examprepare

poli sci 3

The Origin and Powers of Congress


The great compromise

---The congress has two separate chambers-----1, the house representatives 2, the senate .

---Bill(法案) can't become law unless it is passed in identical同样的 form by both chambers.

---The great compromise: the small states would receive equal representation in the senate, but the number of each state's representatives in the house would be based on population, and the house would have the sole right to originate发起 revenue税收 related legislation.

---Senate: 1) each state has two senators, senators has 6-year terms of office. 2) Terms are staggered 交错的, 1/3 of the senate is elected every two years. 3) senators should be chosen by the state legislatures立法机构 according to the Constitution. 4) in 17th amendment in 1913, senators are elected directly by popular vote.

---House: 1) people directly elect members of the house. 2) they serve 2-year terms 3) all house seats are up for election at the same time. 4) 435 members in the House. 5) each representative is elected from a particular congressional distric within his or her state, and each district only elect one representative.

---Reapportionment ( redistribution) :The Constitution provides for a national census every 10 years. Population shifts are handled by the redistribution of seats among the states after each census is taken. Recently gained seats because of population growth are Sunbelt, California, Texas and Florida. Lose Seats areas are Northeast and Midwest.


Duties of the House and Senate

---Similar legislative tasks for house and senate: toe declare war , raise an army and navy, borrow and coin money, regulate interstate commerce, create federal courts, establish rules for the naturalization of immigrants, and make laws.

---Difference in duty: 1) the house alone has the right to originate revenue bills, a right that apparently was coveted at the Constitutional convention.( in reality, it is limited, for it has to be passed by senate) 2) the House has the power of impeachment 弹劾 : the power to charge the president, vice president or other civil officers of the national government. The senate is empowered to act as a court to try impeachments, a 2/3 majority vote of the senators present is necessary for conviction 定罪. 3) Senate has the power to approve major presidential appointments ( such as to federal judgeships, ambassadorships, and cabinet posts ) and treaties with foreign nations. The president is empowered to make treaties, but he must submit them to the senate for a approval by a 2/3 majority.

Electing the Congress

The incumbency effect

Redistricting
---The way the house districts are redrawn by state legislatures after a census-based reapportionment. And it can be benefit the incumbents of one or bother parties.

---Gerrymendering ; altering district lines for partisan游击 advantage.

Name Recognition
---1) incumbent has the name recognition among voter by being members of Congress. The congressional press secretaries promote name recognition to get publicity for the activities and speeches of their bosses. The primary focus is seeking on the local media back in the home district where the voters are. 2) Franking privilege: the right to send mail free of charge. Mailings work to make constituents aware of their legislators' names, activities. 3) Individual website of legislators .

Casework
---Casework: legislators devote much of their office budget to casework because they assume that when they provide assistance to constituent, the constituent will be grateful .

Campaign financing
---House incumbents received 72.8% of all money to congressional races. Challengers received only 12.5 % of the contributions, with the remainder going to candidates in open race.
---open race: where there was no incumbent running for reelection.

Successful Challengers
---How? : the opposing party and PACs may target incumbents who seem vulnerable because of age, leack of seniority, a scandal, unfavorable redistricting.

---Senate challengers have a higher success rate than house challengers, because they are generally high quality candidates who enjoy high name recognition and can attract significant funds because they are regarded as credible candidates.

---The party controlling the white house always loes house seats in the midterm election, as voter take our their disappointments with the president on candidates from his party. They usually loses seats in the senate too.


Whom do we elect

posted by C-T @ 12:57 PM