Midterm Flashcards
Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?
Didn’t allow tax collection
All states needed to amend constitution
No executive branch
No interstate commerce
No judicial branch
Why did the Founders fear demagogues?
Young nation = politically unstable, demagogue rise to power = large threat
Demagogues will not consult the interests of their country over their ambitious desires
They believed uniformly that some men, though elected by the people, would be temperamentally incapable of serving the public interest under the Constitution. Therefore, they offered Congress the remedy of impeachment and removal from office.
Executive Privilege
the ability of the president to bar documents from Congress or the public
Key indicators of Authoritarian Behavior (How Democracies Die)
- rejection of (or weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game
- denial of the legitimacy of political opponents
- toleration or encouragement of violence
- readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including the media
what is a populist?
they are anti establishment politicians to claim to represent the voice of the people but wage war on what they depict as corrupt and conspiratorial elite, deny the legitimacy of established parties, tell voters the existing system has been corrupted or rigged, promise to return power to “the people”
How can party leaders keep authoritarians out of power?
“Distancing” and isolating extremist voices. When they enter as legitimate candidates they must agree to work together but hold the survival of democracy above all else
What were the constitution’s biggest compromises?
- Small states v. big states - representation? - bicameral legislature that emulated European systems BUT no “higher” or “lower” house, one favoring small states, one favoring large
Virginia v. New Jersey plans → Connecticut compromise
⅗ Compromise for slave representation - The election of the executive and other parts of the position
Veto is allowed but needs to have the possibility of override, electoral college instead of popular vote, term limits → four-year term to avoid monarchy - Commerce
Is America more a democracy or republic? Why?
Republic - the founders feared majoritarian rule which is the founding philosophy of democracy. We have elements of both but by simply having a representative system and a lack of practices like popular voting for the president, we are primarily a republic
The chartering of a Constitution that protects the minority = republic
What were two early tests of democracy in history? Did the nation pass them?
The election of 1800 → first time power was handed to the opposite party in a civil way, proved democracy was stronger than partisan interests
Alien and Sedition - defied all claims of liberty, subjective view on what is a “threat” or “malicious,” no gov’t criticism is allowed
What is judicial review and why is it important?
Established in Marbury v. Madison
Allows the federal court to determine the constitutionality and legitimacy of actions made by the executive and legislative branches
An important check/balance - prevents any branch from overstepping their power
What does the term, “legislative/executive interdependence” mean?
Checks and balances are complex by design, the legislative and executive branches cannot function without each other, the legislative makes and funds policy while the executive enforces it, legislation has to approve executive appointments, each branch retains its ability to control the actions of the other
What does the institutionalization of Congress mean and why was it necessary?
Describes the growth/development of Congress into a more complex, professional governing body over the years. As the country has grown over the years, the institutionalization of Congress was necessary.
When were the powers of committees at their height and when did the decline of committees importance begin? What happened to Howard Smith and why is he important?
Height: Late 1920s following Joseph Cannon’s Tenure as speaker.
- Thomas Reed established the House Rules Committee which Cannon later took advantage of to get the policies he favored onto the floor
- Canon became so powerful that Congress rebelled against the speakers and kicked him out, which is when the power shifted to committees.
- The decline of committees occurred years later, in 1972-74, Democratic reformists were tired of powerful chairmen as they felt they were not representative of Congress nor voters, so many chairs were thrown out, power went back to the Speaker
Describe power of Speaker versus committee chairs and committees through Pelosi.
Give examples when Congress tried to retake powers. Did Congress succeed? If not, why not?
- War Powers Act of 1973: reaction to Vietnam. It checked and limit the power of the president by requiring him to notify Congress within 48 hours of sending troops into a hostile area –> has never been successfully employed
- tried again in 2001-2002 in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya
How has Congress changed?
- 1789 - small gov’t
no committees, philosophy was gov’t should do as little as possible - Today: Not just reps. and senators
8500 house staffers, 4800 senate staffers
17 senate committees 70 subcommittees, 23 house committees 104 subcommittees
Agencies like the CBO, CRS, GAO
How have the powers of Speakers and chairs changed over time?
