarting his attempts to pass legislation on gun control and immigration, while Trump also struggled to pass immigration policy and failed to repeal Obamacare
How does the election cycle influence the relationship between congress and president?
Members are much more likely to be concerned with pleasing their district or state than the president in the lead up to an election. This is especially true if the president in unpopular or a lame duck
Give an example of congress giving the president greater pushback than they might otherwise have because an election was imminent
An example of this was when Congress overrode Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act in 2016 – while many Ds shared Obama’s concerns about the efficacy of the legislation they feared appearing soft on terrorism in the lead up to the 2016 elections. As an outgoing president, there was nothing Obama could do to get people to support his stance
What influence do presidential approval ratings have on the relations between president and congress?
Congress can exert less influence on a president who has high approval ratings
Give an example of congress being able to thwart legislation due to a low presidential approval rating?
When GWB tried to pass social security reform in 2005, congress was able to stop this due to his low approval ratings, with a gallup poll saying that 65% of Americans disapproved of how Bush was handling social security reform
Give an example of a president becoming extremely powerful in relation to congress due to high approval ratings
Things were completely different following 9/11, when GWB enjoyed the highest approval ratings of any president ever. Congress was almost subservient to Bush with his 90% approval rating, allowing him to pass the 2001 Patriot Act and start the war on terror
How did Trump’s low approval ratings allow congress to dominate him?
Trump’s approval ratings have been the lowest of any president since WWII, averaging 41% and never exceeding 49%. This consistent lack of popularity has made it easier for congress to defy Trump, with the fracture between congress and Trump symbolised by Speaker Pelosi tearing up his State of the Union Address Speech in 2020
The D controlled house from 2019 was emboldened by his lack of popularity and mounted consistent opposition to his policies on things like tax reform, immigration and healthcare
What has happened to congressional approval ratings in recent years?
In recent years, congress’ public standing has reached historic lows
What is the reason for low congressional approval ratings in the modern era?
Data from Pew Research Centre says that this low is linked to a long standing trend of low trust in government , starting with Vietnam and Watergate
Americans see congress as self interested and unproductive, given that only passes 2-3% of legislation
Why do congressional approval ratings limit congress’ ability to influence the president?
While presidential approval ratings have dropped, they are still higher than congress’ and congress therefore sometimes struggles to influence the president
Give an example of how low congressional approval ratings made it difficult for congress to influence the president
Even in 2019-20, the most difficult period of the Trump presidency, he was still more personally popular than congress. After a July 2020, gallup poll, occuring after Trump had faced an impeachment trial and mismanaged COVID and the BLM protests, his approval rating dropped to 41%, but this was still much higher than congress at 18%. It was therefore difficult for congress to claim greater legitimacy than the president when they criticised his policies
What do national events do to the relationship between the president and congress?
Congress will often defer to the president during times of national emergency, at least in the short term, like with Bush following 9/11
Give an example an example of congress’ breaking the trend and not deferring to the president during a time of national emergency
Although congress helped Trump pass the CARES Act, it was also extremely critical of his policies to handle COVID
Why is oversight seen as one of the main responsibilities of congress even though it is not constitutionally enumerated?
The constitution does not explicitly grant the responsibility of oversight, but members of the executive have come to see it as an implied power over the years. Members of congress have to know what is going on in order to make laws, check that the laws they have passed are being carried out properly and amend laws
List the powers that congress has given itself to help it carry out its function of oversight
subpoenaing documents and testimonies, holding individuals to contempt if they fail to cooperate with congress’ demands for information and making it illegal to lie to congress
Why does oversight mainly take place in committee rooms?
Oversight mainly takes place in the committee rooms of congress, as it is only in committee rooms, not legislative chambers, that members of the executive can be questioned
What are standing committees?
Standing committees are the permanent policy specialist bodies and can wield significant clout
What are most standing committees divided up into?
Subcommittees
How many members will standing committees typically have?
A typical senate standing committee is made up of 18 members, while a typical house standing committee has around 30-40 members
How are the party balance of standing committees determined?
The party balance in the committee is proportional to the party balance in the chamber
What functions to standing committees have in the house and senate?
- Conducting the committee stage of bills
- Conducting investigations within the committees policy area
What extra function do standing committees have just in the senate?
To begin the confirmation of numerous presidential appointments
Describe the function of conducting the committee stage of bills
This involves holding hearings on the bills in which witnesses will appear. Witnesses can be members of the executive, congress or the public. Witnesses make prepared statements infront of the committee and will then be subject to questioning. The length of the hearing is determined by the length of the bill and the level of controversy is engenders. At the conclusion of the hearing, a vote will be taken by the committee on whether to pass the bill onto the whole chamber for debate and vote
Describe the function of conducting investigations in the committee’s policy area
This enables congress to fulfil its oversight function. Such investigations are often launched into perceived problems, crises or policy failures
Which two senate standing committees will be particularly busy in terms of starting of the confirmation process for presidential appointments?
The two committees that are particularly busy in this regard are the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, with them confirming federal judicial and ambassadorial appointments respectively. It was the R controlled SJC that refused to hold hearings for Obama’s SC nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016. Other senate standing committees oversee appointments in their own policy areas
What is the significance of the standing committee voting on presidential appointments?
An overwhelming or unanimous ‘yes’ vote by the committee indicates that the nominee will pass relatively easily on the floor vote, while a close vote indicates problems ahead. If the majority of the committee votes no, they are almost bound to be defeated, even if they reach the senate floor
Which three presidents has the house impeached?
The House has impeached three presidents, Andrew Johnson (1868), Bill Clinton (1997) and Donald Trump twice (2019 and 2021), with the senate acquitting on all four occasions
What have critics said about the fact that no president has been successfully impeached and what is the counter to this?
Critics have argued that the failure to successfully impeach any president means that it is an ineffective check, but it is possible to argue that this is not the case. In the 4 examples of impeachment, the process has worked exactly as it should have done: the house brought the charge, then the senate held the trial and duly (in accordance with the proper procedure) delivered its judgement
