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.

Congress - Voting in Congress

Explain The Factors Affecting Voting In Congress:

• Political Parties: Ideological issues may be taken e.g abortion and gun control. ‘Sticks and carrots’ encourage party voting through threats of deselection. Party voting has decreased but may increase under Trump.
• The Administration: Legislation initiated by the administration. Cabinet members can persuade members of Congress to vote one way or the other and to be more bi-partisan.
• Pressure Groups: Influence members of Congress through direct action and lobbying. Visits and phone calls. They can also raise money for politicians. Conscience issues such as abortion see pressure group activity.
• Colleagues and Staff: There are so many bills that members may not know which is which. They rely on their staff to tell them about upcoming bills. Can also debate with other similar members of Congress (i.e. they share a similar constituency demographically or ethnically) the contents of the bill.
• Personal Beliefs: Vote according to personal beliefs on a conscience issue such as abortion. Known as personal philosophy.

Party Leadership:

• Federalism means that party leaders in Congress have little or no control over what the 50 states parties across the country are doing.
• Separation of powers means that party leaders in Congress may hold little sway down the other hand of the White House
• Bicameralism means that party leaders operate only within their own chamber and may not be singing together.
• The speaker in the House is from the majority and can be important as they important jobs such as referring bills to committees and enforcing the rules of the House. They in effect become ‘the leader of the opposition’ acting as a spokesperson for the party not in charge of the White House.
• Senate has a similar role but for the longest-serving member of the House in the majority party. They preside over the Senate when the VPOTUS is not present.

Partisanship & Why Has It Increased:

• A situation where members of one party regularly group together to oppose members of another party, characterised by strong party discipline and little cooperation between parties.
• Increasing because the differences between the parties are now greater between the two parties. Both parties are more ideologically cohesive and distinct, the Democrats are more liberal whilst the Republicans are becoming more Conservative hence an increase in partisanship.
• Disappearance of centrist members of both parties; that is members voting towards the political centre.
• Members are also changing; centrist members are being replaced with more conservative members e.g. Arlen Spencer and Pat Toomey.
• Also gerrymandering is important as they can affect who runs for the party

Do Parties Play An Important Role In Congress:
Yes:	No:
Leadership in Congress is run by the parties	Views of the constituents can often outweigh party considerations – especially for House members
Committees in Congress are organised by the parties	Parties have no control over candidate selection
Increased partisanship, party discipline is much stronger in Congress than it used to be	Both parties are made up of ideological factions that compete with party cohesion
Party is more determinant of voting in Congress	Executive branch has few ‘sticks and carrots’ with which to incentivise party discipline
Impossible to be elected to Congress without being a major party candidate.	Congressional leadership, likewise, is fairly impotent in the face of opposition.

Congressional Caucuses:

• The collection of members of either major party elected to the House or Senate. More widely an association of members of Congress to advance an certain interest.
• They represent the party of either House.
• They represent smaller, but cohesive groups within each chamber based on ideological, ethnic, or economic interests.
• They educate people by providing information to members on proposed legislation and may offer policy briefing papers.
• Agenda Setting: Boost the chances of an issue getting to the congressional legislative agenda. They co-sponsor legislation and circulate letters to drum up support and meet up with party leadership
• They encourage support for their proposals in votes on the floor of each chamber.

Examples:

Congressional Black Caucus:

• For African-American members of both Houses. Has 47 members from both houses.
• Claims to be bi-partisan but only has 5 black Republican members.

House Freedom Caucus:

• 40 Conservative Republicans
• Supports limited government, Constitution and rule of law and policies that promote the liberty, safety of all Americans.
• Allied with the Tea Party Movement.
• Forced House Speaker, John Boehner to resign in 2015.

Congress - Oversight & Representation

What Powers of Oversight does Congress Have:

• Constitution does give Congress powers to make laws.
• Subpoena (legally call for) documents and testimony
• Hold individuals in contempt if they fail to comply with Congress’s demands for information
• Senate has the power of confirmation
• Senate has power to ratify treaties.
• Congressional Committee.

When Is Oversight Only Really Effective:

• Oversight is only effective when a party is in control of both houses. There isn’t much oversight over the executive as it isn’t very effective unless both houses are in control.
• Divided government has become the norm which has seen limited oversight of the executive.
• When the Democrats were in control of both houses in 2007, oversight was very effective where they claimed that Bush “hadn’t really changed anything.’
• The Constitution has limited intervention over a president.
• Oversight will keep the administration on its toes and a lack of oversight leads to complacency, arrogance and maladministration.

What Variables Effect Congress’s Oversight Role:

• Party control is one variable e.g Republicans under Trump.
• Popularity of Congress compared with the incumbent president – Congress is not very popular with the public. Lessens the chance of acting as an effective check on the executive branch.
• President’s approval ratings can make Congress seem popular as he is the party leader.
• Size of POTUS’s mandate e.g Reagan won all but one state and this made Congress more powerful.
• National crisis e.g 9/11 will strengthen the president’s hand at Congress’s expense.

