Congress CLASS NOTES - finish x

what is congress made up of

• Senate

• House of Representatives

where is it in the constitution

• Article 1 —> biggest and first, meant to be most important

HoR requirements

• 25 years old

• resident of US for 7 years, don’t have to be natural born

• 435 members

• elected by the people

Senate requirements

• 30 years old

• live in state you represent for 9 years

• elected by the people

• seen as more senior, one to progress to

HoR powers

• PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

• can impeach President (judges)

  • only takes simple majority

  • 4 instances of impeachment

  • based on “high crimes and misdemeanours”

• power of the purse, any legislation about increasing taxes must start in the House

Senate powers

• EQUAL REPRESENTATION

• Presidents impeachment trail happens in the Senate

  • 2/3 majority to find President guilty

• ratify treaties —> 2/3 majority needed

• confirmation power —> confirm presidents cabinet, all Supreme Court judges

HoR and Senate

• proportional representation vs equal representation

• makes sure legislature does not have too much power —> set up in Constitution so split 2 houses as they check each other and have to compromise —> now less compromises made, if can’t agree nothing can happen —> gridlock and gov shutdown

title

• Senate: Senator

• HoR: Congress(wo)man

term

Senate: 6 years

HoR: 2 years

number

Senate: 100

HoR: 435

per state

Senate: 2 per state, both represent state

HoR: proportional to size - represent districts that are numbered

salary (frozen since 2009)

Senate: $174,000

HoR: $174,000

senior figures in 118th congress (2018/19)

Senate:

• President: Harris

• Maj Leader: Chuck Schumer

• Min Leader: Mitch McConnell

HoR:

• Speaker; Kevin McCarthy

• Maj leader: Hakeem Jeffries

• Min leader: Steve Scalise

makeup of 119th congress

Senate:

• 45 Democrats

• 2 independent - vote with Democrats

• 53 Republicans

HoR:

• 218 Republicans

• 214 Democrats

• 1 Independent

if there is a tie, vice president will vote and break tie

mid terms

• usually interpreted as a referendum on President

• Presidential party has only ever gained seats 3 times - 1934 (FDK), 1998 (Clinton), 2002 (Bush)

• whole House, 1/3 of Senate up for re-election

Concurrent (both houses) powers of Congress

• legislate - all legislative powers and powers to over turn presidential veto with 2/3 majority in both

• investigation - power to subpoena witnesses in high profile investigations such as into events on Jan 6, 2021

• amend the constitution —> shared with the states —> 2/3 majority vote

• declare war - Article 1, Section 8 - ambiguity in Constitution means the President also claims this right (commander in chief)

exclusive powers for each chamber

House

• impeach

• elect president if no one gets over 50% electoral college votes

• begin consideration of all money bills.- power of the purse

  • Trump requested a 1/3 cut in EPA budget in 2018, House of Representatives proposed 6% cut

Senate

• try an impeachment case

• elect VP if not over 50% of Electoral College votes

• ratify treaties

• confirm executive appointments

3 main functions of Congress

• representation

• legislation

• scrutiny

representation within Congress

• 119th Congress —> most racially and ethnically diverse on record (the last 8 have each broken that record) - 139 (26% vs 42% for country as whole) voting members of the Senate and House of Representatives identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American of Native American

• African Americans represent roughly the same % (14%) in Congress as population

• Hispanics underrepresented (11% vs 20%)

• women make up 28% (29% or House, 25% of Senate, 150 in total) vs 51% of population

• 13 members who are LGBTQ+ (2.4% or Congress vs 9.3% of population)

• median age in House is 57.5, Senate is 64.7 - median age of population is 39.4

• religion: 87% of Congress identify as Christian vs 62% of population; 6% Jewish vs 3% of population

• over 80% of senators and more than half of House members hold net worths exceeding $1 million - approx 9% of population are millionaires

congress approval rating in Nov 2024

congress’ approval rating in November 2024 - 16% approve, 77% disapprove

nov 2022 and nov 2024 re-election rate

• 2022 re-election rate: overall, 96% of congressional incumbents re-elected

• 2024 re-election rate: overall 97% of congressional incumbents re-elected

• significance of incumbency - Chuck Grassley: chair of Committee on the Judiciary, 93 years old, been Iowa Senator since 1981

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