The Levels of Government national federal The USA

The Levels of Government national/federal – The USA state - Arizona county -Maricopa Local or city - Mesa Purposes of local government: To take care of local issues

Legislative U. S. National Congress State Local State Congress City council Make laws Executive President Judicial Supreme Court Governor State Courts Mayor City Courts Enforce laws Interpret laws

Ch. 10 – Congress “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were elected to Congress… but I repeat myself. ” -Mark Twain

The Legislative Branch, also called: laws Congress—has the power to make ____. It bicameral is a ______(or two-house) legislature: (1) The Senate: Total = 100 Senators (2 per state) (2) The House of Representatives: Total= 435 -based on population of state

The House of Representatives

The House of Representatives

Requirements for members of the House: 25 (1) Must be at least ____ years old 7 years (2) Citizen of the U. S. for ___ state (3)Legal resident of the ______ where elected. 2 Term of office is ___ years. No limit on terms.

Seats in the House Seats are apportioned (given out) based on population Every 10 years seats are reapportioned after the census Ever since 1929, the number has been 435 (Reapportionment Act)

Seats in the House read only Every state divides itself into districts based on the number of seats apportioned to the state For example, Arizona is given 9 seats based on our population.

Populations of Districts Many states carve up districts on a partisan basis. In other words, it tends to favor one party or the other. (Gerrymandering) However, districts today cannot have varying populations Westberry v. Sanders (1964) The Supreme Court held that the Constitution demands that states draw congressional districts of equal populations. This decision is known as the: “One person, One vote” decision

The Number of representatives a state has depends on the population of the 9 state. Az. = _____ Representatives. AZ’s Rep for this area (district #5) Matt Salmon _________ Every state is guaranteed 1 _____ representative no matter the population of the state.

The Head of the House of Representatives is called the Speaker ____ of the House __ __ ______. Paul Ryan (Wisconsin): Current Speaker

Basic Information read only Since you get new congressmen every 2 years, we call each 2 year period a “term” of Congress The terms are numbered consecutively… the one that ends Dec. 2016 will conclude the 114 th Congress The one elected this November called the 115 th Congress once sworn in…

Basic Information A session of Congress is all the time it takes to finish their business for the year So how many sessions are there in a term of Congress?

The Senate

The Senate

Requirements for members of the Senate: (1) Must be at least____ years old 30 9 (2) Citizen of the U. S. for __ years state (3) Legal resident of the ______ in which they are elected. 6 Term of office is ___ years. No limit on terms Vice-President The _________ is the head or the President of the Senate. V. P. =__________ Joe Biden

vote The Vice-President cannot ______ on Senate business tie except in the case of a _____. Only then can the V. P. bill vote on a _____. Many times the V. P cannot be with the Senate. President Pro Tempore The ________ fills in for the V. P when he is unavailable. Orrin Hatch Current President Pro-Tempore -Republican -Utah

Arizona’s Senators Jeff Flake (Republican) John Mc. Cain (Republican)

Comparing the House and the Senate Senators have a much longer term Entire House is elected at once, while only 1/3 of Senate is chosen at a time 1/3 2016 1/3 2018 1/3 2020

Comparing the House and the Senate Originally, congressmen were elected by the public, and Senators were elected by the state legislatures Founding Fathers did not trust the public with all power Copy below 17 th Amendment has since changed Senate elections to a public vote

Comparing the House and the Senate House members appeal to one small district, Senators appeal to entire state Constituency: Senate=state House=district

Off-Year Elections That really stinks, yo. In the election years where there is no presidential election (2014, 2018), the president’s party usually loses seats in Congress

Senate=Upper House=Lower House The Big Question?

Founding Fathers’ Intent The Founding Fathers wanted to have one house that would quickly respond to the desires of the public (House of Reps)

Founding Fathers’ Intent And one house that would be moderate, and stop any crazy nonsense the House would try (Senate)

Demographics of Congress is not at all demographically representative of the U. S. population For example…

Demographics of Congress U. S. Population Males – 49% Females – 51% Congress Males – 80% Females – 20%

Demographics of Congress U. S. White – 75% Black – 12% Hispanic – 13% Asian – 4% Native – 1% *Many people qualify as more than 1 race Congress White – 87% Black – 7% Hispanic – 4% Asian – 1% Native – 0. 6%

114 th Congress

Demographics of Congress U. S. Millionaires – 0. 7% Non. Millionaires – 99. 3% Congress Millionaires – 29% Non. Millionaires – 71%

Salaries of Congressional Offices $230, 700 Vice President: ________ $174, 000 Senator: _________ $174, 000 Representative: ________ $223, 500 Speaker of the House _____ President Pro-Tempore $193, 400 _______