Congress - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Congress

Chapter 10 in a Nutshell!Slide2

The national legislature

Chapter 10 Section 1Slide3
Slide4

A Bicameral Congress

There are three primary reasons why the United States created a bicameral legislature.

Historical Reasons

Practical Reasons

Theoretical ReasonsSlide5

Bicameral Legislature: Historical Reasons

The British Parliament had consisted of two Houses since the 1300’s.

All but two of the states had bicameral legislatures by 1787.

Those states were Georgia and Pennsylvania

Georgia became bicameral in 1789

Pennsylvania became bicameral in 1790

Only one state has a unicameral legislature today:

NebraskaSlide6

Bicameral Legislature: Practical Reasons

The Connecticut Compromise had to settle the differences between the New Jersey and Virginia Plans.

It reflects the ideas of federalism.Slide7

Bicameral Legislature: Theoretical Reasons

It might diffuse the power of Congress and prevent it from becoming too powerful.

States must be represented as co-equal members.Slide8

Terms and Sessions

Terms

A period of two years. Each term is numbered consecutively.

The first term started March 4, 1789 and ended March 4, 1791.

The 20

th

Amendment changed the start date in 1933 to noon of January 3

rd

of every odd numbered year.

Sessions

A period of time during a year in which Congress meets to conduct business.

There are two sessions each term, one each year.Slide9

Ending a Term or Session

There are two ways to end a term or session:

Adjourn or Prorogue.

To Adjourn

To end or suspend a session until the next session begins.

Neither house may adjourn

sin die

, without the other consenting.

To Prorogue

Article 2 Section 3 allows the President

to end a session when the two chambers disagree on a date to Adjourn.

No President has used this power.Slide10

Special Sessions

The President may also call Congress into a Special Session:

A meeting to deal with an emergency situation.

Only 26 have been called.

The most recent was by Truman in 1948 to consider anti-inflationary policies after WWII.

The President may call one or both houses into a special session

The Senate has been called into 46 special sessions to consider Treaties or Appointments, but not since 1933

The House has never been called into a special session.Slide11

The House of Representatives

Chapter 10 Section 2Slide12

Some points to remember

The House has 435 members

They are apportioned (distributed) amongst the states by population

, with each state guaranteed one representative.

They serve two year terms.

There are no term limits

.

It has been proposed as recently as the 90s as an amendment.

Many amendments recommend limiting a person to 3-4 terms in the house and 2 in the senate.Slide13

Reapportionment

The Constitution calls for reapportionment (redistribution) of each seat after each Census.

Until the 1

st

census there were 65 seats.

After the first senate, the number of seats rose to 106.

The size of the House was permanently set to 435 under the reapportionment act of 1929.

See p. 268 for the 4 steps congress must take to change the number of seats apportioned to each state.Slide14

Congressional Elections

Since 1872, Congress has set the date of its elections to be on the “Tuesday following the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year.”

Alaska has the option to hold their elections in October, but to date, have not.

Under that same law, elections must be chosen by written or printed ballots.

Voting machines were approved in 1899.Slide15

Off-Year Elections

These are elections that happen in nonpresidential year.

Typically the party in power loses seats in off-year elections.

Is that true for the most recent elections?Slide16

Districts

There are 7 states that have only one representative. These states only have one district.

In the other 43 states, there are 428 Congressional districts.

Many states have

single-member districts where the voters select one of the candidates from a field.

Some had at-large fields where the whole state voted for all of their representatives. Slide17
Slide18

Formal Qualifications

To be in the house you must meet the following qualifications:

25 years of age

Citizen of the United States for at least 7 years.

Be an inhabitant of the state from which he/she is elected.Slide19

Informal Qualifications

Vote getting abilities.

Party identification.

Political experience

Ethnic/gender/religious qualities.Slide20

The Senate

Chapter 10 Section 3Slide21

Size

There are 100 Members

During the first session there were only 26 members.

Why?

The number increased each time a new state was added to the union.

The framers hoped that the senate would be smaller and more enlightened than the house.

Senators represent larger proportions of the population, and therefore represent a wider variety of interestsSlide22

Elections

Originally, under the constitution, senators were chosen by state legislatures.

Changed in 1913 by the 17

th

Amendment.

They are selected during the November elections.

Each Senator is elected from the State at-large.Slide23

Terms

Senators serve 6 year terms

Three times the length of a house term.

There are no term limits.

The current record is held by Strom Thurmond who was elected to 9 senate terms.

The Senate is known as a continuous body

Meaning only 1/3 of the senate is up for reelection at a time.

This gives the senators a sense of “job security”Slide24

Strom Thurmond served as a

South

Carolina Senator from

1954-2003

.

Though

he

finally retired

at age 100, by the time

of his retirement, he was

known to frequently doze

off

during

Congressional

sessions.Slide25

Qualifications

To be eligible for election in the Senate, one must:

Be 30 years of age

Be a citizen of the U.S. for 9 years

Be an inhabitant of the state from which he/she is elected.

Like the house the senate may exclude a member by majority vote:

This has happened 15 times:

Once in 1794

Fourteen times during the civil war.Slide26

Members of Congress

Chapter 10 Section 4Slide27

The job

Members of Congress play 5 major roles:

Legislators

Representatives of their constituents

Committee Members

Servants of their constituents

PoliticiansSlide28

As Representatives of the People

As a representative of the people, members of congress typically play one of three roles:

Trustees

Delegates

Partisans

PoliticosSlide29

Trustees

These are individuals that believe each question/issue must be decided on its own merits.

They use conscience and independent judgment as their guides.

They vote regardless of the way their constituents see issues or how outside influences may try to influence them.Slide30

Delegates

These people believe that they are the servants of those who elected them.

They think they should vote the way the folks back home want.Slide31

Partisans

These are individuals that owe their first allegiance to their political party first.

Many feel duty bound to tie their votes to their party leadership or their political platform.

Partisans are typically the most common role played by representatives.Slide32

Politicos

These individuals attempt to combine the elements of the of the delegate, trustee, and partisan.Slide33

In Committees

We will talk about the role of committees in more depth in chapter 12.

However, the largest role of a member of a committee is to utilize the oversight function.

This is the process by which congress checks to see if the various executive agencies are working effectively.Slide34

Compensation

Congressional representatives earn $162,000 per year.

The speaker of the house makes $208,100

The President Pro Tem and the majority and minority floor leaders earn $180,100

There are other non-salary benefits:

Tax deductions for maintaining two residences

Travel allowances

Small costs for health insurance and/or medical care.

$150,000 pension.Slide35

More Compensation

The Franking Privilege.

Free printing

Low TV/radio

production costs

Free parking around the capitol and airports.