Congress and Interest Groups Quiz

Congress Powers (Article 1 Section 8)

Congress Powers (Article 1 Section 8)

• power of the purse

• budget

• printing/coining money

• declaring war, maintaining armed forces

• regulating commerce

• borrowing money

• uniform laws concerning bankruptcy

• rules of naturalization (immigration, becoming a US citizen)

• establishes post offices and post roads

• copywriting/trademarking

• standard weights and measures

• oversee all federal areas (National parks, art, embassies)

Judicial Powers (under Congress powers)

• creates all courts below the Supreme Court

• define federal crimes and punishments

• impeachment and removal of government officials

Implied Powers (under Congress powers)

• basic legislation for economic, environmental, and social

• via the Necessary and Proper Clause

  • i.e. McCulloch v. Maryland

• Examples:

  • establishing the federal reserve

  • making tax evasion a crime (control taxation)

  • establishing federal aid programs

  • drafting an army

  • setting minimum wage and maximum work hours

Central purpose of Legislative Branch

make laws

Differences between the House and the Senate

• different structures

• different operations

• different prestige

Structural Differences between House and Senate

House

• represents population within state (elected by district

  • district size ~ 700k constituents

• 435 members

• 2-year terms (always thinking about reelection)

• Powers:

  • initiates revenue bills

  • initiates impeachment

Senate

• represents state as a whole (elected at large by state)

• 100 members

• 6-year terms

• staggered elections

  • 1/3 of Senate up for election every 2 years

• Powers:

  • Advice and consent

    • confirm and deny presidential appointments

    • approve and disapprove treaties

  • tries impeachments

Operational Differences between House and Senate

House

• strong leadership — follow authority

• Germane (relevant) amendments only

• committee action is very important

• Rules Committee oversees and limits debate

Senate

• collegiate — more equal role as they only have 100 members

• Non-germane (irrelevant) Amendments allowed, called riders

• floor debate is very important

Filibustering

• only applies to floor debates in the Senate since they don’t have a Rules Committee

• any attempt to block or delay Senate action by debating at length

  • can go off topic

  • talk as long as you want but cannot stop talking or sit down

• while it doesn’t actually prevent the bill from being approved, it is typically for the purpose of media attention and publication

Prestige Differences between House and Senate

Senate is the Upper House

• enlightened representation

• higher-level representation (by state, broader perspectives)

• 6-year terms; more insulated from public opinion

• staggered elections; there will always be senior members in office

• equal representation and smaller size → collegiate atmosphere

• historically indirect vote but changed to popular vote

House is the Lower House

• represent smaller districts, known as the “House of the People”

• more localized

• 2 year terms

  • always trying to be responsive to constituents to get reelected

• always been directly elected

Standing committee

• permanent

• handle bills in different policy areas

  • may have subcommittees

Conference committee

• established when the HOR and Senate pass as a bill in different forms (to discuss)

• comes together to iron out differences in wording, etc

• creates one, final bill

Select committee

• formed for a special purpose

• i.e. investigation (Watergate, JFK assassination)

  • select committees on ethics, intelligence, etc

Congressional Committees

• more significant in House since they have so many people, but they apply to both

• most of the representatives spend their time in committees

• placement can by by party leadership, seniority, state, background, etc

• Goal: influence public policy issues regarding district or state or influence national public policy issues

• want to get on the committee in order to best benefit your reelection

• each committee led by a chairperson

• dominates public policy-making in all states

• control agenda and guide legislation

• gain quality expertise from discussing laws = hopefully can pass quality laws

• congressional oversight

• allows for speculation and division of labor

Speaker of the House

• Mike Johnson

• most important and powerful position in the HOR

• elected by whole HOR

  • always from the majority party

• leader of majority party of the House

• Representative

• second in line to succeed the President after the Vice President

Formal Powers of Speaker of the House

• Formal Powers:

  • refers bills and resolutions to committees

  • controls the calendar for floor action (debate and vote) and what bills to prioritize and what bills to push back

  • presides over House meetings

  • appoint members of joint and conference committees

  • deciding points of order and interpreting rules

The Majority Leader of the House

• major assistant to the Speaker

• helps plan the party’s legislative program

• directs floor debate alongside Rules Committee

The Minority Leader

major spokesperson for the minority party and organizes opposition to the major party

(applies to both)

Whips

• helps floor leaders by directing members in voting

• informing members of impending voting

• keep track of vote counts

• pressuring members to vote with the party they want

Vice President of US

• Kamala Harris

• presiding officer of the Senate

• only votes for bills to break a tie

President Pro Tempore

substitute vice president, from the majority party, mostly a ceremonial position

How a bill becomes a law

1. A bill is introduced

2. Committee Action

3. Floor Debate

4. and repeat!

