Good evening! This is Caroline. Welcome back to Mia Civic Center.
Join us tonight for an inside look at our federal fighters.
Always representing in the capital arena are the congressional chambers, boxing with busy bills,
fighting foes with furious filibusters. Expect terms like census, apportionment,
gerrymandering and term limits to fly around in the news and from the mouths of passionate
politicians and their supporters, only to collide in our Friday night fight for
federalism. A super heavyweight governmental knockdown, where the fate of a nation is decided.
Sorry, I got carried away. That was a lot. Today we will confront that battle for better bills
by breaking down the structure of Congress. Have your boxing gloves ready. Sorry, I mean pens.
Today you should be able to explain the way in which congress is organized and apportioned,
list the requirements for selection, and evaluate congressional term limits.
And be sure to open up the PDF to find out how a bill becomes a law!
Before our coverage begins, let's review from the last unit. Feel free to grab your skeleton notes
from the lesson Constructing the Constitution. The great compromise was a compromise that was, well,
great. It was great because it brought together the interests of both the smaller states and the
bigger states by establishing something called a bicameral, meaning two chambers, Congress.
Congress is divided into two chambers. We have the upper chamber,
called the Senate. The lower chamber is called the House of Representatives.
Let's talk about the prize fighter in each division. Technically, the vice president presides
over the Senate. However, in the vice president's absence, the president pro-tempore will do this.
The constitution assigns a senator to this position. Typically, the majority leader
holds much of the power here as well, though this is not written in the Constitution.
The leader of the House of Representatives is called the speaker of the House.
This contender is very powerful, because this person declares and counts the votes,
makes committee assignments, grants permission for members to speak on the floor,
and sends bills to committees. But what are these committees? Don't be shy. Take a look at the PDF
for a deep dive into congressional committees, and how all their wonderful bills either die or
make it to the president's desk. There are two different ways the number of
congressional representatives each state has is determined. In the Senate, each state
has two senators. No matter the number of people, each state has the same number of senators.
In the House of Representatives, the number of reps is based on population.
But hold on. How do we know how many total boxers a state gets to send to their ring?
The federal government conducts a census every 10 years to determine the country's population.
Word alert! A census is the procedure of systematically calculating,
acquiring, and recording information about the members of a given population.
Using the data from the census, each state legislature redraws the maps into what are called
districts. If a state's population has grown, it gets more representatives in the House. If a state
has less people, it gets less representatives in the House. This is called apportionment.
Pretty simple, but this is where gerrymandering and many landmark cases come up. Look, you may
be thinking that I made the word gerrymandering up, but jot it down. It's going to be important
later in the second half of the course. Let's see if you got it with this show what you know.
To explain the way in which Congress is organized and apportioned,
create a tree map by answering the following questions. What are the houses of Congress?
Who leads each congressional body?
How many representatives does each state have in the upper House?
What determines apportionment in the lower House?
Take a look at the PDF to see if your map matches mine.
So maybe you'd like to be a congressional contender one day.
How many egg yolk shakes and days in the gym does it require?
The Constitution has it covered. So let's take a look at what it takes to be a representative
in the House or a senator. But really, to be selected as a representative, you must be 25
years old and have been a U.S. citizen for at least the last seven years. To become a senator,
you need to beef up. You need to be at least 30 years old and have to have been a U.S. citizen
for at least the last nine years. So how long can a person be a representative, a senator?
In the House, a representative serves for two years and can be reelected an
infinite amount of times. Oddly enough, House elections happen every even numbered year.
Senators serve for six years, and with the way it works, out one third of the Senate is up for
re-election every even numbered year. Oh yeah, and there are no term limits for senators either.
They can be in there forever. Time for you to tell me what it takes to step into the ring.
Time to show what you know. To answer the following question, create a table like mine and
fill out each section. What are the requirements to hold office for each body of Congress?
What are the term needs in Congress? What are the term limits?
When should a congressional representative hang up the gloves? What are the benefits and drawbacks
to congressional term limits? Let's look at both sides of the debate, so we can develop an informed
opinion. This is a serious question that many citizens think about when they evaluate Congress,
consider candidates, and ultimately decide who to elect. On one hand,
having no term limits allows our representatives to become skilled and thoughtful statesmen, that
increasingly get better at navigating Washington DC and the complicated legislative processes.
On the other hand, creating term limits may prevent corruption, as many politicians
are subject to corporate and other private interests. Campaigns are expensive, so politicians
may increasingly represent these special interests rather than us. Another common critique is that
holding political office should be about serving the people and not become a professional career.
So like most things we discuss, there are two opposing views. Let's see what you think. Pause
the video and develop your own stance on the topic of term limits by answering the below question.
Should representatives in Congress have term limits?
Why or why not? Let's talk about how to answer it first.
Break it down into smaller questions. We can think of these as things you need to know first.
What are term limits? How is Congress organized? Consider your own observations and experiences.
What communities are you a member of? How are these communities impacted by political decisions?
Consider different viewpoints discussed in this section. Use these as evidence to support
your response. Be sure to use evidence from the video to support your answer.
Each state has equal representation in the Senate, but in the House of Representatives it's based
on population. A census is conducted every 10 years in order to reapportion representatives
in the House. The Constitution set requirements to serve in both bodies of Congress. Finally,
representatives in both bodies of Congress can serve unlimited terms, but this is an issue
citizens often discuss. In the next lesson, we look at our congressional contenders' duties and
powers, but that's it for us today. Have a great day, and remember, vote, debate, and participate!