Senate V House Of Representatives

Question 1

Why is the senate considered more prestigious than the House of Representatives?

Answer 1

Longer terms (6 years)
They are expected to be a steadying influence on the immediacy created in the house with its two year terms

Senators represent a whole state not just a small district, this means they have greater status and uphold states rights and the federal system

Question 2

What is the purpose of bicameralism?

Answer 2

‘An invitation to struggle’

They are supposed to be different

Question 3

How can the president circumvent the powers of the senate?

Answer 3

The War Powers act

This is considered unconstitutional by most but the senate only has the power the president allows them to

Question 4

How can the president circumvent both houses?

Answer 4

Obama normalised relations with Cuba through an executive order

DACA executive order due to congressional inaction on the DREAM act

Question 5

What is the big power the house has that the senate does not?

Answer 5

Power of the purse

Sets the financial agenda and controls the purse strings of government through the Ways and Means and Appropriations committees

This means the house has stopped the wall and stopped Obama closing Guantanamo bay

Question 6

Has congress as a whole ever been successful in using their power of impeachment?

Answer 6

Nope

Johnson (1868) and Clinton (1999) both acquitted

Nixon resigned before he could be impeached

Question 7

What significant powers does the senate have?

Answer 7

Advice and Consent powers
-ratifying treaties and confirming appointments

The senate tried the president in the impeachment process and needs a super majority to convict

Individual senators can filibuster

Question 8

Give an example of a v successful filibuster in the Senate?

Answer 8

Bipartisan filibuster in the senate by Rand Paul (R) and Ron Wyden (D) blocked the renewal of the Patriot act’s surveillance powers in 2015.

Question 9

Why is the house potentially more powerful in the impeachment process?

Answer 9

It initiates it and only needs a simple majority

Question 10

When has the senate been powerful in its decisions about treaties?

Answer 10

Did not ratify the treaty of Versailles or the Kyoto treaty or the UN arms trade treaty

Question 11

When has the senate been powerful in its decisions about appointments?

Answer 11

They rejected Bork as Supreme Court nominee in 1987

Harriet Miers for Supreme Court 2005 and Susan Rice for Secretary of State in 2013 were forced to withdraw before their rejection. These were both presidential nominees

Question 12

Why can we say both houses have an equal role?

Answer 12

The have to pass bills in the same form, equal role in legislation

Question 13

What happened with Merrick Garlands Nomination in 2016?

Answer 13

The republican senate refused to hold hearings at all

Senate showed power over Obama

Question 14

In times of crisis the senate often don’t use their powers and instead defer to the president. Give an example of this

Answer 14

Reflected in the declaration of war on Iraq winning an overwhelming majority in the senate (77-23)

Question 15

Why has the senate been weak with Trumps nominations?

Answer 15

Friendly senate have confirmed appointments without proper scrutiny

Betsy DeVos was the first nominee to be confirmed in a tie break, VP Pence decided so she was confirmed

Gorsuch had frivolous questioning about whether he would rather fight one horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses

Question 16

How do the two houses have to work together?

Answer 16

Passing legislation

Passing constitutional amendments

Many amendments that pass in the house fail in the senate as did most of the ‘contract with America’

Question 17

Why can’t Trump pass anything?

Answer 17

Even though Trump has majorities in both houses

He can’t repeal or replace Obamacare, get funding for the wall and has had to give Congress until March 2018 to pass the dream act. For the first time in a congress run by the same party in both houses there has been a government shutdown

Everyone hates him and his ideas basically

Question 18

Why can the DACA dispute not be resolved easily?

Answer 18

The house would easily pass a bill but the senate are being difficult and this lead to 2018 shutdowns

Question 19

How many members are there of the House of Representatives? What is the average number of people in a constituency?

Answer 19

435

around 550,000

elected every two years so have to be very district oriented

Question 20

How many people do the senators for California represent? How many people do the Wyoming senators represent?

Answer 20

California- 32 million

Wyoming- 481,400

Question 21

What is the difference between formal rules in the house and senate? Which house is more specialist?

Answer 21

House has more comprehensive and formal rules and a majoritarian system to make decisions. House members are more specialist and serve on one or two standing committees.

The senate has less formal rules. Tradition of consent and cooperation.

In the senate members are more generalist. They serve on two or three standing committees. More is discussed on the senate floor and the chamber is less committee based. Senators are more individualistic and due to filibusters have to work harder to find consensus,

Question 22

name a vote that was unanimously passed?

Answer 22

No social security for Nazis Act 2014

Question 23

What bipartisan filibuster did Rand Paul and Ron Wyden conduct together?

Answer 23

June 2015 to prevent the renewal of the surveillance powers of the patriot act.

Question 24

With a supermajority in both houses, congress can overturn a presidential veto? When has this happened?

Answer 24

Farm Bill vetoes by GWB twice and overturned twice

JASTA was vetoes by Obama by overturned

Question 25

How has Congress used the Supreme Court ruling that Congress decides when it is in session (NLRB V Canning) to have power over the President?

Answer 25

Used this power to prevent recess appointments from summer 2017

Question 26

What was the issue with the Benghazi hearings?

Answer 26

All about political point scoring, not scrutiny

Question 27

How many times did Obama veto?

Answer 27

12

only JASTA overturned

Question 28

When does the effectiveness of checks and balances depend on?

Answer 28

The president
whether divided government or not
events