Friday January 10, 2013• Obj: SWBAT determine how representative

Congress is of America by viewing data.• Drill: Who gets elected to Congress? What

qualifications do they need, what traits are desirable? Are there any that would prevent someone from being elected?

• Homework: Throw the Bums Out” summary and your opinion.

Study for midterm, come Monday with questions

Quotes About Congress

• Read the quotes about Congress and answer the following questions.

• What does the quote mean (your interpretation)

• What does the author seem to think of Congress (bias)

• What does the quote show us about how Congress works?

Monday January 13, 2014• OBJ: SWBAT understand who represents us in

Congress. SWBAT understand the first 4 units of the AP Government curriculum through a review game.

• Drill: What is logrolling in Congress? What importance does it have?

• Homework: Study for Midterm, come in after school with questions.

• Throw the Bums out reading and summary.

Logrolling Answer• Logrolling is the trading of favors, or

quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member.

Who Represents US?

• With a partner look over the chart about the representation in Congress and answer the questions below.

Congress vs. US SocietyDoes Congress mirror the American society?• In religious belief (2001-2003)

– Protestant 341– Catholics 149– Jewish 37– Mormon 16

• Policy implications– Abortion– Same sex marriage

Congress vs. US Society• Minorities in Congress

– Women

911

1711

2024

59 63 6772

7782

0

20

40

60

80

100

Number of Women in US Congress

Congress vs. US Society• Minorities in Congress

– Race

637 23

371

0

100

200

300

400

Number of Minorities in US Congress (2001)

Congress vs. US Society• Professional background

209183

108

154

31 1628

1756

050

100150200250

Members of Congress by Professional Background (2001)

Congress vs. US SocietyA typical member of Congress• Middle-aged• Male• White• Lawyer• Whose father is of the professional or

managerial class• Native born or from northwestern or

central Europe, Canada

To run for Congress…2000 Senatorial Race of New York

To run for Congress…Three success factors• #1: Who the person to run

– Candidate characteristics have an edge over others

• A record of prior public service• National name recognition

– Hillary Clinton versus Rep. Rick Lazzio

• Fund-raising capability

To run for Congress…• Why members of Congress easily win re-election?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2002

Success Rate of Congressional Election

Senate

House

To run for Congress…• #2: Incumbency Advantages

– Visibility• Advertise thru contacts with constituents • Stay visible thru trips to home districts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Received mail from I

Saw I on TV

Read about I

Heard I on radio

Met I personally

Contact with Members of House(blue=Incumbents; brown=challengers)

To run for Congress…• #2: Incumbency Advantages

– Visibility– Campaign contributions

• Donations go to those in office• Donations to challengers offend incumbents

– Credit claiming thru services to individuals & district• Casework

– Attend to voter concerns, requests and problems– Help cut thru bureaucratic red tape to get what one believes he

has a right to get

• Pork barrel– List of federal projects, grants & contracts– Help obtain or make known such projects to district

To run for Congress…• #2: Incumbency Advantages

– Visibility– Campaign contributions– Credit claiming thru services to individuals & district– Incumbent resources

• Institutional connections and access to channels of communications

• “franking privilege” (free use of the US mails)• Tax-funded travel allowance to stay visible in one’s own

district– Incumbents scaring challengers away

*calls for “term limits” aim to eliminate incumbency advantage

To run for Congress…Congressional DistrictsDistrict 23 (Texas) and District 3 (Florida in ’92 and ’96)

To run for Congress…• #3: Redistricting

– Congressional districts redrawn every 10 years

• To avoid under- or over-representation – Re-drawing districts is highly political

• Can create open seats• Can pit incumbents of the same district against

one another, ensuring one of them to lose• Can create advantage for one Party

– Putting people of the same party in one district– Or separating them into two or more districts.

To run for Congress…Congressional DistrictsDistrict 23 (Texas) and District 3 (Florida in ’92 and ’96)

To run for Congress…• #3: Redistricting

– Congressional districts redrawn every 10 years

• To avoid under- or over-representation – Re-drawing districts is highly political

• Can create open seats• Can pit incumbents of the same district against

one another, ensuring one of them to lose• Can create advantage for one Party

– Putting people of the same party in one district– Or separating them into two or more districts.

