Chapter 12: Congress
1) What did the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act of 2009 do and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act do that impacts college students? 430 a) The CARD act of 2009, restricted credit card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances. It also prevented credit card companies from charging a fee for exceeding their borrowing limit unless these customers had explicitly requested this service. It also made it more difficult for credit card companies to target those under 21 years of age- since they now had to provide either proof of parental consent or proof of financial capability. i) The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility act made loans available to more students by having the federal government loan directly to students. This change eliminated billions in subsidies paid to the banks that had offered student loans. It also blocked a proposed interest rate increase, keeping the rate at 3.4% 2) What is a constituency and what relationship are they supposed to have to their representatives? 437 a) The constituents of a district are the residents in an area for the elected official. 3) What is a bicameral legislature and what are the houses of Congress? 437 a) A legislative assembly is composed of two chambers/houses. 4) What are the formal qualifications for holding office in Congress? 437 a) House

i) Minimum age: 25 years old
ii) US Citizenship: at least 7 years as a US Citizen
iii) Length of term: 2 years
iv) Number representing each state: depends on population
v) Constituency: Local
b) Senate
i) Minimum age: 30 years old
ii) US Citizenship: at least 9 years as a US citizen
iii) Length of term: 6 years
iv) Number representing each state: 2 per state
v) Constituency: Local and National
5) According to Table 12.1, what are the differences between the House and the Senate? 437-8 a) The age requirements are different, as are the citizenship requirements. The term for the Senate is 6 years whereas the House is only 2 years, however with the House, you have representatives based on your states population, not a predetermined amount. 6) Why does the House tend to represent PACs and interest groups more than the Senate? 438 a) I believe that the House would have more interest involvement with the PAC (political action committees) then the Senate because they more focused on a local level of politics then the Senate. In addition, with elections being held every two years, they are more in tuned to the interests of businesses and local interest groups. 7) What is the difference between sociological and agency representation? 438 a) A sociological representation is when the candidate or incumbent has the same racial, gender, ethnic, religious, or educational background as their constituents. i) Agency representation is the concept that regardless of the elected officials personal background or preferences, they will always vote with their constituents even when that vote may be contrary to their own. Hire and fire our representatives when they don’t follow the needs/desires of the general public. 8) How many women were in the House in 1990 and how many in 2010? 439 a) 1990- 29 women in the house

b) 2010- 78 women in the house
9) What are the three main occupational backgrounds of members of Congress? 439 a) The legal profession (most dominant), public service and politics is second, with many members of congress coming from business and industry. 10) How many people does each US Representative represent? 440 a) As many as 660,000

11) Why are members of Congress often free to “represent” their own interests in the legislative process and on what issues are they most likely to do this? 442? a) When the constituents of their district do not have very strong views. 12) Why does the racial composition of Congress? 441

a) 82% white, 9% black, 6% Hispanic, 2% Asian/Pacific, 0.2% Native American 13) How much of their time and their staff time is spent on constituency casework? 442 a) 50.7% of their time- House
b) 39% of their time- Senate
14) What 3 factors related to the electoral system affect who gets elected & what they do once in office? Basically, what personal or informal qualifications are needed to run for Congress? 442-444 a) Ability to raise funds, personal ambition, name recognition, political support, incumbency 15) What is EMILY’S List and what has been its impact? 442-443 a) EMILY’s list is the most powerful fund-raiser of all the PACs, specifically to recruit women for politics and fund their campaigns. 16) What is the rate of re-election and what is meant by incumbency—what are the advantages? Specifically, what are the re-election rates in the House and Senate? 443-444 a) Incumbency is the concept of running for the office which you are currently performing the job for. i) House- 98% success rate

ii) Senate- 90% success rate
17) Why do some people support term limits and who would benefit the most from them? 444 a) Term limits are believed to be the only real way to get new blood/diversity into Congress. They believe that career politicians will ensure that there is very little turnover. 18) What is apportionment and redistricting and how can it have an impact on the winner? 446 What is gerrymandering? 446 a) Gerrymandering: the manipulation of district boundaries to benefit the interests of a particular group. b) Apportionment: every 10 years, the allocation of the congressional seats among the 50 states. c) Redistricting: Redrawing of the election districts and redistributing legislative representatives. Occurring every ten years- or in response to a legal challenge. d) Redistricting in theory makes it so that the population of the particular district is balanced, however there are times that the redistricting occurs in such a way that the district boundaries are impossible to determine. 19) What happened in Texas in 2001-2003 and did the Court agree? 446-447 a) The Texas Republicans redrew the maps without waiting for the census to occur. Democrats left to Oklahoma and New Mexico to prevent the passage of the plan, eventually the legislature approved the plan. 20) Has the Supreme Court played the role of “umpire” in controversies surrounding redistricting? 447 a) They have, but it doesn’t appear to be a constant thing. The only time mentioned in the text is in 1995 in the Miller v Johnson which stated race could not be predominate factor in creating districts. 21) What impact did the 1964 Civil Rights Act have on the number of minorities being elected to Congress? 447 a) In the consideration of drawing districts, race has had a big impact. Eventually, amendments were put in place to increase the number of racial minorities 22) What did the Court do in 1995 in the case of Miller v Johnson? a) Determined that race could ...