Has changed over history of who has more influence
Today speakers are powerful and chairs are weak
Committees generally have more expertise
What are some Pros and Cons of Institutionalization of Congress?
Pros:
- maintain connections with constituents through increased number of staff
- established committees within Congress, allowing for more specialization and attention to different issues
Cons:
- Congress full of professional politicians who may care more about maintaining power/fame rather than serving their country
- more complex, vast, bureaucratic institution, therefore making it less efficient
- more polarized
Why are the jobs of party leaders more difficult today than 50 years ago?
Congress is now a full time job
Parties are more ideologically different and much more diversity of thought within parties - compromise is difficult (freedom caucus v. Kevin McCarthy)
Trying to make party-wide goals and maintaining a good image
Collective action dilemma - How can leaders mobilize majorities to legislate for the public good when it is in the self-interest of lawmakers to focus on their own electoral needs? Free-riders
Speakers are incredibly powerful, they are typically reelected as long as their party controls the House. Recently, speaker elections are much more contentious in the House
What’s the difference in the ways in which Republicans and Democrats choose Committee Chairs? (SEE DAVIS CH.14)
Both tend to choose “middlemen” but Dems. tend to choose someone a little left of middle for the party and Republicans a little right
Dems give more importance to seniority, diversity (race, gender, etc.), and geographic location
Reps. give more importance to previous experience, party loyalty, and fundraising ability
What’s the conditional vote theory and how does it apply to the House of Representatives today?
Conditional Vote Theory: A strong, centralized leadership best suits a governing body when the members of one party share the same party views and the opposing party has different views.
The two parties have historically been more coherent, so we have seen recent Speakers act according to the conditional party government theory (more assertively).Now, however, the Republican Party is not unified and this theory does not apply.
Do you believe it’s better for Congress to have powerful Speakers or powerful committee chairs (no right answer!)
Powerful Speaker:
pros:
- provide strong leadership and direction (set agenda, prioritize bills)
- negotiate with senate and President to ensure bills get passed
- increase efficiency through regulating debate and streamlining bill process
cons:
- lack of bipartisan, favors party
- limited debate limits other perspectives, especially on minority side
Powerful Committee Chairs:
pros:
- expertise in areas they work may lead to more informed decisions/policy
- more influence on legislation
- strong chairs may work across party lines, lead to bipartisan compromise
cons:
- more power to many different chairs may slow the legislative process
Job of the House Speaker
Presiding officer of the House, certifying passed measures, administering oath of office, counting and declaring votes, appointing members to committees, second in line to the presidency
Elected by house members on 1st day of new congress every 2 years
Does not serve on committees and does not debate on the floor
Job of Majority Leader
Majority party selects leader every two years on 1st day of congress
Organizes legislative plans, schedules legislation to go to the house floor, consults with party members on legislation, works to advance the party
Usually does not serve on committees and does not debate on the floor
Job of Minority Leader
Minority party selects leader every two years on 1st day of congress
Is the leader of “loyal opposition” on the floor, minority counterpart to the Speaker
Speaks for the party and its platforms, protects the minority’s rights, nominates members to committees
Reactive → cannot put bills on the floor, in charge of reacting to legislation from the majority
Job of Party Whips
Elected by their parties at the start of a new Congress, 2 year terms
Assists party leadership, brings bills to the floor, maintains communication between party leadership and party members, influencing party members to vote a certain way
What are the two congresses?
Congress #1: Representative – constituents/local stuff (roads, bridges, social security, casework, etc) Congress #2: Lawmaker – based in Washington, national focus (advancing national/party agenda)
If you appease constituents locally, you can do whatever you want on the national level because they won’t be paying attention (“All politics are local” - Tip O’Neill)
What happened to moderate democrats and republicans?
