Study Guide: Congress

Date Due	Assignments
Tues., Jan. 6	1. Read 275-284 (to “Who is in Congress?) 2. Read Edmund Burke’s speech to the Electors of Bristol. 2. Write out answers to Reading Questions 1 – 6 (If you’re bored over vacation, you can take a look at the redistricting game that is part of the HW for Jan. 8)
Weds., Jan. 7	1. Read p. 284 - 289 2. In the Readings book, read “Congress: The Electoral Connection” by David Mayhew, p. 147-150. 3. Answer questions 7 - 12
Thurs., Jan. 8	1. Read p. 289-294 2. Questions 13 – 15 3. Look up and take notes on the issues involved and the resolution of the Supreme Court cases: Baker v. Carr and Wesberry v. Sanders 4. Go to this website http://www.redistrictinggame.com which has a redistricting game that you can play in several functions. Hit “Play the Game.” Then choose Partisan Gerrymander – Basic Level. (If you get the message about Java, click on “This link.”) Play the game for a bit. It’s not necessary that you complete the mission. Just try to figure out what you would need to do in order to complete the mission. If you have time, try some of the other missions. I’m more interested in your figuring out how to achieve each mission than in your actually completing the mission.
Fri., Jan. 9	1. Read p. 295-298 (to “The Organization of Congress: Parties and Caucuses”) 2. Read the excerpt from David Price in the Readings book, p. 188 – 195 and take margin notes. 3. Questions 16 - 18
Mon., Jan. 12	1. Read p. 298-311 2. Questions 19 - 25
Tues., Jan. 13	1. Read p. 311 – 319 2. Answer questions 26 - 28
Weds., Jan. 14	1. Read the article by David W. Brady and Craig Volden “Why Can’t Congress Get More Done?” 2. In the Readings Book, read the article by Barbara Sinclair, “The 60 Vote Senate,” p. 162 – 168. 3. Answer question 29
Thurs., Jan. 15	1. Read p. 319 – 330 2. Answer questions 30 - 33
Tues., Jan. 20	1. Read Paul Starobin’s article, “Pork: A Time-Honored Tradition Lives on” on p. 180 -182 in the Readings Book. 2. Read the article by John Ellwood and Eric Patashnik, “In Praise of Pork” on p. 183 – 187 in the Readings Book. 3. Read the article “Pork Still King of the Hill” by Brian Riedl. 4. Answer question 34
Weds., Jan. 21	1. Watch news coverage of the Inaugural 2. Inaugural Assignment Due
Thurs., Jan 22	Article Assignment Due
Fri., Jan. 23	Review for test
Mon., Jan 26	Test

Reading Questions

1. Summarize the differences between Congress and a parliament.

2. Why is Congress a decentralized institution and why is Congress inevitably unpopular with voters.

3. Read through the six phases of the House of Representatives so that you are clear about the rules changes and the balance of power between the Speaker and committee chairmen. Briefly summarize phases four-six. (It is not important for you to learn the name of individual Speakers except for Newt Gingrich – unless you want to be a history major or quiz bowl whiz.)

4. How has the history and structure of the Senate meant that it would be different from the House of Representatives?

5. 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

6. Summarize the points that Edmund Burke made in his speech to the Bristol Electors about the responsibilities of a representative to his constituents.

7. Read the article by David Mahyew in the Readings book and make a list of what congressmen do to achieve reelection

8. Briefly summarize the trends in the sex and race of members of Congress.

9. What were the reasons why there were more new members to the House in the early 1990s?

10. Why have more congressional districts become safer for incumbent reelection?

11. What are the possible explanations for why the Democrats dominated Congress from 1933-1994?

12. Why has Congress become more ideologically partisan since the 1980s?

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

14. 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?

15. What is the sophomore surge? Why does it happen? What effects does it have?

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

17. Why has civility decreased among legislators?

18. Read the article by David Price in the Readings Book. What are the points he makes about what a responsible legislator should do and what the results are of politicians who run against Congress.

19. What are the principal jobs and responsibilities in the party leadership in the Senate?

20. What are the powers of the Speaker of the House? How did Newt Gingrich change the structure of the House?

21. Why are the members of each party so polarized today?

22. What are caucuses and why are they important?

23. Define the four different types of committees.

24. 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?

25. What do the GAO, and CBO do?

26. You must know 16 terms in bold on pages 313 – 317. Find some way to memorize them: choose what works for you – flashcards, notes, sleeping on them. When you feel that you know them, take the first three matching quizzes on my website until you get 100%. Either get a parent to sign that you have done so or print out the pages for each as proof. http://home.att.net/~betsynewmark/1GoPoQuizzes.html#Congress

27. How can a filibuster be broken? What do the changes for breaking a filibuster mean for trying to pass a bill in the Senate.

