Unit 3 – Legislative Branch/Congress. The Capitol Building.
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Transcript of Unit 3 – Legislative Branch/Congress. The Capitol Building.
Main Ideas Congress is bicameral, which means
divided into two houses.
In the House of Representatives, States are represented according to population.
In the Senate, each State has 2 Senators.
Congress meets for two-year terms
The Constitution Congress is part of the Legislative Branch
Therefore, our Congressmen have the job of translating the public will into public policy in the form of law
James Madison called it “the first branch” of the National Government Article I of the Constitution created the Legislative
Branch. It is the very first and longest of the three articles of the Constitution.
Bicameralism
Why is Congress divided into two houses? Because our founding fathers saw
bicameralism as a way to diffuse the power of Congress, which prevented it from overwhelming the other two branches of government. NJ Plan & VA Plan
Congressional Terms
Each term of Congress lasts 2 years.
The beginning of each 2 year term is “noon of the 3rd day in January” of every odd numbered year. So the Congressmen we elected last year started
January 3rd, 2013. While each term is 2 years, there are no term limits in
Congress. This means the same Senator or Representative can
stay in Congress for life as long as he/she keeps getting reelected.
Term Limits: Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QORVqG3rN5Y&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRJMGnGrfE&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active
Sessions
A session of Congress is that period of time during each year when Congress assembles and conducts business.
There are two sessions to each term of Congress, with one session each year. These sessions usually last most of the
year, with several short weeklong breaks during a session.
Special Sessions
A special session is a meeting of Congress or an individual house to deal with some emergency situation. Only 27 special sessions of Congress have ever been called
by the President. Most recent: President Harry Truman in 1948 in the
aftermath of World War II. Senate alone has been called into special session 46 times to
consider treaties or presidential appointments, but not since 1933.
The President may call Congress into a special session, however Congressional leadership has as well…though their authority is not supreme.
House of Representatives Representation based on
population Each state guaranteed 1
seat in the House. Example: Alaska &
Delaware each have 1 representative.
435 Representatives total.
Redistribution of the number of members takes place every 10 years, which coincides with the census.
Qualifications for the House
Must be at least 25
Citizen of the U.S. for at least 7 years
Must be an inhabitant of the State from which he or she is elected
Reapportionment Act of 1929
In 1920, The House kept getting bigger & bigger.
Conducting business became difficult.
1920 census comes out & if Congress were to
reapportion seats in the House, then some States
would have to lose seats if every State were to be
represented according to its population.
But they did do something in 1929: The
Reapportionment Act.
Set the “permanent” size of Representatives at
435.
Districts
Each Representative in the House
represents their district
We are in VA’s 10th Congressional
district.
Republican Frank Wolf is our Rep.
In small states with only one
Representative, the district is the
whole state, and the entire
population votes – not just a
district (Ex: Delaware & North
Dakota).
The Senate
Equal Representation (NJ Plan!)
6 year terms
All time record – Republican Strom
Thurmond was elected to the Senate
8 times, and served for 48 years.
Each state gets 2 Senators
Virginia’s are:
That means, 100 Senators total.
50 x 2 = 100
Above: (D) Mark Warner
(D) Tim Kaine
Qualifications for the Senate
At least 30 years old
Citizen of the U.S. for at least nine years
Must be an inhabitant of the State from which
he or she is elected
The Senate The Founding Fathers hoped
that the smaller Senate would be a more enlightened and responsible body than the House.
They thought the House would be too often swayed by the immediate impact of events and by the passions of the moment
“The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body”
The Senate
The Senate is a “continuous body” This means that all of its seats are never
up for election at the same time.
6 year terms give Senators some job security
Since they represent an entire State, they have a huge constituency, which means the people and interests the Senators represent.
Comparing both Houses of Congress
House of Representatives The Senate
Larger body (435 members) Smaller body (100 members)
Shorter term (2 years) Longer term (6 years)
Smaller constituencies (elected from districts within States)
Larger constituencies (elected from the entire State)
Younger members Older members
Less prestige More prestige
Most work done in committees, not on the floor
Work is split more evenly between committees & the floor
Strict rules, limited debate Flexible rules, nearly unlimited debate
No power over treaties/presidential appointments
Approves/rejects treaties & presidential appointments
Gerrymandering Gerrymandering – District lines that have been drawn
to the advantage of the political party that controls the State’s legislature
Most often gerrymandering takes one of two forms: Lines are drawn to concentrate the oppositions
voters in one or a few districts, thus leaving the other districts comfortable safe for the dominant party
Or to spread the opposition as thinly as possible among several districts, limiting the oppositions ability to win anywhere in the region
Happens today!
The Profile of Congress
The average member is a white male in his early 50s.
There are more women in Congress today than ever
There are 42 African Americans, 24 Hispanics, 5 Asian Americans, and 1 Native American in the House.
There is 1 African American, 2 Hispanics, 1 Asian American, and 1 Native Hawaiian in the Senate.
The Profile of Congress
Well over 1/3rd in the House and well over ½ in the Senate are lawyers, and nearly all went to college.
There are several multi-millionaires However, a surprisingly large number of the men and
women who sit in Congress depend on their congressional salaries as their major source of income.
So do these people represent the people?
How They Cast Their Votes
Our representatives can vote on four different views
1.) Trustees – These representatives vote on the basis of
themselves. They don’t represent their constituency.
2.) Delegate – These representatives vote on the basis of
their constituency only. They vote on what “the folks back
home would want.”
3.) Partisans – These representatives vote in line with the
political party they identify with
4.) Politicos – A combination of all the above.
Salary and Benefits
Senators and Representatives make $162,000 per year.
A few make more: The Speaker of the House makes $208,100 per
year
House Minority/Majority floor leaders in both houses make $180,100
per year.
They also receive special tax deductions
They receive travel allowances to go to Washington
Franking Privilege: Allows them to mail letters and other
materials postage-free by substituting their signature instead of
the postage.