AP Government Name Victor C.

Rivera
Ch. 11 The Congress
1. Summarize the differences between Congress and a parliament.
England's Parliament is elected based on proportional representation (multiples parties that have a
certain # of seats based on voting numbers). We have a two party first-past-the-post system.

2. How has the history and structure of the Senate meant that it would be different from the House of
Representatives?
Senate was designed to satisfy the small-state demand for equality in policy making.

3. What were the main issues in the development of the Senate and how were these issues settled? Make sure
that you understand what these terms refer to: filibuster, cloture, Rule 22
The larger more populous states wanted a senate based on population. Of course the smaller states
objected because they would have been severely outnumbered. So both sides compromised and made the House
of Representatives (by population) and the Senate (everyone has 2 representatives) together these two bodies
make up. Ben Franklin came up with the idea for Senate as a means of satisfying the small states.

Filibuster: The use of the Senate’s tradition of unlimited debate as a delaying tactic to block a bill.
Cloture: shuts of the discussion on a bill.
Rule 22: debate may be closed of on a bill if 16 senators sign a petition requesting it and if, after two
days have elapsed, three-fifths of the entire membership vote for cloture.

4. Briefly summarize the trends in the sex and race of members of Congress.
The House has become less male and less white since 1950. The Senate has been slower to change.
Republican control of both houses prior to the midterm election of 2006 had reduced minority influence.
However, the recent shift of control of both chambers to the Democrats resulted in African Americans and
Hispanics becoming chairpersons of several important committees.

5. Why have more congressional districts become safer for incumbent reelection?
Incumbents develop their homestyle, using the mass media, making personal appearances with
constituents, and sending newsletters- al to produce a favorable image and to make the incumbent’s name a
household word. These efforts have made more and more congressional districts become safer for incumbent
reelection.

6. What are the possible explanations for why the Democrats dominated Congress from 1933-1994?
As more and more social issues surfaced in our country, the Democratic backing spiked as well. The
democrats gained control after the Great Depression and Roosevelt was able to install his New Deal policies.
Also, in the 50’s and 60’s the high unemployment usually equated to high Democratic backing.

7. Why has Congress become more ideologically partisan since the 1980s?
 There is more money in partisanship, plus you have a better chance of being reelected. I think a lot of
the ideological partisanship has been partly media driven as punditry has become more popular.

8. Define malapportionment, gerrymandering, majority-minority districts.

Malapportionment: or unequal representation, is broad and systematic variance in the size of electoral
constituencies resulting in disproportionate representation for a given voter. Malapportionment is only possible
within electoral systems that have districted constituencies
Gerrymandering: a practice of political corruption that attempts to establish a political advantage for a
particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected, and
neutral districts.
Majority-Minority Districts: A majority-minority district is a United States congressional district in
which the majority of the constituents in the district are racial or ethnic minorities (white non-Hispanics).
Whether a district is majority-minority is usually decided by United States Census data.

9. How have districts been designed to increase minority representation and what has the Supreme Court ruled
about this? What is the difference between descriptive and substantive representation?
For more than 20 years Councilman Art Snyder represented a district consisting of many Latina/o voters.
The districts were gerrymandered to ensure his continued election because Latina/os were split among three
districts. The courts finally stepped in so Los Angeles created a single council district consisting of a Latina/o
majority and Snyder was finally defeated. Sometimes, it is imperative to create specially designed districts so
minority voices are not attenuated.
Substantive representation is when representatives advocate 4 certain groups. Descriptive representation
is the idea that candidates should B elected 2 represent ethnic & gender constituencies rather than the
population at large.

10. Summarize the three theories of how members of Congress behave.

Representational View: One view is that legislators vote to please their constituents in order to get
reelected. This is most likely true when constituents have a clear view on an issue and the legislator’s vote is
likely to attract attention. Studies show that legislators are more likely to vote in accord with constituent desires
in the areas of civil rights and social welfare but less so on foreign policy issues.
Organizational View: When constituency interests are not vitally at stake, legislators may respond to
their partys leaders or respected colleagues
Attitudinal View: Another view is that a legislator’s ideology determines his or her vote.

