US GOVERNMENT 2 - CONGRESS

What are congressional elections?

What else would take place here?

-Elections that occur every 2 years in which all the seats of the House of Representatives are up for grabs and 1/3 of all the seats in the senate

-The Presidential ‘Midterm’ Election( between the 4 year term)

What system do they use for these elections?

A First Past The Post System

What does it mean to be incumbent?

To already to be instated in office at the time of the election

What are the 3 main advantages of being incumbent?

-Name recognition/Funding

-Congressional Advantages( letters)

-Reshaping congressional districts

How does name recognition create increased advantages for the incumbents?

More people are aware of the actions you’ve made in the past and so it shows your competence.

Also the more known you are the easier it is to gain trust from investors in order to raise funds

What evidence could you use for name recognition?

John Dingall Served from 1955 to 2015, the longest tenure in U.S. Congressional history and Won re-election 29 times, largely helped by his strong name recognition in Michigan Even after redistricting or shifts in political climate, voters stuck with the name they knew.

How do congressional advantages work for incumbents?

They are given a website by their house in which they can expand on their political beliefs and gain contacts with constituents

-They also have franking privileges whereby they can send mail to constituents

What evidence is there for congressional priviledges?

In 2012, multiple reports revealed that some House members timed their franked mail to peak during the 90-day pre-election window, before the blackout period when franking is restricted which included representative Buchanan who sent over 300,000 dollars worth of franked mail between 2011 and 2012 right before his re-election campaign which he ended up winning

How does redrawing congressional districts work?

Every 10 years ( after a census) the party that controls the state’s legislature has the ability to redraw the district boundaries in order to give one party sway over another.

Give evidence of this working?

In the 2012 congressional elections, Democrats won 51% of the statewide popular vote but secured only 5 out of 18 seats in the U.S. House due to district boundaries heavily favoring Republican candidates.

-This happened because of the Republicans 2010 REDMAP STRATEGY

Give 3 ways in which the powers held by congress( HOR/Senate) are the same?

-Congress’ ability to create legislation

-Oversight of the executive

-Override of the President’s veto

What is an example for the legislative power of congress?

In 2017 Trump asked congress to pass legislation that would repeal Obamacare due to it being seen as an overreach of federal power into the healthcare market but with all the senate democrats and 9 republicans voting against it did not pass

What is Congress’ oversight of the executive power?

Give an example

Through Article 1 Section 8 ( elastic clause) congress is able to launch investigations into any subject that is within the scope of its legislative powers

-A House Select Committee was established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 to investigate the events surrounding the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The committee's purpose was to understand the causes and consequences of the attack. It presented its findings In December 2022

What is the Congress Overriding Veto power?

The ability of congress to override the blocking of legislation by the president via a 2/3 majority in both the house and senate

-Water Resources Development Act Veto

What are 3 ways in which powers differ between the Senate and the House of Representatives?

-The impeachment Process

-The power to confirm nominees

-Appropriation Bills

What is the power of impeachment?

Give an example?

-A two step process in which an individual is impeached by the HOR and acquitted by the senate in order to remove them from their political role

-Trump was impeached in 2019 after a whistle blower complaint was made which alleged that Donald trump had made a phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on in which he pressured Zelensky to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and Biden’s son, Hunter Biden and that if he didn’t they would withhold funding from them which was seen as an abuse of power

What is an example of the Senate Confirmation Power?

In 2013 Obama had to get the approval of the senate to appoint John Kerry after Hilary Clinton stepped down from the position as part of a customary practice for high ranking officials after the president’s first term. He was confirmed 94-3

What is the appropriation bill power of the HOR?

The HOR is given the power to begin appropriation of the budget created by the president which gets sent to the House Budget Committee for approval process

What is an example where this is used?

There was conflict over the use of the government budget in the Affordable Care Act (2013) in which members of congress who opposed Obama Care sought to withhold the funding needed to implement it, thus causing a budget impasse and a 16 day government shutdown with 800,000 workers furloughed as many federal agencies couldn’t operate without an approved budget.

Why is this power limited?

The senate still has the power to amend and confirm the bill including changing funding levels, adding conditions etc this often leads to conference committees to resolve differences.

Eg. During the 2013 shutdown, the Senate rejected House amendments that defunded Obamacare, and negotiations stalled.

What are the 3 main powerful figures of congress?

-The speaker of the House of representatives

-The Senate majority Leader

-Committee Chairs

How are speakers elected?

They must win an overall majority of all the members in the House of Representatives which is 218 out of 435

-If no one receives the majority needed to be elected then the elections continue until someone is

What are the main roles of the speaker?

