functions of the legislatures

scrutiny - parliament

• Question Time, including PMQs, provides the opportunity to question a minister’s actions and policies

• Select committees scrutinise government departments and question the ministers leading them

• Backbenchers write questions to ministers, and MPs ask about issues which affect their constituents

• A vote of no confidence can be tabled to try to remove the government and MP

scrutiny - congress

• Separation of powers means that no executive members are members of Congress, and so there is no oversight on the floor of either chamber, as with Question Time or PMQs in Parliament

• Congress can remove a member of the executive from office through impeachment

• Committees summon members of the executive to answer questions before them, however, the president doesn’t appear before a committee

• The Senate votes to confirm executive and SC appointments

• The Senate votes to ratify treaties

lawmaking - parliament

• HoC has more lawmaking power than the HoL

• The HoL can propose amendments and delay legislation, but lacks the power to stop bills passing into law

lawmaking - congress

• The Senate and House have equal lawmaking powers

• Bills must pass through both Houses, which includes a committee and voting stage before it can be signed into law by the president

• A bill passed by one chamber is sent to the other chamber, which follows its own committee and voting process

• If the bill fails in one of the chamber, then it dies and doesn’t become law

comparing lawmaking powers

• In Parliament, most legislation is from the government’s legislative programme, but there is no such thing in Congress

• In Parliament, a small number of bills are introduced in a session, whereas it is thousands in Congress

  • EX: in the 114th Congress, over 10,000 bills were introduced

  • EX: 2015-16, Parliament introduced 193 bills

• Fewer bills entering Congress are passed into law than in Parliament

• Members of Congress introduce more bills than members of Parliament

comparing representation

• While representation of constituents is still important in Parliament, the party has more of an influence over Parliament’s members than in Congress

• Members of Congress prioritise representing their constituents over their party, as constituents choose each party’s candidate for Congress and vote for them in elections

  • In the UK, the party has influence over MPs because they select the candidates who stand for election

comparing elections

• The frequency of elections differ between Congress and Parliament which can impact how well members represent their constituents

  • Seats in the House are elected every 2 years and every 6 years in the Senate

  • In the UK, there is a vote for MPs at least every 5 years, whilst the HoL is unelected