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The Legislative Branch of Government: Congress - Coggle Diagram
The Legislative Branch of Government: Congress
Structure, role and powers of US Congress
The Structure of Congress
Congress is bicameral
The House of Representatives is the lower house, and has the most members (435).
They represent a different congressional district, serving 2 year terms with all seats contested at every election.
The Senate is the upper house which has 100 members.
Each state is represented by two senators, who serve 6 year terms, with one third of seats contested at every election.
It was designed by the founding fathers as a compromise between the larger and smaller states
The Role of Congress
Pass legislation
Representing the people
Overseeing the executive
Powers of Congress
Legislative Powers
Congress initiates legislation
Both houses must approve a bill
Once approved, it is sent to the executive where it is signed, vetoed, or ‘left on the president’s desk’
Initiating Constitutional Amendments
Any amendment requires a 2/3 majority in both houses , then sent to the states for approval.
Overriding Presidential Veto
Congress decides whether to amend or abandon the bill, or to override the veto (subject to a 2/3 majority in both houses.)
Ratifying Treaties
Presidents negotiate treaties, but they cannot be ratified without a 2/3 majority in
the Senate.
Declaring War
Both houses must vote for a declaration of war, not used since 1941.
Congressional Oversight
Congress must approve federal budgets
Congressional committees also allow for oversight and investigation of the executive.
Confirming Presidential Appointments
Senate
confirmation is required for all presidential appointments tot he federal judiciary as well as many appointments to the executive.
Impeachment
Only the House of Representatives can impeach a public official with a simply majority.
Only the Senate can try impeachments, with a 2/3 majority needed for a guilty verdict.
Electing the President and VP in a hung Electoral College
Not been needed for use since 1824.
The Legislative Process
Bills originate in Congress, prior to this is examined by a standing committee consisting of members of Congress who are experts in the subject area.
Most important part of the process as they can amend the bill and decides whether to release the bill to the main chamber,
If released, the bill is subject to timetabling for debate in the main chamber floor
The House
Introuction - Committee Stage - timetabling (House Rules Committee) - Floor debate and vote on passage - Conference Committee (if required) - Presidential action
The Senate
Introduction - Committee stage - Timetabling (unanimous consent agreement) - Floor debate and vote on passage - Conference Committee (if required) - Presidential action.
Compostiion of Congress, the Different Terms of Office and Party Allegiance
The Composition of Congress
Criteria for election:
Age Congress(wo)men must be over 25, Senators over 30.
Citizenship: Congress(wo)men US citizen for over 7 years, senators 9 years.
Residency: Must reside in the state they represent.
Criticised for not reflecting diversity in the US population.
Becoming more representative with the 117th Congress the most racially diverse in history, with the prior Congress electing the first 2 Muslim women, and record four Native Americans.
In 2019, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest ever congresswoman at 29.
She and three other congresswomen of colour became known as ‘the Squad’ seen as representing a new generation of progressive politics.
Hispanics remain to be significantly underrepresented. As well as women African-Americans and those with no religion.
Women are better represented by the Democratic Party as just 37 of the 142 women in the 117th Congress were republican.
117th Congress, 58 African-American members of Congress were Democrats with only 3 being Republicans.
Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority group in the US (18% of pop) but just 9% of the 117th Congress.
Reasons for Underrepresentation
Many members of congress first serve in state legislatures where women and African-Americans are also underrepresented (shortage of suitable candidates)
African-Americans and Hispanics are better represented in the House of Representatives due to ‘majority-minority districts’ which does not apply to the Senate as they represent the whole state.
Senate has been slow to respond to the needs of women, with a male-dominated culture of traditions, making it an uncomfortable environment.
The Senate swimming pool was male-only until 2009.
Senators have to be physically present to vote, making it difficult for new parents to take maternity or paternity leave
In 2018, Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to have a baby while in office.
Terms of Office
The Composition of the House can change dramatically every 2 years, reflecting a change in public opinion.
Senators should be more experienced as they have longer terms and take a longer term view on issues.
The Senate acts as some protection against volatile swings in public opinion
The party with a majority in the House can change at every election, but this is far less likely in the Senate as 2/3 remain.
Party Allegiance
Congress is dominated by two main parties, with only two independent senators.
However, both Bernie Sanders and Angus King belong to the Democratic caucus so work closely, and tend to vote with them.
Debates Concerning the Functions, Powers and Effectivenss of Congress
Legislation
Congress is responsible for initiating, debating, amending and passing legislation.
Gridlock
Congress is unable to pass legislation effectively.
Divided Government
Two houses of Congress are held by different parties, or both held by the same party with a different presidency. INcreases chances of gridlock.