Congress & Representation:

Representative of People:

• Not very representative of the people in terms of gender and race. Women are unrepresentative and Congress contorts to the white, older, more professional and Christian than the nation as a whole.
• This is important because politics is meant to uphold the democratic values and Clinton said the American government should “look like America”
• Also raises issues in terms of policy e.g women are more likely to raise issues concerning civil rights and liberties, education and health.
• Different people see issues in different light than others and thus may differ on these views so Congress needs to represent these views:

Models of Representation:

1. Trustee Model: Founded by Burke, it says that Congressmen/women can make their own decisions because they are experts as they have “mature judgement.” Some members of Congress believe the FF gave them this power as the “passions of the day should be dampened” but some argue that it is elitist.
2. Delegate Model: Member is a free agent and is free to vote however they wish. Decisions should be based off constituents though. A model of popular sovereignty in which the people are sovereign. Members of Congress fulfil a true representative function.

Engaging With Constituents:

• Can keep in touch via email and visits and can keep in touch with events through local newspapers. Discover what constituents want by making regular visits back home. This can depend on how far away the member of Congress’s district is. Some make use of this during recess periods when they spend more time at home.
• Engagements Include: Town hall meetings, surgeries, visits around the state, appearing on local radio, interview with local media, addressing local groups, visiting schools and hospitals.
• Views of constituents will vary across the whole district therefore members must balance factors for the local good vs the national good.

Fulfilling A Representative Function:

• Voting on legislation, membership of a standing committee, lobbying the executive, performing constituency casework by helping with passport issues etc, federal matters such as student loans, gaining money through pork-barrel politics.
• Some of the public view PBP as good when their own member of Congress does it but bad when another does it as it is unnecessary government spending. It hit its peak in 2006 but has tailed off in recent years.
• As PBP fades, e-democracy has increased where members of Congress can stay in touch through social media and even use it to show how much of a good job they are doing. Some argue the only way to get in touch with a congressman/woman is through social media.
• Many view it e-democracy as a way to get re-elected as it looks as though congressmen/women are doing their job but many are committed to serving the country and want to improve the lives of the ordinary.

Congress’s Effectiveness in Representation:

• Still has a long way to go in terms of true representation of how America looks but will improve throughout time.
• Members do really care about providing the best services for the public especially in the House where re-election is up every two years.
• On most issues, members will have people in their districts on both sides of the argument and it can be hard finding which one is the majority viewpoint and even then there will still be challenges.
• Until this gridlock is solved, Congress may never truly be representative.

Is Congress The Broken Branch:
Yes:	No:
In terms of legislation, too often characterised by gridlock and inaction	Congress passes hundreds of laws every year
Lack of bipartisanship and compromise	Strong on constituency representation and looking after ‘the people back home’
Senate action often frustrated by filibustering or the threat of it	Congress alone does not cause gridlock in the government
Confirming of POTUS appointments often degenerates into partisan point scoring	Polarisation in Congress is merely reflective of a polarised country
Too many uncompetitive seats pushes parties to ideological extremes	Has successfully called POTUS and their administrations to account
Foreign policy checks on the POTUS are often ineffective e.g declaring war	Slowness in Congress is often because of what the FF wrote in the Constitution.

Congress - Congressional Committees

• Standing Committee: Permanent, proposed bills are refereed here, one of the most important committees – most work is done here.
• Joint Committee: Has both members from the House and the Senate.
• Select/Special Committees: Temporary committee for a specific purpose. They are ad hoc.
• Conference Committee: Resolve differences in the amended bills from the Senate and the House.
• House Rule Committee: Powerful, they review bills and made rules on debates
• Closed Rule: A house bill that cannot be amended
• Committee Chairs: Always from the majority party with the most seniority.
• Discharge Petition: A petition that can force a bill to remain
• Important to note: Most bills never make it out of the committee.

What Does The House Rule Committee Do And Why Is Its Role Vital:

• A standing committee of the house. Responsible for prioritising bills coming from the committee stage onto the House floor. Open rule – unlimited amendments Can have modified rules that limits the total numbers of amendments – known as closed rule.

Conference Committee:

• Allows for differences in a bill to be solved. Irons out the differences. They are ad hoc – only started up when needed. Important because they are likely to draft the final bill, they are checked.

Select Committees:

• Known as special or investigate committees. Set up to investigate a particular issue e.g Invasion. Can be made permanent on request.
• Can occur when an investigation does not fall within the policy area of one standing committee or is likely to become time consuming for a standing committee e.g Aging, Ethics, Indian Affairs and Intelligence bill.

Why Are Committee Chair Appointments So Significant:

• Always drawn from the majority party and taken by the seniority rule where the chair of the committee will usually be the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on that committee.
• Both parties have put a limit on the amount of time spent in the committee – just three years
• Important because: Control the agenda, decide when they meet, serve as spokesperson and influence members and can attempt to control the scheduling of legislation.

