US Congress

Question 1

Structure of Congress

Question 2

Powers given to Congress in the Constitution

Question 3

Exclusive powers of each House

Question 4

Concurrent powers of Congress

Question 5

Functions of Congress

Question 6

Representation - Congressional Elections

Question 7

Representation - Significance of Incumbency

Question 8

Factors that affect voting behaviour within Congress

Answer 8

Parties and caucuses

Constituency

Pressure groups

Lobbyists

Question 9

Legislative - The legislative process

Question 10

Legislative - Strengths of the legislative process

Question 11

Legislative - Weaknesses of the legislative process

Question 12

Legislative - Differences between the legislative process in each chamber

Question 13

Oversight - Factors that influence the relationship between Congress and the presidency

Answer 13

Jim Demint tried to embarrass the president as the Democrats oversight of George W Bush was political posturing and demagoguing and had not really changed anything

An example being the Benghazi, Libya incident under the republican administration – 2 senate committees held hearings, the House held 6 – the main reason for the oversight activity was that Hillary Clinton was the front runner in the race to become the democratic party’s presidential candidate in 2016

It is ironic because that the Congressional republican may be held responsible for Bush’s failures and the Democrats could be blamed for some of Obama’s failures simply because they did not criticise enough

Question 14

Oversight - Checks on the other branches of government

Answer 14

Hearings and investigations conducted by standing or special Congressional committees

Consulting with or getting reports directly from the president

Giving its advice and consent for certain high level presidential nominations and for treaties

Impeachment proceedings conducted in the House and tried in the Senate

House and the Senate protruding under the 25th amendments should the president become disabled, or the office of the vice president become vacant

Senators and representatives serving on Presidentially appointed commissions

Special studies conducted by congressional committees and support agencies such as the Congressional Budget Office, the General Accountability Office, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the Congressional Research Service

Question 15

Oversight - Extent of its institutional effectiveness

Answer 15

The effectiveness of congress depends on – party control, relative popularity of Congress compared with the next President – in the eyes of the public Congress ranks low so it is less likely to be an effective check on the White House

A President that wins by a landslide (Reagan 1984) is much less vulnerable than a President who has won with only minority of the popular vote (Bill Clinton in both 1992/6) or did not win at all (Gerald Ford post Watergate)

In a national crisis the president is usually strengthened at Congress’ expense
9/11 Clinton, Obama Afghanistan