Federalist No. 51

1. Congress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5M50xBz1cU&index=4&list=PL3JRHgTyDqdZlzmomddsdElydZ6l5Jh9T

2. Separation of Powers • Read and answer the questions Federalist No. 51

3. 1. To keep the others in check, system of checks and balances • 2. Each dept. have a will of their own, each dept. be politically independent of each other • 3. So they don’t rely on each other to act and therefore can act freely • 4. Men abuse power and therefore need to be kept in check • 5. The gov’t has to be able to control the governed but has to have limited powers • 6. Legislative branch • 7. Dividing Congress, giving the two houses two different means of election, fortifying the executive with veto power • 8. Power is divided between two distinct levels of gov’t, meaning state and fed. and then each one subdivides into itself, therefore double security; • Diversity of interests make it unlikely that tyranny will develop. In a small republic, there is a greater chance that majority faction will develop and oppress the people. In a large republic, there is less of a chance this will occur, because the nation is so vast and such a multitude of interests exist.

4. How does Congress really affect you? Congress and Your Daily Lifehttp://www.centeroncongress.org/print/135

5. Congress: The Big Picture • http://www.centeroncongress.org/print/29 How To Understand Congress

6. Lee Hamilton: Director of Center on Congress at Indiana University. Member of U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years • Read/Annotate Text • Highlight Claims • Opinion Statement Here’s an Idea for Congress: Try Democracy

7. Benefits: • Salary is same for everybody: $174,000 • Also have perks: • Free mailing • Travel Allowances • Office staff and office at home and D.C. • Generous Retirement The Representatives and Senators

8. 535 members; non-voting members from DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and A. Samoa • Usually have substantial incomes and high status • Often have business, law, public service • Over ½ net worth of more than $1 million/Elite Theory? • House of Representatives: • 435, set in 1929 by Congress • 25 years old, American citizens for 7 yrs, resident from district elected • 2 year terms • Sole power of impeachment; majority • Priority on tax law • No term limits • Senators: • 30 years old, A. citizen 9 yrs., resident from state • 100 members/2 per state (no districts) • 6 year terms • Advice and consent on pres. Appointments; majority • Judge impeachments and remove officials; 2/3 • No term limits Members

10. 1. Complete the activity to determine current leadership of this nation and shifts in political leadership 2. Representative Log Project • Due: Who are our Leaders?

11. Read the current Congressional Profile • Analyze the following categories: • Party Breakdown • Age • Occupations • Education • Congressional Service • Religion • Gender and Ethnicity • Foreign Birth • Military Service • Response(Typed): Consider whether "good representation" requires that Congress "mirror" the country as a whole, or whether an "atypical" Congress can represent all interests in society. Find examples of this, such as men who champion women's rights, or wealthy legislators who fight for the interests of the poor. Do these examples undermine the view that Congress members and senators should be more diverse? Why or why not? Consider the issue as what "good representation" really means, and what it requires in practical terms. • 1/2 page response 115th Congress: A Profile

12. Congress at Work • http://www.learner.org/courses/democracyinamerica/dia_6/dia_6_video.html • Coalitions: a group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends. • Creation of public policy by Congress • Federal budget, raising revenue • Declaring war • Economic, environmental and social issues, legislation under the “necessary and proper clause.” Video with Questions

13. Congress and its constituents • Constituent accountability • http://www.learner.org/courses/democracyinamerica/dia_6/dia_6_video.html • Segment 2/3: Politico or Politician • Trustee: best judgment • Delegate: represent us/what we want • Politico: blending of both • Practical Politician Assignment! Video with Questions

14. Who wins? • Incumbents: People who were already in office seeking re-election • They almost always win; more important than $ or charisma • 90% of House incumbents win • More difficult for Senators • State more diverse than a House district • Has less contact with constituents • Get more press coverage • Challengers more visible (governors etc.) Congressional Elections

15. Voters usually don’t know how representatives vote • People generally know their names and general feelings on issues • Advertising increases advantage; goal is visibility • Frequent home visits/Franking privilege • Credit claiming • Serving constituents: Casework and Pork barrel spending • Claiming to work hard for them • Don’t want to state voting records because this can create enemies Advantages of Incumbents

16. Position Taking: Stating position on issues important to voters • Nuclear Waste Disposal • Abortion • Gun Control • Weak Opponents • Usually not well known • Usually not well financed • Usually not well informed Advantages

17. Challengers naïve about their chance of winning • Disadvantaged if they redraw district lines • Disadvantage if they do something ignorant… • Most turnover happens because they choose not to run • Incumbents typically will be the cause of challengers downfall Defeating Incumbents

