Congress - Comparing Congress & Parliament

Working of the Houses:
Congress:	Parliament:
No government programme of legislation exists	A government programme of legislation dominated the agenda
Level of party discipline is lower	High levels of party discipline
Thousands of bills introduced in any session	Few bills passed into law
Individual members introduce pieces of legislation	Most bills passed into law
Limited number of bills introduced in a session	Committee stage after second reading
Committee stage comes before floor debate	Non-permanent standing committees and non-specialist members
Permanent standing committees with policy specialists	Bills considered by two houses consecutively
Bills considered concurrently	Lower chamber is dominant
Two chambers have equal power	Royal Assent is no longer held.
POTUS has significant veto powers

Oversight:
Congress:	Parliament:
Standing committee hearing	Select committee hearings
Select committee hearing	Prime Minister’s Question Time
Confirmation of hearings	Liaison committee hearing
Ratification of treaties	Correspondence with ministers
Impeached by the upper house	Tabling of early day motions
	Vote of no confidence

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Lower Chambers:
House of Representatives:	House of Commons:
Strengths:	Strengths:
Has initiative power on all money bills	Powers
Draws up articles of impeachment	Presence of the executive
Power of standing committees	Power of backbench MPs
Strong constituency links because of a two-year term	Select committees
	Prime Minister’s Question Time
Weaknesses:	Weaknesses:
Executive branch members can appear only in committees, not on the floor	Party strengths unreflective of votes at general election
POTUS rarely, if ever, gives direct evidence	‘Punch and Judy’ politics at PMQs
Shares legislative power with the Senate	Overly dominated by the government
Short election cycle	Unrepresentative in terms of gender
Gridlock, partisanship and possibility of divided government	Strong parties can mean weak constituency representation

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Upper Chambers:
Senate:	House of Lords:
Strengths:	Strengths:
Exclusive power over confirmation of appointments	Membership is somewhat more representative of UK society
Exclusive power over treaty ratification	Expertise and experience of members
Sole power to try cases of impeachment	Lack of strict party discipline
Regarded as recruitment pool for POTUS and VPOTUS	Quality of debate
Six-year terms	Members not subject to the whim of constituency pressures
Equal power in legislation with the house.	Continuity
Weaknesses:	Weaknesses:
Executive branch members can appear only in committees, not on the floor	Lack of democratic mandate
POTUS rarely, if ever, gives direct evidence	Has mostly delaying powers regarding legislation
Shares legislative power with the Senate	Seen as a chamber of political failures and retirees
Gridlock, partisanship and possibility of divided government	Government often lacks a majority
	Presence of Anglican bishops.

Similarities and Differences In Both Legislatures:
Similarities:	Differences:
Both are bicameral	Congress: Both houses elected, Parliament: One house elected
Different parties may control each house	Congress: Two equal houses, Parliament: Lower chamber dominates
POTUS/PM’s party may not have control in both houses	Congress: Only two parties represented, Parliament: Multiple parties, especially in the Commons, represented
Both houses have a role in passing legislation and in oversight of the executive	Congress: Executive branch excluded, Parliament: Executive branch included
Much work done away from the chambers in committees	Terms of Office: 2 years in the HOR, 5 years in HOCs. 6 years in the Senate, life-tenure in HOLs
Oversight function conducted by the standing committees in Congress and by select committees in HOC.	Size of upper houses: Senate – 100, HOL - ~800. Also lower house in UK is significantly larger in the UK
All elections done via first-past-the-post	Senate has oversight powers unknown to the HOLs (e.g confirmation of appointments)
	Each American has three representatives in Congress (One in the House and 2 in the Senate), Brits have one representative in Parliament.