The Legislative Process:

1. Introduction: Pure formality, no debate and no vote. Bill is placed into a hopper – a tray on a clerk’s desk. 10-14k are introduced but only 2% of those make it into law.
2. Committee Stage: Important stage and most bills are likely to fail here. Anything can redact and amended to the bill at this stage and are rewritten before they are sent on.
3. Timetabling: Because of the vast number of bills coming in, the Senate agrees to debate a bill whilst the House prioritise certain bills over others.
4. Floor Debate & Voting: The two chambers debate the bill and further amendments can be made. Filibuster can take place but unlikely. Both chambers vote to pass or amend the bill, bills are likely to be different, so they sent off to the conference committee.
5. Conference Committee: Less likely to occur now as one parties has a majority in both chambers and it has become a rubber stamp event rather than a debate. Ping-ponging where the bill from one chamber is offered on a take it or leave it basis.
6. Presidential Action: Can sign the into law whilst taking credit, leave the bill on his desk – he doesn’t want take a position. Regular veto – causes Congress to change the bill. Pocket veto – bills are vetoed and lost.

Why Is It Difficult For Congress To Pass Legislation:

1. Vast number of bills are introduced. Makes the process crowded.
2. Process is complicated ‘bastion of negation’ The Healthcare Reform in 2010 showed how hard it is because it had to be debated in each Chamber 3 times.
3. At some stages, a super majority is needed such as 2/3rds majority in both houses to override the POTUS veto.
4. Power in Congress is decentralised. Much of the power is with standing committee and those who lead it. Party leaders have little to no power, Bob Dole described himself as a ‘majority pleader’.
5. Both houses have the same power, so it makes the process more difficult. In the UK Parliament one house can override the wishes of the other so legislation is passed more easily but in the USA this does not happen.

Congress - Introduction to Congress's Power & Composition

Differences Between HOR & Senate:
Representatives:	Senate:
Lower house	Upper house
435 members	100 members
Represent a congressional district	Represent entire state
Serve two-year terms	Serve six-year terms
Must be at least 25 years old	Must be at least 30 years old
Must be US citizens for at least seven years	Must be a US citizen for at least nine years
Must be a resident of the state they represent
Bicameral system: made up of two houses

Does Congress Mirror America In Terms Of Gender, Ethnicity, Religion and Background:

• Women have been significantly under-represented in Congress. The Democrats tried to focus on this issue in 1992 by declaring it the year of the woman however in 2018, a record amount of women were in Congress – 104. In this sense Congress does not look like America.
• There were little to none ethnic minorities in Congress but all this changed when Obama became POTUS and a huge swing in these numbers flew. After the 2018 mid-terms, there are 123 ethnic minorities in Congress, which is more than the number of women in Congress. Around 12% of Congress is made up of ethnic minorities but 17% of America is made up of ethnic minorities.

The Powers Of Congress:

• Law Making: Article I of the Constitution states that all legislative power is granted to Congress. They have a say in tax bills and the first say in money bills. Both houses must agree to the proposed law.
• Overseeing The Executive Branch (Investigation): Congress establishes and votes on the budgets of all executive departments and agencies of the federal government, done through select committee.
• Overriding The POTUS Veto: They can override the POTUS’s veto of a bill. Congress don’t often veto bills, Obama only got vetoed 12 times.
• Confirming Appointments: Must confirm all appointments made to the federal judiciary and many of the appointments to the executive branch. The POTUS must seek the approval of Senate for replacement appointments.
• Ratifying Treaties: Senate can ratify treaties negotiated by the POTUS. The POTUS should keep Senate fully informed on any treaties.
• Initiating Constitutional Amendments: A constitutional amendment must be approved by 2/3rds majority in both houses before it can be sent to the states for their ratification.
• Impeaching And Removing Public Officials: Representatives has the sole power of Impeachment. Congress cannot be impeached
• Confirming An Appointed VPOTUS: Can confirm a VPOTUS who has been elected.
• Declaring War: Both houses must agree on the declaration of war in order for it to happen
• Electing The POTUS (if Gridlock): If no POTUs candidate wins a majority in the election, HOR will elect the POTUS whilst Senate appoint the VPOTUS.

Joint Powers of Both Houses:	Sole Powers of the Senate:	Sole Powers of the House:
Law making	Confirming appointments	Beginning consideration of money bills
Overseeing the executive branch	Ratifying treaties
Overriding POTUS veto
Initiating Constitutional amendments
Impeaching and removing public officials
Confirming an appointed VPOTUS
Declaring war
Electing POTUS & VPOTUS if EC deadlock

Is The Senate More Prestigious Than The House:
Yes:	No:
Senate represent the entire state	Both houses have equal power in passage of legislation – Congress’s key function
Senators serve longer terms	Both approve the initiation of Constitutional amendments
Senators are only 1 of 100	Both houses conduct oversight of the executive branch
Senators are likely to chair a committee or sub-committee or hold some other leadership position	Both fulfil a representative function
Senate is seen as a recruiting pool for POTUS & VPOTUS.	Both receive equal salaries.
Senators possess significant exclusive powers
House members seek election to the Senate, but not the other way round.

Standing Committees:

• A permanent policy specialist committee of Congress playing key roles in both legislation and investigation.
• Typical Senate committee has 18 members whilst the House has 30-40 members. They work according to the majority basis in both houses. Right now in the House, the majority will be Democrat therefore the committee will have a Democrat majority.
• Seek assignments on committees that are closest to the interests of their district or state e.g agriculture.