Unit IV: Legislative Branch

Unit IV: Legislative BranchChapter 10: Congress. Page 2621The LegislatureCovered in Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution, called the first branch of government by Madison, responsible for the formation of laws.

Question: Do you live in a democracy?2Kind ofWe live in a republic/ representative democracy. We rely on elected officials to perform the tasks of government.

Why are we not considered a true democracy?

Could the U.S. ever be a true democracy?NB: look up definition of republic for poli sci purposes.

Reasons why not true democracy: to large (geographically, population), and to diverse (racially, economically, culturally, geographically)3BicameralCongress is bicameral- two houses, as opposed to unicameral (one house)

3 reasons: Historical, Practical, and Theoretical4HistoricalBritish Parliament consists of two houses: House of Commons and House of Lords. Originally, the House of Commons represented the commoner, the average citizen, while the House of Lords represented the landed elite, the Dukes, Barons, Earls, ect that held land. Overtime, the House of Commons became the dominate house as the power of the nobility subsided. Bicameral legislatures are predominate in U.S. history, with few exceptionsToday, the House of Lords is just ceremonial. They have no real function in legislature.

Exceptions: Georgia and Pennsylvania till 1790. Only one state still uses a unicameral (one house) legislature. Any guesses? Nebraska.5PracticalityConnecticut Compromise.Remember this? 6TheoreticalTwo houses act as a checks and balances against each other.

Allowed for equality among states They check each other so that one part cannot gain more power than the other

Remember, the U.S. is a union of equal states, with no one state holding power over any other. 7TermsTerm: two years. Each term is numbered, so that when the 111th Congress ended at 11:59:59 am, January 3, 2011, the 112th Congress started at 12:00:00 pm, January 3, 2011. Originally, Congress began its term on March 4 of every odd numbered year, but it was moved to January 3 of every odd numbered year in the 1930s. Why do you think they moved it?Why they moved it: better technology in communication and transportation made distances no longer an issue. Example: It used to take a Georgia Congressman a full day of travel to get to D.C., but with the rise of commercial air transport, it became only a few hours. Tell story of how long it took to fly from ATL to Reagan. Assuming no delays and no baggage pickup, a Congressman from Georgia (assuming Metro ATL) can get from his house in Georgia to the Capitol Building in about 2 hours flying commercial8SessionsA Session is that period of time during a term that Congress meets.Prior to WWII, congress would adjourn (suspend) for several months to travel back to their districts. Today, Congress meets most of the year, taking short breaks, or recesses, throughout the year.Both Houses have to agree to end a sessionPresident has power to end congressional sessions, called prorogue, if the houses cannot agree, but has never been used.9Special SessionsPresident may call special session if they feel the need to. Presidents have used the 26 times in historyLast one called by President Truman in 1948Presidents often threaten special sessions to get pieces of legislation passed Can call special session for just one house. When this has occurred, it has always been the Senate. House has never been called. Why?Not used anymore because congress is almost always in session.

Find: which pres called most special sessions, example of special session as punishment/threat (T.R.?)

Threat of special session: think of it like a teacher threatening summer school if you dont

Pres requires senate approval of treaties and appointments10

11SizeHow many Representatives are there in the House at present?Seats are given based on population through apportionment. Every state guaranteed minimum 1 representative.Representatives are limited to two year termsNo limit on times someone can be reelected.

A: 435. This number is not constitutionally set, but by law. Not included in the total: non voting reps from the territories and D.C. Who can give me an example of a district?

Apportionment: distributing of seats based on population

At present, 7 states are represented by 1 representative. What state has the most? California. How many does Georgia have? 13, for now.

What do you think the effect of a two year term limit is? Dont do a good job, you have little chance of being reelected.

Longest serving member of the House: Rep. John Dingell (D., MI) with 55+ years of service (still serving)

12ReapportionmentThe redistribution of seats based on population.Occurs every ten years, after census data has been collected. Takes seats from one state and gives them to another. Each seat represents a minimum of 650,000 people. Census Bureau determines number of seats given to a state, but congress must approve.

