congress

• what is congress?

  it is the bicameral legislative branch of the US government
• what does bicameral mean?

  it means that it is split up into two houses - in this case the house of representatives and the senate
• how long is a term in the house?

  2 years
• how many representatives are in the house?

  435
• what are the constitutional requirements for being a house representative?

  25 yrs old, citizen of the US for 7 yrs
• how many senators are there?

  100 - 2 per state
• how long is a senator's term?

  6 years
• what are the constitutional requirements for being a senator?

  30 yrs old, a citizen for at least 9 yrs
• what was the average age of the house in the 115th congress?

  57.8
• what was the average age of the senate in the 115th congress?

  61.8
• what was the total percentage of women in congress in the 115th congress?

  20.9%
• what percent of the US population is women?

  50.9%
• what are enumerated powers?

  powers granted to the federal government
• what are the 3 branches of the US government?

  executive, judicial, legislative
• what does the legislative branch do?

  • collects taxes
  • borrows money
  • declares war
  • regulates trade
  • ratifies treaties and appointments
• what are concurrent powers?

  they are powers exercised by both the house of representatives and the senate
• what are examples of concurrent powers?

  • constitutional amendments
  • confirming a new vice president
  • passing legislation
  • declaring war
• what are exclusive powers?

  powers which are exercised by only one of the legislative bodies.
• what are examples of exclusive powers?

  • electing the president if the electoral college is deadlocked - the house
  • sole power to bring cases of impeachment - the house
  • ratify treaties - senate
  • try cases of impeachment - senate
  • elect vice-president if electoral college is deadlocked - the senate
  • initiate money bills - the house
• what is the synoptic link between legislative powers in the US and UK?

  while the two houses in the US are relatively easily split, in the UK, there is a clear superior amount of power in the commons compared to the lords
• what is incumbency? 


  the period of holding an office
• what do incumbency rates suggest around congress people being elected?

  that once a congressional politician is elected, they are likely to retain their seat in future elections.
• what are the features of congressional elections?

  District-based, partisan, competitive.
• how does a politician's constituency affect voting in congress?

  the public opinion ratings during re-election cycles, state and district ideology
• how can pressure groups and lobbyists affect a politician's voting in congress?

  campaign finance, mobilising the public, shared ideology
• how can party and partisanship affect the way a politician votes in congress?

  if they have a shared ideology, the party leadership, the party discipline
• how can congressional caucuses affect voting in congress?

  party factions, state or issue factions
• what is the legislative process in the house?

  introduction -> committee -> timetabling -> second reading and vote -> third reading and vote -> conference committee -> house approval -> sent for presidential action
• what is the legislative process in the senate?

  introduction -> committee -> timetabling -> second reading and vote (filibuster can prevent this) -> third reading and vote -> conference committee -> senate approval -> sent for presidential action
• what are the strengths of the legislative process?

  • high level of scrutiny
  • protects state's rights
  • prevents tyranny of the majority
• what are the weaknesses of the legislative process?

  • incredibly slow
  • lack of bipartisanship leads to gridlock
  • politicians can choose to focus on re-election over legislation
• what are congress's oversight powers?

  • impeachment and removal of executive branch
  • determining funding available and agree on the budget for president
  • declaring war
  • investigation of actions of the executive branch
  • ratification of treaties
  • ratification of federal justices and other appointments
• what does effective congressional oversight rely on?

  • whether both houses are presided over by the same party or not
  • when the next election is
  • which branch has the most recent mandate
  • the poll ratings and popularity of the president
  • national cricumstances
• how does congress oversee the supreme court?

  • the ratification of judicial nominees
  • the creation of lower courts
  • justices can be impeached
  • congress determines number of justices on supreme court
  • congress can initiate a constitutional amendment to overturn supreme court ruling
• how can parties be seen to be important in congress?

  • increased partisanship is clear - and has led to a fall in legislative output
  • differing parties control the presidency and congress
  • the control significant appointments and roles
• how can parties be seen to not be important in congress?

  • parties are 'broad churches'
  • party discipline is weak due to state loyalties
  • unanimous consent gives individual senators greater individual power
• how effective is the power of investigation in congress?

  effective:

  congress can investigate any aspect of the executive branch

  ineffective:

  investigations end in recommendations and congress cannot bring criminal proceedings
• how effective is ratifying judges in providing oversight?

  effective:

  the senate can reject nominees

  ineffective:

  the senate is reactive in this power - cannot continually reject nominees otherwise they look partisan
• how effective is election the president if the ec is deadlocked in providing oversight?

  effective:

  the house exercised this power in 1800 and 1824

  ineffective:

  large a defunct power, but one that remains just in case
• how effective is ratifying treaties in providing oversight?

  effective:

  the senate has ratified treaties -START treaty 2010 - and rejected treaties - convention on the rights of persons with disabilities 2012.

  ineffective:

  the president can manoeuvre around this by not using the phrase treaty - obama did this with the iran deal