January 31, 2013 TOC: 98. Senate v House Chart 99. Basic Facts 100. Leg Branch Review 101. Is Congress Representative? Agenda: 1.Review the Bicameral Legislature 2.Basic Facts and Leg Branch Review 3.Clicker Quiz 4.How Representative is Congress?

Legislative Branch Notes Bicameral- a legislative made up of two parts: Senate, and House of Representatives House of Reps- lower house more representative of the people 435 members Each state has a number based on their population One representative per district  represent their district 25 years old 2 year term Leader is Speaker of the House Senate- Upper house Originally chosen by State, after 17 th Amendment- chosen by voters 100 members- 2 per state Represent the whole state 30 years old 6 year term Leader is the President of the Senate (VP of the country) and President Pro Tempore

Basic Facts! Name Total # # equal or based on population Term length Impeachment power requirements

Legislative Branch Review 1. Which part of the Constitution sets up the Legislative Branch? ___________________________________________________________ 2. What is another name for the Legislative Branch? ___________________________________________________________ 3. What are the two parts of Congress? _______________________ and __________________________ 4. What is the main job of Congress? ________________________________________________________ 5. Which branch of the government did the founding fathers think would be the biggest and most powerful? __________________________________________________________ 6. What do we call a legislature made up of two parts? __________________________________________________________

Take the Clicker Quiz!!

The People’s Branch Founding Fathers wanted this branch, especially the House of Reps to be the most representative of the American people. It was supposed to think like, look like, vote like and make laws for (like?) the American people.

Imagine!!! Picture a member of Congress in your head. On your notecard, write down five adjectives to describe this person OR do a quick sketch of the person.

Did he look like this???

Partner Think: What percentage of the US population is: 1.Male? 2.Female 3. White? 4. African American? 5. Hispanic? 6. Asian? Must add to 100%

IS Congress Representative?

On the back of your notecard, answer this question in a complete paragraph: IS Congress representative of the gender and ethnic diversity in the United States? Does it need to be? IS Congress Representative?

Wednesday, February 6 EQ- What is the function of committees in Congress? Table of Contents: –105. Committees Flipchart –106. Legally Blonde Notes Agenda: 1.Review 2.Committees 3.Legally Blonde

Review Questions 1.What does bicameral mean? 2.What are the two parts of Congress? 3.How old do you have to be to be in the House? Senate? 4.How long is a term in the House? Senate? 5.Who is the leader of the House? Senate? 6.What is the main job of Congress? 7.What is another job of Congress?

Committees Chart Committees in Congress Standing Committees and Subcommittees Select Committees Joint Committees Conference Committees Assignment to Committees and Role of Committee Chair

Standing Committees and Subcommittees: pg Define Standing Committees 2.What is the role of the majority party in standing committees? 3.What are three examples of standing committees in the House and three in the Senate? (use chart on page 143) 4.Define subcommittees. Select Committees: pg What are select committees? 2.What do they study? 3.What are two examples of select committee topics? Joint Committees: pg Who are the members of joint committees? 2.What do joint committees do? 3.What do they NOT have the power to do? 4.What is an example of a joint committee? Conference Committees: pg What are conference committees? 2.Why do we need them? 3.What are the members called and where do they come from? 4.What is the job of a conference committee? 5.What happens once a conference report reaches the floor? Assignment to Committee and Role of Committee Chair: pg What can assignment on the right committee do for a member of Congress? 2.What are the best committees in the House and the Senate? 3. How are members assigned? 4. What are six things Committee Chairs do?

Legally Blonde 2 Today, as you watch the movie answer the following questions: –1. What is the purpose of the bill she is trying to write? –2. Is this the House or Senate? –3. Which committee is handling her bill? –4. What is the role of the committee chair?

Friday, February 8 EQ- How does a bill become a law? Table of Contents: 107. Committee Review 108. Bill to a Law Chart 109. Bill Examples Agenda: 1.Review Congress and Committees 2.Discuss the Bill to a Law Process 3.Legally Blonde 2 Homework: Work on your children’s book!

Congress and Committee Review 1.What does bicameral mean? 2.What are the two parts of Congress? 3.How old do you have to be to be in the House? Senate? 4.How long is the term for House? Senate? 5.What is the number for the House based on? 6.How many members of the House? Senate? 7.Who starts the impeachment process? 8.Who is the leader of the House? Senate?

Which Standing Committee? 1.A bill to limit the type of pesticides used on crops. (HR) 2.A bill to restrict the troops sent abroad. (HR) 3.A bill to support wind energy research. (S) 4.A bill to enforce equal rights in the workforce. (S) 5.A bill to send a new type of satellite to space. (HR) 6.A bill to change the meeting times for the House of Representatives. (HR) 7.A bill to enforce the 2009 federal budget. (HR)

Bill Poster- Read your assigned bill then create a poster that contains: Bill Name Bill Number Senate or House? Who? Which State? Summary of the Bill Committee Assigned to Where is it now????? Picture

Tuesday, February 12 EQ- How does a bill become a law? Agenda: 1. Copy notes! You will need these, so don’t lose them! 2. Bill to a Law Process (use the chart on page 185) 3. Review Legislative Branch (clicker review & crossword) 4. Work on the Project- Due Friday!!! (you will not have a page 8,18-19)

Copy these notes on a piece of paper. You will need these for your book and your work this period. 1.The legislative branch makes laws and is called Congress. 2.It was set up by Article 1 of the Constitution. 3.It is bicameral- has two parts called the Senate and the House of Reps. 4.House of Reps: 25 years old, 2 year term, 7 years citizen, lower house, led by the speaker, starts impeachment, in charge of money bills, represent districts 5. Senate: 30 years old, six year term, 9 year citizen, upper house, led by the VP, finishes impeachment, approves treaties, represent the whole state, can filibuster 6. Committees: groups in Congress that divide the workload. There are 4 types: –Standing- permanent, topic based, decide bills –Joint- has members of Senate and House –Conference- comes up with Compromise bills –Select- deals with a special issue

Bill to a Law Process Fill in your graphic organizer, using page 185 on the text. –The “committee action” box in the middle is not on your chart. That’s ok! Once you finish, write a paragraph on the back of your graphic organizer that explains how a bill becomes a law. Turn this in!

Bill Introduced, Read out loud, given # and Committee Committee Action (kill it? Subcommittee assignment, hearings, vote) Committee Action (kill it? Subcommittee assignment, hearings, vote) Whole Floor Debate and Vote Conference Committee (compromise bill) Both houses vote again President 1- sign it = LAW! 2- veto it (can override with 2/3 vote- very rare!) 3- do nothing for 10 days and it becomes a law anyway!

Review Use your notebook to complete the Legislative Branch crossword. Turn this in!

Book Project Project is due Thursday! Remember it must be bound in some format, be in color and have a complete sentence or two on each page!!!! Each page must have a picture. You DO NOT have to do pages 18 &19! This counts as a major grade!