28. Think about it and give your opinion as to the impact the differences between the House and Senate have on policy-making. You must know the chart on p. 319 summarizing the differences between the House and Senate. Figure out a way to learn it.

29. Using the two articles in the Readings Book by David W. Brady and Craig Volden and Barbara Sinclair, make a list of reasons why Congress is sometimes not able to accomplish much

30. Make a list of the different powers that the Constitution gives to either the House or Senate. This is a review question and you should be able to do it off the top of your head. Then go check yourself by looking

at the Constitution. (It’s in an appendix in the back of the book or you have your own copy.) Read through Article I, Sections 1, 3, and 7 and Article II, Section 2. Add in anything you may have forgotten.

31. What are the arguments for and against term limits?

32. How have the Congressmen’s powers and perks been reduced?

33. In general, what type of rules are there to make sure our Congress members are ethical?

34. After reading the articles by Paul Starobin, John Ellwood and Eric Patashik, and Brian Riedl, make a list of the arguments for and against pork. Include arguments from the textbook on p. 323-324.

Article on Congress Assignment

Due Date – by Thursday, January 22, but feel quite free to turn it in earlier.

Find one article or editorial on Congress from the past three months. The article must relate to themes that we have studied in class or in the book. Print out or cut out the article.

1. First, write up a short summary of the main points in the article.

2. Then write up how what the article says supports or contradicts what we have been studying. This is the most important part of your write-up, so be sure to pick an article that lends itself to this assignment. Also, make sure that you pick an article of sufficient length to have substance in it. My secret, nefarious goal is for you to develop your own current example of some aspect of political theory and practice that we’re studying. You will be handing this in for a grade.

Here is an easy way to find an article.

1. Go to News Google http://news.google.com/

2. Type in Congress plus one of the key terms from your study guide about something that you’re interested in such as redistricting, cloture, filibuster, pork, gerrymander, congressional courtesy, Speaker of the House, etc. Remember to put quotation marks around phrases or your search will turn up anything that has speaker, of, house in the same article. You could also put in the names of prominent members of Congress. Any article about Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, for example, is probably about something that relates to this course.

3. Pick one of the choices that looks substantial (as in having substance and sufficient length to cover material and get you an excellent grade.)

4. Double check that the article refers to the U.S. Congress and not a state legislature. If you have any doubt, ask me.

5. You’re ready to write up the assignment.

Terms to Know

1.	franking privilege	28.	Shaw v. Reno (1993)	56.	Simple resolution
2.	unicameral	29.	descriptive representation	57.	Concurrent resolution
3.	bicameral	30.	substantive representation	58.	Joint resolution
4.	Speaker of the House	31.	sophomore surge	59.	multiple referral
5.	Newt Gingrich	32.	privileged speech	60.	sequential referral
6.	Nancy Pelosi	33.	Edmund Burke	61.	discharge petition
7.	Harry Reid	34.	Representational theory	62.	closed rule
8.	Party caucus	35.	Organizational theory	63	open rule
9.	Rules Committee	36.	Attitudinal theory	64.	restrictive rule
10.	filibuster	37.	President Pro Tempore	65.	quorum
11.	17^th Amendment	38.	Majority and Minority leaders	66.	quorum call
12.	Rule 22	39.	Party Whip	67.	cloture rule
13.	cloture	40.	Steering Committee (D)	68.	double-tracking
14.	term limits	41.	Committee on Committees (R)	69.	roll-call vote
15.	US Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995)	42.	Policy Committee	70.	rider
16.	Marginal districts	43.	Party polarization	71.	Christmas tree bill
17.	Safe districts	44.	Caucus	72.	Committee of the Whole
18.	House Banking scandal	45.	Congressional Black Caucus	73.	Pork-Barrel
19.	House Post office scandal	46.	Blue Dog Democrats	74.	Earmarks
20.	Reapportionment	47.	Standing Committees	75.	Congressional courtesy
21.	redistricting	48.	Select Committees	76.	logrolling
22.	malapportionment	49.	Joint Committees	77.	Nongermane amendment
23.	gerrymandering	50.	Conference Committees	78.	Unanimous consent
24.	majority-minority districts	51.	seniority system	79.	Holds
25.	Wesberry v. Sanders 1964	52.	Congressional Research Service
26.	Baker v. Carr (1962)	53.	General Accounting Office (GAO)
27.	“one man, one vote”	54.	Congressional Budget Office (CBO)