Institutions 2014-2015

Our federal government has three parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). The ______t of the United States administers the Executive Branch of our government. He e______________the laws that the Legislative Branch (Congress) makes. The Legislative part of our government is called Congress. Congress makes our ________Congress is divided into 2 parts. One part is called the Senate. There are _____Senators--2 from each of our states. Another part is called the House of Representatives. Representatives meet together to discuss ideas and decide if these ideas (bills) should become laws. There are ________Representatives. The number of representatives each state gets is determined by its _____________. The Judicial part of our federal government i____________laws. It is headed by the Supreme Court

LEARNING TARGETS DAY ONE

Powers of CongressSteps in making lawBills vs resolutionsHow committees work

What’s wrong in this chart? Hint . . . Supremes who have trump power, said it violated the principle of sep of powers and if you want to give him (could it be her?) then you’d better do what?

Remember it’s a system—lots of actors—all INTERACTING and fighting over who has power

The power to make law: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.Article I, Section 1

Powers of Congress

Number One Power: From the Constitution:

Other Powers of Congress?

Article _____, Section ______

Other Powers of Congress?

Article _____, Section ______

Moreton Rolleston Jr., owner of the Heart of Atlanta motel (photo: Wayne Wilson/Leviton-Atlanta)

Article I section 8The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

Power to Tax . . .

Federal Power to tax leads to . . . . . The Court upholdinghttp://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2011/2011_11_400

1. Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, concluded that the Individual Mandate penalty is a tax for the purposes of the Constitution's Taxing and Spending Clause and is a valid exercise of Congressional authority. The payment is not so severe as to be coercive, is not limited to willful violations like fines for unlawful acts, and is collected by the Internal Revenue Service by normal means.

2. As part of a jointly written dissenting opinion, Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito disagreed, arguing that because Congress characterized the payment as a penalty, to instead characterize it as a tax would amount to rewriting the Act .

3. Chief Justice Roberts, with Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, concluded that the Individual Mandate was not a valid exercise of Congress' power to regulate commerce. The Commerce Clause allows Congress to regulate existing commercial activity, but not to compel individuals to participate in commerce. This would open a new realm of Congressional authority.

4. Justice Ginsburg, as part of an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan disagreed with this conclusion, arguing that the Chief Justice's distinction between economic "activity" and "Inactivity" is ill-defined and unsupported by either the Court's precedents or the text of the Constitution. Furthermore, even if the distinction were permissible, individuals who fail to purchase insurance nonetheless frequently participate in the healthcare marketplace, substantially impacting healthcare commerce, and may therefore be regulated by Congress.

5. Justice Thomas, in a separate dissent, added that the "substantial effects test" has encouraged Congress to push the limits of its power.

Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 imposes accountability on Congressional spending:“power of the purse” the ability to tax and spend public money for the national government.

Provisions in the Constitution

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”— U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 9, clause 7

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8,

:

The Congress shall have Power ... To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

The Necessary and Proper Clause

The Power in Article 5??????

It’s a complicated process

Why . . . Watch “I’m just a bill . . .”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag

Family guyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf2q66G3lmM

VOCAB for How a Bill becomes a Law

When the goal is to make national law, members must draft their proposals as either bills or joint resolutions.

By tradition joint resolution is used• to amend the Constitution, • to continue funding the govt: "continuing resolutions"• disapprove executive actions or federal agency

regulations ("disapproval resolutions").• To approve presidential requests to use armed forces

Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964 (78 Stat. 384) and the Persian Gulf Resolution of 1991 (105 Stat. 3)

• to establish commemorative days.Like bills, joint resolutions require the President's signature, and they can be vetoed. However, joint resolutions proposing constitutional amendments require state ratification rather than a Presidential signature.

