Good evening folks, and welcome back to Mia Civic Center. I'm Caroline.
Last night we highlighted those congressional contenders, including requirements for the ring,
how long and often their rounds are, and how many times they can step into it. Tonight, we have an
inside look at our congressional contenders' key strategies for Friday night's federalism fight.
Will they pull the old rope, use their congressional duties or powers to throw jabs,
uppercuts, and hooks? Tonight, we find out just how these legislative leaders express their power.
By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to identify the legislative branch's key duties.
You will also be able to explain some checks and balances Congress has over the other branches.
Finally, you will be able to compare and contrast expressed versus implied powers. Come along!
In our last lesson, we found out that Congress has two chambers,
the Senate and the House of Representatives. The requirements and terms depend on the chamber,
but both chambers must perform one general duty. Tonight, you'll learn that these congressional
contenders may have different tactics, but one shared strategy. Let's take a look.
What are these contenders doing to get ready for the big night? Congress literally means to come
together, and that is what our representatives do in Washington DC in order to draft and legislate.
Word alert! To legislate means to make laws. Congress has the most important and basic duty
of creating laws. In fact, all of the duties and powers given to Congress can be found in article
one of the Constitution. But how does Congress know what key issues they will face in the ring?
Well, Congress is not only charged with creating laws, but it is also
responsible for oversight and investigation. That's right. They spend a lot of time
studying their opponents. Congress can send out something called a subpoena, which requires
people to testify at special congressional hearings held by specific committees.
Word alert! A subpoena is a legal writ ordering someone to attend a court.
A recent example of Congress using their power to investigate is in the case of the social media
whistleblower Frances Haugen. After blowing the whistle on the largest U.S. social media website
for promoting profit over public safety, Haugen testified in front of the United States
Senate commerce committee's subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, and data
security, accusing the company of a whole host of problems, which threatened U.S. national security.
The call was for Congress to monitor, or at least set up laws regarding safe usage of the internet
for social media companies. Okay, so Congress isn't just in the ring. It's also in the corner,
on the outside, and maybe even in the stands. But before we move on, let's make sure we actually
know. What is Congress's main duty? What other duties does Congress have? Okay, put your thinking
caps on. I dare you to pause the video, and write a paragraph in response to the following.
In your opinion, should social media companies be regulated by congressional law? Why, or why not?
Sometimes there are disagreements on team federal government.
So our congressional contenders can check and balance the other branches. Rewind!
What was that again? Checks and balances are the powers of the state separated into executive,
legislative, and judicial branches. Each branch can check, or limit, the power of the other.
The most common check and balance is confirmation duty. The Senate is given the duty to hold
confirmation hearings to approve or reject presidential appointments, such as Supreme Court
nominees. Supreme Court nominees are crucial for establishing the interpretation of laws,
and because these are such important positions, these hearings are the center
of intense media coverage. Check out the PDF for more coverage on checks and balances.
Time to show what you know! Pause here to explain in your own words
how Senate confirmation acts as a check and balance on the other two branches.
Congress has two key striking methods or hits. We call these expressed and implied
powers. Word alert! An expressed power is a power directly granted by the Constitution. An implied
power is not clearly written in the Constitution, but is instead implied, or hinted at, based on the
necessary and proper clause. The first of these expressed powers is called the general welfare
clause. This clause gives Congress the power to raise money and spend it on specific purposes.
Through the general welfare clause, Congress has the power of the purse, meaning it has the
power to make funds available. Since the House of Representatives is elected by smaller districts,
the Constitution gives it the power of the purse. Meaning all spending bills must originate in the
House. The general welfare clause is just one of Congress's expressed powers specifically outlined
in the Constitution. So how many of these key strikes does Congress have? Well, it is limited.
There are 18 expressed powers. Let's look at a few. In addition to the general welfare clause,
it can develop postal roads. What does that mean? It can regulate interstate commerce, AKA trade
between the states. The last expressed power is the power given by the necessary proper clause.
It allows Congress to pass any law it feels is necessary and proper in order to carry out their
other expressed powers. That seems pretty vague. See any problems here? One person's definition
of necessary or proper might not match another person's. The necessary improper clause is also
referred to as the elastic clause. Any idea why? Because it stretches the power of Congress even
more, through the implied powers it gives them. This creates an opportunity for a major knockout.
The line between expressed and implied can get fuzzy here. So let's take a look at an example.
Congress is given the power to regulate commerce. That is an expressed power that is outlined in
the Constitution. Remember, the necessary and proper clause says they can pass any
laws they need in order to carry out that power. Therefore, it is implied that they can regulate
our social relations by passing a law that makes discrimination in commerce illegal. This creates a
number of questions left unanswered, I know. Don't worry. Those questions are addressed in the next
two lessons. Let's look at one more example of the relationship between expressed and implied
powers. Like we established earlier, the ability to develop postal roads is an expressed power.
However, the necessary and proper clause implies the power to build highways, airports, and other
infrastructure in order to carry out that power. Think President Biden's build back better plan.
5g infrastructure and what has been termed wi-fi equity, or bringing wi-fi to low-income areas.
Congress can argue that the necessary and proper clause implies the power to provide
wi-fi in order to carry out their power to build postal roads, because this has been interpreted
to mean infrastructure. Time to show what you know! Please grab a pen and paper and write
down the answer to these questions. What is the difference between expressed and implied powers?
Now, even though they are different,
expressed and implied powers are connected. How are they connected?
Recap! Today we learned that Congress's broad duty is to legislate but also conducts special
hearings. Congress checks and balances the other branches, and Congress has expressed
powers that are directly stated in the Constitution. The last expressed power,
the elastic clause, creates implied powers. Yep, we covered all that,
and that's it! No more brain food for you all today, but tomorrow is a big night. We are gonna
investigate two of these big powers Congress uses in this Friday night federalist fight.
This is Caroline, signing off. Have a great day, and remember, vote, debate, and participate!