Congress Flashcards
Discuss the view that Committees are the real powerhouse of Congress
YES
- Legislative process
- Oversight of Executive
- Investigations
NO
- Speaker + maj & min leader
- Fragmented
- Congress
✓ Legislative process:
– 5% of bills successful
– Committee Chairmen can “pigeonhole”
– “Earmarks” are added during the committee stage which relate to additional spending clauses being added
– House Rules Committee timetables all bills for debate on the floor of the chamber - has a critical role to play in determining whether a bill will succeed or fail
– Wilson: “Congress in session is Congress on show, Congress in committee is Congress at work”
✓ Oversight:
– Senate committees help ratify appointments:
– Senate Judicial Committee recommending the Senate to endorse the appoint. of Kagan and Sotomayor
– Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanagh
– Janet Yellen interviewed by the Senate Budget Committee
– The Senate Armed Services Committee and Foreign Relations Committee checks the Pres’ exercise of foreign policy
✓ Investigations
– Senate Foreign Relations Committee = investigated the effect of NATO Enlargement
– Senate Banking Committee’s = Clinton’s Whitewater investments
- Can also ask foreign politicians to come and testify:
– MP George Galloway was called to give evidence over Iraq
- Select committees investigate issues more complex:
– ‘Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi’
– MLK + JFK assassination
Confirmation hearings (only senate)
- E.g. Supreme Court – Senate Judiciary Committee
- Director of the OMB needs conf.
– Armed Services Committee to discuss nomination of Melissa Griffin Dalton to be Under Secretary of the Air Force (Jan 2024)
– Foreign Relations Committee = Cardell Kenneth Richardson to be Inspector General (Jan 2024)
- 11 SC nom rejected by Senate
– Last = Robert Bork (1987)
– John Tower = Sec of Defence
✗ Speaker + maj & min leader
– Harry Reid took over negotiations to put together the $787 billion economic stimulus package of 2009
– LBJ = “master of the Senate”
– Robert Byrd = “the most potent weapon in the Majority Leader’s arsenal.”
- Maj leader schedules business on the floor by calling bills from the calendar and keeps members of his party advised about the daily legislative agenda
– Harry Reid (Dem), during Obama administration, was called “a dictator”
– Reid put legislation on the floor as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition - Reps point out they were allowed to vote on only nine of their proposed amendments
– Dirksen Amendment (‘Charlie and Ev’ show)
– Speaker working with Pres
✗ Fragmented govt
– Pleasing the “folks back home” and “fat cat” donors to election campaign funds
– Following recent rulings from Citizens United v FEC and McCutcheon
– ‘The greenback always wins’
– Republicans signed a ‘no new taxes pledge’ = no Republican in Congress voted for a tax increase for 20 years (95% signed pledge)
– If a company that makes weapons systems wants to influence a defense bill, it will lobby members of the Armed Services Committees in the House and the Senate or the House and Senate appropriations committees if the bill requires new funding
- They publicise voting records
– Christian Coalition issues “voter guides” on issues such as school prayer and abortion
– Kevin McCarthy = received $886,000 from lobbyists
– Maria Cantwell = $668,000
✗ Congress
- Senate Judiciary Committee make recommendations, but Senate actually vote
– Sonia Sotomayor = 9-31 (reps) 59-0 (dems)
– Brett Kavanaugh = 9-0 (reps) 1-48 (dems)
– Amy Coney Barrett = 52-1 (reps), 0-47 (dems)
– Treaties are referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where they may be considered and reported - but Congress vote:
– Rej. Treaty of Versailles 2x
– Clinton Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban
– Obama = Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Is the Senate more prestigious than the House?
YES
✓ Pres nominations
✓ Confirm Pres appointments + treaties
✓ Representation
NO
✗ Power of the purse
✗ Concurrent powers
✗ Representation
✓ ✗
✓ Pres nominations
– E.g Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Obama were all former Senators
– 5 Senators launched campaigns in 2016: Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Bernie Sanders and former Senators Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb and Rick Santorum
– Senators also enjoy significant exclusive powers - especially those concerned with the confirmation of appointments and ratification of treaties
– May enjoy greater name recognition outside their state
✓ Confirm Pres appointments + treaties
- E.g. Supreme Court – Senate Judiciary Committee
- Director of the OMB needs conf.
– Armed Services Committee to discuss nomination of Melissa Griffin Dalton to be Under Secretary of the Air Force (Jan 2024)
– Foreign Relations Committee = Cardell Kenneth Richardson to be Inspector General (Jan 2024)
- 11 SC nom rejected by Senate
– Last = Robert Bork (1987)
– John Tower = Sec of Defence
– Treaty of Paris (1763)
– United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (2018)
– New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW START) in 2010 required negotiation by Pres + supermajority (2/3) in Senate
- During first 200 years, Senate has approved more than 1,500 treaties, only rejecting 21
– Treaty of Versailles rejected twice
– Clinton: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1996) rejected
– Obama: Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2012)(treaty) rejected
– Jimmy Carter: Panama Canal Treaty (1977)
✓ Representation
- Senators represent a whole state while House members represent a district
– Henry Cuellar represents 28th district of Texas while Senator John Cornyn represents the entire State of Texas
– Senator Cornyn was elected as Senate Majority Whip in Jan 2015 but Representative Cuellar is 18th in seniority among 21 Dems serving on the House Appropriation Committee and he was only elected two years after Cornyn
– 20 committees and 68 sub committees- more likely to get onto a committee and be make an impact on legislation
– 114th Congress was made up of 53 ex-Representatives
✗ Power of the purse
– $1.8 trillion spending package that Obama signed (2015) started in House not Senate
— PoP= the ability to tax and spend public money for the Federal Government.