The Shutdown Ends

Concurrent resolutions:• must pass both the House and Senate to be enacted, but do not go to the President. • used to give an opinion of the Congress, but without the force of law (so-called "sense

of Congress" language), to create a new joint committee of the Congress, to establish a congressional budget, to authorize use of the Capitol rotunda for a ceremony, or anything else that takes action on behalf of both chambers.

Simple resolutions • stay within the chamber they are introduced. • used to speak on behalf of one chamber (e.g. "Sense of the Senate" language), or seek

to create a new committee in the House, or propose to change the rules of procedure in one chamber only.

Thousands of people passed Sunday night by the remains of Rosa Parks, the first woman to be honored by lying in the Capitol Rotunda

Contrast concurrent and simple resolutions . . .. Which don’t make law

If they don’t make law, why use them? • "for political persuasion and for political cover-- to get their colleagues to agree

to certain principles that they will find hard to retreat from when specific bills come before them in the future

• to encourage the President to take a specific action (e.g. the Senate passed a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the treatment of women and girls by the Taliban in Afghanistan was unacceptable and advising the President to take actions against Afghanistan in the U.N. General Assembly).

• to communicate the views of the people of the United States to a foreign nation (e.g. the House has passed resolutions expressing support for dissidents in Cuba and demanding that Cuba release political prisoners, legalize political parties and labor unions, and schedule free elections).

• to extend congratulations or gratitude from the Congress to an individual citizen or a group (e.g. support for our troops abroad or praise for our Olympic athletes or appreciation for the contributions of Rosa Parks).

Examples from this Congress

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/LegislativeData.php?&n=Browse&c=113

Look at jt resolutions, concurrent and simple

Look at 24

House Panel Raises Furor on Armenian Genocide

Survivors of the Armenian genocide in Turkey attended a session of a House panel that voted to condemn the killings on Wednesday.

August 1, 2007

Call by U.S. House for Sex Slavery Apology Angers Japan’s Leader

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

TOKYO, Wednesday, Aug. 1 2007— Prime Minister Shinto Abe expressed some irritation on Tuesday at the resolution approved by the House of Representatives in Washington that calls on Japan to acknowledge its wartime sex slavery. His reaction indicated strongly that the Japanese government would not offer surviving victims an official apology.. . .

“The resolution’s approval was regrettable,” said Mr. Abe, who caused a furor in Asia and the United States in March by denying that the Japanese military had directly coerced women into sex slavery in World War II.. . .On Monday, the House unanimously passed the nonbinding resolution strongly urging the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge” and “apologize” for its military’s “coercion of women into sexual slavery.” Japan had lobbied hard against the resolution in Washington, warning that it could harm relations.

Rider: An amendment, usually not germane, that it' sponsor hopes to get through more easily by including it in other legislation. Riders become laws if the bills they are attached to are enacted. The House, unlike the Senate, has strict germaneness rules, so riders are usually Senate devices to get legislation enacted quickly or to bypass possible opposition

http://rules-republicans.house.gov/Educational/Read.aspx?ID=27

More vocab . . .

Closed Rule A rule by the HRC (which stands for??? ) that limits or prevents amendments to a bill placed on the Calendar. Open Rule Decision of the HRC to permit unlimited debate on a particular bill.Restrictive rule:A rule by the HRC that allows some amendments, but not others.

See why it performs a “traffic cop” function?

"Christmas tree" bill - Informal nomenclature for a bill: on the Senate floor that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments. The amendments which adorn the bill may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.

_______________ - On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.

Results in Kitsap http://www.kitsapgov.com/aud/elections.htm Results in Washington http://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/Turnout.html

By county http://projects.seattletimes.com/2014/election/#KeyRaces

Parties and Congress: What’s it mean to Control a Chamber?

