US Government; Congress - Legislative Branch; Structure and Powers (includes oversight powers)

Question 1

Congress in the Constitution

Answer 1

• Congress is in Article 1
• Divides Congress into the House of Representatives and the Senate
• The House is elected by popular vote
• Senate indirectly elected until changes in 1914
• Section 8 of Article 1 - Elastic Clause
• Bicameral system - part of the ‘Conneticut Compromise’ (The Great Compromise)
• Powers defined in this are known as enumerated powers

In the US Constitution the Founding Fathers bestowed significant power on the US Congress by providing it with “all legislative power.” What those powers were exactly, how they are used by the different chambers of the US Congress and whether or not the two chambers have been provided with equal authority is the focus of our first lesson.

Congress is the overall name for both houses. It is made up of two houses - The House of Representatives and the Senate, as it is made up of two houses it is therefore bicameral.

Question 2

Concurrent powers of Congress

Answer 2

• Equal legislative power
• Override presidential veto
• Initiate Constitutional amendments
• Declarations of war
• Confirm appointed VP

Question 3

Congress in declaring wars

Answer 3

• In its history, only 5 wars have been properly declared by the authority of Congress, including the Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, the War of 1812, and both World Wars
• this suggests there is some disparity in the actual powers of Congress

Question 4

Make up of the 117th Congress

Answer 4

House of Representatives;

• 213 Democrats
• 212 Republicans

Senate:

• 50 Democrats
• 50 Republicans
• During a hung senate, the VP has the tie-breaking vote

This shows the polarisation of American politics.

Question 5

Structure - House of Representatives

Answer 5

• 435 members
• Elected for 2 year terms
• Elections of whole House every 2 years
• Need to be 25+ years old
• Need to be a US citizen for more than 7 years
• Need to be a resident in the state for which they are standing

Question 6

Structure - Senate

Answer 6

• 100 members
• Elected for a 6 year term
• Elections of 1/3 of Senate every 2 years
• Need to be 30+ years
• Need to be a citizen of the US for 9 years at least
• Need to be a resident in the state for which they are standing

Question 7

Membership - Senate

Answer 7

• Elected State wide - 2 senators per state, aged 30+
• Staggered elections mean Senators are elected at different times
• Some states have run-off elections
• Many ex-representatives progress into the Senate, and then from the Senate progress into the Presidential bid, done by both Obama and Clinton
• Earn $174,000

Question 8

Powers of the Senate

Answer 8

Exclusive Powers:

• Confirm appointments
• Advice and consent for Supreme court nominees and Executive appointments
• Ratify treaties (failed to ratify ToV 1919)
• Trial in cases of impeachment - 1998 Clinton, Trump 2019
• Elect VP in case of electoral college deadlock

Question 9

Running for the Senate

Answer 9

• Elections are every 2 years (1/3 of senate)
• Must be a resident of a state
• You need to first secure the nomination from your party, need to win a Primary election, and you may be challenged as an incumbent

Question 10

Powers of the House

Answer 10

Exclusive powers:

• Initiate money bills - power of purse
• Impeachment - voted to impeach Clinton and Trump
• Elect a President in the case of an electoral college deadlock e.g. John Quincy Adams in 1825

Question 11

Running for the House

Answer 11

• Every 2 years
• Need to secure nomination from party
• May need to win a Primary
• may be challenged as an incumbent

Question 12

Congressional powers - Money

Answer 12

• Congress has the power to authorize the creation of money.
• The money powers give Congress the power to tax and appropriate, or authorize the spending of, the income from taxes.
  Because of its tax-and-spend powers, Congress has a great deal of control over the nation’s policies. - - Congress must approve
  all funding for every program that the federal government sets up.
• All bills that raise money for the government begin in the House. The Framers set up this system on purpose. Representatives are elected every two years. As a result, the Framers thought they would be more careful to follow the wishes of voters.
• In order to pay for programs, Congress passes appropriations bills. Requests to fund programs usually come from the president. Each year, the president sends a budget proposal to Congress. Both houses review the proposed budget. Committees hold hearings to determine how much they think the executive departments need.