Gerrymandering, redistricting, and rhetoric change have driven parties farther to the left and right
Moderates have no chance of winning primaries so they have no shot at the general election (only most radical voters come out to primaries)
Politics have become more national and voters care more about party rather than the actual candidate and their beliefs/goals
Why does it matter that we lost moderates?
It is incredibly difficult to reach consensus today
Bills do not get passed, infighting starts, gridlock continues
What’s the history of the filibuster and what’s the “nuclear option”?(Was using the nuclear option by Democrats in 2013 a mistake?)
In 2013, Harry Reid and the Democrats voted to change the rules to end the filibuster with a lower threshold for cabinet-level nominees and federal judges
Diminishing the nuclear option removes power from the minority
What does it mean to “fill the amendment tree”? (Why is it used and is it fair?)
Majority leaders fill the tree to introduce first- and second-degree amendments that block other senators from offering further amendments because the Senate cannot move on to another amendment without unanimous consent or overcoming a filibuster on the motion to put the other amendment before the body.
a process by which a certain number and type of amendments are offered under Senate precedents. Once these amendments are offered and the “tree is filled” no other amendments are allowed.
Prevents minority from getting any say
What is a hold and what are at least two reasons a Senator would put hold on a bill?
a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules of the United States Senate which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.
Can lead to serious delays and even bill death
Holds can give a senator political leverage
Informational hold → senator wants more debate for clarification
What are two of the most famous Senate investigations?
Watergate - investigated the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and lead to the resignation of President Nixon
McCarthy Hearings - Sen. Joseph McCarthy led investigations into the alleged communist infiltration of the US government, led to the term ‘McCarthyism’ after aggressive hearings. Defining moment during hearing: tried to go after a junior lawyer, turning point and his downfall, censored by his colleagues
Iran-Contra Affair (1987): The Senate’s investigation into the Iran-Contra Affair revealed the Reagan administration’s secret arms sales to Iran and the diversion of funds to Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
5 ways the Senate operates differently than the House
- Filibuster → needs 60 votes to overturn
- Unlimited debate by any senator → 60 votes needed to stop debate and pass legislation, they can talk as long as they want
- Non-germane amendments in order → unrelated amendments can be added to any bill on any topic
- Majority leader first right of recognition → they can bring or block items going to the floor, what gives the ML so much power
- Use of unanimous consent to pass most legislation → 90% of bills passed through senate pass unanimously
History of the filibuster and cloture
Until 1917, no way to cut off debate (no cloture)
Filibusters were rare so there was less need
1917 → senate rule requires ⅔ vote to cut off debate (impose the cloture)
1975 → senate changed rules to require ⅗ (60 senators) present and voting to impose cloture
Senators were frustrated after civil rights filibusters, ⅔ was too hard to achieve
What is the fundamental difference between how the House works and how the Senate works?
Senators can speak for as long as they want, representatives cannot
You can do literally anything with a majority rule in the House, much more minority protection in the Senate (minority can do almost nothing in the House)
The house speaker is the most powerful parliamentary leader (potentially in the world)
Decides chairs, decides which bills go to the floor and which die, controls entire operation of the house
How does the majority exercise control in the House?
Majority has a majority on every legislative committee and every chair is a majority member
Determines ratio of dems and reps in every committee
Absolute floor control
No bill/amendment gets to floor vote unless majority supports
Rules committee domination
Majority has twice as much staff as the minority
What is the Rules Committee?
Nicknamed the speaker’s committee → does anything the speaker wants, every member chosen by the speaker
Majority party controls ⅔ of members so they never lose a vote
Controls almost everything on the floor by choosing what bills reach debate
Determines what amendments are considered
The speaker technically cannot call bills to the floor – the rules committee makes a rule that goes to the floor, once rule passes, the house can debate the bill and potentially passes
A closed rule says that no amendments cannot be made on it
How do successful bills pass the house?