Filibuster
Can be another cause of gridlock, as very difficult to invoke closure for a legislative bill with at least 60 senators needing to vote (One party rarely has 60 seats in the Senate)
Does Congress Perform its Legislative Function Effectively
Yes
Congress has passed transformative legislation
Affordable Care Act 2010 which reformed healthcare in the US.
Major legislation is most likely to be passed during periods of unified government
Obama 2009-2010
Compromise is possible in times of hyper partisan division
First Step Act 2018, reforming the criminal justice system
Congress can pass emergency legislation
COVID 19 Crisis with the largest ever economic stimulus in US history (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security CARES Act)
Congress can reject legislation proposed by the executive, which is an important check on the power of the president.
No
Only 2-3% of bills become law, falling from the 1980s when 6-7% of bills became law.
The 115th Congress passed 283 bills but almost a third were ceremonial, not producing any substantial change
Renaming a courthouse
Gridlock is common, particularly in current climate of polarisation which makes bipartisanship difficult.
Incraesed use of ‘closed rules’ by the House Rules Committee reduced the number of amendments made to House bills, preventing legislation from being improved by congresspeople.
Presidential vetoes are rarely overturned s a supermajority is needed in each chamber.
Oversight
Does Congress fulfil its oversight function effectively?
Yes
Strong during divided government or if the president lacks control over their party
Trump could not achieve his campaign pledge of repealing Obamacare in his first 100 days despite controlling both houses.
Fear of impeachment or investigation
Threat of impeachment prompted Richard Nixon to reisgn in 1974, with Bill Clinton’s reputation damaged from 1998 impeachment, despite acquittal.
Following acquittal in his first impeachment, Trump’s popularity reached 49% ,the highest it had been.
The president must work closely with the Senate during treaty negotiations to secure ratification
The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2012
A UN treaty protecting the rights of people with disabilities.
Recent Presidents often use their direct authority to make executive agreeemnst with other countries which avoids the requirement of Senate Ratification of a formal treaty.
The Senate can refuse to confirm presidential appointments.
Senate approval is needed for many presidential appointments including Supreme Court justices.
Nominees are often forced to withdraw when exposed to Senate and media scrutiny.
Refusal is rare- Senate usually has their nominees confirmed.
2016 Republican senators refused to hold hearings on the appointment of Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee to the SC.
Congress is better able to check the executive if president is unpopular, or at the end of their term.
No
Congress members reluctant to criticise the president if they belong to the same party.
Congress’ lack of popularity makes it difficult to attack a popular president.
George W. Bush’s approval ratings were at 90% following 9/11, so his administration enjoyed low levels of congressional scrutiny.
Authorisation for Use of Military Force 2001, was subject to one vote of opposition by Represenative Barbara Lee, subsequently signed into law on September 18 2001.
Investigations can be politicised and partisan.
Intended to damage opposition with bad publicity, many not producing tangible results despite being time consuming and expensive.
Overload for Congress, so the Government Accountability Office supports- but has recently been reduced.
Staff in the GAO, the COngressional research Service and the Congresional Budget Office were cut by 45% between 1975-2015.
No president has ever been removed via impeachment
Party allegiance may be more significant in an impeachment trial than alleged facts
2020 Trump’s partisan acquittal by the Senate.
The Senate has refused to ratify reasonable treaties which isolates the USA from key global agreements.
An implied power as not specifically mentioned in the Constitution
Power of the Purse
Given by the Constitution to Congress, to ensure people’s representatives give their consent to taxation,
Only Congress can raise revenue for the federal government
All tax bills miust start in the House, but the Senate can amend them, with the approval of both chambers needed for it to become law.
Government shut downs happen when neither the executive nor Congress is prepared to compromise, so the budget is not passed.
Most are ‘partial’ ending shortly after following limited disruption, even though the government has a funding gap.
A full shutdown is where the governemnt shuts down all nonessential functions such as environmental inspections.
Extremely unpopular with the public due to inconvenience
2018-2019 shutdown during Trumo’s administration lasted 35 days and was the longest shutdown in US history
Avoided by Congress resorts to temporary ‘continuing resolutions’ as short-term’ source of funding while budget negotiations continue with the president.
Executive may be forced to make concessions to keep federal governemtn running.
Trump bypassed Congress in 2019 by declaring a national emergency so that emergency federal funding could pay for his border wall.
Created a precedent, which may be sued in the future for following presidents.
Presidents are unable to reduce the size of the federal budget, so US debt continues to increase.
‘Pork barrel’ funding is an unnecessary use of taxpayers’ money,
Party Systems and Committee Systems
Party System
Congressional Caucuses
Group of members of Congress who work together to achieve similar legislative aims.
Most members belong to many caucuses, but all (other than independents) belong to one of the two party caucuses.
