US Congress

• Senate v House of Lords:

  • Senate/US: Ratifies Supreme Court justices + can reject (e.g Robert Bork 1987)
  • H o L/UK: Only Lord Chancellor confirms/rejects nominations from JAC, then confirmed by PM + Monarch. HOUSE OF LORDS DOES NOT HAVE AN INPUT!
• Senate v House of Lords:

  • Senate/US: It is an elected chamber
  • H o L/UK: It is unelected, does not have democratic legitmacy. Must be noted that in US both chambers of bi-cameral legislatures are pretty much equal in terms of power - whereas in Uk the Commons are significantly more influential and powerful.
• Senate v House of Lords:

  • Senate ratifies treaties - (+ rejects treaties) - e.g Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities 2012
  • H o L does not have this power
• House of Reps v Commons - Power of the purse (handling public spending)

  HoR/US:

  • Ability to tax + spend public money for the federal government
  • It is in the Constitution
  • This power ended the Vietnam war

  
  

  Commons/UK:

  • PAC - monitors public spending
  • Not comparable with power of the purse, if the government has a large majority - they can theoretically do anything.
• House of Reps v Commons: Party discipline

  HoR/US:

  • Very weak party discipline due to separation of powers
  • The executive can express no power of patronage over congress.

  Commons/UK:

  • Executive can dominate, power of patronage is enhanced by a majority = Means that Mps of gov party will be loyal to PM in order to be promoted
  • Carrots + sticks = rewards + punishments - March 2024: Lee Anderson ex -Tory MP, got the suspension of the Whip as a result of no apology for islamophobia.
• House of Reps v Commons: Election cycles

  HoR/US: frequent election cycles (every 2 years)

  • Reps are attentive to their party base + constituents
  • Follow delegate model to retain their seat
  • Primaries mean that people choose their candidates - pressure on representatives to appeal to party base

  Commons/UK: Not as frequent= elections (every 5 years)

  • Mps focus on national issues - follow trustee model
  • (However there is still an MP constituent link)
  • Party chooses candidates - lack of incentive for mp to appeal to middle ground.
• Senate was made elected through the 17th amendment
• Representation in Congress:

  • Average number of women in both houses = 28% vs 52% of the American pop
  • 14% African American vs 18% American pop
• Problems of congressional elections: Low turnout

  • Midterm elections: 2022= 47%
• Problems of congressional elections: Gerrymandering (House of Representatives election)

  • Every 10 years, state government can redraw the boundaries following a census - these can give a political party an advantage
• Problems of congressional elections: Incumbency

  • House of Representatives re-election rate is usually over 90%
• Problems of congressional elections: Divided government

  • Congress can have a majority from a different party to the president, this can lead to gridlocks - resulting in a lack of legislation being passed