The Legislative Branch Of Government: Congress Flashcards
Where is Congress based?
In the capitol on what is known as Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
Explain the House Of Representatives?
The lower house of Congress, 435 members, known as representatives, each serving 2 year roles in different congressional districts, with each seat contested at election
Explain the Senate?
The upper house of congress, 100 members, called senators, who serve 6 year terms, though congressional elections are held every 2 years with 1/3 of senators contesting each election, each state represented by 2 senators
What were the two plans of how Congress should be strutted during the Philadelphia Convention (1787)?
New Jersey Plan And Virginia Plan
What was the New Jersey Plan, suggested in the Philadelphia Convention in 1787?
Favoured by smaller states, it proposed all states received equal number of seats in the legislature, protecting the rights of these smaller states
What was the Virginia Plan, suggested in the Philadelphia Convention in 1787?
it proposed where population size would determine the number of seats in Congress
What is the compromise that in the Philadelphia Convention (1787), which lead to the Congress we have today?
The Connecticut Compromise
What are the roles of Congress?
Passing legislation
Representing the people
Overseeing the executive
What are two powers of the Senate only?
Ratifying treaties - 2/3 majority required
Confirming presidential appointments
What are the 3 actions used by a president once legislation has been approved by both houses?
It can be signed, vetted or ‘left on the president’s desk’
How big of a majority is needed by Congress to override the president’s veto?
2/3
Who does a amendments to the constitution need to pass through?
A 2/3 majority in both house, then 3/4 in each state to ratify it
Which power requires a vote by both house and has not been used since 1941?
Declaring war
How does impeachment work in Congress?
Only the House can impeach a public official, with a simple majority needed in the House, though only the Senate can try impeachments, with a 2/3 majorette Senate vote needed fr a guilty verdict, which results in the officials immediate removal from office
When was the last time Congress has elected the president and ice president in the event of a hung Electoral College?
1824
Before being considered by Congress, where is a bill examined?
A standing committee, lead by members of Congress who are expert in the subject area of the bill
What can standing committees in Congress do?
Can amend the bill if it wishes to, and decides whether to release the bill to the main chamber, though most bills end their passage when they are rejected by committee
After a bill is timetable, debated and amended in both houses, what happens next in Congress?
The bill must pass through both houses of Congress separately to become law
Where happen to the difference, that occur when the bill goes through the two chambers separately, when a bill is passed and needs to become one bill to become law?
The two versions of the bill are discussed in a conference committee, made up of members of the standing committee for both houses, they agree upon one modified version of the bill and release this as a ‘conference report’
What is ‘left on president’s desk’?
If left on the president desk, it automatically becomes law after 10 days, with the only expiation being a ‘pocket veto’ when the president leaves the bull on their desk but Congress adjourns before the end of 10 days, this has the effect of vetoing the bill, and Congress cannot vote to override as it is not in session
What legislation did W. Bush claim to ‘pocket veto’ in 2007?
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008
Which bill did Lincoln ‘pocket veto’ in 1864?
Wade–Davis Bill
What are the stages for a bill to pass through Congress and the executive?
Introduction
Committee Stage
Timetabling
Conference Committee if required
Presidential action
What is the age criteria for Congress?
In the house members must be aged 25 or over, Senators 30 years or over
What is the citizenship criteria for Congress?
For the house its US citizen for a minimum of 7 years, Senate 9 years
What is the residency criteria for Congress?
Both Senators and congresspeople must reside in the state they represent
By what year is the US forecast to become ‘minority cast’?
2045
What is the general composition of parliament?
‘Pale, male and stale’
Which group is overrepresent in Congress compared to the population as a whole
Whites, men and especially Christians
In the 2019-2021 Congress what records were broken in terms of composition?
The first two Muslim women were elected, and a record 4 Native Americans, and at 29 AOC became the youngest ever congresswomen
Who are ‘the squad’?
4 Democrat congresswomen of colour, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley and Rashida Tlaib
Which groups are underrepresented in Congress?
Women, Hispanics, African-American and those with no religion
Though making up 18% of the population, what was the percentage of Hispanics in the 117th Congress?
9%
How many African-American in the 117th congress?
52 in the house and 3 in the Senate
What is the African-american affiliation with parties in the 117th Congress?
58 African-Americans Democrats and 3 were Republican
What is the representation of people of colour in the 117th congress (2021-2023)?