House Republican caucus
Senate Republican caucus
House Democrat caucus
Senate Democrat caucus
Smaller congressional caucuses exist, mainly ideological.
2021 Congressional Progressive caucus was made up of nearly 100 progressive Democrats.
Can be powerful offering an alternative influence on party leadership
House Freedom Caucus (45 Republicans) committed to limited government, opposed Trump’s budget, forcing Republicans to depend on Democrat votes.
Some are bipartisan, including members of both parties.
The Climate Solutions Caucuses in both he House and Senate
The Congressional Black Caucus is officially bipartisan, but only 4 Republicans have ever joined. In 2019 had 55 members, two were senators.
Party Leadership
Members of each party caucus elect a leader.
Majority leader (if party has majority)
Minority leader (if party does not have majority)
They both plan legislative agendas and coordinate their party for votes, aim to achieve party
unity
to achieve legislative aims.
Speaker of the House of Representatives most high-profile leadership position in Congress, elected by all members of the House (belongs to majority party)
Keep order during session, acts as leader of the majority party and preside over debates.
Nancy Pelosi
- first female speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007.
2007-2011, re-elected in 2019.
Became the first congresswoman for California in 1987.
Led House Democrats to impeach Trump in 2019, also working with Republicans to pass bipartisan legislation.
Trump’s revised trade deal with Canada and Mexico passed by the House in the same month voted for impeachment.
Chooses members of conference and select committees (House Rules Committee).
Second to the VP in line of presidential succession placed by the Constitution,
If of a different party to that of the executive, they provide the main focus of opposition
Party Discipline
Traditionally weak, majority and minority party whips power to enforce party unity is limited.
Separation of powers prevents party leaders Ron offering governemnt positions to members of congress for support.
Threaten with a withdrawal of party support at the next election campaign, or int heir attempt to progress up the party hierarchy.
Only one Republican senator voted against Trump in his 2019 impeachment trial.
With Congress becoming more partisan and polarised over the last two decades, members ar more likely to vote along party lines.
Partisanship
Focus on the interests of one’s poltical party. Extreme partisanship can be damaging for democracy, preventing bipartisanship to reach omporoimise between the two main parties.
In the 1980s, congress was politically centrist with considerable ideological overlap
Even in times of divided government , a president with centrist legislation could often find sufficient bipartisan votes.
Congress has become more polarised as because of the reduced number of competitive electoral districts.
164 in 1997
91 in 2020
Polarisation increases partisanship, which increases the likelihood for gridlock during periods of divided governemnt.
Party unity votes are those in which the majority of voting Republicans oppose the majority of voting Democrats
Incraesed since th turn of the century, representing greater partisanship.
There have been attempts to increase bipartisanship
Problem Solvers Caucus 2017 set up to increase legislative cooperation
March 2020 senators voted unanimously to approve CARES Act, with the vote in the House almost unanimous.
Congress can put party differences aside when circumstances made it abolsutely necessary.
Committee System
Standing Committees
Permanent, each focusing on a specific area of policy, such as foreign affairs and agriculture.
There are 20 House standing committees and 16 Senate standing committees.
Much of the work is done by subcommittees
Parties are represented in the same proportion as in the Senate or the House.
Responsibilities
Holding hearings during he committee stage of bills, listening and questioning witnesses and vote on whether the bill should proceed to the House or Senate.
Carrying out investigations and oversight of the executive.
Senate standing committees responsibilities
Hearings held to consider the nominee’s suitability.
Followed by a committee vote, a recommendation to the rest of the Senate on whether to confirm the appointment.
Merrick Garland nominated by Obama in 2016 for the SC, but the Republican members of the Sneate Judiciary COmmittee supported Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to hold hearings on the appointment.
Allow Congress to manage the wide range of issues it needs to legislate on and investigate.
Members become experts, enables them to carry out better oversight than Congress as a whole.
Select Committees
Set up to deal with a specific urgent issue and prevent the relevant standing committee from being overloaded. Most are temporary.
A few permanent examples include
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
They do not work on legislation but instead investigate the issue in question.
House Select Committee on Benghazi
2014-16, set up to investigate the 2012 terrorist attack on the US embassy in Libya.
Interviewed more than 100 witnesses
Spent 2 years and $7 million investigating.
Questioned former SOS Hilary Clinton for 11 hours in 2015.
Attempts for Poltiical point scoring as front runner for the Democratic Party’s 2016 election, with a hostile tone taken by Republicans.
Committee divided along partisan lines, with 2 Republican members highlighting failures of leadership, emphasising Clinton’s role.
House Rules Committee
Standing committee in the House of Representatives, setting rules for bills
‘Open rules’ allow congresspeople to suggest amendments, whereas ‘closed rules’ do not.
