US Congress Flashcards
whats the structure of congress?
laid out in article 1 of the constitution - speaks to the importance of congress to the founding fathers.
congress was to be the most accountable branch to the voters and be able to directly challenge and limit the power of the executive.
Is bicameral - made up of the house of representatives and the senate- as a result of the ‘great compromise’ the membership of the HOR wld be directly elected, with each state appointing a number of representatives in line with its population.
the senate became an elected chamber following the 17th amendment in 1913.
2 senators from each state, serving 6 years.
unlike uk parliament hard to describe as lower and upper.
each chamber has unique powers like HOR right to begin all appropriations bills and the senates right to ratify treaties and appointments. They also share powers, known as concurrent powers. The most important of these is the power to make legislation.
HOR has significantly grown over the years due to the growth in population and there are calls to make it even bigger.
membership of congress
aside from the 17th ammendment, the constitutional structure of congress has not really changed in the last two centuries.
from the 1st congress of just 26 senators and 65 HOR but now 100 senators and 435 HOR.
the appointment act 1911 sets the number of members in the HOR at 435. The population at the time was 92 million but today population is 328 million meaning each house member represents around 750,000 Americans.
the election cycle
congressional election occurs every 2 years, compared to every 4 years for the president.
all federal government elections use FPTP.
in any congressional election every HOR seat is up for election and 1/3 of the seats in the senate. When they take place in the middle of a presidential term, they are known as midterm elections.
the significance incumbency
incumbency- the person who currently holds a political office, usually referring to the president, senator or HOR
being the incumbent in an election can hold significant advantages.
perhaps most important is the name recognition that currently holding office brings.
elections are expensive - in 2016 the average cost of winning a senate seat was 10.4million an increase of nearly 25% on 2014. Equally cost of winning HOR seat was over 1 million. To achieve this level of funding is far simplier when the candidate is already known.
in 2016 incumbents in the senate raised an average 12.7million compared to just 1.6million on average by the challengers. - viciouc cycle have name recognition, so can raise more and in raising more can further enhance their name recognition.
incumbents also have some congressional advantages
- they are provided with a website by their house on which they can easily share their policy beliefs as well as have a clear way in which constituents can get in contact with them
the boundaries of congressional elections also help to explain the high re-election of incumbents.
The party controlling each states legislature has the opportunity to redraw these constituencu boundaries every 10 years, after each census. This has led to gerrymandering - where state draws boundaries to give electoral advantage. This produces few swing seats, further advantaging the incumbent.
110th congress senate incumbency rate 79%
115th congress HOR incumbency rate 97% senate rate 93%
senate elections
each senator known as class I, Class II or Class III. This refers to the year in which their seat will be up for election.
just 1/3 of senate up for election every 2 years.
even tho just 1/3 up,it could change the majority in the senate and thus drastically alter the political landscape.
with seats in both houses up for election every 2 years, the chances of divided government in the USA are high.
between 1901 and 1969, US federal government was divided just 21% of the time
From 1969 until today the Us government has been divided more than 72% of the time
the distribution of powers within congress
it is often assumed the senate is more powerful, being subject to fewer elections, representing more people and having ratification powers. The HOR may have fewer exclusive powers but it is potentially of far greater significance, holding the power of the purse and being able to bring impeachment charges.
in addition to enumerated powers, congress has assumed a number of implied powers over time. Many of these come from the necessary and proper clause of article I, informally known as the ‘elastic clause’ and the commerce clause. It allows congress to make any laws which allow it to carry out its enumerated powers and the commerce clause which allows congress to regulate foreign and interstate trade. Congress defended its power to set up a national bank in 1791 by using these implied powers. - power was implied through congress’ power to levy and collect taxes.
the powers of HOR and the Senate
HOR
- power of the purse
- bring charges of impeachment
- choose president if electoral college is deadlocked
senate
- ratify treaties
-confirm appointments
- try cases of impeachment
- choose vice president if electoral college is deadlocked
concurrent powers
- to create legislation
- to override the presidents veto
- to propose constitutional amendments
- to declare war
- to confirm a new vice president
- investigation
Concurrent powers of congress
Create Legislation
- most important power of congress is the ability to create, amend, delay and pass legislation
- however only has power over areas of government laid out in the constitution, with the states holding power to legislate over other areas.
eg trump had to ask congress, as the only branch that can create law, to pass legislation that would repeal and replace Obamacare. - a bill was put forward by republicans in congress but with all the senate democrats and nine republicans voting against this bill, it failed to pass. Even a vote on a partial repeal of obamacare failed with 7 republicans voting against it.
Override the Presidents Veto
- once a bill has passed through congress, it requires the presidents assent for it to become law.
- if the president vetos a bill, congress has the power to overturn this with a two-thirds vote in both houses
- both veto and veto override tend to be used more when congress is controlled by a different party to the president
- All but one of George bush 12 vetos came after he lost control of both houses and there were override attemps on 10 of these, 4 successfully.
- same with obama 10 of obamas 12 vetos came once he had lost control of at least one of the houses.
- The threat of the veto can be a power in itself - obama threatened 148 .
- in 2016 the congressional veto override of the 9/11 victims bill showed bipartisanship cooperation. 97 senators voted to override the veto with only harry reid voting against. The HOR voted 348-77 to override.
propose constitutional amendments
- with a two-thirds vote in both houses. Congress can propose constitutional amendments.
Declare War
- with the agreement of both houses, congress has the power to formally declare war.
- this was last used in 1942 to declare war on Romania
Confirm a new VP
- 25th amendment allows for a simple majority vote in both houses
- most commonly used when the current VP has to step up to role of president.
investigation
- through an implied power, congress can launch investigations into areas on which it has created legislation or may need to create legislation and into federal programmes.
- congress has power to subpoena witnesses (force someone to attend a hearing)
- recent investigations have included reviewing 9/11, response to hurricane Katrina.
- in 2017 4 different congressional committees investigated the alleged russian interference in the 2016 presidential election
- is an implied power so no requirement that the reports are acted on
exclusive powers of the HOR
Power of the purse -
HOR alone can begin appropriation bills. This gives house considerable power individually and over the presidency
- each year the president submits the annual budget to the House Budget Committee to begin the approval process
- in 2018 trump requested that the budget for the environmental protection agency be cut by one third but the house republicans despire being the same party suggested cut by just 6%.
- senate can amend these bills and must approve them, which limits the extent of this power.
Bring charges of Impeachment
- bring charges of impeachment against president, his officials or justices of the federal courts.
- in 2008 Dennis Kucinich sponsored 35 different charges of impeachment against George W Bush and a further 3 charges against VP Cheney. Most of these related to the iraq war. Accused them of misleading the public
- although only been used on 3 presidents, it is a threat to any president who holds office, helping to restrain their actions
Exclusive powers of the Senate