- Bill is introduced, referred to committees
- Bill has hearing, committee markup, and passes committee
Markup = when committee gets together and a bill is open for amendments. Non-controversial markups are quick, controversial ones last days - Bill goes to the rules committee
- Rules committee has hearing, reports rule, and sends rule and bill to floor
- House passes rule, then house passes bill and is sent to senate
What is the motion to recommit?
when a bill returns to committee → almost never passes
These days, often used as a “gotcha” to embarrass the majority
Motions to recommit should be germane
Minority right to offer any germane amendment
Only guaranteed minority floor amendment
Old MTRs = passage would change the text of a bill
New MTRs = passage merely send back to committee (a way to kill a bill)
What is a discharge petition?
if a bill is stuck in committee, a majority vote (218 members) can get it out and onto the floor for a vote
What are the rights of the minority in the house?
Right to complain about the majority
Half of debate time on committee and on floor
At least one minority witness allowed to testify at hearings
Equal numbers on non-legislative committees like ethics, task force on modernization
What did guest speaker John Lawrence talk about?
- Polarization in Congress makes productivity hard
- the founding fathers wanted stability for the fragile nation, they embraced a contradictory system because it was the antithesis of Britain - power only comes from the people but they also believed that the majority is dangerous and should not be trusted
- Tyranny of the majority is worse than inefficiency
- Federalism was important - very little federal power
- when people express frustration with govt , it means the founder’s goals are being met
- government needs to be stable for people to trust it
What did guest speaker, Representative Tom Davis talk about?
- Importance of primaries
- Reasons that polarization exists
What did guest speaker Jonathan Weisman talk about? (political correspondent to the NYT)
- Why is the government in shambles right now?
- Tribal nature of politics today
- Gerrymandering - house districts are so bad that members of congress have nothing to fear from constituents, they know they will be reelected
- Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan - All under fire but face no threat politically
- Impunity - If you do not face a threat politically, you can do whatever you want
- What happened to swing states?
- Political sorting - people move where people who think like they do live Ex: Iowa is one of the biggest brain drain states → graduates from Iowa move to Chicago and Minneapolis = IL and MN get more liberal and IA gets more conservative
- Where people get media = people want media to stroke their ideology Also, local media is dying, people are reliant on national news
- If an urban area exerts enough power to overpower the entire rest of the state, they completely alter the political makeup of the state → states are shifting and changing (ex: Atlanta’s impact on GA in 2020)
- Primary voters are much more radical than general election voters
Examples of President gaining congressional power:
War Powers - we have not declared war through congress since WWII
President spends money for non-congressionally approved purposes
Executive orders - more frequent than ever
“Acting”secretaries or deputies
Power of regulations
What did guest speaker Henry Waxman talk about?
- Spent his career in health and environmental policy
- Orphan Drug Act - figuring out what they could do about getting drugs for people with rare diseases → many people had to get drugs shipped from other countries, it was taken away at the border many times, not manufactured in US because so few people had them
- This is how system works → a constituent has a problem, brings it to congress, and congress figures out how to fix it effectively
- Battle with tobacco company - companies lied about addictive and harmful nature of cigs
Showed the power of a hearing to change people’s minds - Affordable care act - people with preexisting conditions without healthcare coverage through their job were left with no healthcare options, ACA helped them → could not be denied coverage
- Was always concerned for his district but benefitted from the district being highly democratic → national agenda aligned with constituency, could focus on legislation in Washington
- Congress was not as partisan → in terms of environment it was not a dem. V. republican issue
Dems in the south became republicans, republicans in the north became dems so the issue became much more polarized
What did Senator Mark Kirk talk about?
- There is a need for younger leadership in the senate
Pro filibuster → what makes this country strong is the social contract between people and it is built by things like the filibuster. Fast moving government is not good, we should move better rather than move faster - Representing people in the house vs the senate
(18 staffers in the house 80k people, 60 staffers in the senate 12 million ppl) - Bonded with chuck schumer, hung out across party lines → he said that turns into cross party collaboration
- Socially liberal, fiscally conservative → focused on bipartisan activity because of time in the military
Does not like parties, is more focused on the country as a whole - The senate is a delicate place because anyone can screw up your legislation → the house is much more direct
- The house actually make decisions, the senate waits around for a while, especially around elections
(Interesting contradiction with filibuster comment) - A person running against you is not your enemy, simply an adversary
What did Jim McGovern talk about?