“to the victor go the spoils”

Harry Reid Congratulates Mitch McConnell On Becoming Majority Leader

http://www.businessinsider.com/election-2014-harry-reid-mitch-mcconnell-2014-11#ixzz3IDJs6C6K

What happens if the Republicans win the Senate? The day-to-day running of the chamber will fall to Mitch McConnell, currently the minority leader. As Senate majority leader, he will set the chamber's agenda, deciding which bills come to the floor and managing floor debate to advance the party's agenda.Republicans will also take on committee chairmanships, giving them significant authority to launch investigations and shape the policy debate in the Capitol.

Who's it gonna be? Democrat Harry Reid, left, is current Senate majority leader, but Mitch McConnell wants his job

What’s it mean to control? . . . Committee membership To the victor goes the spoils. The specific number of majority/minority seats on committees are decided by the majority party leaders in each chamber after "consultation" with the minority leaders. In actual practice, the degree of consultation is minimal in the _________and maximum in the __________

Listen to when the Senates gained control in 2014: http://www.npr.org/2014/11/05/361676960/with-gop-victories-voters-send-washington-a-message

GOP takeover of Senate could mean another loss of clout for Washington stateBy Rob HotakainenMcClatchy Washington BureauNovember 2, 2014 

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/02/245442/gop-takeover-of-senate-could-mean.html#storylink=cpy

Nancy Pelosi, the incoming House speaker, with Steny H. Hoyer at a news conference Thursday after Democrats chose him as their new majority leader. Ms. Pelosi had supported John P. Murtha, right. Also at the conference were

Rahm Emanuel, left, and John B. Larson Nov 17 2006

Parties and Congress: What’s it mean to Control Congress?

Nancy Pelosi Ousted as House Speaker, John Boehner Waits in Wings

Nov 3, 2010Pelosi, Highest Ranking Woman in American Politics, to Step Down from Historic Role

Republicans Capture House in Historic Wave, Claim 'Mandate' to Shrink Government

Rep John Boehner

WASHINGTON — The first sign of the new pecking order on Capitol Hill was the pack of cameramen jammed inside Representative John A. Boehner’s suite early Wednesday morning. As the Republican leader in a House run firmly by Democrats, Mr. Boehner had sometimes had trouble making his voice heard.

Boehner Becomes the Lead Character as Roles Are Reversed in the Capitol

Representatives John A. Boehner, right, and Eric Cantor on Wednesday at the center of new media attention at the Capitol.

House Republican Leadership Positions ____________ ___ _____ ________The position is established in the U.S. Constitution and is the most senior officer of the House of Representatives (and the third most senior official in the entire federal government.) Institutionally, the Speaker holds broad-ranging powers and presides over debate in the House, makes rulings on points of order, has priority right of recognition on the floor, and sets the agenda by deciding what and when legislation comes before the House. In addition, the Speaker appoints task forces and commissions and oversees the management of support functions to the House. Finally, by modern practice, the Speaker serves as the primary spokesperson for his congressional party.

House __________Leader. the second most senior official in the House, is by recent practice the day-to-day manager of business on the House floor.

House Majority________. The responsibilities includes persuading Members to support the party's position on votes and projecting support for the party's position. They count votes and "whip" or convince their colleagues to supporting their party's legislative position.

What’s a party whip?Party Whips (Assistant Floor Leaders) Both parties in the Senate elect whips. The term "whip" comes from a fox-hunting expression -- "whipper-in" -- referring to the member of the hunting team responsible for keeping the dogs from straying from the team during a chase. Established early in the 20th century, the development of party whips coincided with the evolution of party leaders in the Senate.

Democrat James Hamilton Lewis of Illinois became the first party whip in 1913, and the Republicans established their own whip position two years later. These assistant leaders are mainly responsible for counting heads and rounding up party members for votes and quorum calls, and they occasionally stand in for the majority or minority leaders in their absence. http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Party_Whips.htm

See the names: house: http://www.house.gov/leadership/

Senate:http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/senators/a_three_sections_with_teasers/leadership.htm

How interlining. . . The Senate lists chairs

Committees Where the real work gets done

The Gatekeepers . . . Or . . . the legislative trencheshttp://www.govtrack.us/congress/committees/Some are better for bringing home the pork . . http://www.opensecrets.org/cmteprofiles/earmarks.php .some are more lucrative than others http://www.opensecrets.org/cmteprofiles/

4functions of committees(1) Making law(2) Confirmation (3) Oversight(4) Investigation

Watch listen to the Legislative process by Congress https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process

Three types of committees

http://intelligence.house.gov/benghazi-investigation

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm

Roles of Committees: (1) Making Law

Most common fate?

