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Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

Assessment

Presentation

Social Studies

11th Grade

Practice Problem

Medium

Created by

Mike Harrington

Used 28+ times

FREE Resource

13 Slides • 8 Questions

1

Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

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2

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the different structures, powers, and functions of each house of Congress.

  • Describe how the different chamber sizes and constituencies influence formality of debate.

  • Describe how Coalitions in Congress are affected by term-length differences.

  • Be able to define enumerated and implied powers & how they play a role in developing public policy

  • Special Topics: Divided Government & Incumbency

3

Describe the different structures, powers, and functions of each house of Congress.

Bicameral Congress

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4

The House of Representatives

  • Closest to the people (Original intention, only directly elected institution at first)

  • More reactionary (2 Year terms)

  • 435= Extremely organized

  • Special Powers: File impeachment charges, All revenue bills start here, Pick the president if no candidate wins the electoral vote

  • Why these specific powers?

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5

The Senate

  • Removed from the people (Originally chosen by state legislatures)

  • The cooling effect (6 year terms & the 1/3 rule)

  • 100= more laid back

  • Special powers: Impeachment Trial, Confirm Presidential appointment, Confirm Judicial appointments, Ratify treaties

  • Why these specific powers?

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6

Describe how the different chamber sizes and constituencies influence formality of debate.

  • Each House member represents about 700,000 people

  • Senators represent the entire state

  • House-tunnel vision. "What's best for the 700,000 people I represent"

  • Senate broad vision. "What's best for my entire state"


7

Coalitions in Congress .

  • 2 vs 6

  • Congressional numbers: 50% +1 & 2/3s

  • In order to arrive at the numbers coalitions are key (= Broad support)

  • House coalitions are achievable but hard to come by (constant campaign)

  • Senate coalitions are more common (6 years gives you time to get to know your fellow members)

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8

Be able to define enumerated and implied powers & how they play a role in developing public policy

  • Enumerated powers: Listed specifically in the constitution (Article 1 section 8)

  • Implied powers: Not in the constitution but suggested (Necessary & Proper Clause)

  • Examples of Implied powers/policy: creation of a national minimum wage & The Americans with Disabilities Act (Commerce Clause), National Health Care (General welfare clause)

9

2 Re-occurring themes

  • Divided Government

  • Incumbency advantages

10

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11

Incumbency advantages

  • Name recognition

  • Casework

  • Franking Privilege

  • Gerrymandering

  • Campaign finances (be wary of this)

  • Mathematical formula: N+C+F+G+C=+90

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12

Review

13

Open Ended

A two house legislature is known as...

14

Open Ended

Which chamber of the bicameral congress is closest to the people and why?

15

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not a Senate special/unique power

1

Ratify treaties

2

The ability to conduct the impeachment trial

3

The ability to file for impeachment

4

Confirm federal judges

16

Multiple Choice

What role do coalitions play in the policymaking process?

1

Politicians create coalitions to enact policy that the president supports

2

Politicians create coalitions to enact policy that appeals to their base

3

Politicians create coalitions to enact policy that has broad support from the public

4

Politicians create coalitions to enact policy only when they are not in the minority party

17

Open Ended

Provide a real life example of how Congress used implied powers in regards to public policy:

18

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not an incumbent advantage?

1

Franking

2

Casework

3

Name recognition

4

Intelligence on issues

19

Poll

After today's lesson I feel...

Comfortable with the learning objectives

Somewhat comfortable with the learning objectives and might need some more explaining

Completely lost. I'll see you at the end

20

Multiple Choice

Where in the world were fortune cookies invented?

1

San Francisco, California

2

Stockholm, Sweden

3

Beijing, China

4

Warsaw, Poland

21

The End

Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

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