— Outlined in Appropriations Clause & Taxing and Spending Clause.
— US Federal Budget will be passed by Congress, but typically presented to Congress by Pres, who add amendments
— (e.g. ended the Vietnam War, through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1974 = suspended all federal funding for war)
✗ Concurrent powers
✗ Representation
- Representatives normally have smaller constituencies so are likely to be more representative than their Senate colleagues
– 9 rep Arizona
– 52 rep California
– 28 rep Florida
– 14 rep Georgia
– 38 rep Texas
– 26 rep New York
- 2 for each in Senate
– 2016 12 House members ran for Senate seats
– 2017 = 50 former House members in the Senate but no ex-Senators in the House (more prestigious?)
– Speaker next in line for the Presidency, after VP - suggests those in House more important - have the chance of becoming Speaker, and therefore perhaps President
‘Congress fails to provide effective oversight’. Discuss
YES
- Imperial Presidency
- Partisanship
- State power
NO
- Imperilled Presidency
- Court - impeach + overrule
- Limit on state power - federalism
Imperial Presidency
= when constitutional checks are against the Pres are ineffective and as a result have huge power
1973 - Arthur Schlesinger - ‘The Imperial Presidency’
Factors that define imperial presidency:
1) Increase in size of executive office
- Pres can appoint 4,000 officials, only 1,200 need Senate approval - lack oversight
2) New executive agencies
Can imply fall in power of cabinet
E.g. Space Force - Trump
3) Power over foreign policy
4) Only accountable at election / impeachment –> ‘plebiscitary Presidency’
– Nixon - ‘when the Pres does it, it is not illegal’
–> Refused to spend funds Congress appropriated
–> During Vietnam War ordered harbours mined + bombing raids launched without consulting Congress
–> Reorganised executive branch without Congressional approval
–> Ordered military intervention in Cambodia and Laos without Congressional approval
– Iran Contra Affair
(when he left he had one of highest approval ratings - so didn’t matter)
– Woodrow Wilson = Sedition Act 1918 = prevented anyone criticising the govt
– During military intervention in Libya (2011), Obama justified bombing targets without Congressional approval
– 2020- Trump = diverted $3.8bn in Pentagon funding to build the wall
Imperilled Presidency
Pres who finds it difficult to exercise his constitutional powers in the face of overly effective checks and balances
‘Lame duck’ - lose election for 2nd term (Carter, Ford, George H. W. Bush) or serve 2 terms (Obama)
– 2016- Sup Court blocked Obama nominating Sup Court justices
– Passage of the Case Act (1972) = Pres must declare all executive agreements
– War Powers Resolution (1973) = restricted commitment of armed personnel in combat situations
– Impound Control Act (1974) = prevented Pres from impounding appropriations that didn’t fit with his agenda
– Creation of Accountability Office after Nixon
Partisanship
– Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 = passed in House (219-210), failed in Senate (only 1 Dem = Joe Manchin, against, all Reps against)
– Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 - passed = 51-48
– Climate change = 21% (Reps) v 78% (Dems) = top priority
– Inflation Reduction Act (2022) (money to climate change) - not a SINGLE Rep voted for it in House or Senate!
– 2024 Legislative Branch Funding Bill - 214-197 (Reps + 4 Dems v Dems)
– 117th Senate = 54% of the leg passed was partisan
– 79% of 136 pieces of legislation passed in House in 2023 were partisan
State power
– Madison argued that state governments retain authority “to judge whether the [Constitution] has been dangerously violated” by the federal govt
– Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, refused to comply with a request to remove floating barriers in the Rio Grande (“Texas will see you in court, Mr President” (to Biden))
– Ron DeSantis (Florida) signed a bill allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions despite the supreme court banning capital punishment in these cases
– 2021 = Merrick Garland, accused the state of interfering with the federal govt’s resp. to enforce immigration laws after Abbott empowered state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the basis that they could increase the spread of Covid-19.
– 2016 poll: 55% favoured state govt power, 37% federal govt power
Court - impeach + overrule
– Dred Scott and Sandford overturned by 13th and 14th amendment
– Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co - paid less than male for same job - court ruled they couldn’t do anything as discrimination happened too far in the past - Obama = Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (easier to file pay discrimination suits)
– 2000: ruled FDA couldn’t regulate tobacco - bipartisan Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act allowed fed govt to reg. tobacco
– 8/20 guilty, 15/20, Thomas Porteous (2010)
Federalism - states
– McCulloch v. Maryland =
1st case ruled states couldn’t interfere with federal law
–Ware v. Hylton = treaties overrule conflicting state law
– 2015 = Sup Court ruled banning marriage between same-sex was unconstitutional. However, prev it was left up to states
‘Congress fails in its roles of oversight, representation and legislation.’ Discuss.