Map of the next reapportionment. We gained a seat at the expense of others. Look at the states that lost seats. What is the most common feature among them? Rust Belt states: states of high industrialization, where there is a great loss of jobs. Big exception: Louisiana. Why is Louisiana on this list? A: Hurricane KatrinaNB: electoral votes? 14Size does not match populationNo additional members as of 1913 when membership was capped at 435 (exception: in the 1950s when Alaska and Hawaii were added, membership bumped up to 437)

Why do you think this is? Originally, the # of reps was supposed to grow with the population through the use of several different plans.

They stopped adding members because it started to become to cumbersome (large/difficult) to work effectively. 15

This is the full seated House. Notice how there is hardly any room left? There are actually 446 permanent seats, and members of the Republican Party sit to the speakers left, and the Democrats to the Speakers right16Congressional ElectionsBy law, elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Off-year elections

NB: In off year elections, the party out of power gainsWhat does this mean? That Elections are held on the first during the first full week of November, on Tuesday.

We went over this last week. Anyone remember what this is?17Districts Districts are single member

In the past, some states filled House seats through use of an at-large election system. This was outlawed in 1842, because it was considered unfair. Why?

Districts are drawn by state legislatures, with very few restrictions, with the exceptions of those areas of preclearance. Anyone remember what this means?In an at-large system, voters statewide choose the representatives to elect them, rather than a single district voting for a single representative. It would be like if Georgia, with 13 House seats, voted statewide for all 13 representatives. 18Examples of districts

GerrymanderingAlready gone over this, but new definition for this chapter:Concentrate the oppositions voters in one/few district(s), leaving the other districts(s) for party in powerSpread the opposition voters thin among voters for party in power

Main goal of gerrymandering: create areas/ safe districts to ensure the party in power stays there.20Wesberry v. SandersCourt case out of Georgia

Ruled that Districts had to be equal in population

Found that the population of Georgia districts were so great as to violate the Constitution So you want to be a RepresentativeMust be 25 years old

Citizen of the United States for minimum 7 years

Must live in the State they representNot required but recommended to live in the district you represent. 22

SizeThere are 100 Senators, two from every state.Why? Part of the Connecticut Compromise. Founding fathers also hoped that the smaller group would be more enlightened. The House was to represent the people while the Senate was to represent the states themselves.24ElectionPrior to the 17th Amendment, Senators were not elected by the people, but they were elected by state legislature

17th Amendment allowed for direct election of Senators. Amendment was passed because of issues in state legislatures in electing new senators and cases of corruption

Side note: State of Georgia has never ratified this amendment, and one of its Senators, Zell Miller, actually called for its repeal. In fact, most of the former Confederacy has not ratified the amendment

The idea of repealing the 17th amendment has been gaining momentum in the tea party movement.25TermSenators serve for 6 years at a time

Longest serving Senator? Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV) from Jan 1959- Jun 2010 (died). Currently, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D, HI) is the longest serving Senator still living, and has been serving since 1964.

Continuous body: only 1/3 of Senators up for election at any given time.Interesting note: Sen. Inouye has been serving the people of Hawaii in Congress since Hawaii became a state. He originally served as a Representative, and moved on to the Senate. He is also the highest ranking Asian-American politician in history. 26Other notesSix year terms give senators job security. Why is this important?

Senators also represent larger numbers of people (constituents), than their counterparts in the House.It enables senators to make decisions that at the time are politically unpopular, but necessary for the country. 27How to be a Senator To become a Senator you must meet the following qualifications:30 Years of age

Citizen for 9 years

Live in state elected fromPerksSenatorRepresentativeGreat pay and benefits

Invitations to National Events

Easy to move to higher office (President)

Lifetime of respect

Cannot be arrested during termGreat pay and benefits

Cannot be arrested during term16 senators have moved from Senator to President

Can only be arrested for Treason, Felony, and breach of the peace. What do you think that means?29By the numbers112th Congress111th Congress 246 Democrats/ 289 Republicans# of African-Americans: 42# of Hispanics: 26# of Asian Americans: 11# of Native Americans: 1# of Women: 89# of Veterans: 113# w/ College Degrees: 507Gay: 4Lawyers: 202Doctors: 37Business/Banking: 209Agriculture: 6Average Age: 57.4

316 Democrats/ 219 Republicans# of African-Americans: 40# of Hispanics: 27# of Asian Americans: 11# of Native Americans: 1# of Women: 90# of Veterans: 119# w/ College Degrees: 507Gay: 3Lawyers: 203Doctors: 30Business/Banking: 202Agriculture: 7Average Age: 58.5