To pigeonhole a bill is to, figuratively, place it in a cubbyhole and leave it there - an expression once routinely used when committees sidelined bills by refusing to report them to the full House or Senate for final consideration. The expression is rarely used in contemporary practice. Now, committees are said to "bottle up" a bill.

done by standing committees

True . . . A Discharge petition can be used when a bill is bottled up in committee—

but rarely is--in the House 218 members must sign petition; in the Senate any member can move to have it discharged (or they can add it as an amendment to another bill later).

House Democrats sign discharge petition

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/house-democrats-sign-discharge-petition-government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-98219.html

Assuming a committee or subcommittee favors a

measure. . . It usually takes four actions. First it asks relevant executive agencies for written comments on the measure (remember the reln b/w congress and bureaucracy) .

Second, it holds hearings to gather information and views from non-committee experts. At committee hearings, these witnesses summarize submitted statements and then respond to questions from the senators.

 

Friday, September 24, 2010,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t39uqg6e4so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1T75jBYeCs

Third, a committee meets to perfect the measure through amendments, and non-committee members sometimes attempt to influence the language. These are called “Markup” meetings.

Fourth when language is agreed upon, the, committee sends the measure back to the full Senate, usually along with a written report describing its purposes and provisions

It doesn’t end when it is reported out . . .

A committee’s influence extends to its enactment of bills into law. A committee that considers a measure will manage the full Senate’s deliberation on it. Also, its members will be appointed to any conference committee created to reconcile its version of a bill with the version passed by the House of Representatives.

House Cuts Interest Rate for Some College Loans

Representative George Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, sponsored a bill on subsidized loans to college students.

Committee works is not done even when bill has been passed out

The Reln b/w Congress, the bureaucracy and IGs

And more committee actions—in addition to considering bills

Role 2: Confirmation

Clarence Thomas, whose nomination became embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Oct. 12, 1991.

Article II, Section 2

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of

Departments.

Chairman of U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (R) listens as ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (L) speaks during hearing for the Kagan confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee July 20, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee has voted 13-6, in favor of President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to replace Justice John Paul Stevens who has retired on June 29, 2010. ( July 19, 2010 - Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images North America)

Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton with Senators Christopher J. Dodd and John Kerry before a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering whether to confirm her appointment as President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be Washington's top diplomat.

The secretary of state asserted that progress was being made but declined to rule out widening the war to Syria.

In three and a half hours of hearings at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Rice was both conciliatory and combative, rebutting the gloomy assessments from senators of both parties but at the end offering a weary concession to Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/international/middleeast/20diplo.html

Other roles of Committees: (3) oversight - Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, left, found skepticism Monday from senators including Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois

THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHTWhat is the Basis for Congressional Oversight? Congressional oversight is one of the most important responsibilities of the United States Congress. Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs and policy implementation, and it provides the legislative branch with an opportunity to inspect, examine, review and check the executive branch and its agencies.

The authority of Congress to do oversight is derived from its implied powers in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and House rules. In affirming Congress' oversight powers, the Supreme Court in McGrain v. Daugherty stated that "the power of inquiry – with process to enforce it – is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function." In Watkins v. United States the Court described Congress' oversight power by stating that the "power of the Congress to conduct investigations is inherent in the legislative process. That power is broad."