- Current moment is unprecedented → speaker has never been ousted before.
Either the republicans can choose someone on their own or they can involve the democrats and choose someone bipartisanly
There is an acting speaker pro tem → created by rules committee after 9/11 meant to be used in the case of an emergency to keep the government running. Meant to oversee the process of electing a new speaker
Pro tem speaker cannot bring any bills to the floor, nothing is getting done → no aid to Israel can happen right now - Dangerous moment because time is ticking for govt shutdown. When extension runs out nothing can be done without a speaker
- Patrick McHenry → potential temporary speaker → agreement that he truly cannot do anything in order to not set dangerous precedent (McHenry agreed to that)
- Electing a pro tem speaker can allow the house to function again while the republican sort themselves out
- Some House republicans are complete narcissists, they are more concerned with media attention than making good decisions
- As a left leaning democrat he knows he won’t get 100% of what he wants so making decisions comes down to something that has enough to justify the whole bill
- Radical republicans believe that if they don’t get everything they want they should blow the place up and cause a govt shutdown → they get rewarded for bad behavior as fundraising surges because of media attention
- Gerrymandering is driving polarization
- Follow the money in politics to determine why reps make the decisions they do
- There are worse things in life than losing an election → nothing is worse than losing your conscience
- The government is only as good as the people who participate in it a
What did guest speaker Paul Ryan talk about?
- Old rules about motion to vacate are unsustainable
- Speaker presides over all members → work to preserve the institution itself, not just your party, The only job in congress like this, there is no job training, This will be a challenge for Jim Jordan if he becomes speaker
- Being speaker means you have to say yes or no to people so for the sake of the institution, people need to be able to accept the fact that all of their wants will not be met
- Age of entertainers rather than lawmakers → new breed of politician in digital age looking to build a brand “speak to ideological culdesac”
- Democracy can be frustrating at times and in this moment, it is experiencing growing pains
- How he achieved consensus in the republican party: Agreed to similar goals before session allowed majority to find sweet spots of compromise to find legislation they could pass. It may not be exactly what people want but you need to hold them to their word
- Jim Jordan is not a “burn it all down” a type of guy → agreeable behind closed doors
- He is anti-trump and that is the kiss of death in the republican party right now, Would have no shot running for president
- Believes you get elected to exercise your judgment, we are not a pure democracy
In order to provide for your district as speaker, you rely heavily on staff because your own time is spent running congress - When you cut against the grain in your own district, you need to be clear to constituents about that
- On being a young member of congress: Be a good listener, absorb info knowing that there are people with more experience than you and they can help you
Don’t make arguments based on emotion → be accepting of people with different points of view
what are major purposes of committees?
To consider and write bills, oversee agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdiction
How do members decide which committees to join?
District interests, congressional responsibility, personal interest or expertise, enhanced ability to raise money, raise profile in district and congress
How does leadership decide who to appoint to which committees?
leadership loyalty, electoral vulnerability, ability to raise money, policy expertise
What are the purposes of hearings?
to better understand issues before writing legislation, conduct oversight on govt spending and agency activities, investigate national problems (i.e Watergate), engage in partisan hit jobs (i.e McCarthy, Benghazi), generate positive publicity for a representative
What is a markup and why is it important?
Markup = when committees have the choice to pass a bill as written, slightly change it, or completely rewrite it
Can last 5 mins to days
Important and controversial bills will trigger a hearing room with hundreds of lobbyists, staff, and congress members
Amendments on the bill NEED to be germane
What are committees?
Committees write most legislation: where detailed policy debates take place, it is where amendments offered and decided.
Committee members are often policy experts
Committees hold hearings where stakeholders and experts testify about issues and legislation
Chairs still very powerful, despite greater power to speaker, full caucus and subcommittee chairs
Chair coordinates with leadership on committee priorities, committee agenda: what legislation
committee considers and what never moves, timing of legislation
What happens at hearings?
chair and ranking member make 5 min statements, witnesses have 5 mins to make statements, committee members have 5 mins to make statements or ask questions, members sometimes get second or third round
How does a bill become law?