5. Conference Committee

6. House and Senate Votes on bill

7. Presidential Action Options

A bill is introduced

• Step 1

• can begin in either the House or the Senate (except revenue bills must be in the House)

• must be from a congressperson (president cannot initiate but can influence)

Committee Action

• Step 2

• bill introduced and referred to committee

• committee decides to either consider it or kill it

• committee refers the bill to subcommittee for hearing

• committee votes to put the bill to floor debates or kill it

Floor Debate

• Step 3

• In House: Rules Committee sets strict rules to govern debates

• Bill debated on the floor

• Germane amendments may be added in the House

• Non-germane amendments may be added in the Senate

• House and Senate votes on bill

  • simple majority (over 50%) required to pass onto the next state

  • if majority votes against, it dies

And repeat!

• Step 4

• if the bill passes, it is sent to the other side and goes through the same process and repeats

• referred to committee action

• referred to floor

• need simple majority to pass

Conference Committee

• Step 5

• two different versions of the bill as a result of different floor debates and committee action

• Senators and Representatives come together to work out the differences

• finalize one bill and send it back to both houses to vote (if it doesn’t pass both, it dies)

House and Senate Votes on Bill

• Step 6

• both houses vote to pass the bill

• simple majority required in BOTH chambers for the bill to pass

• if the bill passes, it gets sent to the President

Presidential Action Options

• sign bill into law

• do nothing for 10 days → bill automatically becomes a law (that way the prez cannot withhold a signature)

• Pocket veto

• Veto

  • congress can override veto to pass the bill into a law with a 2/3 majority vote in both Houses

Pocket Veto

if the president does not sign a bill and Congress adjourns within the 10-day period, the bill does not become a law

Germane Amendments

an amendment to a bill must be strictly relevant to the bill. Requirement in the House.

Non-germane Amendments

formal changes to a bill that do not have any direct relation to the subject of the bill itself. The Senate permits such amendments. Sometimes called riders.

Congressional Oversight

Power used by Congress to gather information useful for the formation of legislation, review the operations and budgets of executive departments and independent regulatory agencies, conduct investigations through committee hearings, and bring to the public's attention the need for public policy

Power of the Purse

Constitutional power given to Congress to raise and spend money

enumerated powers

Powers given to the national government. Explicitly listed in the Constitution.

revenue bills

laws for raising money (tax bills)

bill

a proposed law

Impeachment

A formal charge of misconduct in office against a public official

Riders (non-germane)

additional bills attached to an often unrelated bill; benefits members’ agenda or programs, enhances the political chances of passing a bill (or make it not pass)

Omnibus Bill

mammoth bill; One very large bill that encompasses many separate bills covering many policy areas

can be called a Christmas Tree Bill as it is usually made to benefit every state involved

Pork Barrel Spending

Congress members send federal dollars back to their district, spending to benefit particular constituents rather than a nation as a whole

Earmarking

Funds designated towards a very specific purpose

Logrolling

exchanging political favors

“I’ll vote for your thing if you vote for my thing”

Redistricting

redrawing boundaries of the districts within each state

every 10 years after the census

Reapportionment

the changing of seats in the House of Representatives for each state (435 seats, but the amt per district could vary)

Districting Rules

• contiguous (sharing a common border)

• compact (as much as possible but varies by population density)

• cannot be drawn along racial lines (racial gerrymandering)

• equal in representation

Gerrymandering

the drawing of legislative district boundaries for the purpose of obtaining a partisan advantage

• Methods: cracking and packing

Cracking

splitting up the voting power of the opposing party across many districts

Packing

concentrating the opposing party’s voting power into as few districts as possible to reduce voting power in other districts