-Managing Communications

-Managing Legislative Processes

-Appointing Committee Chairs

What does it mean for the speaker to manage communications?

The speaker is the primary spokesperson for congress and so will negotiate with both the senate and the HOR as well as the president in certain cases

What is an example where this happended?

Speaker Pelosi championed the America Rescue Act 2021 in which President Biden spent 1.9 trillion dollars as a recovery package for Covid-19 . Pelosi held press conferences in order to reassure Americans that this was for their benefit.

What does it mean for the speaker to manage the legislative process?

They are able to manage legislation as it passes through congress by deciding what House committee considers a bill and have the power to allow members of the House to speak during a debate aswell as the power to schedule the debate

What is an example of this power being excercised?

In 2017 Speaker Ryan passed the tax cuts and Jobs Act by using his power as the speaker to designate the bill as a budget reconciliation bill hence meaning they can bypass the filibuster with only a simple majority of 51 votes instead the usual 60 votes required and to allow limited time for discussion and amendments

What do committee chairs and select committees do?

Committee chairs are the head of congressional committees and decide which bills will move to the floor through consideration while select committees oversee the actions of the executive

What is an example of where the speaker appoints Committee chairs?

In 2019 Pelosi appointed Adam Schiff as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee known for his role as the lead prosecutor during Trump’s impeachment trial,he played a critical role in overseeing intelligence and national security issues during a tumultuous period.

Why are the Speaker’s powers important?

They able to use these powers to manipulate the US political process in order to benefit their party.

What is the difference between the vice president and the senate majority leader?

-The vice president casts tie breaking votes and is the President of the senate but since they aren’t a senator they have limited involvement in the activities of the senate

-The Senate Majority Leader is a Senator from the majority partyelected by their party's members in the Senate to lead the majority party in the senate

What are three roles of the senate majority leader?

-They determine the bills and resolutions that are considered on the senate floor

-They control the debate on the floor

-’Filling the Tree’

Give an example of where the SML blocks a bill from reaching the floor

In 2020, McConnell refused to bring forward the HEROES Act, a COVID-19 relief bill passed by the House of Representatives, stating it was not aligned with Republican priorities.

Give an example of where the SML controls the timing of debates

-In 2017 McConnell timed debates on repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) on the grounds that the Medicaid expansion and subsidies were unsustainable and contributed to rising federal deficits. during periods when Republican support was strong, though the repeal ultimately failed.

What does ‘filling the amendment tree’ mean

When the SML has the power to choose amendments to legislation and can choose those which align with the political agender of the party

Give an example of where the SML use the ‘filling the amendment tree’ method

Harry Reid filled the bill(ACA) with agreed upon democratic amendments that blocked any proposed Republican amendments on issues such as abortion which along with filing a cloture after this(to beat a filibuster) limited debate and forced a final vote

What are Committee Chairs?

-The heads of the committees that control large legislative processes in congress like:

-Rules Committee( Length of debate/ Number of Amendments)

-House ways and Means Committee( Tax Policy)

What roles do Committee Chairs have?

-They consider bills and propose possible amendments( this can help to further a party’s political agender depending on what bills they choose to advance)

-They hold confirmation hearings to confirm the nomination of individuals eg. Presidential Nominee for SCOTUS( Brett Kavanagh)

-Provide a form of oversight in terms of select committees

What does it mean for a chair to be able to consider a bill before it reaches the floor?

Committees review, amend, and vote on bills before they reach the full chamber If a committee doesn’t approve a bill, it usually dies there.

Give an example of where committees consider bills and push them onto the floor

Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders supported the idea of raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour pushed forward by the Democrats and Biden and scheduled the wage hike for committee consideration and included it in the draft reconciliation bill for ARA 2021 but the Senate Parliamentarian said it wasn’t closely enough tied to the federal budget via the byrd rule and so had to be removed but Sanders used his position to force national debate on the issue

What is the counter to this?

Chairs shape the path, but they don’t fully control the destination as the bill can still be amended on the floor during open debate and they can pressure leadership to bypass committee procedures.

What is the First Stage of the legislative process in congress?

A bill can originate in either house and is then customarily announced as an issue to be considered by a member of congress

What is the Second stage of the legislative process?

What takes place here?

-The committee stage

-A standing committee(chosen by the SML or the speaker) conduct hearings on the Bill to decide whether or not they’ll accept it and propose possible amendments , a vote is then done to decide the fate of the bill

-They can also ignore the bill which is known as pigeonholing

Give an example of the committee stage in practice?