African-Americans 12% - 23% of the population
Hispanic Americans 9% - 18% of the population
Asians 4% - 6% of the population
What is the representation of women in the 117th congress (2021-2023)?
27% of Congress (118 in the house, 24 in the senate) - 51% of the population
What is the representation of religion in the 117th congress (2021-2023)?
Christian 88% - 71% of the population
Protestant 55% - 48% of the population
Catholic 30% - 21% of the population
Mormon 2% - 2% of the population
Jewish 6% - 2% of the population
Muslim 0.6% - 1% of the population
Buddhist 0.4% - 1% of the population
Hindu 0.4% - 1% of the population
No religion 0.2% - 23% of the population
What is the representation of LGBTQ+ in the 117th congress (2021-2023)?
2% of Congress - 4.5% of the population
What is the representation of age in the 117th congress (2021-2023)?
The average age of congress is 59 years while the average age of the population is 38 years
What does the senate terms of office protect against?
Volatile swings in public opinion
What two members of Congress were not part of the Democrat or Republican parties, and were independent, though democrat leaning?
Two senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine
While its the average public approval rate of Congress?
Around 20% approve, while more than 70% disapprove, with many Americans feeling Congress is ineffective and unproductive
What is it called when Congress cannot pass legislation effectively?
Gridlock
What is a divided government situation in Congress?
When the two house are held ny different parties, or both house by the same party but an opposing party president, usually leads to much gridlock as they cannot agree and prevent each other from doing work, this is less effective than a united government
What procedure allows individual senators to kill off legislation by talking at length to prevent the Senate from voting?
Filibuster
What majority is required to end a cloture, which means ‘closure’ and ends a filibuster in the Senate?
A 3/5 majority, which is hard to get as no party normally has 60 seats in the Senate
What is an advantage of transformative legislation that has been passed?
Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010
What percentage of bills become laws?
2-3% a figure that has fallen since the 6-7% in the 1980s
What sort of power is oversight of the executive by Congress?
An implied power
What factor influence Congressional oversight?
Political factors, as seen in 2018 when the Democrats won the House of Representatives in 2018 and lauded a series of investigations into Trump leading to his first impeachment showing oversight is normally weaker during a united government
What are the 4 ways congress can carry out its oversight function in 4 ways?
Investigating, the executive, confirming presidential nominees, impeaching officials and ratifying treaties
What can standing and select committee do when investigating the executive?
Can compel (subpoena) witness to provide information for their investigation, using the media when holding people to account can put pressure on
What office support Congress to invest age and audit the executive?
The Government Accountability Office (GAO)
What does Senate confirmation encourage?
Presidents to nominate high-quality individuals
What is an example of the confirmation process not working?
in 2017, Trump’s education secretary billionaire Betsy DeVos, displayed a lack of knowledge of basic education policy during her 2017 confirmation hearing and argued guns in schools would protect students from bears, being confirmed in a 50-50 tie, with 2 republicans defeating from party lines, and vice president Mike Pence confirming
What did the threat of impeachment force Nixon to do in 1974?
resign
What 3 presidents have be tried to be impeached?
Reagan, Clinton and Trump
What are some important international treaties rejected by the Senate?
The Treaty of Versailles (1920)
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1999), which would have banned the testing of nuclear weapons
The Conventions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012), a UN treaty that protects the rights of people with disabilities
How to presidents bypass the Senate when making international agreements?
Making executive agreements
What important power does Congress have?
‘The power of the purse’, with only congress able to raise revenue for the federal government, all tax bills starting in the House, but the Senate can amend them
What are government shutdowns?
When neither the executive nor Congress is willing to compromise on the budget, so its not passed, with most being ‘partial’ and ending after a day or two wit little distribution, ‘full’ shutdowns close much ‘non-essential’ functions of the federal government such as environment and food inspectors, national park and benefit applications
What is the longest shutdown in US history?
In 2018-2019 Trump’s admiration shutdown lasted 35 days
What is a congressional caucus?
Members of Congress who work together to achieve similar legislative aims
What are the main party caucuses?
House Republican caucus - all Republican in the House
Senate Republican caucus - all Republicans in the Senate
House Democrat caucus - all Democrats in the House
Senate Democrat caucus - all Democrats in the Senate
What is an example of a smaller congressional caucuses acting as ‘subgrouping’ of members with similar interests?