- Speaker/Parliamentarian refers the bill
- Committee hearing - not very many get hearings, only if it is likely to pass
- Committee Markup and approves
- Rules committee, floor consideration, and passage - only bills that leadership supports go to rules, virtually every rule passes
- Sent to Senate for similar review - hearings? markup? filibuster?
5a. If House and Senate language is identical, bill goes to president
5b. If language is different, it must be reconciled until it is the same
Types of Committees:
- Standing Committees - permanent committees with real power
- Select Committee - little to no power, temporarily created to address a specific problem (i.e Benghazi)
- Joint Committees - no power, more advisory, comprised of House and Senate members
- Conference Committees - temporary, designed to resolve legislative disagreements
Deficit
Annual amount of government borrowing
Debt
Total amount U.S. Government owes (includes debt going back to our founding in 1789.)
Debt Ceiling
Total amount government allowed by statute to borrow. If Congress borrows above the
debt ceiling maximum, which has never happened, US would be in default of our debts.
Continuing Resolution
Usually temporary spending bill necessary because Congress fails to pass year
long spending bill. Used to avoid government shutdown when government runs out of money
Earmarks
Special money or tax benefit in law added by a Member usually to benefit project in his
district. (Ex: school, bridge, road). Banned since 2011. Congress restarting them this year
Sequester
Across the board spending cuts of either mandatory or discretionary funds.
Reconciliation
Bill that can’t be filibustered and passes with just 50 votes. It increases or cuts taxes
or mandatory spending. It has no impact on discretionary spending. Now being used to pass Biden
spending bill
Discretionary Spending
Money Congress must approve every year. When Congress fails to pass it for
a year, the money stops. (examples: federal pay, foreign aid, operation of parks)
Mandatory Spending
Spending that continues every year without need for Congress to approve.
Examples include Social Security and Medicare. If Congress never met another day, Social Security
and Medicare checks would continue to go out forever.
Steps of the Annual Budget Process
- Early February - President sends Congress annual budget
- Committees hold hearings on the President’s budget
- Budget Committee white and pass budget resolutions
- House and Senate pass different budget versions
- April 15 - House and Senate pass budget resolution conference report
- Appropriations process begins - App. committee must wait for budget to pass as it tells them how much they can spend (Oct. 1 = start of new fiscal year, if Congress cant pass appropriations bills –> govt shutdown)
- reconciliation process can start IF the budget resolution directs it
What is the difference between Authorization and Appropriation Spending?
Authorization - maximum spending level for a program, has program specifications and detailed policies
Appropriation - Actual funding for a program and almost never at total authorization level
Budget Authority v. Outlays
BA - When congress appropriates money
Outlays - When congress actually cashes the check
What is a budget resolution?
- tells appropriations com. how much money can be spent but does not say how it can be spent
- no reconciliation unless BR includes optional reconciliation instructions
- Not an actual spending bill, cannot be filibustered, president does not sign
What is the Byrd Rule?
- Stops congress from using reconciliation for non-budgetary items (only taxes and spending are allowed on a bill)
- Senate parliamentarian decides when a provision violates the Byrd rule
How reconciliation bills are passed:
- House and Senate Committees pass budget resolution (this must include reconciliation instructions)
- Full House and Senate pass budget resolution
- Chambers conference nd pass diff versions of the budget resolution conference report
- Reconciliation instructions are sent to budget committees
- Budget committees package sections and pass bill
- Full House and Senate pass reconciliation, conference any House/Senate differences
- President signs into law
What is the only way to reduce deficits and debt?
