US Congress

Question 1

Structure of congress

Answer 1

Bicameral nature
- made up of two houses
- HoR is proportional to population, but the senate has two senators per state.

Question 2

Membership of Congress

Answer 2

• HoR term is 2 years but the Senate is 6 years
• the speaker of the house is ‘Nancy Pelosi’
• house majority leader is viewed as the deputy
• minority leader in each chamber heads the minority party
• women, African Americans and Hispanics are the most underrepresented in congress

Question 3

The election cycle

Answer 3

• FPTP
• midterm elections 2 years after presidential election - the president usually experiences a major decline in power.
• Trump lost control of the HoR in 2018 following the mid terms

Question 4

Who lost control of the HoR in 2018 following the mid terms

Answer 4

Trump

Question 5

Exclusive powers of the house

Answer 5

• to impeach
• to elect the president if no candidate receives over 50% of the electoral college
• to consider money bills

Question 6

The exclusive powers of the senate

Answer 6

• to try an impeached official
• to ratify treaties negotiated by the president
• to confirm presidential appointments

Question 7

Concurrent powers of congress

Answer 7

• legislation
• amending the constitution
• to declare war

Question 8

Functions of Congress: Representation…. Incumbency

Answer 8

• the significance of incumbency: incumbents have an extremely high chance of retaining position if they stand for re-election.

In the 2018 elections, incumbency rates were over 90% for the Senate and 85% for the house.

Incumbency rates are so high as the FPTP system is a winner takes all system, this leads to the creation of safe seats.

Question 9

Incumbency rates for the houses in 2018

Answer 9

In the 2018 elections, incumbency rates were over 90% for the Senate and 85% for the house.

Question 10

Incumbency advantages

Answer 10

Name recognition

Pork-barrel legislation: proposing or amending legislation that brings benefits to their constituency

Question 11

Gerrymandering

Answer 11

District boundaries are largely drawn up by the party in control of the state legislature. The dominant party can therefore maximise its chances of winning as many House seats as possible.

Question 12

Factors affecting behaviour within congress:
Parties and caucuses

Answer 12

• members of Congress vote along party lines, but recently there has been a rise in partisan voting.
• separation of powers in particular leads to weak party leaders who may find it difficult to control those who do not follow the party line.
• congressional caucuses can also have a major influence on voting. These caucuses are based on shared ideology such as the congressional black caucus or the congressional steel caucus. They are often bipartisan, and work to pursue legislative goals.

Question 13

Factors affecting behaviour within congress:

Constituents

Answer 13

• members of Congress are very accountable to constituents. In addition, the prevalence of pork-barrel legislation can be seen as an indicator of the need to please constituency views.

Question 14

Factors affecting behaviour within congress:

Pressure groups and lobbyists

Answer 14

• pressure groups can mobilise key voter groups to support or oppose a congressional candidate.
• professional lobbyists can also be influential because of their connections with current politicians and the lure of a potentially lucrative post with a lobbying firm once they leave congress.

Question 15

Key characteristics of the legislative process

Answer 15

• congress is proactive, not simply reactive. Whilst it often response to presidential proposals, it is active in initiating legislation for itself.
• congress amends and/or defeats presidential proposals.
• legislation has to be agreed on by both the House and the Senate, which have co-equal legislative power.
• must achieve the support of over 50% in each main chamber
• lack of party unity can make it hard to pass legislation
• the president is highly influential in legislation, often setting the agenda and possessing the power to veto bills. A two-thirds vote of each chamber is required to overturn a presidential veto.

Question 16

Weaknesses of the legislative process

Answer 16

• it is slow to pass legislation, with excessive compromise and amendments
• this process may lead to poor quality laws. Often a compromise of pet projects and ideological interests.
• the tendency to pork-barrel most legislation increases the national debt with projects that are unnecessary or poor value for many.
• excessive partisanship. High party unity and unwillingness to compromise have often led to gridlock.
• often concerned with getting re-elected rather than passing legislation.

Question 17

Strengths of the legislative process

Answer 17

• checks and balances prevent tyranny and decision making, and encourages greater pluralism in decision-making
• preventing legislating, from passing, could be seen as desirable, promoting the conservative value of limiting government
• such as long and considered process, should lead to higher quality policy by preventing rushed decisions
• protects states rights

Question 18

Legislative difference between House and Senate

Answer 18

House:
Amendments to legislation must
be relevant to the proposed Act.

Senate:
Amendments can be added to most bills on unrelated matters. In 2016 the bill to address the Zika crisis was partly rejected by Democrats because of several amendments added by Republican senators to limit abortion.

House:
The legislative process is largely controlled by the leadership of the majority party, allowing for greater order and efficiency.