Cost of Congressional Race…• Cost to Get Elected

– Congressional elections are getting more costly

• Jon Corzine (NJ-D), $63 million own money on Senate race

– $928 million spent on 1999-2000 Congressional election

– Incumbents outspend their opponents• E.g., $7.5 million spent by Newt Gingrich’s

reelection in 1998 – Candidates of major states spend more

• $85 million attracted in Hillary-Lassio race, 2000

Cost of Congressional Race…• Cost to Get Elected

– Spending on House race• Winners: $800,000• Losers: at least $300,000

– Spending on Senate race• Winners: $7 million up to $40 million or more

• Rising Cost

Senate     1998   2000      

Average winner spent     $5,227,761   $7,266,576      

Average loser spent     $2,839,813   $3,864,638      

Most expensive campaign     $27,159,681  

$63,000,000 (Jon Corzine, D-NJ)      

                 

House                

Average winner spent     $650,428   $840,300      

Average loser spent     $210,614   $307,121      

Most expensive campaign     $7,578,716  

$6,900,000 (James E. Humphrey, D-WV)      

Cost of Congressional Race…• Rising Cost

Rising Congressional Race Cost (in million dollars)

$0

$100$200

$300$400

$500

$600$700

$800$900

$1,000

1975-76 1979-1980 1985-1986 1989-1990 1995-1996 1999-2000

Organization of Congress

• Get your chart out. Make sure you have the correct information.

Organization of Congress• Congress not only represents, it also

legislates.• Internal complexity makes it hard to

conduct business without organization.• Congress is organized around:

– Political parties– A committee system– Parliamentary rules of the House & Senate– And others…

Organization of Congress• Political Parties

– House leader election every two years– Majority party leader = House Speaker– Every party has a Committee on

Committees (Democrats call theirs: the Steering & Policy

Committee)• Assign new legislators to committees• Transfer incumbents to new committees on

request – Majority & minority leaders jointly control

Senate calendars (agenda)

Organization of Congress• Party leaders & legislative agenda

– Leaders are enthusiastic for agenda• To create consensus within party

– 1980– 1994-1995

(when Congress not controlled by President’s party)

Organization of Congress

Committee SystemStanding Committees– Important policy-making bodies– Existing from Congress to Congress– Paralleling executive agencies

• Foreign Affairs Committee - State Department• Intelligence Committee – CIA & others

– Having power to report legislation

Organization of Congress

• Select Committee– Temporary committees– No power to report legislation– Set up to handle specific issues that fall

btwn the jurisdiction of existing committees

• A special committee for investigating the Watergate scandal (1973)

Organization of Congress• Joint Committee

– With members from both parties– Permanent– No power to report legislation– Four types of joint committees

• Economic• Taxation• Library• printing

The Committee System• Conference Committee

– Temporary– Members appointed by Speaker & Senate

presiding officer– For reconciling any differences on

legislation once it has been passed by House & Senate

The Staff System

• A number of staff members for every legislator

• Staff members (7,216 in House alone, 1999): – Handle constituency requests– Take care of legislative details– Formulate & draft proposals– Organize hearing, deal with administrative

agencies, reporters and lobbyists…

The caucuses

• What is a caucus?Informal group or committee composed of Senators or Representatives who share opinions, interests or social characteristics.

– Ideological causes• Liberal Democratic Study Group

– Issue-oriented caucuses• Travel & Tourism Caucuses• Congressional Friends of Animals

– Common background caucuses• The Congressional Black Caucus

The caucuses

• What is a caucus?• Objectives of the Caucuses

To advance interests of the groups they represent by promoting legislation, encouraging Congress to hold hearing, and pressing administrative agencies for favorable treatment

Quick Review Based on Emails• The Mayflower Compact:• Agreement signed by the Pilgrims before they

landed in America laying out basic laws for how they would govern themselves.

• First example of American Government as we know it today.

Government Philosophers • Hobbes: Believed that rule under a King was the best form of

government. Thought the church should not be involved in government.

• Social Contract: people give up some of their natural rights, for the protection of the government. (state of nature is a hostile place).

• Locke: life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals.

• Locke favored a representative government.• Natural rights of individuals limited the power of the king.• Although Locke spoke out for freedom of thought, speech,

and religion, he believed property to be the most important natural right

Government Philosophers • Montesquieu: Unlike Hobbes and Locke, Montesquieu

believed that in the state of nature individuals were so fearful that they avoided violence and war. Montesquieu wrote that the main purpose of government is to maintain law and order, political liberty, and the property of the individual.

• Rousseau: Rousseau argued that the general will of the people could not be decided by elected representatives. He believed in a direct democracy in which everyone voted to express the general will and to make the laws of the land. Rousseau had in mind a democracy on a small scale, a city-state like his native Geneva.

Government Philosophers • Voltaire: He was a strong activist who held a

central role during the 18th century's Enlightenment, in particular speaking in support of personal and philosophical liberty, skepticism and careful scientific procedure. His battle against the irrational and superstitious was allied with the much later philosophies of Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins

Significance Of The Elections of 1800 and 1824

• No majority was won be any candidate, Presidential election was decided in the House of Representatives.

History of Political Parties

• Understand how parties have shifted, ideology, and realignment. Which parties took over and when.

Code of Hammurabi

• An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."• This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes

back to ancient Mesopotamian culture that prospered long before the Bible was written or the civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered.

• "An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi's Code, a collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar. The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa, which is in modern-day Iran.

