17.2.6

Legislative: Powers & Functions

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Scrutiny

Congress and Parliament scrutinise the executive branch of government, represent their constituents and have lawmaking powers.

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Scrutiny in Parliament

  • Parliament has many opportunities to scrutinise the executive.
    • Question time, including Prime Minister’s questions, provides the opportunity to question a minister’s actions and policies.
    • Select committees scrutinise government departments and question the ministers leading them.
    • Backbenchers write questions to ministers, and MPs ask about issues which affect their constituents.
    • A vote of no confidence can be tabled to try to remove the government and prime minister.
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Scrutiny in Congress

  • Congress scrutinises the executive differently to Parliament
  • Separation of powers means that no executive members are members of Congress, and so there is no oversight on the floor of either chamber, as with Question Time in Parliament.
    • Congress can remove a member of the executive from office through impeachment.
    • Committees summon members of the executive to answer questions before them, however, the president does not appear before a committee.
    • Congress votes to confirm executive and Supreme Court appointments.
    • Congress votes to ratify treaties.

Lawmaking

Congress and Parliament scrutinise the executive branch of government, represent their constituents and have lawmaking powers.

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Lawmaking in the US

  • In Congress, the Senate and House of Representatives have equal lawmaking powers.
    • Bills must pass through both the House and the Senate, which includes a committee and voting stage before it can be signed into law by the president.
    • Bills pass through both houses of Congress at the same time.
    • If the bill fails in one of the chambers then it dies and does not become law.
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Lawmaking in the UK

  • In Parliament, the House of Commons has more lawmaking power than the House of Lords.
    • The House of Lords can propose amendments and delay legislation, but lacks the power to stop bills passing into law.
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Comparing lawmaking 1

  • In Parliament, most legislation is from the government’s legislative programme.
  • In Congress there is no government programme of legislation.
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Comparing lawmaking 2

  • Parliament has a small number of bills introduced in a session.
  • In Congress thousands of bills can be introduced in a session.
    • In the 114th Congress, over 10,000 bills were introduced.
    • Parliament introduced 193 bills between 2015 and 2016.
  • Fewer bills entering Congress are passed into law than in Parliament.
  • Members of Congress introduce more bills than members of Parliament.

Representation

Congress and Parliament scrutinise the executive branch of government, represent their constituents and have lawmaking powers.

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Comparing representation 1

  • Representation of constituents is highly important in Congress.
  • Whilst representation of constituents is still important in parliament, the party has more of an influence over parliament’s members than in Congress.
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Comparing representation 2

  • Members of Congress prioritise representing their constituents over their party, as constituents choose each party’s candidate for Congress and vote for them in elections.
  • In the UK, the party has influence over MPs because they select the candidates who stand for election.
  • In 2016 the Republican member Tim Huelskamp lost his primary in Kansas to another Republican nominee and so could not stand for congressional election for the Republican Party.
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Comparing elections

  • The frequency of elections differs between Congress and Parliament which can impact how well members represent their constituents.
    • Seats in the House of Representative are elected every two years and every six years in the Senate.
  • In the UK, there is a vote for members of the House of Commons every five years, whilst the House of Lords is unelected.

Jump to other topics

1Democracy & Participation

2Political Parties

3Electoral Systems

4Voting Behaviour & the Media

5Conservatism

6Liberalism

7Socialism

8The UK Constitution

9The UK Parliament

10The Prime Minister & the Executive

11Relationships Between Government Branches

12US Constitution & Federalism

13US Congress

14US Presidency

15US Supreme Court & Civil Rights

16US Democracy & Participation

17Comparing Democracies

18Feminism

19Nationalism

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