Congress Study Guide: Understanding the US Legislative Branch - Prof. Audrey Haynes, Study notes of Local Government Studies

Download Congress Study Guide: Understanding the US Legislative Branch - Prof. Audrey Haynes and more Study notes Local Government Studies in PDF only on Docsity! Study Guide for Chapter 11: Congress (Answers will come from both lecture and your textbook Geer et al. Gateways) 1. What is the difference between a delegate and a trustee? a. Delegate does what the people want. Trustee does what they believe is best for the people. 2. What does it mean that we have a bicameral national legislature? Why did the Framers create a bicameral legislature rather than a unicameral one? a. Balance between state power and power for the people. Minority rights of smaller states aren’t taken away. 3. How are the two chambers, the House and the Senate different from each other (rules, size, duties,etc.)? How do their occupants differ? What are the implications of these differences? a. House has a lot more people based on population of state. Senate has 2 people from every state. Senate term is 6 years. House is 2. 4. What is a constituency? How do the constituents of the House members and the Senators differ? a. A constituency is defined by a group of citizens officially designated to elect a legislative representation. b. In the House, each member represents a congressional district that has established geographic boundaries. In the Senate, each represents an entire state. 5. Explain the process of redistricting? Why is the U.S. Census important in this process? a. Redistrict every 10 years based on the census. Based on population. 6. What is gerrymandering? What is the difference between cracking and packing? a. Redistricting that benefits one political party over the other. Cracking is splitting up minorities while packing is putting them all together. 7. Discuss the powers of Congress that are found in Article I, Section 8. a. Taxation and appropriation - what is it's power to spend: gives Congress power to tax to provide for the general warfare b. War Powers: provide for the common defense. Have the power to declare war. c. Regulation of commerce (commerce clause): power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, with Indian tribes, and among the various states d. Appointments and treaties i. power of advice and consent: power of the senate to approve or disapprove presidential appointments, such as cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, and judges, as well as international treaties. e. Impeachment (who does this?) and removal from office (who does this?): Congress’s ultimate check is their ability to impeach. f. Do you think the Framers made this a two-stage, two-player process on purpose? Why? This is to make sure that the leader is being properly impeached g. Authorization of Courts i. Where does Congress get this power from? From the constitution. ii. What is judicial review and why is it important? Essentially checks and balances. h. Oversight i. Why is oversight different when there is unified government as opposed to divided government? In Unified government, the same party controls Congress and the White House. It is the opposite for divided government. ii. What are hearings? Why are they important? Congressional committee meetings to gather information or hear testimony on a bill, issue, or appointment. 8. How is parliamentary government different from the separation of powers system in the U.S.? Parliament elects a party while Congress elects a erson. 9. What is the role of political parties in the House and Senate? What do they do? How are they organized? Who are their leaders? Why is the Speakership in the House so important? What do whips do? How is the Senate different in terms of leadership? a. To have two options. b. Present those two options. c. Speaker of the House is the constitutional and political leader of the House. d. Whips are legislators designated to count votes within the majority or the minority party. 10. Why are committees so central in the House and Senate? Why are they the workhorses of Congress? 11. What is a committee chair and why are it an important post? Who else is important on the committee? a. Majority party member of a House or Senate committee who has been chosen to lead the committee and determine which issues the committee considers. 12. Define each type of committee - what do they do and how important are they? (standing, select, joint and special committees). I will ask you to define conference committees later. a. Select committee: committee in the House or Senate that has very limited powers over a specific issue. b. Joint committee: committee that includes members of both the House and Senate. c. Special committee: committee formed to address a specific issue area or controversy, typically for a defined period of time. d. Standing committee: permanent committee in the House or Senate. 13. What is the markup? a. Process where bills are literally “marked up” or written by the members of the committee. 14. What are subcommittees and why do they exist? 15. You should also be able to name at least five committees in the House and in the Senate.