-1997 -2003 -443 -444 -447 -448 -450 -456 -457 -459 -462 -465 -468 -469 -73 -8 -838 -841 -843 -844 -850 -852 -853 -854 -858 0 0.2 000 1 10 11 12 12.1 12.2 13 139 14 140 15 150 16 169 17 18 19 1964 1970s 1990 1995 2 2/3 20 2000 2001 2002 2006 2007 2009 2010 21 22 23 23.1 2302 24 25 26 268 27 28 29 3 3.4 3/5 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3yrs 4 40 41 42 43 430 437 438 439 44 440 441 442 443 444 446 447 448 449 45 450 452 453 454 455 456 457 459 46 460 461 462 463 465 466 467 469 47 471 472 473 475 48 49 5 50 50.7 500 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 6 60 61 62 63 64 65 660 69 7 7200 74 75 78 8 80 8000 819 82 836 837 838 840 841 842 843 844 847 849 851 852 853 855 856 9 90 95 98 abil abl abort accept access accord account act action addit adjourn administr adopt advantag advic affair affect affili affluent africa africa-american african age agenc agenda agre agreement aid alloc allow almost also alter alway ambassador ambit amend american among amongst amount and/or andrew anglo annual anoth anti anti-immigr anticip anyon anyth appeal appear appli appoint apportion appropri approv approxim area arena argument aris arous art asian asian/pacific asid assembl assess assign astroturf attack attend austin author autonomi avail averag avoid b back background bad baker balanc ball bank barrel base basic battl becam becom believ benefit besid best bicamer biennial big bill billion bipartisan black block blood/diversity board borrow boundari branch break briberi bring budget build busi c calendar call campaign candid capabl capit caption card career carr carri case casework caucus census central ceremoni chair chairperson chairs-what challeng chamber chambers/houses chang chapter charg chief choos chosen citi citizen citizenship civil claim clerk clinton close clotur colleg college-educ combin come commiss committe common compani compel complet compos composit compromis comptrol concentr concept concern concurr confer congress congression consent conserv consider consist constant constitu constitut contempt continu contrari contribut control controversi conven convey convict convinc coordin corpor cost could couldn count counti countri coupl court cover creat credit crime crimin cross current curri custom cut d daili danger david day deal debat decid decis declin defin delay deleg deliber democrat depend deport describ design desir determin devic dewhurst die diem differ difficult dilut direct disciplin discuss dispos district doesn domin done draft drastic draw drawn due e earmark econom economi educ effort either elect elector elimin els emili employ employe enabl end enorm enough ensur entir entitl especi establish estim ethic ethnic even eventu everi exam examin exampl exceed except execut exempt exercis exist expens expert explicit express extend f face fact factor fail fair fate favor favorit feder fee filibust fill final financ financi fire first fiscal floor focus follow forc form formal found four fragment free fund fund-rais g gain gather gay gender gene general gerrymand get give global go gone good got govern governor grass greas greater greatest green group guid guilt h half halt hand happen harder haven hear heck held help hierarchi high hire hispan histor hold home homeland hous house/senate howev huge id ident identifi ideolog ii iii immigr impact impeach implic import imposs includ increas incumb indict individu industri influenc inform inset institut integr intellig intend intent interest interim intern introduc introduct investig involv iraq iron issu item iv job joe johnson joint judg judici keep key kill know known lack languag last law lead leader leadership least left legal legisl legislatur legislature-how legislature-what length less let letter level librari lieuten like limit line line-item list littl ll loan lobbi lobbyist local locat logrol long lost lot low loyalti lrb lt made main major make male mani manipul map marin mark mark-up marriag may mean meant media medicar meet member membership mention mexico miller minimum minor minut misdemeanor modifi money month much mushroom must name nation nativ near necessari need needs/desires neither never new next non non-legisl none normal noth number oath oblig obstruct obtain occup occur offer offic offici often oklahoma old one one-half open opportun oppos option organ origin overridden overse oversight owe pac paid parent part parti particular partisan pass passag patronag pay payment peopl per percentag perform period perjuri perman person person-on pick piec pigeonhol place plan platform play player pocket polici polit politician poll popul popular pork posit possibl post post-adjourn power predetermin predomin prefer present presid pressur prevent print privat privileg pro problem process profess profession program proof properti propon propos protest provid public put qualif qualifi quickly/effectively race racial rais raiser ran rate rather ratif re re-elect reach read real realiti reason recent recognit recommend record recruit redistribut redistrict redraw redrew reduc refer referr reflect reform regard regardless regular relat relationship relief religi reloc remov report repres represent republican request requir research resid resign resolut resourc respond respons rest restrict result return revenu revers rewrit reynold right role roll roll-cal root rule run salari say schedul scope seat second secur see select senat send senior sent separ serv servic session set shift show sign signatur sim similar simpl sinc six sixteen size social sociolog sometim son sought sound sourc speak speaker special specif spend spent spirit split spokesperson sponsor spread staff staffer stage stall stand start state statewid status steel step stimul stop stori strang strategi straus strong student studi style subcommitte submit subordin subpoena subsidi success suffici supervis supervisori support suppos suprem sure surround system tabl take target tax taxat temp tempor temporari ten tend tension term testimoni texa texan texas-it text theori thing third three tie time titl tom took top tourism trade transport travel treason treati trend tri trial truste tune turn turnov twelv two two-third two-year type typic umpir unconstitut undertak undocu unit uniti unless unlimit urban us use usual v various veto view vote voter wait want washington way weigh wheel wherea whip white whose winner wish wit within without women work work-what would wrong year yes