Wednesday Oct 2nd & Thursday Oct 3rd 2.2 The Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress

Lesson 2.2: The Structures, Powers, and Functions of Congress

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING:

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

Learning Objectives:

Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policymaking process.

Essential Knowledge:

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

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. 

• 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 

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. 

Pork barrel legislation and logrolling affect lawmaking in both chambers.

Activity # 1: 

Activity # 2 Legislative Explorer

Complete the following LegEx Assignment

Activity # 3: 

Define in your notebook: 

• enumerated (expressed) powers
• implied powers
• necessary and proper clause (elastic clause)

Activity # 4:

For each of the following, decide first if Congress has the power (either enumerated or implied). If they do have the power, is it enumerated or implied? What specific clause gives them that power?

1. prohibit sending weapons through the mail
2. establish the Federal Reserve System
3. institute a draft
4. nominate a judge
5. place a tax on alcohol
6. establish a minimum wage
7. create the IRS
8. fire the Secretary of Defense
9. issue US savings bonds
10. ban discrimination in the workplace
11. grant citizenship to "Dreamers"
12. create a 40 hour work week

Activity # 5: 

Create a 4 box grid (or other organizational chart) and classify the enumerated powers of Congress according to the following categories:

• economic
• military/foreign
• other (ex. weights & measures)
• non-legislative (ex. impeachment)

You should have a minimum of 3-4 items for each category.