US Politics; Congress

Congress;

• The structure of congress-
• Congress is made up of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. This arrangement for the legislative branch of government was one of the compromises devised by the Founding Fathers at the Philadelphia Convention.
• In the lower house-HOR- the states would be represented proportionally to their population but in the Upper House- Senate- the states would be represented equally.
• The Founding Fathers decided that HOR would be directly elected but the Senate would be indirectly elected until the 17th amendment where the Senate was directly elected. Today the HOR has 435 members, each state has a certain no.of members proportionate to their state population- the no.of representatives is reappointed per 10 years.
• With the 50 states and 2 x state, there are 100 senators.

Slide 2

• Women
• In 110 congress (07-08) Dems regained control of Congress for the first time in 12 years- no.of women were elected to leadership positions e,g, HOR when Nancy Pelosi was the first women speaker. House of Rules Committee had its first chair-Louise Slaughter. In the Senate- Standing Committee of Environment (Barbra Boxer). In 2013 in the Senate 6 standing Committee had women chairs- Agriculture (Debbie Stabenow). Appropriations (Barbra Mikulski), Budget (Patty Murry) etc. One problem is that women are usually unrepresented in the pool which members of Congress are drawn e.g. state legislature. In 2012 only 24% of state legislators were women (higher than before but still low). Colorando women make up 42% (largest) while Louisiana in 2013- 11% (lowest).
• have been underrepresented (in 1992, Dems tried to focus on this issue and declared it 'the year of the women'- this doubled in women in Congress that election). The majority of women in both houses are Dems. Following 2012 elections there were a record no.of women in both houses at the start of 113 congress; 78 in the House (58 Dems-20Reps) and 20 (16Dems-4Reps) in senate but women still make up only 18% of the House and 20% of the Senate- hardly representative doesn't look like America.. 2015: 20 women in senate (20%) and 14 democrats. 84 women in house (19%) and 62 democrats.
• Age: 114th congress average age of house is 57. In senate it’s 61.
• Race: much better in the house than in the senate as federal courts have allowed states to draw congressional district boundaries to produce a rep from an ethnic minority = ‘majority-minority districts’. Between 2005 and 2008 Barack Obama was the only African American senator. In 2011 there were none. 114th congress: there are 44 African-Americans (42 democrat) in the House and 2 (1 democrat) in the senate.There are 34 Hispanics in the house (23 democrats) and 4 in the senate (1 democrats). There are 13 Asians in the house (12 democrats) and 1 in the senate (a democrat)

Powers of Congress;

• The powers of Congress are laid down in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution.
• Exclusive House powers;
• 1) The power to initiate money bills; this was because in the beginning only the house was elected so the founding fathers believed that the people's directly elected representatives should have the first say in spending the people's money.
• 2) The power of impeachment; the house may impeach (formally accuse any member of the executive and judicial branches of the federal government). -“The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” — U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 4. Impeachment has been used 19 times since 1789 most recently with judge Thomas Porteous in 2012 for Making false financial disclosures.
• 3) if the Electoral Collage is deadlocked (no candidate wins an absolute majority of EC votes- 270 votes). This power has only been used twice, in 1800 (Jefferson v.Adams) and 1824 (Adams v.Jackson).

Slide 4

• Exclusive powers of the Senate; more prestigious than the House.
• 1)The senate has the power to confirm many appointments made by the president e.g. those to the federal judiciary (whenever the president want to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court the Senate must agree) and some to the executive branch. Similarly an incoming President must have his new appointments to executive must be approved by senate. In 2013 when Hillary Clinton resigned at Secretary of State, Obama had to ask Senate's permission for John Kerry to replace her( voted 94-3 to confirm).
• 2) Its power to ratify (3/4rd of the majority) all treaties negotiated by the president. This means that the president needs to keep This means that the president needs to keep the Senate fully informed throughout treaty negotiations, to avoid concluding treaties that the Senate is unlikely to ratify. In December 2010, the Senate voted by 71 votes to 26 to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) negotiation by Obama with his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev.Once the House has impeached someone, the Senate the power to try that case of impeachment. The Senate trial is to determine whether the person is guilty of the offence of which they’ve been accused by the House. If they are found guilty by a 2/3s majority, the person is removed from office. In December 2010, Judge Thomas Porteous was found guilty by the Senate on 4 counts but the Senate acquitted President Clinton in 1999.
• 3) If the Electoral College is deadlocked, the Senate must elect the vice-president.

Slide 5

• Concurrent
• powers of House and Senate;
• Many ways the two Houses are co-equal with 5 concurrent powers.
• 1) The two Houses are co-equal in the passage of legislation; all bills must pass though all stages in both Houses-neither can override the wishes of the other. Both must agree on one version of the bill before sending it to the President for them to sign.
• 2) Both houses must vote; 2/3rd majority needed to override the president's veto of a bill. e.g. In 2007 Congress overrode Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Bill 381-40 (100 over the 281 required) & 81-12 (19 over 62 required).
• 3) They're co-equal when it comes to initiating constitutional amendments; an amendment must be approved by 2/3rd majority in both houses to be sent for ratification.
• 4) Both houses must concur in declaration of war; only occurred 5 times- e.g. in 1941 when America declared war on Japan in ww11.
• 5) 25th Amendment gave both Houses the power to confirm newly appointed vice-presidents.

Slide 6

• The relative importance and prestige of the House and Senate.
• It's suggested that Senate > House. 49% of House members move to Senate but 0 vice-versa.
• 1) House members only get a congressional district while Senators represent the entire state; E.g. Dough LaMalfa represents the 1st district of California (2year term) but Dianne Feinstein represents the whole State of California while also enjoying a 6 year term. Feinstein is also one of 100 Senators whereas Congressman LaMalfa is one of 435. Senators therefore are more likely to get better positions.
• 2)The Senate is the launching pad for presidential campaigns; Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Obama were all from the Senate. 6 senators launched campaigns for 08 Presidential race- 2 former Senators. Both parties end up nominating an incumbent senator as their presidential candidate. The Senator's also been as the recruitment pool for vice-presidential candidate- Al Gore and Joe Biden were former or serving members of the Senate when elected vice-president.
• 3) Senators enjoy significant exclusive powers; e.g. confirmation/ratification.
• However, when it comes to passage of legislation, senators and representatives enjoy equal powers. They also have the same salary.

Slide 7

• Leadership in Congress;
• The House Speaker;
• Elected by the entire House membership at the start of each Congress (every 2 years)- likely the person chosen will be the nominee of the majority party in the House at the time. The constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of the House although they have been. Powers= -Act as presiding officer of the House. -Interpret and enforce the rules of the House and decide about the points of order. -Refer bills to the standing committees -Appoint select committee and conference committee chairs -Appointing majority party members of House Rules Committee
• The Speaker is next in line to the Presidency after the Vice-President although the 25th amendment makes it less significant as it requires the office of vice-presidency to be filled if a vacancy should occur.
• The speaker has the power to exercise influence on the flow of legislature through the House+ award committee assignments to majority party members and select House standing committee chairs. When the president and the majority of Congress are of different parties

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