Senate:
There is no Rules committee, which means that the agenda of the Senate is determined by the whole chamber, which has to determine which bills to take up and which to reject.

House:
There is virtually no scope for filibuster in the House, votes are automatically scheduled, usually by the Rules Committee.

Senate:
Bills are subject to a filibuster by an individual senator who can insist that they wish to continue to debate a bill, thus preventing it from being voted on. To overturn a filibuster, a motion of cloture has to be passed, requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate. At the end of Obama’s first term, the
Washington Post listed 17 major bills which would have passed Congress if there was no Senate filibuster, including the DREAM Act on immigration reform.

House:
Unanimous consent (a member in the full chamber can request a vote on a speatic matter. If no one objects, it is adopted) Can be used in the House but, give the existence of the Rules Committee, it is not commonly exercised.

Senate:
A great deal of use is made of unanimous consent. This involves a proposal being made on the floor of the full Senate, which then only passes if no one objects. it is a more unwieldy version of the House Rules Committee. Majority and minority leaders, in consultation with their party caucuses, will attempt to work out a Unanimous consent agreement, prescrioing a definite time for debate and voting on a bill. In some cases unanimous consent is used to simply pass a bill, such as the passage of the Justice Against Sponsors of the Terrorism Act 2016.

Question 19

Laws passed by congress might be ineffective because:

Answer 19

• they are often based on a compromise of different interests - promotes pluralist democracy
• laws are carefully checked by many different processes in Congress - this series of filters should produce better quality legislation.

Question 20

The overall impact of Congress is limited by

Answer 20

• the president, especially presidential vetoes
• internal divisions within congress, making agreement impossible
• partisanship, especially where there is a divided government, making consensus difficult to achieve
• Supreme Court, which can overturn legislation that they feel is unconstitutional.

Question 21

Oversight

Answer 21

• party control: under divided government, a president is likely to face stronger oversight and a competing political agenda
• policy area: the dual presidency theory suggests that the president is more constrained in areas of domestic policy than foreign policy
• popularity of the president: congress is more likely to support a president that is popular.
• partisanship: the longer term rise in partisanship has had a major effect of presidential - congressional relations.

Question 22

Checks on the branches of government

Answer 22

Congressional committees: these committees can investigate executive action or consider legislative proposals often amending or blocking presidential laws.

Vote on presidential proposals: congress frequently blocks presidential proposals

Ratification of appointments and treaties: can have a major impact on the presidents ability to conduct foreign policy and to appoint people who will forward his political agenda

Impeachment and removal: can only be used if there is evidence of presidential wrongdoing

Question 23

Does Congress effectively fulfil its representative role?

Answer 23

Highly representative:
- the separation of powers and separate mandates from the president
- two elected bodies
- frequent elections and other short house terms

Limited by:
- FPTP, gerrymandering or incumbency
- pressure groups
- partisanship
- poor representation of women, African-Americans and Hispanics

Question 24

Implication of partisanship

Answer 24

• legislative gridlock
• increased oversight
• representation

Question 25

Separation of powers ensure

Answer 25

• separate elections for president and for congress, giving them both an equal right to govern
• possibility of divided government
• limited presidential patronage powers over congress

Question 26

How effective is Congress? Legislate

Answer 26

Highly:
- congress has a high impact on legislation, initiating, amending and blocking legislation.

Limited:
- The president is highly influential, especially in setting the legislative agenda, limiting congressional impact.

Question 27

How effective is Congress? To declare war

Answer 27

Highly:
- congress has constitutional power here and often limits presidential requests for military action.

Limited:
- Congress is passive in this area, allowing the president a great deal of control over military matters. In addition, presidents sometimes act unilaterally e.g. Bush after 9/11

Question 28

How effective is Congress? To amend the constitution

Answer 28

Highly:
- Amendments have a major impact on the operation of the US political system.

Limited:
- In practice, amendments are infrequent.

Question 29

How effective is Congress? To impeach and remove from office

Answer 29

Highly:
- congress has used this power to remove people from office. It is a check on public officials.

Limited:
- In practice it is not a constant threat, which restricts presidential power. Also difficult to achieve.

Question 30

How effective is Congress? To ratify treaties (Senate)

Answer 30

Highly:
- major significance. The senate has rejected several treaties

Limited:
- The president may use executive agreements to bypass the senate. Most foreign policy is not conducted through treaties (e.g. Obama’s Iran deal)

Question 31

How effective is Congress? To ratify appointments (Senate)

Answer 31

Highly:
- allows the senate to have major influence on presidential appointments and therefore the possible policy direction of the US.

Limited:
- presidents achieve most of their appointments e.g. Kavanaugh