-Congress and the ConstitutionKnown as “The First Branch”Article 1 of the constitutionHas authority to make laws and control fundsAlso has power to tax & spend, coin money & declare warCongress is the 1st branch of equals and has authority to make laws shared by both chambersCongress is powerful collectively, but individual member of congress (MC’s) are usually relatively weakEXCEPTIONS: speaker of the house (strong), Senate Majority Leader (somewhat strong), & individual Congress members (especially senators because of fillbuster) who’ve managed to draw national attentionWhy is congress collectively strong, but individuals are usually weak?There are 535 MC’s, so collective power is divided many waysCongress is so large that it requires coordination& as we learned, coordination issues and collective action problems can be hard to overcomeAll bills require approval by both houses on exact languageTwo chambers make passing legislation a slow processAlso, minority is powerful enough in the senate to sometimes block majority*fillbuster (only in the senate) : holding the floor by talking, congressional actionAlso, unlike the President, because of their large number most members of congress are faceless (not a lot of media attention) to the voting publicBecause most people couldn’t recognize their faces, Members of congress have limited celebrity influence for spreading desired messagesMost Members of Congress cant just call a press conference and get widespread attention-Congress and the Constitution (CONTINUED)The constitution is designed so congress is collectively powerfulBut individual Members of congress are weakAnd congress is slow to do most thingsAs a result, in crises Congress tends to cede power to PresidentWho is constitutionally designed to be able to act swiftly & decisively in the areas where he is powerfulThe President usually holds on to power Congress gives himEXAMPLE -> THE POWER TO VETO-Congress & The PublicThe following is a commonly known truth among people who study American PoliticsAmericans like their Members of Congress, but HATE congress as a wholeHouse member RE-ELECTION rate is 90%Historically, Congress is almost ALWAYS the LEAST popular of the three branchesRecently, Public approval of Congress is horrible, even for CongressYesterday, RCP (Congresses Approval Rating) average 13.6% which is terribleRemember 3 years ago, when BP had that oil spillAfter that tragedy BPs approval rating was STILL HIGHER than Congress’ todayDue to low approval:Members of Congress commonly run their election or re-election campaigns against congressWHY DO PEOPLE LOVE THEIR MEMBER OF CONGRESS BUT HATE CONGRESS AS A WHOLE?ANSWER -> I feel like, that they’re happy with the area that their Member of Congress represents but dislikes and disagrees with Congress’ Decisions as a wholePotential reasons why people tend to love their Member of congress, but hate Congress as a wholeRelatively low expectations of their Members of congress, but high expectations for congress as a wholeMany people see congress as far too partisan (especially true independents); A PARTISAN IS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF A PARTYBut strong partisans may be upset that not enough of their goals are accomplishedIn part due to deliberative, slow passage of most bills, especially during divided congress-Organization in Congress:Organized as a result of “The Great Compromise”House of Representatives: seats allocated by populationSenate: 2 members from each state (All States Equal)BICAMERALISMThis structure gives a coordination disadvantage for passing legislation, but why is this the case?But congress does have advantagesCongress is independent from the president& has significant governing powersThrough Veto overrides, Congress can pass legislation without the PresidentCongress also provides lots of oversight of government through committeesEXAMPLE: House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee is investigating IRS targeting scandalWhen the Constitution was designed, there was debate over how much influence citizens should have in GOVTHouse is designed to have more local, district focusedPopularly elected and closer to peopleSenate designed to have more national focus even beyond statesOriginally elected by state legislatureORGANIZATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:Smaller, more homogenous (FILLED WITH THE SAME KIND OF PEOPLE) constituencies than SenatorsPopularly elected every 2 yearsLimited to 435 members in 1911Reapportioned and Redistricted (on the basis of population changes) between states every ten (10) yearsFOLLOWING THE CENSUS700,000 VOTER DISTRICTSORGANIZATION IN HOUSE LEADS TO:Because House Members have such short terms, they’re always running for congressLess trust and negotiation between members – more focused on keeping seatsWinning Re-Election is centralThese House norms have filtered into the senateRELATIVELY SMALL, often compact nature of House Districts makes it easier to elect minorities of all kindsEthnic (especially in Majority-Minority Districts)Ideological (more likely to get extreme views or bizarre views than in larger states)WeirdosHouse Re-DistrictingState Governments draw House district boundariesUsually gives advantage to party in power during redistrictingSupreme Court cases BAKER v. CARR (1962) & REYNOLDS v. SIMS (1964) require districts drawn on basis of population“Legislators represent people not trees or acres” – Chief Justice Earl WarrenGerrymanderingDrawing district lines to maximize number of seats your party can win (Jacobson 2009, PG8)As opposed to drawing them on the basis of “natural political communities”Term comes from an old cartoon of a district drawn by Elbridge Gerry, GOVERNOR OF MA in 1812It looked like a salamander & some clever person called it a “gerrymander”BOTH parties GerrymanderSOME LIMITS TO GERRYMANDERINGHas to be done by population ( 1 man, 1 vote)Some state constitutions (LIKE COLORADO) prohibit redistricting more than once per decadeSHELBY COUNTY v. HOLDER (2013) – states, Congress can still use preclearance, the formula used to determine what states and areas it applied it to is no longer constitutional2 kinds of Gerrymandering (Jacobson 2009)Partisan: To gain partisan advantage towards particular party in a certain areaRacial: Aims to create majority-minority districts, often justified by courts 1986 THORNBURG v. GINGALESTHORNBURG v. GINGALES -> District lines cant discriminate even by accident, against racial