Thursday 10/2

1. Thursday 10/2 • RAP • Read the “Redistricting and Race” on page 274 and answer the four questions at the end. (if you do not have enough room on your RAP sheet – answer it in your notes.) • Today: • Review Ch. 10.3 and 10.4 • Create a Political Cartoon-Can be on anything from Ch. 7,8,9, or 10. • Do NOT copy one from the book! Be creative and come up with your own idea. • Begin Ch. 11: Powers of Congress

2. The Senate - Ch. 10.3: page 275-278Members of Congress - Ch. 10.4: page279-284 Subtitle

3. Ch. 10.3: The Senate • Nearly a third of the Senate has previously served in the HoR • None of the HoR has served in the Senate. • 100 senators: two from each state. • 17th amendment: two ways to fill the senate seat • Elected in regular November elections. • Special elections called by the governor can be used to fill the seat of a senator. • Term: • six years • Staggered terms — continuous body - all of its seats are never up for election at the same time • Give job security • Also, less susceptible to pleas of special interest and public opinion.

4. Constituencies- people and interests the senators represent – are designed to have much the same effect. • Senators have a larger constituency and geographic area than HoR. • Qualifications: • 30 years • Citizen of the U.S. for at least 9 years • Must be an inhabitant of the state. • The Senate, like the House judges the qualifications of its members, and may exclude a member with a majority vote. • Also, may punish for disorderly behavior. • 15 members have been expelled– one in 1797, for conspiring to lead two Native American tribes, supported by British warships; and 14 during the Civil War. • Censure: issue a formal condemnation

5. Ch. 10.4 Members of Congress look at chart on page 280 • Average members are white males in his mid-50s. • Women: 20 Senate and 79 House • African Americans: 43 House and 1 Senate • Hispanic: 28 House and 3 Senate • Asian Americans: 7 House and 2 Senate • Native: 1 in the House

6. Nearly all members are married. • On the average 2 children • About 60 % Protestants, 25% Roman Catholics, 8% Jewish • Over half of senators are lawyers and a third of the House are lawyers. • Several millionaires • NOT an accurate cross section of the nation’s population, • Upper middle class Americans

7. The Job • Legislators • Representatives of their constituents • Committee members- A major duty is to screen bills for the floor in Congress. • Servants of their constituents • Politicians We will talk more about these in the next two chapters.

8. Compensation • Salary: 145,100 Speaker of the House: 181,400 • Senate pro tem and the majority and minority floor leaders in both houses receive $157,000 a year. • Non-salary compensation: • Special tax deduction-because they need to maintain two homes. • Travel allowances • Small amounts for life and health insurance and for outpatient care. • Full medical care at very low rates, at any military hospital • Generous retirement plan • Longtime Congress members can retire with an income of $150,000 or more a year. • They are also covered by social security and Medicare programs. • Franking privilege—benefit that allows them to mail letters and other materials postage-free by substituting their facsimile (duplicate, copy, etc.) signature (frank) for the postage. • Free printing • Two first rate gymnasiums, swimming pools, exercise rooms, and saunas • Free parking

9. Politics of Pay • Two real limits on the level of congressional pay • One is the President’s veto power • The other is the backlash from the voters. • Membership Privileges • Privileged from arrest (non-criminal) while engaged in congressional business • Speech and Debate clause of Article I, sec. 6, clause 1: protects representatives and senators from suits for libel or slander arising out of the official conduct. • Goal to protect the freedom of legislative debate. • But, does not give them unbridled freedom.

10. Political cartoon– page 278 and 283 • Answer the question below each political cartoon.

11. Political Cartoon: Ch. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 Procedure: • Modern American political cartoons have been around since the nineteenth century. The increase in newspaper and magazine circulation in the 1800's provided a rich environment for the rise and use of political cartoons. Thomas Nast and Joseph Keppler penned many popular cartoons advocating social reform. People with minimal reading abilities could understand and relate to a format that communicated powerful ideas in a humorous, enlightened manner. Symbols, caricature, drawings, and exaggerations drawn by the cartoonist, point out the themes and problems of that historical era. Political cartoons play an important part in telling the history of an era. • Political cartoons serve to make people think about political and government issues by: • providing readers with additional viewpoints • assuming the reader has enough background knowledge about the issues to understand the message • emphasizing one side of an issue or concern • utilizing humor • relying on drawings to make a point