For the passing of the ACA 2009 the senate finance committee chaired by senator Max Baucus held weeks of hearings and votes including the review of the funding for the ACA especially the ‘Cadillac tax’ on high cost employer sponsored health plans

What is the next stage of the legislative process?

What happens here?

-The Timetabling Stage

-The leadership in the House or senate timetable the bill for a floor debate as well as set rules for what amendments can be set and the rules for the debate( done by the House Rules committee for the HOR / Unanimous Consent Agreement in the Senate)

What is the next stage of the Legislative Process?

What happens here?

-Floor Debate

-This is where the debate takes place and tactics like the filibuster and applying the previous question rules takes place. Also amendments are voted on via a simple majority

What is the previous question rule?

What is the filibuster?

-Where after a member moves on from the previous question all further debate is cut off and the bill goes straight to a vote

-When a member of the house continuously speaks until the end of the debate

What is an example of the floor debate in practice?

In 2010, as the House prepared to vote on the final version of the ACA, the Previous Question Rule was used by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to end debate and prevent further amendments which ensured that the bill reached a final vote quickly, which was crucial for passing the ACA before the Easter recess

Give another example of the floor debate in practice

In 2017 the senate majority leader mitch mcconell passed the tax cuts and Jobs Act by using his power to designate the bill as a budget reconciliation bill and to allow limited time for discussion and amendments this process allowed the bill to pass with a simple majority (51 votes) in the Senate, bypassing the usual 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster.

What is the next stage?

What happens here?

-The conference Stage

-This is where if the Bill is passed in the senate and then not passed in the House a conference report is produced by a conference committee which produced a modified version of the legislation that is agreed on by both houses

What is the final stage of the legislative process?

The president receives the final form of the bill and can choose to veto it , sign the bill or or do nothing which after 10 sitting days means the bill will just get automatically passed unless congress adjourns while it hasn’t been signed

Give an example of this in practice

Keystone XL Pipeline / any other presidential veto

Why may congress be ineffective?

-There are too many bills being introduced

-Some legislation is useless

-The process of passing a bill is too long and complex

-Too much partisan politics

-Pork Barrel politics is used

Why may congress be effective?

-Increased scrutiny of legislation ensures an increased quality of bills being passed

-Bills can still get passed

What is pork barrelling?

Where politicians direct government spending toward projects that benefit their own constituencies, often to gain political support

Give an example of pork barelling?

In 2005, Congress earmarked $223 million for a bridge in Alaska to connect the small town of Ketchikan to Gravina Island .The project was pushed by Alaska Senator , a powerful Republican, who argued it would improve infrastructure but the bridge was never built

What example could you give to show bills are hard to pass?

-In order for Barack Obama to pass his healthcare reform legislation of 2010 there had to be 7 separate votes with 4 in the house of representatives and 3 in the senate.

-Even though the bill was signed in 2010 there were still disputes upto 2013

What demonstrates the ability of the US government to pass lots of legislation?

What is the counter to this?

-In the 117th congress( from 2021 -2022) over 18,000 bills and resolutions were introduced with over 10,000 being introduced in the house and over 4000 in the senate

-Only 4% of those bills became law

What issues do checks and balances on congress create for passing legislation?

-The need for a supermajority in different stages of the legislative process eg. in order to override a presidential veto or to override a filibuster makes it difficult to pass a bill with bipartisan support

Give an example where this happened

The Dream Act which was meant to give conditional permanent residency to immigrants of good moral character who have been brought to the US by their parents and lived there for 5 years was blocked by the republicans in 2007, 2009 and 2010 with a maximum of 56 senators supporting it which allowed the republicans to filibuster it every time

How are the rules of debate an issue?

The manipulation of several parts of the debate on the floor in order to enhance a party’s chances of pushing forward their agender is limiting the ability of congress to pass actual competent legislation with bipartisan support

Give an example?

-Nancy Pelosi Previous Question Rule

-Mitch Mcconell Tax Cut and Jobs Budget Reconciliation

-Harry Reid filing the amendment tree

Comparatively speaking what is the main difference between the two Houses in America and the UK?

-In America both houses have equal power and bills need to passed in both houses in order to be written into law and because one house cannot override the decision of the other , it makes it hard for legislation to pass

How can this be made worse?

When one party controls the senate and the other controls the house it makes this even harder

What is the one and only case in which a confirmation hearing was not accepted?

John Tower 1989 was nominated as defence secretary under Bush but this was rejected due to claims of womanising and drinking etc

What oversight/ investigative power do congress have that is less well known?

Who does these?

Congress can subpoena documents and testimony which means you legally have to hand over documents , data or perform witness testimonies

-The congressional select committees

What happens if the subpoena is ignored?

