The Legislative branch Flashcards
Focusing on the house of reps
435 members
2 year terms
Focusing on the senate
100 members
6 year terms
one-third is re-elected every 2 years
What did the virginia plan do
Population size shows how many seats a state will have
What roles does congress have
Passing legislation
Representing the people
Overseeing the executive
The powers of congress (BOTH HOUSES)
Legislative powers
Overriding a presidential veto
Imitating amendments to the constitution
Declaring War
Congressional oversight
Impeachment and removal from office
electing the pres and vice pres if a hung government
The powers of only the senate
Ratifying Treaties
Confirming presidential appointments
The stages of the legislative process
Introduction
Committee stage
Timetabling
floor debates
conference committee
president check
Whats the criteria to be a congress(wo)men
25+
7 years in the US
Must live in the state
Whats the criteria to be a senator
30+
9 years in the US
Must Live in state
Example of congress being male dominated
until 2009 the senate swimming pool was male only
What party do the 2 independents support and who are they
The Democrats
Bernie Sanders and Angus King
What is a filibuster
A tactic used in the senate to talk for hours on hours until a bill runs out of time in the debate.
What is oversight
When congress oversee’s, investigates and scrutinises the federal government
Why is oversight efficient
As Congress has so much power, people are scared to go against congress adding fear making people follow code with punishments of prison time for lying
Arguments that congress fulfills its oversight effectively
There is strong oversight when there’s a divided government
Standing and select committees investigations of the executive are high - profile
Congress can impeach president for wrong doing
Senate can refuse appointments
arguments against congress being effective
Investigations can be politicised and partisan
Investigations can be costly and expensive yet get no results
The confirmation process is very politicised
The number of employees on oversight has declined over the 50 years
Arguments that congress use the power of the purse effectively
The power is one of the best checks on the president
The executive can make changes to stop a shutdown
Government shutdowns are relatively rare.
Arguments that congress use the power of the purse ineffectively
Government shutdowns are expensive and can be lengthy
THe threat of a shutdown hovers over every budget
Presidents are unable to reduce the budget causing the US into more debt
Pork barrel funding isn’t a good thing for tax payers money
What is a congressional caucus
A group of members of congress who work together to have similar legislative aims
Why is the speaker important
They are 3 in line of president after vice
Act as floor leader
Is elected by the house so whoever has a majority will get the speaker.
What can the partys do to keep discipline
In the house the speaker decides who gets on the house rules committee.
In the senate party leaders can choose who goes on what committee
The final means is to cut party funding
What 4 committees are there
Standing
Select
House Rules
conference
Whats the key points of standing committees
20 in the house and 16 in the senate
Permanent
house committees are responsible for holding hearings during the committee stage and carrying out oversight
Senate committees are responsible for the presidential appointments
Key info for select committees
They are ad hoc to deal with urgent issues
The House permanent intelligence committee and the senate select committee on intelligence is permanent
Select committees normally focus on investigations not legislation
Key info of house rule committee
Sets the rules for bills eg decides if its on open rules (Any congress member can make amendments) or if its closed (No amendments)
has a membership of 13 people in 2:1 ratio of the majority party, decided who is on it by the speaker
Committee decides how long bills are debated on and when they are
In the 115th congress 56% of bills were closed allowing the minority party to make less changes
this makes the chairmen very important
Whats a conference committee
A committee that is used to put the two bills from the senate and the house together to create one bill. This has to be agreed on by both houses afterwords
How do members of congress represent their constituents
Communicating with constituents
Passing legislation
Committee legislation
Lobbying the Executive
Constituency Casework
What is pork barreling
The federal government will send funding to states to make sure they support them. This funding is not needed.
The difference in power of the purse in both houses
House - Only initiate money bills
Senate - Can amend money bill
The difference in impeachment between the 2 houses
House - decides if they start the process or not
Senate - Decides if their guilty or not
The difference’s in career prospects between the houses
House - 335 more members than in the senate, makes it less desirable. More competition to get into the senate
Senate - Higher public profile as less of them
Good leadership roles
16 presidents have been in senate
4 of the last 6 vice presidents have been in the senate
is the relationship from congress to the executive good
Yes, the executive will have meetings with congress often to push through their agenda
The president can also use his power to persude to get extra votes in congress.
Is the vice president important
yes, they are the president of the senate and in cases like harris when the senate is split 50-50, the vice president will be he tie breaker.
Is congress or the supreme court more powerful
The supreme court
They can call laws unconstitutional, the only way for congress to get around this is by constitutional amendments.
Congress can impeach judges, but rarely happens. Last happened in 1811 but the senate acquitted them anyway
Arguments for congress being broken
frequent gridlock
2-3% of bills become law
increased partisanship
Gov shutdowns are unpopular
unpopular with public
Investigations are partisan not trying to get the truth
Pork barreling
Trumps impeachment was done on partisan lines
The supreme court has judicial review
Senate presidential appointments are often partisan then actually finding out about them
uncompetitive seats have led ti a polarised and divided congress
Congress hasn’t declared war since 1941
Arguments congress is not broken
Major legislation is passed every year
Bipartisan cooperation is still possible eg First step act 2018
The cares act 2020 shows congress can unite
individual members are likely to be re-elected
Investigations provide much-needed scrutiny
The power of the purse keeps the executive into account
Congress has tried to impeach 3 presidents
Senate confirmations means the president has to pick candidates who stand up to public scrutiny
Polarisation in congress is representation to a divided USA
