Exam 2 Study Guide Lectures 1 4 Lecture 1 Congress What are some specific facts such as the number of people term limits and number per state about the Senate and House of Representatives What are the qualifications for Senate and House of Representatives Elaborate about the Senate seats and House seats How is the apportionment set up What are the two terms dealing with illegal representation How is there equal representation now Name the court cases and historical time frame leading up to the decision what equal representation is What are the representation styles What is the incumbency advantage How does Congress operate Senate 6 year term 100 Senators 2 per state House of Representatives 2 year terms 435 representatives divided between states based on population today each member represents at least half million people Qualifications Senate must be a US citizen for at least 9 years legal resident of the State and at least 30 years old POLS 206 1st Edition House of Representatives must be a US citizen for at least 7 years legal resident of the State and at least 25 years old Senate Seats There are 2 Senators from each state each Senator is elected per state they stand for all of the state the senators cannot be re elected at the same time for example in Texas Ted Cruz elected 2012 is called Jr Senator until John Cormin called Sr Senator is out of office There are 100 Senators First Congress had 24 Senators in 1800 there were 32 Senators in 1900 there were 90 Senators in 1959 there were 100 because Hawaii became a state House Seats 435 seats Texas has 32 starting from 1929 it is not Constitutional so the government decided on the number has to be at least one representative per state in the First Congress there were 65 Representatives Apportionment Every 10 years a census electronically by mail or even by person is made to account for population in each state in order for Congress to divide the 435 seats State Legislatures figure out the single member geographical sections a representative will represent District qualifications equal representation there are rules to district boundaries so each district has roughly the same population contiguous boundaries no little sections not connected the boundaries must be in a geographically dense area so no Gerrymandering however not all boundaries are contiguous and dense Illegal Representation Malapportionment essentially one group has more influence than another group Gerrymandering purposeful drawing of boundaries in order to have a distinct supporter advantage Representation now Supreme Court mandated the one person one vote rule requiring districts to have equal number of people in each Court Cases Baker v Carr 1962 can State court hear this the issue is supported by 14th Amendment Reynolds v Sims 1964 one person one vote is mandated Westbury v Sanders looks at Baker v Carr ideas from legislature view and decides all districts are equal by population In 1990 s Minority Majority districts where minorities are the voting power was tested for legality and found no Though trying to make it more equal this is really considered Gerrymandering Representation Styles Trustee Does what s best for the rest of the country the Senate Instructed Delegate Does only what is good for the people House people Partisan votes only on a political party s opinion Politico Maverick Combination of all three they often break the norm John McCain was this Incumbency Advantage Congress members get to mail letters for free they have a budget which is specifically for Professional staff who know the business very very well Access to the media in order to promote them Lawmaking power power to make laws especially for their people and name recognition people are going to want to vote for people they recognize Congress Operating Congress meets for two terms right now it is the 113th First Session and each term is placed into 1 year sessions Up until 1940 Congress met about 4 5 months per session but now Congress meets for about 9 10 months out of each year The President can call Congress into a special session to deal with very specific issues but does normally does not prefer to because can upset Congress members only 26 special sessions has ever been called Lecture 2 Congress Cont What is the House of Representatives organized How is the Senate organized Elaborate on Congress committees What are the three types of committees What is the bill making process in legislation What are a few more Congress responsibilities House of Representatives Organization Speaker of the House essentially leader of the House and majority party controls what is said and who speaks in the House and assigns committees so a very powerful position 3 in power over the US the President being 1 and Vice President 2 Republican John Boehner is Speaker right now Majority Leader essentially keeps the party together and in line like a spokesperson Majority Whip this person is the party discipline getting people to vote for bills the enforcer of the political party Minority Leader has same responsibilities as majority leader but over the minority party right now it is Democratic Nancy Pelosi Minority Whip has same responsibilities as majority whip but on minority party side Senate Organization Vice President VP currently Joe Biden is President of the Senate heads the Senate President pro tem has control when VP is gone which is frequently is elected by their own party 4 in the line of controlling the US Majority Leader Majority Whip Minority Leader Minority Whip all much of the same responsibilities as in the House Majority but for the Senate instead Congress Committees real work of making bills is done here responsibilities is split thus allowing subjects to be fully investigated House 19 Standing Committees Standing Committees deal with large issues such as transportation Senate 16 Standing Committees Political parties decide who goes in each committee Types of Committees Subcommittees are divided from committees thus allowing concentration on subjects and real work is done 200 subcommittees Joint Committees involve both the Senate and House for certain particular assignments questions and for limited time Conference Committees involve both the Senate and House work only with bills for specific legislative reasons Select Committees set up for a small time limit and specific issue either with the House or Senate Legislative Process Intro one member of either House or Senate can introduce a
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