YES
✓ Legislation
✓ Representation
✓ Oversight
NO
✗ Legislation
✗ Representation
✗ Oversight
Legislation
- Bipartisanship
– Climate Solutions Caucus = bipartisan Senate Caucus consisting of Dems, Reps + Independ.
– 115th Congress + 116th Congress, members of Problems Solvers Caucus released proposals on important issues where they believed Dems + Reps could work together –> proposal to repeal the medical device tax became law
– 113th Congress - Sen. Murkowski = 33/43 bills drew cosponsors
– 107th Congress - Sen. McCain = 31/45 bills drew cosponsors.
Bipartisan cosponsors: Murkowski = 85%
McCain = 67%
(both had high legislative effectiveness scores compared to other members)
– Dems worked with Rep Ronald Reagan during 1980s
– Biden + bipartisan group of Senators agreed on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package
– Reps + Dems came together on Military Sexual Assault Prevention (2021)
– Obama + Congress passed bipartisan leg = “Jumpstart our Business Startups” (JOBS) Act
– The ‘Era of Good Feelings’ (1815-1825)
Representation
- Rep society, rep party, rep states
Oversight
- Imperial Presidency, Sup Court (impeachment+overrule), committees
– Kay Granger is chair of United States House Committee on Appropriations = aims to cut wasteful spending, conduct strict oversight of the Biden administration and focus funding on national security
– Cathy Rodgers is chair of Energy and Commerce Committee = wants to increase partisanship, secure “a clean energy future” and improve transparency about the prices hospitals charge patients
– Michael McCaul chairs Foreign Affairs Committee = wants to provide aid to Ukraine , but added Reps “are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check”
Legislation
- Partisanship
– Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021 = passed in House (219-210), failed in Senate (only 1 Dem = Joe Manchin, against, all Reps against)
– Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 - passed = 51-48
– Climate change = 21% (Reps) v 78% (Dems) = top priority
– Inflation Reduction Act (2022) (money to climate change) - not a SINGLE Rep voted for it in House or Senate!
– 2024 Legislative Branch Funding Bill - 214-197 (Reps + 4 Dems v Dems)
– 117th Senate = 54% of the leg passed was partisan
– 79% of 136 pieces of legislation passed in House in 2023 were partisan
Representation
Oversight
- Imperial Pres, state power
‘Congress is ineffective in its role of legislation’. Discuss
YES
- Slow, difficult process + constitutional amendments
- Legislative devices (fillibuster, gridlock)
- Partisanship
NO
- Passing of legislation
- Legislative devices (log-rolling, pork-barrelling)
- Bipartisanship
Slow, difficult process + constitutional amendments
- 2-3% bills become laws
– George W Bush - prop. to ban desecration of flag failed in Senate in 2006
– Only 27
– More than 11,000 amendments have been proposed
– Federal Marriage Amendment has been introduced 4 times: 2003, 2004, 2005/2006, and 2008 (would prohibit same-sex marriage)
– Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment would repeal the ‘natural born citizen clause’, allowing people who’ve lived in US for 20+ years to be Pres
Legislative devices (fillibuster, gridlock)
Partisanship
Passing of legislation
- Significant legislation - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017), Obamacare
Legislative devices (log-rolling, pork-barrelling)
Bipartisanship
– Climate Solutions Caucus = bipartisan Senate Caucus consisting of Dems, Reps + Independ.
– 115th Congress + 116th Congress, members of Problems Solvers Caucus released proposals on important issues where they believed Dems + Reps could work together –> proposal to repeal the medical device tax became law
– 113th Congress - Sen. Murkowski = 33/43 bills drew cosponsors
– 107th Congress - Sen. McCain = 31/45 bills drew cosponsors.
Bipartisan cosponsors: Murkowski = 85%
McCain = 67%
(both had high legislative effectiveness scores compared to other members)
– Dems worked with Rep Ronald Reagan during 1980s
– Biden + bipartisan group of Senators agreed on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package
– Reps + Dems came together on Military Sexual Assault Prevention (2021)
– Obama + Congress passed bipartisan leg = “Jumpstart our Business Startups” (JOBS) Act
– The ‘Era of Good Feelings’ (1815-1825)
Debates about the relationship of Congress
with the executive and judicial branches of
government
Is the Congressional committee system an obstacle to effective government?
YES:
- Legislative process
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-
- Investigate issues
Is the legislative process effective / in need of reform?
YES:
- Divided government (shutdowns)
-
-
NO:
- Oversight
-
-
Are ____ (pressure groups / political parties / the administration) the biggest influence on the way Congress votes?
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‘Congress is suffering with partisanship’. Discuss
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‘Congress engages in bipartisanship effectively’. Discuss.
-
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‘Congress fails to provide effective representation’. Discuss
