GVPT 170 Exam 2 Latest Update 100% Pass

GVPT 170 Exam 2 Latest Update 100% Pass Congress - Framers thought that the Congress and Legislature should be the most important part of the government - Congress has a lot more explicitly stated powers in the Constitution as well as more influence in domestic policy decision making than the Executive, which has more influence in foreign policy - Much of the Judicial Branch's powers are left up to Congress, which makes the Judicial Branch the weakest of the three, the Executive in the middle, and Congress as essentially the most powerful Contemporary Congress - Passing laws and instituting policies resides in the legislature - Electoral politics is an important motivator - The majority party and its leaders dominate action - Always easier to stop tings from happening in Congress than to make things happen - People generally tend to be more pleased with their members in Congress rather than with Congress as a whole Descriptive Representation - Physical characteristics of candidates and members in Congress - How well do candidates physically represent us (race, gender, social class, income, job background, physical appearance) - Congress is primarily made up of older, wealthier, white men - Women and minorities are generally under-represented in Congress Substantive Representation - How closely do the policies, or substance of laws, match what we want as citizens Trustee vs. Delegate models - Trustee: generally does more of what he or she wants with the contributions given to him or her from the electorate - Delegate: generally does more of what the people who elected him or her want. The delegate model is more present in the House because of electoral politics House of Representatives - 435 members (since early 20th century) - 2 year term limits - Representation is population-based - Districts should be roughly the same size - Every seat in the House represents around 711,000 people (2010 data) Senate - 6 year staggered terms (1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election every two years) - Representation is equal among states, with two senators per state, 100 senators in total - California, with a population of roughly 37.3 million people, gets the same representation as Wyoming, who has a population of roughly 568,000 people Why there are differences between House and Senate - Difference between the House and the Senate are a result of compromise between large and small states - House members care more about local issues because of electoral politics where as senators care for the state as a whole Reapportionment - Process following a census that determines how many seats a state will receive in the House - Changes every year because representation is population based (people die, move, born) - It is a process of re-allocating seats, not adding seats - Census occurs every 10 years - If Texas has 10% of the population, they will receive 10% of the seats in the House - Since the 1950's, the Midwest and Northeast have been losing seats (and population) while the West Coast has gained seats