Raise taxes and/or cut spending
Examples of presidential overreach
- Executive orders - acting when Congress won’t or cant, number of EOs have skyrocketed in recent years, weak beause new presidents can immediately undo them
- Signing statements - proclamations released when a pres signs a bill, seems to allow presidents to choose which laws to enforce or ignore
- Fighting wars without declaration from Congress
- expansion of the executive branch (2.1 million employees)
- Spending funds for purposes Congress never appropriated
Purposes of Congressional Oversight
- Makes sure the executive branch is implementing laws as Congress intended
- stops waste, duplication, and fraud
- focuses public attention on important issues
- evaluates whether current law adequately addresses problem
- generates good press for a member of congress
- Successful oversight = Watergate, Iran Contra
- Abusive oversight = Benghazi, McCarthy hearings
How Congress exercises oversight (in order of seriousness)
Meet with or have phone call with agency head
* Send Congressional letter demanding executive action or
asking hard questions
* Hold Congressional Hearing
* Request GAO or IG Investigation
* Change law to require monthly report on how agency is
complying
* Cut agency funds until it complies
* Threat to impeach agency head (very last resort)
What is “ping pong”
- When House and Senate send a measure back and forth , each proposing amendments for the other chamber to consider
What did Chairman Ted Lieu talk about?
- Current goals in the House: (now that there is a speaker) avoid shutdown, pass foreign aid, explore dangers of AI
- He doesn’t know if Johnson will stay speaker, it is hard to predict the Republican party
- Republicans will likely pass a CR to further put off a shutdown because of new speakership
- He thinks social media is a good way to debunk lies shared by some politicians
- People should not believe everything they see online
What did Maya MacGuineas talk about?
- Fiscal responsibility means paying for the government you have, no matter how big the government is. Do we make these decisions based on economics and not politics? If economy is in recession or other crisis, you need to borrow
If you borrow too much, your budget is less flexible - House and senate want to do everything different, bipartisan and bicameral disagreements. Govt shutdown looms
- Where are we with deficit and debt? - Total debt $33 Tril, public debt $26 Tril. Public debt affects the rest of the economy, Debt to GDP - 99%, Interest payments per year is $5000 per household → puts numbers in perspective
- If you borrow faster than the economy, biggest warning sign of problems
Your deficit should never double in a moment of economic strength - We spend more on interest payments than we do on any social program → spend more on borrowing of the past than any programs for the future. Fastest growing part of the budget
- 2 biggest programs are social security and medicare - both have trust funds, in a decade we won’t have money in trust funds
- Why does it matter?
Slows economic growth
Growing interest payment in the budget
Fiscal soundness makes you prepared for emergencies
Number one national security threat is debt
Country needs a new social contract → seniors are the richest cohort now and children are poorest, unexpected disruptions, new concerns to think about
Budget is so precommitted that it can’t evolve for modern risks
What did Greg Waring talk about?
- Really wanted to pass a $15 minimum wage → low wages, particularly in the south, creates racial disparity, Byrd rule limited their ability to do so
- When you move a budget resolution that has reconciliation you are telling committees to make these policies real
- Budget act of 74 → strict calendar for budgeting → no consequence for missing deadlines and they are often missed Usually aren’t shutdowns so missing deadlines are not typically an issue
- Fiscal responsibility act → 2 year spending plan
- States experiment with biyearly budgeting
- CBO - non partisan budget analysis
Speaker Johnson did not believe CBO in their analysis that if IRS spending is cut by $14 billion, we will actually lose $26 billion because rich people and corporations don’t pay their taxes
What did Rosa DeLauro talk about?
- Power of the purse → congress, specifically appropriations
- Appropriations is the center of the government, if we do not pass appropriations the government shuts down
- 12 Appropriations acts corresponding to 12 appropriations subcommittees, all 12 bills need to be passed every year
- Earmarks are highly restricted to avoid exploitation
- Congress as an institution has the ability to make opportunity real
What did Chris Van Hollen talk about?