18. Extremely costly (anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions to one billion) • PACs (30% of donations come from PACs) • PACs give overwhelmingly more to incumbents, even if they have opposing views/ access to policymakers! • Do PACs buy votes?????? Money and Congressional Elections

19. Federal Election Campaign Act: control campaign costs and donations (FEC) • Soft Money: No limit/Non-disclosure • Hard: $1000 per individual; $5000 PACs per individual • McCain-Feingold Act 2002 (Campaign Reform Act): Bans Soft Money • Doubled hard money to $2000 to individual candidates and indexed to inflation (2014 2,600) • No change on PAC limits; still $5000 • Unions and corporations banned from giving soft money to parties …2010 Changes this due to free speech ruling: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

20. No limit on spending in Congressional Campaigns-Incumbent advantage • No subsidies for Congressional campaigns: Incumbent Advantage • No limit on independent expenditures: Money spent on behalf of candidate (soft money-voter drives, voter registration) • Increases candidate dependence on PACs • PAC money mostly goes to incumbent: further disadvantage to challenger • Candidates/challengers need to spend more time fundraising Analysis

21. What is the advantage for Americans when incumbents win? • Creates stability in Congress • Helps build knowledge base • Should there be term limits? • Help or hurt NV? • Why do people want them? Stability and Change

22. The graph on p. 314 shows re-election rates for incumbents in the House and Senate. From this information and knowledge of U.S. politics, perform the following tasks. • Identify two patterns displayed in the graph • Identify two factors that contribute to incumbency advantage. Explain how each factor contributes to incumbency advantage. • Discuss one consequence of incumbency advantage for the U.S. political process. Free Response https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxiD9AEX4Hc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOfse2ncvffeelTrqvhrz8H&index=6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGUAW34Edp0

23. Campaign Essentials: Follow the Money Video Introduction • Lee Hamilton: Director of Center on Congress at Indiana University. Member of U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years • Identify Claims • Do you agree or disagree? It’s Time to Govern the Flow of Political Money

24. Pork Barrel Spending

25. Omnibus Bill: when a bill grows super big and covers several facets of law • Pork barrel spending: send federal dollars back to their district • Funds directed for a specific purpose- earmark • Government waste? • Pet projects have recently been banned by the Senate Appropriations Committee and dubbed wasteful spending Bringing Home the Bacon

26. Buckley v. Valeo • First, it held that restrictions on individual contributions to political campaigns and candidates did not violate the First Amendment • Second, the Court found that governmental restriction of independent expenditures in campaigns, the limitation on expenditures by candidates from their own personal or family resources, and the limitation on total campaign expenditures did violate the First Amendment Campaign Finance Reform

29. The Budget: How to Spend a Trillion Dollars ActivityCh. 13

30. Follow the Money Trail Activity

31. Special Interest Groups and Their Impact Overview

32. Read the differences between the House and the Senate p. 365 • Why do you think there are differences for each? Explain. House v. Senate

33. House: • Framers thought it would represent the masses?? • Smaller geographic area • Must consider popular opinions for re-election • More Centralized • More Party Loyalty • More Specialized in Committees • House Rules Committee: Most Powerful Committee: Reviews and Schedules Bills • Committee of the Whole: quorum of 100; debates and proposes amendments, expedite process • Discharge Petitions: forced out of committee and onto the House floor; majority vote How Congress is Organized

34. Senate: • Framers thought it would protect the elite • George Washington: “We pour our coffee into a saucer to cool it, we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.” • Temper popular ideas of the House • Less Disciplined/Less Centralized • More Independent • More Equal in power than representatives in House • No House Rules Committee • Unanimous consent: may request to set aside a specific rule procedure to expedite proceedings • Filibuster: Unique to Senate: Retains independence; Strom Thurmond record (1957): 24 hours, 18 minutes regarding civil rights legislation. Opposition of Civil Rights Act • Cloture: Limits Debate; 16 members must request within two days before the filibuster; 60 senators must vote on the floor in favor the day of the filibuster; Limits total floor time to 30 hours. • Nuclear option: Majority Congress

36. Speaker of the House: Most powerful man in Congress, second in line for Presidency. Presides on floor, strict control, makes committee assignments. • Majority and Minority Leaders • Floor leaders that lead debate and guide discussion • Whip (deputy floor leader) is in charge of party discipline • Determine optimum time to vote, rally votes • Senate: • President of Senate: VP who breaks a tie • Majority Leader: Most powerful in Senate; chief legislator, determines which bills reach the floor for debate • Minority Leader • Whips: Keep tally of party members’ voting intentions and maintain party discipline Congressional Leadership

