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Colombia The Legislature
The Constitution grants certain legislative powers to
Congress
in general, divides other powers between the two houses,
and
apportions others between Congress and the president.
Legislative
authority is vested in the bicameral Congress, consisting
of the
Senate (Senado), with 114 members, and the House of
Representatives
(Cámara), with 199 members. Each house has a president who
is
elected for sixty days. Congress convenes annually from
July 20
through December 16, but the president may call it into
special
session at other times. The Constitution requires that
Congress be
called into session during a state of siege and after a
state of
emergency is declared.
Both houses of Congress have joint responsibility for
initiating, amending, interpreting, and repealing
legislation;
inaugurating the president and selecting the presidential
designate; selecting the membership of the Supreme Court;
changing
the boundaries of the territories, creating new
departments,
granting special powers to the departmental legislatures,
and
moving the location of the national capital; supervising
the civil
service and creating new positions in it; and setting
national
revenues, providing for payment of the national debt, and
determining the nation's currency.
The House of Representatives chooses the attorney
general from
a list of nominees provided by the president, selects the
comptroller general, supervises the budgetary and treasury
general
accounts, and initiates all legislation dealing with
taxation. The
Senate tries officials impeached by the House of
Representatives,
accepts the resignation of the president and the
presidential
designate, grants the president permission to leave the
country
temporarily, approves appointments of high-ranking
military
officers, and authorizes presidential declarations of war
and the
movement of foreign troops through the country.
Members of Congress are elected for four-year terms at
the same
time as the president, or within a few months of his
election. They
may be reelected indefinitely. House members must be at
least
twenty-five years old, and Senate members must be at least
thirty.
All members of Congress must be in full possession of
their
political rights. Members have parliamentary immunity and
may not
be arrested or prosecuted without the permission of the
house in
which they serve.
All the members of Congress are elected from the
territorial
departments and national territories on a proportional
basis. Each
department and national territory has two senators, plus
an
additional one for each 200,000 inhabitants. A minimum of
two House
members also are elected from each department, and
national
territory, plus an additional one for each 100,000 people.
For
every congressman elected, a congressional alternate
(suplente) also is selected to serve as a
department or
national territory's representative in the absence of the
congressman. Although geographically representative,
congressmen--
as members of the upper middle class or the elite--have
been
unrepresentative of Colombian society.
High rates of turnover and absenteeism and a weak
committee
system were among the persistent problems that hindered
congressional effectiveness. Congressional turnover was
always
high, ranging from 60 to 80 percent; few congressmen
returned for
a consecutive term, and even fewer served three terms.
Absenteeism
also was a chronic problem. Even with the alternate
system,
absenteeism was quite high, with an average of less than
75 percent
of congressmen or their alternates present during voting,
even on
the most important issues. Absenteeism prevented Congress
from
approving many of Barco's proposals during the 1987
legislative
session. Moreover, party discipline in both houses was
weak, as
evidenced by the numerous dissident factions within
Congress. In
1988 a majority of congressmen belonged to Barco's Liberal
Party
(Partido Liberal--PL), but Barco was unable to control
factional
struggles in Congress. A Colombian political scientist
described
the situation as "parliamentary anarchy." Former President
Misael
Pastrana Borrero (1970-74) of the Conservative Party
(Partido
Conservador--PC), blamed the problem in Congress on
Barco's failure
to mobilize support for his program among his party's
legislative
majority. The committee system further weakened
congressional
effectiveness. The size of the eight existing committees
varied,
but they were usually large, met rarely, and made no use
of
subcommittees.
Committee chairmanships rotated, with a new chairman
elected
every month. The chairman's powers were limited
essentially to
presiding. After a congressman or government minister
introduced a
bill in either chamber, the congressional leadership
referred it to
one of the eight standing committees. If approved by the
committee,
it was reported back for a second reading to a plenary
session of
the house of origin, where a member of the committee
guided it
through debate. If approved by the full membership, the
bill was
forwarded to the other house, where it underwent the same
process.
Conference committees composed of members of both houses
resolved
legislative differences between the two houses.
Its formal powers notwithstanding, Congress lacked a
dynamic
legislative and policy-making role in the late 1980s. It
did not
initiate important legislation; rather, the executive,
parties, or
bureaucracy took the initiative in preparing legislation.
Congress
affected policy making only by delaying or modifying
legislation.
Nevertheless, Congress was not completely without power.
Its power
of interpellation allowed it to question cabinet members
and public
officials on the manner of implementing legislation. The
congressional "watchdog" function served as a check
against
excesses by government agencies and the executive branch.
Furthermore, Congress exercised purview over the Public
Ministry by appointing its director, the attorney general.
Although
lacking cabinet status, the attorney general was an
important
official with broad powers of intervention in the nation's
political processes. The attorney general's ministry
consisted of
the prosecuting attorneys of the district superior,
circuit, and
lower courts. Public Ministry officials supervised the
conduct of
public employees and prosecuted those accused of crimes.
Colombia's Congress traditionally has been one of Latin
America's most independent bodies vis-à-vis the executive.
Beginning in the early 1980s, Congress assumed a somewhat
more
active role in policy making. For example, in 1984 it
refused to
participate in the National Dialogue that the Betancur
government
had pledged to hold with the country's guerrilla groups.
Leaders of
the Senate and House sent a message to President Betancur,
stating
that "Congress is the natural stage for solving the
country's
problems."
Occasionally, when Congress blocked proposals
introduced by the
executive, former presidents and other party chiefs
convened a
summit-style meeting among government officials and
thereby
resolved the policy issue. These meetings usually included
the
president and leaders of key political or congressional
factions or
interest groups opposing the legislation.
Data as of December 1988
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