Small membership of 13, weighted in favour of the majority party in a 2:1.
Speaker uses party control to decide what is debated, when, and how long.
They can force a bill to be debated if an abolsute majority sign a ‘discharge petiiton’ but this is not easy to achieve,
The choices have important consequences
The number of bills debated under closed rules has been increasing, with 56% of bills in the 115th Congress preventing any legislation being improved by congress, and gives minority party lesa bility to shape government bills.
The chair of the House Rules Committee is one of the most important positions in Congress.
Republican Pete Sessions received millions of dollars of donations to his campaign funds from pressure groups and corporate donors as a result of his influence
Used his position to advance personal opposition to marijuana preventing amendments that would have relaxed federa laws against marijuanain states where it is legal.
Conference Committees
Temporary Committees set up to consider a specific bill, when the House and Senate have each passed different versions of the same bill.
Members from relevant standing committee from each house consider the versions and merge them into a combined bill.
The final version of the bill is sent back to both houses for a vote which either can vote against the final bill if they are not satisfied with it.
Used less frequently in recent years, as only 7 were used in the 115th Congress, opposed to 67 in the 104th Congress.
Party leaders increasingly prevent bills from going to conference because the shape of the final bill will be out of their control.
Representative Roles of Congress
Communicating with Constituents
Through visits to their state or district.
They use social media and letters and emails from constituents to keep informed of their views.
Passing Legislation
May follow the delegate model and vote according to their constituents’ views
Or the trustee model in which they vote for what they believe are the constitunets’ best interests.
Committe Membership
Allow members of Congress to defend their sttae’s or district’s interests.
2015-20 chair of Senate Agriculture was Pat Roberts, senator for the agricultural state of Kansas, steering a bipartisan farm bill through Congress
Agriculture Improvement Act 2018 gave better crop insurance and billions fo dollars in funding.
Lobbying the Executive
For funds or policies to benefit their constituents.
Federal government may allocate funding to secure suppor not because it is necessary (pork barrel funding)
Proposed $400 million project joining Alaska to Gravina Island, home to 50 people and an airport, never built.
Legislation to limit this funding by stopping the process of ‘earmarking’ federal funding to a specific project in a member of Congress’ state or district.
Pressure group Citizens Against Government Waste found much lower levels of funding from 2012-2017 than previously, although $3.7 billion was spent.
Constituency Casework
Include benefit payments, or a government decision that affects a constituent’s life in some way.
Liaising between constituent and federal governemnt such as documentation.
Congress iis unpopular, but individual members are likely to be re-elected.
Constituents feel as though their members of Congress are doing a good job for advancing their interests, but likely to be due to the lack of competition of electoral districts
Comparison between the House and Senate
Confirming Appointments
The Senate has the sole power to confirm presidential appointments.
Ratifying Treaties
The Senate has the sole power to ratify treaties.
The Power of the Purse
Only the house can initiate money bills, but the Senate can amend them.
In order to pas money bills, both chambers must agree.
Impeachment
The House has the sole power of impeachment so decides whether to charge an official with an offence.
The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments , deciding whether or not an official is guilty.
Terms of Office
Representatives more under pressure to keep their constituents happy.
Senators can focus their work more as have to worry les about campaigning.
Career Prospects
There are 335 more congress(wo)men than senators, so more competition for lessadership posts and committee membership.
Those in the House may aim to be elected to the Senate.
Senators have a higher public profile, with good opportunities to progress to leadership roles.
Senator is a route to presidency, as 16 presidents were former senators including Joe Biden.
Relationship between Congress and the Executive and Judiciary
The Executive
President depends on support from Congress to pass legislation.
The Office for Legislative Affairs is part of the EXOP, lobbying members of Congress to vote according to the president.
President may also use their informal power to persuade to gain support for their agenda.
Members of the same party, this could involve campaigning in their home state when they face re-election.
The Vice President is also president of the Senate, which usually means presiding over the Senate on ceremonial occasions.
In the event of a tie, the VP can vote to break the tie.
2021 the Senate split 50-50 gave VP Kamala Harris unusual significance.
With Harris to break the tie, Democrats had a majority in the Senate
Important exception in the separation of powers.
Biden’s narrow majority meant he needed support from the entire Democratic caucus.
The Judiciary
The Supreme Court can rule acts of Congress as unconstitutional
This can only be overturned by introducing a constituional amendment which requires a supermajority in both houses.
1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act which gave teh states the right to refuse to recognise same-sex marriage performed in other states, which was later struck down by 2 Supreme Court decision
US v Windsor 2013
Obergefell v Hodges 2015
Democratically elected Congress can be overruled by an unelected Supreme Court, fundamentally changing US law against the will of the legislature.