11. What are the principal jobs and responsibilities in the party leadership in the Senate?
Controlling their party members, setting legislative agenda, and steering it to passage.

12. What are the powers of the Speaker of the House?

Speaker of the House.
- administering the oath of office to Members
- recognizing Members for the purpose of speaking or making motions
- referring bills and resolutions to committees
 - putting questions to a vote of Members
- declaring a quorum (or the absence of one)
- counting and declaring all votes
- deciding points of order
- appointing House Members to select and conference committees
- exercising additional committee appointment authority under party conference rules
- making appointments to fill temporary vacancies in the offices of the Clerk of the House, Sergeant-at-Arms,
Chief Administrative Officer, and Chaplain
- appointing the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole and the Speaker pro tempore
- signing bills and resolutions passed by the House
Majority Leader. The majority leader is second to the Speaker in the party hierarchy. He is chosen by the
majority party’s conference in organizational meetings prior to the start of a new Congress.
Minority Leader. The minority leader is both the minority party’s counterpart to the Speaker and the floor
leader of the “loyal opposition.” The minority leader is elected by the minority party caucus at organizational
meetings prior to the start of a new Congress. He speaks for the minority party and its policies, strives to protect
the minority’s rights, organizes and leads criticism of the majority party, and devises parliamentary strategies
and tactics that can put to best use the abilities of his party to influence legislative outcomes.

13. What are caucuses and why are they important?

A caucus is a meeting of party leaders to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc. They give an
early opinion on people.

14. Define the four different types of committees.

a. Standing Committees are the real workhorses of Congress. They are functionally organized in ways
similar to the organization of the Executive Departments. All bills are submitted to standing committees and
must go through these committees before being approved by the full House or Senate.

b. Select Committees are created for special reasons to investigate some current issue or problem, which is
not being handled by the regular standing committees.

c. Joint Committees have members from both the House and Senate. They are created for either very
important reasons such as the Joint Committee on Intelligence or very mundane reasons such as the Joint
Committee on the Library of Congress. The need for secrecy motivates the first; its narrow significance the
creation of the second.

d. Conference Committees are created each time a bill is passed in different versions by the House and
Senate. Conference Committees are designed to iron out the differences. Conference Committees have
members from both House and Senate. They are, thus, a kind of joint committee, but they function only until a
given bill is reconciled.

15. How has the committee structure changed in the past 30 years? What has been the effect of these changes
and how does having a large staff create a demand for more staff?
a) The modern committee structure stems from the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the first and most
ambitious restructuring of the standing committee system since the committee system was first developed. The
 1946 act reduced the number of House committees from 48 to 19 and the number of Senate committees from 33
to 15. Jurisdictions of all committee were codified by rule in their respective chambers, which helped
consolidate or eliminate many existing committees and minimize jurisdictional conflicts. Today the Senate
operates with 20 standing and select committees. These select committees, however, are permanent in nature
and are treated as standing committees under Senate rules.
b) The larger the staff, the more help you need. Therefore, new position must be created as the staff gets larger.

16. What do the GAO, and CBO do?

GAO: Oversight(determine that gov entities are doing what they are supposed to), Insight(determine what
programs and policies work), & Foresight(identify key trends and emerging challenges before they reach crisis
proportions)

CBO: prepare estimates on the cost of legislation

17. How can a filibuster be broken? What do the changes for breaking a filibuster mean for trying to pass a bill
in the Senate.
A filibuster is broken when 60 senators vote to invoke cloture. This is why Democrats were so interested
in seating 60 senators in this election--it is very difficult to persuade a senator of the opposing party to vote for
cloture. A 60-seat majority is called a "filibuster-proof" majority because they can invoke cloture without asking
any minority members for their votes.

18. What are the arguments for and against term limits?
For: Many feel that Senators and Reps term should be limited so that the element of personal greed and gain is
limited. Term limits will help ensure that the true voice in our governments is that of the public.
Against: Politicians will not be motivated knowing that reelection isn’t even a possibility.

19. In general, what type of rules are there to make sure our Congress members are ethical?
The fact that it is very difficult to get bells passed is a rule in and of itself. There are several checks in
place like: rule 22, filibuster, and cloture.