Download Congress - wcusd15

Congress
Chapter 10
Congress
• Where is Congress established?
– Article I
• Two Houses
– Senate
– House of Representatives
• Why was Congress established with two houses?
– Parliament
– Connecticut Compromise
– Check the power of Congress
Terms
• Term
– Length of time officials serve following elections
• How long do members of Congress serve?
– House – 2 year terms
– Senate – 6 year terms
• Congressional term
– 2 years
– Currently, it is the 114th Congress
– Term begins at noon on Jan. 3rd in odd-numbered
years
Sessions
Session
• Time during which Congress conducts business
• Two sessions per term
• One session per year
• Begins on Jan 3rd unless Congress sets a different
date
Adjourn
• End the session
• Both houses must agree on a date
Sessions
How long is a session?
• No set length
• Prior to WWII, lasted about 5 months
• Now, last throughout the year
• Congress recesses several times during a session
• President may prorogue a session when the
houses cannot agree on a date to adjourn
• President may call a special session
• No President has called one since Truman
House of Representatives
Section 2
Size and Terms
• 435 members
• Seats are apportioned among the states
based on population
• Every state guaranteed 1 seat
• 2 year term
• How many terms can a Congressperson
serve?
Qualifications for Members
Formal
• 25 years old
• Must have been a US citizen for 7 years
• Inhabit the state you represent
Custom
• Live in the district you represent
Illinois 18th District
• Darin LaHood
Reapportionment
• What is reapportionment?
• When does it happen?
Growing Nation
•
•
•
•
•
•
First House - 65 members
After 1790 census - 106
1800 - 142
1810 - 186
1910 - 435
How did Congress deal with the problem
in 1920?
Reapportionment Act of 1929
• Automatic reapportionment
• “permanent” size of 435
• Census Bureau determines the number of
seats each state should have
• President must send it to Congress
• If Congress doesn’t reject it within 60
days, it takes effect
• What trend do you notice from the map?
• 7 states have 1 seat
– Alaska, Delaware, Montana, N. Dakota, S.
Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming
• D.C., Guam, Virgin Islands, and American
Samoa have a delegate
• Puerto Rico has a commissioner
Congressional Elections
• Held on same day in every State
– Tuesday following 1st Monday in Nov of each
even-numbered year
• Off-year elections
• Incumbents
Districts
• Each member is chosen by voters in one of
the 435 districts
• Districts are NOT mentioned in Constitution
• Single-member district
• General ticket system
– Seats filled at-large
• Average District = 710,767 people
Gerrymandering
• Drawing districts to
the advantage of a
political party
• Packing
• Cracking
Ideal Districts
• “contiguous territory”
• Nearly an equal number of inhabitants
• “Compact territory”
• House judges the elections and
qualifications of its own members
• If qualifications challenged, House decides
• May refuse to seat a member or punish
members with majority vote
• May expel members with 2/3rds vote
– 5 expelled members, 3 in 1861, 1 in 1980, 1
in 2002
Wesberry v Sanders, 1964
• Population differences between Georgia’s
districts violated Constitution
• One person’s vote should be roughly
equal to another’s
• Outcome?
Senate
Section 3
Dick Durbin (D)
Mark Kirk (R)
Size and Election
• 100 members, 2 from each State
• How were Senators originally chosen?
– State legislatures
• 17th Amendment
Term
• 6 years
• Continuous Body
– Staggered terms – 1/3 of Senate up for reelection every 2 years
• Why were Senators given a 6 year term?
– Less concerned with public opinion and
special interests
Constituencies
• The people and interests a political figure
represents
• How does a Senator’s constituency differ
from a House member’s?
Qualifications
• 30 years old
• US citizen for at least 9 years
• Resident of State from which he/she is
elected
• Senate judges qualifications of members
• May punish and expel members
• How do these differ from the House?
House
•
•
•
•
•
435 members
2 year terms
Small constituencies
Younger membership
Strict rules, limited
debate
• Most work done in
committees
Senate
•
•
•
•
•
100 members
6 year terms
Large constituencies
Older membership
Flexible rules, nearly
unlimited debate
• Work split between
committees and floor
• Answer these question on a separate
sheet of paper.
• What was the Framers’ intention for the
Senate?
• What characteristics of the Senate help it
to achieve that goal?
Members of Congress
10.4
Background
Race/Ethnicity/Gender
• Mostly white males
• 108 women
• 48 African Americans, 38 Hispanics
• 14 Asian-Americans or Pacific
Islanders
• 2 Native American
Education
• 100% of Senate and 94% of House
have Bachelor’s Degrees
• 213 have Law Degrees, 98 have
Master’s Degrees
• 23 Doctoral Degrees, 22 Medical
Degrees
Age
• 61 for Senators, 57 for House
Religion – 92% Christian
• 57% Protestant
• 31% Catholic
• 5.2% Jewish
• 3% Mormon
• 2 Buddhists, 2 Muslims, 1 Hindu
Prior Work
• Politics/government – 331
• Business – 273
• Law – 202
• Education – 105
• Military – 101
• 54 Republicans
• 44 Democrats
• 2 Independents
• 188 Democrats
• 245 Republicans
• 2 Vacant
Roles of a Congressperson
•
•
•
•
•
Legislator
Representative of their constituents
Committee members
Servants for their constituents
Politicians
Representatives
Committee Members
•
•
•
•
• Oversight function
Trustee
Delegate
Partisans
Politicos
Servants
•
•
•
•
Deal with bureaucracy
Personal tours
Appointment to military
Business loan
Salary and Benefits
• Regular Member
$174,000
• Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader - $193,400
Minority Party Leader - $193,400
• House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500
Majority Leader - $193,400
Minority Leader - $193,400
Non Salary Benefits
• Housing Tax deduction
• Travel allowances
• Insurance
• Pension
• Franking privilege