The Supreme Court also observed that "a legislative body cannot legislate wisely or effectively in the absence of information respecting the conditions which the legislation is intended to affect or change." The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 mandated that House and Senate committees exercise "continuous watchfulness" of the administration of laws and programs under their jurisdiction. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 permitted House standing committees to "review and study, on a continuing basis, the application, administration and execution of laws" under its jurisdiction.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as she was sworn in prior to the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday.

Rep. Trey Gowdy: General Petraeus will testify voluntarily or be subpoenaed

Nov 2012

A court, Grand Jury, legislative body, or Administrative Agency uses a _______to compel an individual to appear before it at a specified time to give testimony.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/oversight.htm

October 31 2011

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week about her trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan.The United States is relying on Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to help broker a peace deal in Afghanistan with the same militants that the agency has been accused of supporting

Another Role for Committees (4) : “Investigations”

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Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations said they want to know why the Energy Department approved the Solyndra loans in 2009 and then restructured the loan this February despite evidence that the company was struggling financially.Solyndra, which was hailed by President Obama in 2010 as an innovative company that would use stimulus money to create jobs and lead the economic recovery, laid off most of its 1,100 workers Aug. 31 and announced it would cease operations. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Sept. 6. . . . .Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the subcommittee's chairman, pressed Energy Department loans director Jonathan Silver on Wednesday to explain how the agency could approve more than half a billion dollars in loans despite questions about the company's financial health.He also cited internal emails that he said show White House officials appeared to be pressuring Energy Department and the Office of Management and Budget to speed up approval of the Solyndra loans. "You should have protected the taxpayers and made some forceful actions here," Stearns said.

Sept 2012: A congressional investigative committee on Wednesday grilled officials from two agencies that backed a $535-million loan package to failed Northern California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.

N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell testified before a Congressional committee that was investigating head injuries in football.

October 29, 2009

N.F.L. Scolded Over Injuries to Its Players

By ALAN SCHWARZ

WASHINGTON — The commissioner of the N.F.L. faced heated criticism Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, with lawmakers, former players and even a former team executive accusing the league of neglect in its handling of active and retired players with brain injuries.With evidence mounting of a link between playing professional football and cognitive impairment in later life, and news reports of poor medical treatment for some former players with dementia and other signs of mental decline, the committee repeatedly challenged the commissioner, Roger Goodell, to defend the league’s policies and research.“The N.F.L. sort of has this blanket denial or minimizing of the fact that there may be this link,” Representative Linda T. Sánchez, Democrat of California, said to Mr. Goodell during the daylong hearing. “And it sort of reminds me of the tobacco companies pre-’90s when they kept saying, ‘Oh, there’s no link between smoking and damage to your health.’ ”

__________ Committee (House only) which governs the procedures under which the bill will be considered on the floor

Another important role for a committee in the House: the Traffic Cop

Other Important Committees to know:

• The Appropriations Committee (House and Senate)

• Ways and Means Committee (House only) • Judiciary (Senate) and Foreign Relations

(Senate) • House and Senate Budget committee

PORK

Congressman Smith dipped into the pork barrel in this fiscal year's federal budget and pulled out $10 million for a river dredging project in his district. For her part, Sen. Jones ensured $3 million was earmarked so that the university in her state could research a blight affecting area trees. /

The term began as a political reference in the post-Civil War era. It comes from the plantation practice of distributing rations of salt pork to slaves from wooden barrels.

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PorkBarrel Spending : This is the nickname given to lawmakers' allocation of funds to pet projects and programs, usually without public hearings or the review typically given to pending legislation. Pork-barrel spending in its classic form directs government funds into projects that benefit a legislator’s state or district, thus increasing voter satisfaction and improving his or her chances of reelection

EarmarksThese are the allocations of revenue in a bill that are directed to a specific project or recipient typically in a legislator’s home state or district. (The process itself is known as “earmarking,” and earmarks could also be called “earmarked funds.”) They are often slipped into bills without the review typically given to pending legislation.