Question 13

Congressional powers - Commerce

Answer 13

• Commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services.
• The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate commerce between states and with other nations.
• However, over the years, Congress has enlarged the meaning of commerce. Today, commerce means “any business that crosses state lines”
• For example, Congress regulates banking, television and cable, clean air, and working conditions.

Question 14

Congressional powers - Defence and Military

Answer 14

• Congress and the president share military and national defence powers.
• The president is commander in chief of the armed forces.
• However, he must ask Congress to declare war.
• Congress has declared war five times in U.S. history.
• Yet, U.S. troops have fought in more than 200 undeclared wars.
• In 1973, Congress attempted to get back its power to declare war.
• It passed the War Powers Act.
• A president must notify Congress within 48 hours if he sends U.S. troops into battle.
• Congress must approve the use of troops in a war zone for more than 60 days.

Question 15

Congressional Powers: Other powers

Answer 15

• The Constitution gives Congress six other legislative powers.
• Clause 18 is the all-important “necessary and proper” clause.
• The other five expressed powers deal with particular topics.
• Copyrights protect the rights to their works of writers, artists, and composers for a period of time.
• Patents enable inventors to control how their inventions are manufactured and sold.
• Congress was given the power to set up all federal courts under
  the Supreme Court in Clause 9.
• Clause 7 allows Congress to set up the post offices, Clause 4 to set laws for citizenship, and Clause 17 to govern Washington, D.C.

Question 16

Partisanship

Answer 16

Prejudice in favour of political cause / bias

Question 17

Congressional caucuses

Answer 17

A group of members in the US congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives, formed as a Congressional member organisations through the US Houses of Representatives and the Senate

Question 18

Incumbent / Incumbency

Answer 18

Someone holding office currently

Question 19

Gridlock

Answer 19

A congestion in decision making, where there is an equal split in vote and only a tie-breaker vote can make a decision

Question 20

Government Shutdown

Answer 20

This is when Congress fails to fund the government due to gridlock and so Congress goes into a period of only performing essential duties

Question 21

Gerrymandering

Answer 21

Practice intended to establish an arguably unfair political advantage for a particular party by manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts which is most commonly used in the first past the post electoral system

Question 22

Pork Barrel Legislation

Answer 22

Appropriation of government spending for localised projects secured solely to bring money into the representative’s district

Question 23

Fillibuster

Answer 23

A political procedure where one or more members of a Congress debate over a proposed piece of legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision being made on a proposal

Question 24

Law making powers

Answer 24

Congress initiates legislation
Both houses must approve the bill
Once a bill has been approved it is sent to the president where it is either signed, vetoed or ‘left on the President’s desk’

Question 25

Overseeing the Executive Branch

Answer 25

Congress must approve federal budgets

Congressional committees also allow congressional oversight and investigation of the executive

Question 26

Overriding the President’s Veto

Answer 26

During a presidential veto, Congress decides whether to amend or abandon the bill, or to override the veto
Congress can override the president’s veto if it has a two-thirds majority in each house

Question 27

Confirming Presidential appointments - ‘advice and consent’

Answer 27

Senate confirmation is required for all presidential appointments to the federal judiciary
Many presidential appointments to the executive branch also need Senate confirmation

Question 28

Ratifying Treaties

Answer 28

Presidents negotiate treaties but cannot ratify them without a 2/3 majority in the Senate

Question 29

Initiating Constitutional Amendments

Answer 29

Any amendment to the Constitution needs a ⅔ majority in both houses
Once it asses Congress, the amendment is then sent to the states for approval

Question 30

Impeaching and removing public officials

Answer 30

Only the HoR can impeach a public official
A simple majority in the House is all that is needed
Only the Senate can try impeachments
A ⅔ majority Senate vote is needed for a guilty verdict, which results in the official’s immediate removal from office

Question 31

Confirming an appointed VP

Answer 31

Senate confirmation is required for all presidential appointments to the federal judiciary
Many presidential appointments to the executive branch also need Senate confirmation

Question 32

Declaring War

Answer 32

Both houses must vote for a declaration of war
This power has not been used since 1941
Modern presidents avoid asking Congress for a formal declaration of war

Question 33

Electing the President and the VP if the Electoral College is deadlocked

Answer 33

The power has not needed to be used since 1824

Question 34

Why do the length of senate terms make it more presitgious?