In 2021 the House Freedom Caucus consisted of around 45 conservative Republicans with a commitment to limited government, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus was made up of nearly 100 progressive Democrats, bipartisan groups like Bipartisan Heron and Opioid Task Force and the Congressional Black Caucus
What are the leaders of each caucus leader known as?
The majority leader if they have a majority in that chamber
The minority leader if they have a minority in that chamber
What majority and minority leaders do?
Act as ‘floor leaders’, they plan the legislative agenda and coordinate their party for votes and debates to the to achieve party unity and complete party aims
Who is the current Speaker of the House?
Republican Kevin McCarthy
What has been traditionally weak in Congress?
Party discipline
How does the Speaker of the House enforce lever of incline to members of congress?
They decide who sits on the House Rules Committee and chairs and sits on select an conference committees
Who determines who will serve on different committees in the Senate?
Party leaders
What is a final means attempt to convict members of Congress to stay united?
Threanting them with a withdrawal of party support, either in heir next election campaign or to progress u the party hierarchy
How many Republican senators voted against Trump in his 2019 impeachment trial?
1, Mitt Romney
What Act was unanimously approved (96-0) in March 2020?
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
What are the committees in the committee systems?
Standing committees
Select committees
House Rules Committee
conference committee
Explain congressional standing committees?
Are permanent and focuses on a specific area of policy, with 20 House standing committees and 16 Senate standing committees, with much of the work done within subcommittees, with the party majority in the chamber the same in the standing committee for the chamber
What are standing committees responsible for?
Holding hearings during the committee stage of bills, in order to listen to and question witnesses and vote on whether the bill should proceed tp the House or Senate
Carrying out investigations and oversights if the executive, focused on the committee’s policy area
What are the additional task of considering presidential appointments that the Senate standing committees?
Hearings are held to consider the nominee’s suitability
This is followed by a committee vote, which is a recommendation of the Senate on whether to confirm the appointment
What are congressional select committees?
Set up to deal with a specific urgent issues and therefore prevent the relevant standing committee from being overload, with most being temporary but a few, such as the House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, are permanent, select committee generally do not work on legislation but instead investigate the issue in question
What is an example of a House Select Committee?
House Select Committee on Benghazi (2014-2016), which investigate the 2012 terrorist attack on the US embassy in Bengazhi, Libya, which questioned former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for 11 hours in 2015
What is House Rules Committee?
Instancing committee in the House of Representatives and set the ‘rules’ for bills, determine how much time they will have on the floor of the House and whether amendment will be allowed, ‘open rules’ allow congresspeople to suggest amendment whereas ‘closed rules’ do not
What is the membership of House Rules Comitee?
13, weighted in favour of the majority party in a 2:1 ratio
What type of rule bills by House Rules Committee have increased in recent years?
Closed rule bills, 56% of bills in the 115th Congress being closed rules, the highest percentage of any Congress
What are conference committees?
Temporary committees set up to consider a specific bill
How many conference reports in the the 104th Congress (1995-1997) and 115th Congress (2017-2019)?
67 conference reports in the 104th and 7 in the 115th
What are the ways members of Congress can represent their constituents?
Communicating with constituents
Passing legislation
Committee membership
Lobbying the executive
Constituency casework
What is an example of committee membership of a congressperson representing their constituents?
From 2015 to 2020, the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee was Pat Roberts, senator for the agricultural states of Kansas, and steered a bipartisan farm bill through Congress with the support of many Kansas agricultural groups and producers, the Agriculture Improvement Act 2018 gave farmers billion of dollar of funding and better access to crop insurance
What is an example of pork barrel funding?
The ‘bridge to nowhere’, proposed $400 million project that would have joined a town in Alaska to Gravina island, which is home to about 50 people and an airport, it was neve rbuilt
What was the reelection rates of both houses in 2020?
House Of Representatives: 95%
Senate: 84%
What is the differences between both houses work with the power of the purse?
Only the House can inmate money bills, the Senate can amend money bills, in order for money bills to pass both chambers must agree
What executive office of the president lobbys members of Congress to vote for the presidents cause?
The Office for Legislative Affairs
What year was the one time a Supreme Court justice has been impeached by the Senate, though was subsequently acquitted by the Senate?
1811
