Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

Congress Day 1: House vs. Senate

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

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

Bicameral Congress

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?

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?

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"

• 
  

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)

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)

2 Re-occurring themes

• Divided Government

• Incumbency advantages

Incumbency advantages

• Name recognition

• Casework

• Franking Privilege

• Gerrymandering

• Campaign finances (be wary of this)

• Mathematical formula: N+C+F+G+C=+90

Review

Open Ended

A two house legislature is known as...

Open Ended

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

Multiple Choice

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

• Ratify treaties

• The ability to conduct the impeachment trial

• The ability to file for impeachment

• Confirm federal judges

Multiple Choice

What role do coalitions play in the policymaking process?

• Politicians create coalitions to enact policy that the president supports

• Politicians create coalitions to enact policy that appeals to their base

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

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

Open Ended

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

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not an incumbent advantage?

• Franking

• Casework

• Name recognition

• Intelligence on issues

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

Multiple Choice

Where in the world were fortune cookies invented?

• San Francisco, California

• Stockholm, Sweden

• Beijing, China

• Warsaw, Poland

The End