Answer 34

• They have more political longevity
• It is harder to become one
• Have a larger constituency and authority, and so more of an influential political position as an individual
• Representatives become Senators, but Senators do not go back to being Representatives

Question 35

What is the unlimited debate rule for Senators?

Answer 35

• Filibuster - unlimited speech which gives them the power to delay a vote on legislation they don’t want to pass
• Article 2, Clause 2 - Advice and Consent Clause

Examples - UN Arms Trade Treaty - signed in 2013 but has not yet been ratified by Senate as conservatives are worried about the affect on gun laws
- START - Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 2010 was ratified

Exemption - North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (1994) - voted on by House as an executive congressional agreement, rather than a treaty, which allows them to ignore the Senate and secure the agreement without their ratification.

Question 36

What influence does the Senate have over political appointment?

Answer 36

They have a lot of influence as they have to approve them with a 2/3 majority, and around 1/7 of appointments by the Executive required Senate approval
- This includes influential executive positions such as Cabinet members and Supreme Court judges, and so they have massive influence on the judicial and executive branches

Question 37

How does the Origination Clause give the House less power than originally thought?

Answer 37

• It calls for all money bills to originate in the HoR, but it allows the Senate to modify them
• A ‘Shell bill’ is a bill in which the Senate amends the entire text of a House revenue bill, and this essentially allows the Senate to rewrite and create their own revenue bills despite lacking the power to establish them
• The Senate therefore has more extensive power than the House

Question 38

How was the bicameral legislature created?

Answer 38

Two houses of legislative branch -

• New Jersey plan - all states have the same amount of representatives (this is the origin of the Senate, and favoured by the North)
• Virginia plan - representation should be proportional to the size of a state’s population, so larger states have more say (favoured by South, origins of the House of Representatives)
• A compromise of these two plans therefore created the bicameral legislature

Question 39

The main functions of Congress - Representation

Answer 39

• Congressional elections are held every two years, offering high levels of representation.
• Elections use the FPTP system with members of the House and Senate being elected in single-member constituencies. These are states for the Senate and districts for the House.
• Congressional elections are subject to primaries but these will only occur where there is an internal contest for the candidacy.
• Mid-term elections are often effectively a referendum on the first two years of a presidential term. The results can have a major impact on presidential power, as the president’s party can lose a majority in either chamber or both, making it harder to pass legislation. There is a clear pattern whereby the president’s party loses seats in mid-terms. The presidential party has only ever gained seats in the House 3 times: under Roosevelt in 1934, Clinton in 1998 and Bush in 2002.
• The nature of these elections has changed over time.
• Traditionally congressional candidates have developed their own individual policy platform but more recently there has been a development of nation-based agendas. - These are often fronted by House Speakers/Minority Leaders.

Examples:
A notable feature of congressional elections is that the incumbent typically wins their seat in the next election. In 2016 incumbency rates were 97% for the House and 90% for the Senate.

Question 40

The functions of Congress

Answer 40

Both houses have equal power when dealing with legislation
Bills pass through the House and Senate concurrently
A congress lasts for 2 years
Any bills not completed in one congress must start the process again at the beginning of the next congress.
A huge number of bills - around 14000- are introduced during a congress.
Only a small proportion of these - around 400 - will be successfully passed into law.
The process is difficult and complicated
Supporters of a bill must win at every stage, whilst opponents have only to win at one stage to defeat a bill.
There is little in the way of party discipline in Congress, which increases the difficulties.
The president is unlikely to have his own party in control of both houses of congress
It is even possible that the house and the senate may be controlled by different parties, e.g. between June 2001 and December 2002, with the Democrats controlling the senate and the Republicans controlling the House.

Question 41

Why is there such a high incumbency rate?

Answer 41

Use of office
Pork-barrel legislation
Safe seats and gerrymandering
Financial advantage

Question 42

Factors that affect a member’s voting within Congress

Answer 42

• Public opinion / constituency
• Party / party leaders
• Caucus groups
• Interest groups and professional lobbyists