Unit 2 - Branches of Government

Senate and House of Representatives (Article 1)

  • Congress is organized into two branches.
  • Political parties are not mentioned in the Constitution but significantly influence government function.
  • The legislative system operates under a two-party system.
  • Third parties exist but the two major parties perpetuate rules that favor themselves.

Enumerated and Implied Powers

  • Congress has enumerated powers (written down) and implied powers (not written). For example:
    • Enumerated: Coining money.
    • Implied: Implementing an income tax (based on the power to tax).
  • Enumerated and implied powers are interconnected and depend on one another.
  • Example: Passing the federal budget is an implied power related to the power of the purse.
  • Declaring War: A power of Congress. Remember the dynamic between the president and congress surrounding war power documents.
  • Naturalization: Congress controls the laws dictating who becomes a citizen, reinforced by the Fourteenth Amendment (birthright citizenship).

Structure, Directions, Powers, and Functions (House and Senate)

  • Compare what the Constitution says about the House and Senate (Article 1) versus how they function in reality.
  • The two-party system influences the actual workings of the chambers.
  • Speaker of the House: A constitutionally defined position.
  • Other leadership positions (minority leader, whips) are created by the chambers themselves.
  • Senate: Constitution suggests the Vice President leads the Senate, but in practice, they have little authority.
  • Speaker of the House: Holds more authority than the Senate majority leader.

Committees

Types of Committees
  • Standing Committees: Permanent committees that exist over time.
  • Joint Committees: Combine members from both chambers, similar to standing committees.
  • Special Committees: Temporary committees created to address specific issues.
  • Committees significantly influence the law-making process.
Important Committees
  • House Ways and Means: Deals with taxation and revenue.
  • Senate Judiciary: Very powerful in the Senate.
  • Senate Foreign Relations: Very powerful in the Senate.
  • These committees relate to how Congress checks the president.
  • House Rules Committee: Dictates the order of the agenda, has significant power.
  • Senate Rules Committee: Heavily influences debate in the Senate.

Differences Between Chambers

  • Senate: More flexible, allows open debate, slower-moving.
  • House: More rigid, moves faster.
  • Senate: Criticized as a place where bills die due to time constraints and the filibuster.
Filibuster
  • Endless debate that can be stopped by a closure motion.
  • Closure requires 60% of the Senate vote.
  • If closure fails, the filibuster continues, hindering legislative progress.
  • Party splits in the Senate heavily affect the legislative process.

Budget

Types of Spending
  • Mandatory Spending: Spending that is required (e.g., entitlement programs like Medicaid).
  • Discretionary Spending: Spending that is optional (e.g., military, education, CIA, FBI).
  • Mandatory spending is pre-determined due to existing legislation.
  • Example: Medicaid coverage for 300,000 people must be covered.
Social Security
  • Unique: People pay into it over a lifetime.
  • Congress must provide funding because people have technically already paid for it.
  • The fight in Congress occurs over discretionary spending.
  • Interest on Debt: Must be paid to continue borrowing money due to ongoing deficits.
Pork Barrel Legislation and Earmarks
  • Earmark: A specific item written into a bill (e.g., allocating 2,000,0002,000,000 for education in Georgia).
    earmark<br/>eqporkbarrelearmark <br /> eq pork barrel
  • Pork Barrel Spending: The phenomenon of representatives using spending to benefit their state or constituents, often with a negative connotation.
  • Pork barrel spending can be viewed negatively if it benefits friends or building companies over direct constituent benefit.

Congressional Behavior

  • Focus: Parties manipulating representation in Congress, gerrymandering.
  • The Senate is now an elected body due to an amendment.
  • Parties heavily influence elections, especially in the House, through district manipulation.
  • Gerrymandering: Manipulating congressional district lines to benefit a party or negatively affect the opposing party.
  • Both parties engage in gerrymandering.
Supreme Court Cases
  • Baker versus Carr: Deals with the the principle of, "one person, one vote." Requires equal representation based on population size in the district.
  • votes=populationvotes = population implies equalrepresentationequal representation
  • Shaw versus Reno: Limits what the federal government can require of states in redistricting, especially regarding race.
  • These cases address how states redraw districts and ensure consistent population representation.
Models for Representation
  • Trustee: Politicians use their own judgment and expertise.
  • Delegate: Politicians only do what their constituents want.
  • Politico: A combination of the trustee and delegate models where sometimes a politician employs the trustee method and sometimes employs the values perspective.
Clauses
  • Pay attention to important clauses covered in class.
  • Senate advising concessions: The power of the Senate to confirm the presidential Appointments.

Roles and Powers of the President

Constitutional Authority
  • The president has limited powers in the Constitution.
  • Includes veto power, foreign policy powers, power as commander in chief, and chief executive.
  • Most of the president's real authority comes from implied powers.
Implied Powers
  • Examples: Executive orders, managing military affairs, using soft power.
  • While the president lacks direct budget authority, they can veto, influencing the budget process.
  • Presidents assert and expand power during their administration.
Signing Statements
  • Signing statements lack legal effect.
  • They indicate how the executive branch will enforce a law.
  • Used to explain disagreements and how the president will enforce laws differently from congressional intent.
Informal Powers
  • Presidential influence: Polling pulpit influence on public/congressional members/state governments.
  • Influence international politics.

Checks on the Presidency

  • Congress: Checks the president by overriding vetoes, confirming appointments, passing legislation, confirming cabinet members to the various departments, and reinforcing or going against executive orders.
  • Constantly tests the president's power.
  • Senate Confirmation: Affects the senate and confirming presidential appointments.
  • Supreme Court: Power of judicial review to check the federal government and other branches.
  • This power is not absolute because of judicial appointments by the president. These appointments need to be tested by supreme court. This creates a constant interaction and dependence between the president and the supreme court.
System of Check and Balances
  • Checks and balances are powerful but fragile due to political power struggles.
  • A divided congress hampers the president's agenda.
  • A congress with a majority of the president's party may be less likely to check the president.

Expansion Of Power

  • Over time, the president has expanded authority.
  • Imperial presidency of Jackson.

Federalist 70

  • Defends Article 2 and the structure of the presidency.
  • Hamilton focuses on checks on the president: impeachment, inability to pass laws, court checks.
  • Justifies the president's importance, especially in times requiring quick action.
  • Emphasizes the theme of energy in the executive.

Presidential Communications

Bully Pulpit
  • Reinforces the bully pulpit for the president.
  • President uses a public persona and platform to influence policy and the public.
  • Influencing the public influences congress, leading to legislative actions.
  • Exacerbated by changing media, technology, and social media.

The Judicial Branch

Article 3
  • Congress has the power to create lower courts.
  • Courts have the ultimate authority to check other branches of government.
Judicial Review
  • Judicial review is the court's power to check government power.
  • Federalist 78: Hamilton defends the court system, especially the Supreme Court.
  • Judicial review protects individual freedoms and limits government power.
  • Lifetime appointments of judges protect the court from political influence.

The Bureaucracy

  • Joined to the executive branch.
  • Bureaucratic departments and agencies are under the executive branch and are dependent on professional action.
  • President technically manages them.
Key Aspects
  • Know the purpose of departments (2.13): Department of Homeland Security (created after 9/11), Transportation, Veterans Affairs.
  • Bureaucratic agencies (FCC, FDA, EPA) have regulatory authority.
  • Regulatory Authority - Agencies make rules, not laws (only Congress makes laws).
  • These groups composed of civil servants perform the actual job of the government.