Political Baseball• Class is divided into two teams, you can

choose a single, double, or triple. • If you get the question right you advance that

many bases. If not, it is an out, 3 outs per inning.

• Runners advance when they are forced. I.E. if you score a triple and the next person up scores a single the person on third does not advance.

• The most runs wins the game…

How a Bill Becomes Law

Some facts: For a bill to become law, there are

many routine hurdles It is easier for opponents to kill a bill

than to pass it The law-making process is highly

political

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps1. Introducing legislation

Who can introduce legislative proposals? Members of Congress Executive branch Interest groups Constituents

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps2. Assignment to Committee

Given a number in House preceded by “H. R.” and by “S” in Senate

Bill referred to a committee Most bills assigned to the appropriate

committees Complex bills referred to several

committees Controversial bills are sometimes handled

by temporary or ad hoc committees set up for that purpose

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps2. Assignment to Committee

Often, nothing happens to the bills in committee. Neglect leads to death of many bills

Bills to be acted on are often referred to the appropriate sub-committees.

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps3. Hearing

Once the sub-committee or full committee decides to act, hearings are held participated by: Executive agency representatives Academia Interest groups Other interested persons

In a typical two-year Congress Senate: 1200 hearings House: 2300 hearings

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps4. Reporting a Bill

When a sub-committee decides to act on a bill, it drafts it line by line

It reports it to the full committee The full committee accepts, rejects or

amends the bill.

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps5. Schedule Debate

When a committee agrees to submit a bill to the two houses, it is put on the House & Senate calendar, a list bills for action

Each house has different calendars for different bills In House, non-controversial bills are put on

the Consent Calendar or Private Calendar to be passed without debate

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps5. Schedule Debate

Each house has different calendars for different bills Controversial or important bills are placed

on the Union Calendar or house Calendar. Rules & procedures (length of debate) are requested from the Rules Committee.

Define the following:filibuster, cloture, open rule, closed rule.

How a Bill Becomes Law

The Law-making Steps6. Debate & Amendment

Opponents & proponents have equal debate time

Relevant amendments, if allowed, can be added

Floor debate seldom change views of others

In Senate, debate can last long time In Senate, filibuster can be used Senators can propose amendments

irrelevant to the bill.

How a Bill Becomes LawThe Law-making Steps7. The Vote

How do members vote? What impact their voting behavior? Personal views Opinions of the constituents Advice of knowledgeable & trusted

colleaguesOccasionally, President can win over wavering members of their Party to stick with the team or by cutting deals with pivotal members.

It is important for members to cast an explainable vote, one that is defendable in public when challenged.

How a Bill Becomes LawThe Law-making Steps7. The Vote

How do members vote? What impact their voting behavior?

It is important for members to cast an explainable vote, one that is defendable in public when challenged.

Not every vote has to please the constituents. But, too many “bad” votes are costly and show distance with one’s folks at home.

How a Bill Becomes LawThe Law-making Steps8. In Conference Committee Once passed, a bill is sent to the other chamber for

consideration If the 2nd chamber passes the bill, it is then sent to the

White House for action. But, controversial bills need to go to a Conference

Committee to reconcile the differences in the two versions of the bills

After Conference, details of the bill are reported back to each chamber before sending to the President.

How a Bill Becomes LawThe Law-making Steps7. To the President

Approve the bill into law Ignore it, with the result it becomes law in

10 days (not including weekend & when Congress is still in session)

Veto it (& facing override in Congress) Pocket veto it (if Congress adjourns before

the 10 days are up)When President vetoes a bill, he usually explains why he does so.

How a Bill Becomes LawThe Law-making Steps7. Congressional Override of Veto

A two-thirds majority is required in each chamber to override the Presidential veto

Influences on Law-making

There are two major forces impacting Congressional law-making

• External influences– Constituency– Interest groups

• Internal/governmental influences– Party leadership– Congressional colleagues– President/executive branch

Influences on Law-making

Influence from the Constituency• Members of Congress comply with views of

constituents due to re-election need• They voluntarily anticipate or find out constituents’

positions– 1998, 31 House democrats crossed the party line and voted

in favor of an impeachment inquiry (e.g., Congressman Gary Condit)

Influences from Interest Groups

• Mobilize followers in a member’s congressional districts– “Astroturf lobbying”

• Provide information

Influences from Party Org• Party leaders in Congress have influence over members• Party organizations have resources:

– Leadership PACs• PACs (1) raise funds and then (2) distribute to members for running

for election• PACs enhance party power• PACs create bond between leaders & members who receive money

– Committee Assignments– Access to Floor– The whip system

communication network, with info on member intentions in voting

– Logrolling

Influences from the President

• Since 1940s, President submitted yearly legislative proposals to Congress

• Since mid-1950s, Congress has looked to the President for legislative proposals