38. Good Bad The need for bipartisan support is a prescription for halfway measures and small-born initiatives that won’t solve the big problems facing the nation. Divided government empowers the congressional party to launch investigations of the administration, which deepens partisan rancor and creates legislative gridlock. • Power sharing creates incentives to compromise. With both parties responsible for governing, they each have a stake in getting things done. • Because legislation needs support from both parties to pass, policy is pushed to the center where pragmatic solutions to problems are found. Divided Government

39. Discussion: What Makes a Good Leader? • What Makes a Congressional Leader? The Many Roles of a Member of Congress

40. Summarize the leadership qualities identified by the Congressional leaders. • Compare/contrast the qualities each of the leaders identified. How do the qualities identified by each differ? How are they alike? • Does leading Congress differ from other forms of leadership? If so, how? Leaders?

41. Congress is organized in such a way that its leaders have important roles. • A. Describe how the Speaker of the House of Representatives is selected and describe that position’s power • B. Describe how the President of the Senate is selected and describe that position’s power. • C. Identify another leader, other than the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate, and describe that position’s power. FRQ House/Senate

42. Most work done in committees; 11,000 bills submitted every 2 years. All bills go to committee review process • Control congressional agenda and guide legislation • Standing Committees (most important) • Chaired by a senior member from majority party • Vice Chair (ranking member) from minority party • Majority party holds majority of seats on each committee/controls legislation • Bill must clear committee with a majority vote before it can go to House or Senate floor for a vote • Handle bills in different policy areas • Divide bill in categories • House members sit on 2 committees • Senate: 3 committees • Sub-Committees: smaller units of a committee • Number vary, p. 369: Senate 16, House 19 • House: 4 sub-committees • Senate: 7 sub-committees Committees

45. Joint Committees: House keeping; a few policy areas. Both Houses sit on, not as many as standing (taxation and economy, LOC) • Conference Committees: Iron Differences in Bills • Markup session, where bill is altered • Final draft must pass both houses to go on to the president to sign • Select Committees: Specific purpose, investigative; Watergate, terrorist attacks. Can be joint or from one house. Committees: Hand-Outs

46. Bills go to sub-committees and committees • Mark-up sessions review bills/re-write bill • Hearings are held • Research is conducted • Sent to Full House/Senate for debate and voting • Leaving the committees, floor managers hustle votes Committees at Work

47. Congress is responsible for bureaucratic oversight • Medicare, offshore drilling reg., loans, FBI, TSA • Done by the Committees • Not a favorite function: too difficult • Done mostly through reporting by agencies in hearings/investigations • Congressional staff used for oversight • Voters historically don’t understand and/or value this function of their Congressmen. • Power of the Purse!! Tighter budgets and a call to cut waste has placed more value on this function and Congress is getting better at it. • Saving and Loan problem cost $100 billion (oversight could have prevented) Legislative Oversight

48. Size and constituencies impact formality of debate • Rules to limit debate: 1 hour, germane amendments: changes related specifically to legislation under consideration • Discharge petition: bring a bill out of a reluctant committee and onto the House floor for a vote; majority • Ways and Means Committee- taxes • Rules Committee-determines if it makes it to floor for debate • Assigns bills to committees, schedules bills for debate, and decides when voting takes place • Committee of the Whole: Relaxed House Rules • Only 100 members present • Non-voting delegates can vote • Can then proceed for a full vote in the House House: Committees and Rules

49. Smaller size, less restrictions on debate • Non-germane amendments (riders)-additional bills that ride onto an unrelated bill • Filibuster: strategic way to stall or kill a bill; talk the bill to death • Let time run out on deadline for voting or wear down the opposition • Require high thresholds for action • Unanimous consent: approval of all Senators • Hold: stall a bill • Both changed as Pres. Wilson said, “a little group of willful men have rendered the great government of the US helpless.” • Cloture Rule: 3/5 (60) to end filibuster • Majority to end filibuster of court nominees Senate: Rules and Procedures

50. Chairmen overseeing committee agendas, hiring committee staff, and assigning. • Until 1970s very powerful • Chair controlled almost all decisions and chair was guaranteed. • Advantages: • Experience • Expertise • Stability • Reduces fighting for chair positions • Disadvantages: • Regardless of competence, party loyalty, ability, etc. • Rural Bias • Conservative Bias • Cartoon Analysis Seniority System