(ISTOCKPHOTO) Exam 6B Notes
Get it right!! Congress = House + Senate
House Senate Total Number 435 100 representatives A. Congress by the numbers! Pop-based! Equal - 2 per state Elected Period 2 6 years Elected by citizens Elected by state leg until 17th Am State w/ 4.2 million 6 2 # of reps. 700,000/district Minimum Age 25 30 years old US Citizenship 7 9 year minimum # of re-election terms unlimited unlimited re-election Min. # to pass bills 218 60 (Majority Rules) (Minority Influence!) Majority Party ( 17) Republicans Republicans Leader's Title Speaker Majority Leader Leader ( 17) Paul Ryan (R) Mitch McConnell (R)
B. More House Senate Differences - Debate Rules! Debate - More controlled in House. Majority rules - They create rules for debate/vote. More partisanship in bills passed.! Less controlled in Senate. Less rules. Unanimous (All 100!) Consent to debate. More bi-partisanship required because less control by majority party.
Review 2? 30? Control? Leader Senate?
C. Congressional Jobs - SOIL! S ervice! Casework! I ll do that for you!! O versight of Ex! Power of Purse!! Take away future $! Making sure executing laws correctly! I nvestigation! Anyone, any company any time Some analysts believe government is made complicated purposefully so your reps can be a shining knight - OMBUDSMAN ROLE! L awmaking! Don t do much!
D. Important Powers...! Expressed Powers - Art I, Section 8! Power to tax, spend, borrow****! ***Necessary/Proper Clause****! Broad authority - The IMPLIED POWERS!! ****Interstate Commerce Clause****! Case? Most States cannot borrow, must have balanced budget. Fed.not so much!! House Only Powers - Impeachment, Spending bills start here.! Senate Only Powers - Confirmation, Treaties, Removal Trials
eview. Make up of the House and the Senate. A. Identify 1 similarity between the House and the Senate B. Identify 2 differences between the House and the Senate 2. Why are bills harder to pass in the Senate? 3. Explain 2 functions of Congress besides passing bills? 4. Powers of the House and Senate: A. Identify a power the House has that the Senate doesn t B. Identify a power the Senate has that the House doesn t End Lecture 5
Lecture 6 E. House Districting.. Census dictates apportionment every 10 years! Apportionment - Fed setting the number of HOUSE seats a state gets pop based!! Baker v. Carr - 1 person, 1 vote standard.! Think.District Population Balance!! Can t have 300K in Dist. 1 and 800K in Dist. 2! Redistricting - State Leg. deciding what those districts look like redrawing the lines
Special type of redistricting. Gerrymandering - creating district lines for group advantage Legal - partisanship Illegal - race, ethnicity Shaw v. Reno - no districts based on race solely Video on Gerrymandering (Washington, DC: Congressional
Issues of Gerrymandering! Few competitive districts today in House - only 50-75 seats competitive! Safe Seats - winning w/ 55%+ or more allows representatives to be very partisan! Ohio district! Iowa has independent panel draw their districts.
Large decline in competitive districts Creates much more partisanship Less likely to compromise on issues
The best oversight is???
1. The Chart - Numbers and Names! 2. Other Differences - Prestige, Debate 3. SOIL! Especially O and I 4. H v. S Powers 5. Apportionment, Redistricting and Gerrymandering End Lecture 6
F. Working on Bills... Lecture 7! COMMITTEES meet to work on bills! 1. Standing - important & always there! IN BOTH HOUSES! Best of! - Appropriations. Spending decisions! 2. Select- temporary to solve a problem! Select Committee on EpiPen Prices! 3. Joint- Members of H&S.! Conference Committees - see later notes.
! Power on Committees! Seniority System - longest serving get best positions and on best committees.! More from majority party on each committee. Allows maj. to control bills there.
G. Congressional Lingo!! Logrolling - vote for mine, I ll vote for yours! Earmarks - Pork -provisions in bills that provide local perks for votes Bob Kerry earmarked funding for his bridge in a bill to get his vote on a bill.
H. How a Bill Becomes a Law! BOTH houses of Congress to pass! MOST bill ideas come from EX Branch! 1. HOR work -! Committee work on, Floor Debate, Vote 218!! 2. Senate work -! Committee work on, Floor Debate, Vote 60!
!3. Conference Committee work! If differences between H & S bills, they iron out by compromising!4. H & S re-vote compromised version!5. President - sign or veto!6. Override Vote - 2/3 to override
Filibuster - Senate only stalling tactic. Stop with signature of 60 senators - This is cloture. Threat of filibusters forces 60 votes for ALL legislation.
Review 2 5. What is gerrymandering? 6. When is gerrymandering considered: A. legal? B. illegal? 7. ID one type of committee and explain it. 8. Seniority System? What is it and what does it pertain to? 9. Explain the connection between the lack of partisanship and compromise in the House in relationship to district gerrymandering.
1. Types of Committees 2. Seniority System 3. Congressional Lingo 4. How a Bill Becomes a Law 5. Filibuster and Cloture