Enduring Understanding, Learning Objectives and Essential Knowledge - Congress

Big Idea: Because power is widely distributed and checks prevent one branch from usurping powers from the others, institutional actors are in the position where they must both compete and cooperate in order to govern.

• AP Congress Review Quiz

Here are the answers to the AP Central practice test for Congress (Remember some questions will not be germane to our unit of study because AP's Unit addresses all three branches at once)

CON-3: The republican ideal in the U.S. is manifested in the structure and operation of the legislative branch.

CON-3.A: Describe the different structures, powers, and functions of each house of Congress.

CON-3.A.1: The Senate is designed to represent states equally, while the House is designed to represent the population.

CON-3.A.2: Different chamber sizes and constituencies influence formality of debate.

CON-3.A.3: Coalitions in Congress are affected by term-length differences.

CON-3.A.4: The enumerated and implied powers in the Constitution allow the creation of public policy by Congress, which includes:

◆ Passing a federal budget, raising revenue, and coining money

◆ Declaring war and maintaining the armed forces

◆ Enacting legislation that addresses a wide range of economic, environmental, and social issues based on the Necessary and Proper Clause

CON-3.B: Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.1: By design, the different structures, powers, and functions of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.2: Though both chambers rely on committees to conduct hearings and debate bills under consideration, different constitutional responsibilities of the House and Senate affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.3: Chamber-specific procedures, rules, and roles that impact the policy-making process include:

◆ Number of chamber and debate rules that set the bar high for building majority support

◆ Roles of Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, party leadership, and committee leadership in both chambers

◆ Filibuster and cloture

◆ Holds and unanimous consent in the Senate

◆ Role of Rules Committee, Committee of the Whole, and discharge petitions in the House

◆ Treaty ratification and confirmation role of the Senate

CON-3.B.4: Congress must generate a budget that addresses both discretionary and mandatory spending, and as entitlement costs grow, discretionary spending opportunities will decrease unless tax revenues increase or the budget deficit increases.

CON-3.B.5: Pork barrel legislation and logrolling affect lawmaking in both chambers.

CON-3.C: Explain how congressional behavior is influenced by election processes, partisanship, and divided government.

CON-3.C.1: Congressional behavior and governing effectiveness are influenced by:

◆ Ideological divisions within Congress that can lead to gridlock or create the need for negotiation and compromise

◆ Gerrymandering, redistricting, and unequal representation of constituencies have been partially addressed by such Court decisions as Baker v. Carr (1962), which opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and stated the “one person, one vote” doctrine, and the no-racial- gerrymandering decision in Shaw v. Reno (1993)

◆ Elections that have led to a divided government, including partisan votes against presidential initiatives and congressional refusal to confirm appointments of “lame-duck” presidents of the opposite party

◆ Different role conceptions of “trustee,” “delegate,” and “politico” as related to constituent accountability in each chamber

• List (with definitions) of key terms for ch. 13