January 6, 2011: On the second day of the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives read a modified version of the U.S. Constitution, a historic first

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/112th_United_States_Congress

Generally, parties in the US have weak discipline but there are some means by which parties control

members: parties won’t help members

campaign (especially a big deal when _______money was around but even now parties help get the word out, endorse people etc)

in congress parties can control ________and ______ assignments, access to the floor, scheduling of your bill, they have a whip system.

Logrolling

September 21, 2010, 5:30 pm Murkowski to Lose Senate Committee SpotBy CARL HULSESenate Republicans are not happy with their colleague, Senator Lisa Murkowski, for running as a write-in candidate in Alaska’s Senate race, and they intend to show it

Not content with Ms. Murkowski’s resignation from her position as vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference, Republicans intend to meet on Wednesday and vote to strip her of her position as the senior Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.Some Republicans were worried that Ms. Murkowski would emphasize her influence on the committee with control over issues important to Alaska as an issue in her campaign against Joe Miller, the Tea Party-backed candidate who beat her in the primary and is now the party’s official choice.

Leadership in Congress

• At the beginning of each two-year congressional session, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate meet separately to organize and select their leaders. The Republicans call their internal party organization the "Conference" while Democrats call their party organization the "Caucus."

• Both parties in each chamber hold organizational meetings where their members elect their own leadership, adopt internal rules for how their party will operate, and draft their version of the institutional rules for either the House or the Senate. These meetings are closed to the public and to the press.

After Republicans dismantled the Democratic majority in the House Tuesday night, Democrats must decide whether to re-elect Nancy Pelosi -- and she must decide whether to take the role -- as the top Democrat in the party's new minority position

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html

Bicameralism solves so much . . . .• fear of excessive power concentrated in a single institution• "inconvenience" of dominance by legislature• Fear of mob rule by impassioned majority• concern about basis of representation in a federal system

From the BBC . . . Also a ________democracy but they have ___equal bicameralism

Why not elect everybody at the same time?The American system is designed to be overlapping, both in terms of the powers of the different bodies and in terms of when people are elected to them.

The House of Representatives is the larger of the two houses of Congress. It was set up as a p_________ body, with the number of members tied to the size of the ___________. The idea was for it to directly and quickly reflect the public mood, which is why the members face election every _______ years.

The Senate was planned as a more r_________body - they serve for _____ years. Each state has two senators regardless of its_________.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10263956

Also: 25/7 vs 30/9 . . . ; partisanship; revenue bills, incumbency adv, redistricting = safe seats and narrow constituencies

Complicating matters even further: relatively equal bicameralism

Ted Cruz ‘filibuster’: After 21 hours of anti-Obamacare talk mixed with Dr. Seuss and Star Wars, Texas senator votes to consider House billCruz read from 'Green Eggs and Ham,' mentioned Darth Vader and the Founding Fathers — and earned a leading role among anti-Obamacare Republicans while angering others.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ted-cruz-filibuster-talks-21-hours-votes-house-bill-article-1.1467344

Filibuster explained you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIG-kfT9bI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IFxkt9rctg

Rand Paul ends filibuster

Can you go to the bathroom? http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-filibuster-to-defund-obamacare-bathroom-breaks-2013-9

Demographics of 113th

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42964.pdf

Meet the 113th congress: http://media.cq.com/blog/2012/12/demographics-of-the-113th-congress/

Meet the new senate (114th) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2014-midterms/senate-demographics/

87% of the Senate is Christian (compared with 79.8% of the population) and 13% of the Senate is Jewish (compared with 1.4% of the population). According to the data, no Senator falls under the category "No Religion/Atheist/Agnostic" - a category embodied by 15.0% of the U.S. population according to

the 2001 Census.

HOW REPRESENTATIVE IS CONGRESS AFTERALL?

AND DOES IT MATTER?

Descriptive vs Substantive rep