Questions

1. Who draws US congressional district lines and how often are these redrawn? - state legislators every 10 years

2. What’s the difference between redistricting and reapportionment? - redistricting changes the district lines, but reapportionment changes the seats.

3. Why is bicameralism important in our congress? - checks and balances

4. What are some of the major differences in the different houses of congress? - House of representatives 425 ppl, senate 100, house has 2 yr terms senate has 6, house is kinda in control of money and senate is in charge of trial stuff

5. Explain who has more power; a representative or a senator? - senators, longer terms, vote is more powerful (100 senators = 425 representatives) , ratify treaties, confirms presidential appointments

6. What is the most powerful job in congress? - The speaker, they decide what bill they’ll be talking ab

7. Who does the senate have the power to confirm? - ANY presidential appointments

8. What checks does the congress have on the presidency and the judiciary? - congress can override veto, impeach and budget. Congress can impeach / confirm judges, and pass new laws to check the judiciary.

9. Carefully & explicitly list the steps by which a bill becomes a law: Congress introduces the bill → Goes thru committee review → Floor Debate → Other chamber reviews it (if house proposes it senate would review it now) → Conference Committee if needed → Final vote in congress → Presidential approval → Implementation

10. How does a whip keep party members in line? - Communicate w prty members, persuade and pressure them

11. What congressional portion does it take to override a presidential veto? - 2/3

12. List five specific ways to kill a bill. - 1 veto 2 pocket veto 3 filibuster 4 Vote to reject 5 Amendments that alter the bills Intent

13. What power does the Rules Committee have? - The Rules Committee in the House sets the terms for debate, determines the time allocated for discussion, decides whether amendments can be made, and controls which bills reach the floor for a vote

14. How does divided government affect the ability of the congress to work with the presidency? - Often leads to gridlock and makes it harder to pass legislation

15. What is the relationship between congressional subcommittees & congressional parent committees? - Subcommittees focus on smaller more detailed things and the parent committees are more broad. The subcommittees make recommendations to the parent ones that have the final say

16. List some of the powers of the Speaker of the House. - Signs bills , decides committee members, represent the house, setting the agenda

17. Describe and analyze the committee system in the lawmaking process: - The committee system in Congress allows for specialized, efficient review of bills, where committees conduct hearings, propose amendments, and decide which bills move forward, ensuring thorough examination and managing the legislative workload, but can also be influenced by party politics and committee chairs’ power.

18. Explain why there is more minority representation in the House than the Senate. - The house because they have more people able to represent minorities

19. List the top five powers of congress in order. - 1 make laws, 2 power of the purse, 3 declare war, 4 impeachment and 5 to ratify treaties

20. What is the historical effect of midterm elections on the composition of Congress? - Historically, midterm elections have tended to shift the balance of power away from the incumbent president’s party—often resulting in significant seat losses that lead to a more divided or opposition-controlled Congress.

21. Explain why Senators are more likely to be trustees than Representatives are. - Senators represent larger and diverse groups of constituents, and aren’t worried about making decisions based on constituents because they get reelected every 6 years instead of 2

22. list the top five considerations a representative makes when voting on a bill. - 1 Constituent Opinion, 2 Party Loyalty, 3 personal beliefs and opinion, 4 Campaign Contributions and Lobbying and 5, political consequences

23. How have congressional demographics changed over the past three decades? - increased representation of the minority such as women, people of color, lgbtq , and younger people have been elected more.