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CONGRESS - Coggle Diagram
CONGRESS
STRUCTURE OF CONGRESS
- bicameral.
- elections every 2 years.
- senators serve 6 years, representatives 2 years.
- designed by founding fathers as compromise:
- seats in house allocated according to population.
- intended to please larger states by giving them more influence.
- today, California is largest state with 53 representatives while states like Alaska only have 1 representative.
- in senate every state receives 2 seats regardless of size to reassure smaller states they would not be dominated by the big ones.
senate:
- upper house.
- 100 members.
- 2 per state.
- 6 year terms.
house of representatives:
- lower house.
- 435 members.
- represent congressional districts within a state.
- 2 year terms.
ROLES OF CONGRESS
- passing legislation.
- representing the people.
- overseeing the executive.
- declaring war.
POWERS OF CONGRESS
legislative powers:
- congress initiates legislation.
- both houses must approve a bill.
- once bill is approved, it is sent to presidents office to be signed, vetoed, or left on their desk.
overriding a presidential veto:
- 2/3 majority needed in each house.
initiating amendments to the constitution:
- needs 2/3 in each house.
- once it passes congress, then sent to states.
ratifying treaties (senate only):
- presidents negotiate treaties.
- need 2/3 majority in senate to be ratified.
declaring war:
- approval needed from both houses.
- power not been used since 1941.
congressional oversight:
- congress approves federal budgets.
- committees also allow this and investigation of the executive.
confirming presidential appts (senate only):
- confirm all appts to federal judiciary.
- confirm most appts to fed govt.
impeachment and removal from office:
- only house can impeach a public official.
- simple majority is needed for impeachment.
- only senate can lead impeachment trials.
- 2/3 majority is needed in senate for guilty verdict.
- results in officials immediate removal from office.
- no presidents ever removed from office this way.
electing president and vp in event of a hung electoral college:
- occurs if no candidate has an absolute majority in the electoral college.
- not been used since 1824.
FUNCTIONS, POWERS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CONGRESS
legislation
- to initiate, debate, amend and pass legislation.
powers:
- either chamber can block.
- senators can filibuster - 60 votes needed for cloture.
- president decides to sign, veto or leave a bill.
- in response, congress decides to amend or abandon bill or override veto.
- 2/3 majority needed in both houses to override veto.
effectiveness:
- only 2-3% of bills become law - this figure has fallen since 1980s.
- gridlock typically occurs.
- frequent use of filibusters allows senate to 'kill off' legislation.
- increased use of 'closed rules' by House Rules Committee means congress makes fewer amendments and improvements to legislation.
- presidential vetoes are rarely overturned due to difficulty of super majority.
oversight:
- to oversee and investigate activities of the govt.
- an implied power.
powers:
- congressional committees old hearings and investigate govt actions.
- can subpoena witnesses to provide info.
- lying to congress is a crime.
- Govt Accountability Office - to investigate and audit govt.
- can impeach and try govt officials.
- senate confirmation needed for many executive nominees.
- approval is needed to ratify treaties negotiated by president.
effectiveness:
- typically weaker during periods of united govt.
- stronger during divided govt.
- investigations can be intended to generate bad publicity for opposite party rather than be a positive form of oversight.
- investigations can be lengthy and time consuming.
- difficult for unpopular congress to attack a popular president.
- fear of congressional oversight keeps govt operating effectively.
- fear of impeachment keeps officials acting within law.
- confirmation process for appts is political.
- senates power of ratification forces president to work closely with senate during treaty negotiations.
the power of the purse:
- ensure the peoples representatives give their consent to taxation.
powers:
- only congress can raise revenue.
- all tax bills must start in house.
- senate can amend tax bills.
- approval of both chambers still needed.
effectiveness:
- congress can extract key concessions from president in return for passing the budget.
- if compromise cannot be reached, congress can refuse to pass the budget resulting in govt shutdown.
- longest shutdown was 35 days in the trump administration when congress refused to fund construction of border wall with america.
the legislative process
SENATE
introduction:
- a formality; no debate; no vote.
committee stage:
- conducted in standing committee; hearing; vote.
timetabling:
- by unanimous consent agreement
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
introduction:
- a formality; no debate; no vote.
committee stage:
- conducted in standing committee; hearing; vote.
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COMPOSITION OF CONGRESS
criteria:
- over 25 for congress members, over 30 for senators.
- congress members must have been us citizen for 7 years; senators 9.
- must reside in state they represent.
criticism:
- for failing ot accurately represent US society - 27% women in congress; 12% black americans; 2% LGBTQ+; average age = 59.
- narrow background of its members - most common professions prior to congress are law, politics and business - also better educated than general population.
TERMS OF OFFICE:
- 6 years for senators.
- 2 years for representatives.
- senators in post longer to become more experienced and be able to take a more long term view of issues as they are not facing re-election so soon.
- composition of house can change frequently to reflect public opinion.
- senate acts as protection against volatile swings in public opinion.
PARTY ALLEGIANCE:
- all members of house are either democrat or republican.
- only 2 in senate are independent and both of these work closely with democrats.
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THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM
standing committees
FEATURES:
- permanent.
- each focused on specific area of policy e.g. foreign affairs.
- much of the work done within sub-comittees.
- parties are represented on same proportions of in each house.
FUNCTIONS:
- committee stage of bills: they hold hearings, listen to and question witnesses, and vote on whether bill should proceed to either house or senate.
- investigations and oversight focused on committee's policy area.
- considering presidential appts (senate): hearings are followed by a committee vote on the nominees; this is a recommendation to the rest of the senate on whether to confirm the appt.
SIGNIFICANCE:
- hearings are often high-profile and attract media interest.
- long-term members become experts in their policy area.
- committee chairs are influential.
- allow congress to efficiently manage a wide range of issues that it needs to legislate on and investigate.
- system provides crucial oversight of the executive.
house rules committee:
FEATURES:
- standing committee in house of representatives.
- only 13 members.
- favours majority party in 2:1 ratio.
FUNCTIONS:
- sets 'rules' for bills determining how much time they will be given on floor of house and whether amendments will be allowed.
- 'closed rules' do not allow congress members to suggest amendments.
SIGNIFICANCE:
- means by which speaker controls what is debated on floor of house.
- chair of this committee is one of the most important positions in congress.
- committee has enormous power.
- in congress 2017-19, 56% of bills were debated under closed rules - highest ever.
- house can force a bill to be debated if an absolute majority of members sign a 'discharge petition' but this is not easy to achieve.
select committees:
FEATURES:
- most are temporary.
- generally made up of members from one house.
FUNCTIONS:
- usually to investigate a specific question - e.g. 2021 committee established to investigate assault on capitol by trump supporters.
- prevent the relevant standing committee from being overloaded by single urgent issue.
SIGNIFICANCE:
- provide focused scrutiny and investigation of important issues.
- hold high-profile and detailed hearings in public interest.
- can be controversial and partisan - e.g. most house republicans boycotted committee on capitol riots in 2021 because democrat speaker of the house would not allow certain republicans on the committee.
conference committees:
FEATURES:
- temporary - exist only to consider a specific bill.
- members come from both houses to sit on one committee.
FUNCTIONS:
- consider two diff versions of same bill and merge them into one combined bill, known as a conference report.
- final version is sent back to both houses for approval.
SIGNIFICANCE:
- can play important role in developing legislation.
- either or both house can vote against final combined bill.
- party leaders increasingly prevent bill from going to conference committee, where final shape of bill is out of their control, by asking members in one chamber to adopt the others.
- only 3 conference reports were written between 2019-2021.
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