- US depends on full faith of the US treasury and a default would be catastrophic for that reason
- All 12 senate bill have passed committee, only 3 have passed on the floor
He thinks we need to do a better job reducing our debt but recognizes that it always needs to be measured in comparison to the economy
Loans are always dependent on your earnings, the same goes for the US economy - Medicare and social security are mandatory, laws need to change to change their funding
- To help budget, cut spending in mandatory or discretionary spending, increase revenue → he thinks rich and mega corporations need to be held to higher taxes by closing loopholes
- In favor of long debate but against supermajority votes for the filibuster
- Get involved in the “big questions”
- Republicans are pro cutting spending but have not proposed any measures to do so
- Taxes in 2000 when budget was balanced 20% was taxed
- Thought it was important that congress members have political will to make decisions than to fully change the structure
What did Henry Cuellar talk about?
- When he was in state legislature, parties were not a big deal → things have changed quite a bit in the state
- Democrats, republicans, and appropriators → able to put differences aside to make financial decisions
This year, was the first time in his experience that “appropriators” don’t exist
Divisions within the Republican party makes this very hard - Motion to vacate Johnson would not be wise going into an election year
What did Dan Glickman and Charlie Dent talk about?
- Certain level of turnover is good but in the last 4 years we have lost 50% of the House to defeat, retirement, death, etc.
This combined with total dysfunction is that Congress is losing its institutional memory → dysfunction becomes normal - The House is so polarized that regular governing is nearly impossible → the Senate is a little better but still concerning
- People see compromise as a sellout → this country was founded on compromises
- We have evolved into a “my way or the highway” view of governing → the value of collaborating has been lost
- Money in politics has become much more important, having any chance of winning requires millions of dollars → encourages a combative attitude
- Becoming more and more like a parliamentary system, parties are not encouraged to collaborate
What did Ellen Weintraub talk about?
- Watergate → prompted creation of FEC
- In 2022, top donors gave average 3 million each
In 2022, 8.9 billion dollars spent on elections (not even a presidential election)
Money doubled between 2016 and 2020 elections
So far, 243 million has been raised by all candidates combined - After watergate, congress created federal election campaign act that had spending and contribution limits → Buckley decision overturned this
Contribution limits limited political speech - In other countries, they recognize that the person who can raise the most money will drown out their competition
- “Dark money” → comes from Buckley decision, we don’t want to limit political discussion
Tends to go to most competitive races - Super PACs didn’t exist before Citizens United (2010) → they can accept unlimited mone from almost anywhere, do not operate under restrictions, can collect money from unions and corporations, have to disclose this money to FEC
Because corporation money is accepted, they can collect money undisclosed and then give money to PACs
THIS is dark money and you can’t always tell who is behind it
Can create a “russian doll problem” as money flows from organization to organization without disclosure
Actual candidates have large restrictions on these things - Parties have very different views on campaign finance → republicans anti-regulation to protect free speech, democrats point out corruption of money in politics
What are some causes of polarization?
- Economic anxiety
- End of the Cold War (no more unifying enemy)
- Societal trend toward division
- More politically homogeneous communities: urban/suburban vs. rural
- Political rhetoric
- Polarized news sources (conformation bias)
What are causes of congressional polarization?
- Congress mirrors the nation
- Gerrymandering
- End of ticket splitting
- Rhetoric of personal destruction
- Elimination of Congressional minority rights
- Bitter legacy of Jan. 6 attack
Impacts of gerrymandering
- virtual elimination of swing districts
- Republicans have redistricted for 187 seats; Dems for 87 seats.
What were the impacts of the McCain/Feingold overruling?
- Prohibited national parties from receiving soft money.
- Banned soft money “issue ads” within 60 days of general election.
What was the impact of Citizens United?
- Private corporations, wealthy donors and unions can spend unlimited
amounts in “soft money” to elect or defeat candidates. - Soft money is donation not going to specific candidate
Why do incumbents have such high reelection rates?
- ABILITY TO RAISE MONEY
- HIGH NAME RECOGNITION IN DISTRICT
- TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES
- GERRYMANDERING
Why is US voter turnout lower than our allies?
- Voter Suppression laws
- lack of polling places in high-density areas
- Elections on Tuesday not Sunday
- Apathy
- Less cultural tradition
- frequency of elections