The congressional committee can hold that person in contempt of congress which could result in serious punishments depending on the degree( criminal statutory/ civil and inherent

Give an example of this

Criminal statutory contempt was attempted in 2012 whereby the House voted (255 for , 67 against) to hold former attorney general Eric Holder in contempt of congress for refusing to give details on operation Fast And Furious( a failed firearms operation which allowed 2000 weapons to reach Mexican gangs)

Why was this ineffective?

Obama used his executive privilege to keep this topic confidential and within the executive branch hence removing all wrongdoing from Mr Holder

What limits the effectiveness of congressional oversight?

-Whether or not congress is controlled by the Presidents party( members of congress will be loyal to President and so won’t investigate them/ Weaker investigations/ Committee Chairs don’t investigate things related to President)

-Presidential Popularity( Investigating a popular president harms chances of re-election)

-Policy area that is considered( Congress has less of an effect on foreign policy as compared to domestic policy as foreign policy is not accountable to public opinion etc)

Give an example for presidential majority

While Special Counsel Robert Mueller was conducting his investigation on the Election conspiracy of 2016, Republican-led congressional committees were reluctant to pursue aggressive oversight. The House Intelligence Committee ended its investigation early in 2018 and downplayed Russian interference, contrary to U.S. intelligence findings.

Give an example for presidential popularity

In 2019, after Trump was accused of withholding military aid from Ukraine to pressure President Zelensky into announcing an investigation into Joe Biden and his son he received his first impeachment but Trump’s approval ratings among Republican voters remained high—around 90%.This popularity pressured Senate Republicans to protect Trump, fearing backlash and so the Senate (GOP-controlled) acquitted Trump with almost complete party-line votes

Give an example for policy area

Post 9/11(War on Terror) Congress struggled to effectively oversee U.S. drone strikes and surveillance programs conducted by Obama eg. Killing of Al Qaeda leader Awlaki following the expansion as a way to counter terrorism due to classified intelligence and national security concerns.

What are the three factors that influence the votes of members of congress

-Constituents opinions

-Leadership Pressure

-Personal beliefs

What does constituents opinions mean?

Members of congress often consider how their constituents feel about an issue, especially if re-election is on the horizon to avoid backlash

Give an example?

Manchin, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, has often voted against sweeping climate change legislation supported by his party. In 2021 and 2022, he delayed and weakened parts of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan, particularly the clean energy provisions, because they conflicted with the interests of many West Virginians who rely on fossil fuel industries for jobs.

What does Leadership pressure mean?

Party leaders (like the Speaker or Senate Majority Leader) can pressure members to vote along party lines by offering rewards like committee assignments or threaten consequences like loss of support

Give an example?

During Trump’s second impeachment trial(2021) after the Capitol riot, most Republican senators voted to acquit, even though there was strong public evidence against him as they faced heavy pressure from party leadership and Trump’s base, which still held significant influence in the GOP( Repbublicans)

Give an example for personal beliefs?

Senator Bernie Sanders frequently votes against large military spending bills, even when they have bipartisan support. As a democratic socialist with strong anti-war beliefs, he often argues that the money should be spent on healthcare, education, or combating poverty instead.

What are three ways the president can influence the legislative process?

-Through the power of the veto

-Agenda setting and Bully Pulpit

-Legislative Negotiation

Give an example of the use of the veto?

Keystone XL pipeline

What is Agenda setting and Bully Pulpit?

This is the process through which the President uses speeches, media and the state of the union in order to pressure congress to push forward their legislative agender and influence public opinion

Give an example?

As part of the Tax cut and Jobs Act 2017 which was the biggest tax reform since the Reagan Era with a fall in corporation tax from 35% to 21% Donald Trump aggressively campaigned , even using social media( Twitter) championing the idea that tax cuts would cause economic growth

What is legislative negotiation?

The process by which the President negotiates directly with congress engaging in meetings, personal lobbying and even offering political incentives( eg. support for re-election).

Give an example?

In 2021 Biden held meetings with both Democrats and Republicans in order to pass the 1.2 trillion dollar spending on the infrastructure development and jobs act. He spoke with both moderate republicans and centrist democrats like senator joe manchin in order to get enough votes to allow the spending to take place

What is an example of power of the purse being effective?

Border Wall funding crisis 2019

What happened?

In 2018 President Donald Trump demanded $5.7 billion in federal funding for a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, a key campaign promise. However, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives refused to approve the funds. As a result, the government entered a partial shutdown lasting 35 days—the longest in U.S. history—affecting around 800,000 federal workers. Despite significant pressure, Congress held firm, and Trump was ultimately forced to reopen the government without receiving the funding he had requested