Agenda

• Today

    - Congress 
    - Discussion: Quiz review questions at end of slides

• Next week

    - Ethics and Government Officials
    - The Presidency and Bureaucracy

Announcements

• Reminder: Complete Module 2 Quiz if you haven’t
• Extra points: Survey - late, but will happen and will be easy

The Congressional Mandate: Securing Liberty and Opportunity

• Congress (Article I) is the source of law and democratic consent.
• Goal: To secure unalienable rights—Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Opportunity).
• New Focus: Analyzing how functional power (purse, oversight) directly impacts student economic stability and civic accountability.

The Crisis of Relevance: Congressional Impact on Students

• Community College Barriers: Costs, housing, childcare, and basic needs security.
• Federal Policies Affecting You: Financial aid (Pell Grants, FAFSA), Career & Technical Education (CTE) funding, and local community service programs.

House vs. Senate: Purpose and Power

• House: Designed to be reactive (2-year terms); power to originate revenue and impeach.
• Senate: Designed for deliberation (6-year terms); power of Advise and Consent (Treaties, Cabinet, Judges).

Checks and Balances: The Intentional Design for Delay

• The division of power (separation of powers) is a safeguard against tyranny and hasty legislation.
• Examples: Veto/Override, Confirmation process, Judicial Review.

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Streamlined Power: Three Functional Categories

• Consolidation of Enumerated Powers centered on:
  1. Economic Power: Tax, spend, borrow, regulate commerce (Civil Rights Act via Commerce Clause).
  2. National Security: Declare war, raise and support military forces.
  3. Governance: Naturalization/Immigration, establishing courts, necessary and proper clause (Implied Powers).

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The Purse as the Engine of Opportunity

• Congress has the constitutional duty to limit the amount and duration of spending authority.
• Key Insight: This power is the direct legislative fulfillment of the promise of economic opportunity.

Direct Impact: Education, Aid, and Community Support

• Funding threats to the Department of Education can delay critical aid delivery (FAFSA, Pell Grants).
• The “Hand Up”: Federal Work Study (FWS) community service programs reduce student costs while fostering decentralized volunteerism and skill development.

Federalism and the Power of Conditional Spending

• Congress uses federal funds to impose compliance standards on states and universities.
• Examples: Mandating military recruiter access on campuses. This circumvents the 10th Amendment’s anti-commandeering principle by using funding conditions.

The Process: Why Lawmaking Is So Difficult

• Lawmaking is intentionally difficult to prevent simple majority tyranny.
• Formal steps: Introduction, Committee Action, Floor Action, Conference, Presidential Action.

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The Essential Role of Committees

• Committees provide expertise, necessary for tackling complex technical issues.
• High-Impact Committees: Ways & Means (Tax/Social Security); Appropriations (Funding distribution); Rules (Procedural gatekeeper).
• Conference Committees: Reconcile differences between House and Senate versions.

The Investigative Authority

• Oversight is the “check” on the executive branch, used to expose fraud, inform the public, and write better legislation.
• Power of Inquiry: Includes subpoena power and the ability to compel witnesses (upheld by the Supreme Court).

Case Studies in Constitutional Safeguards

• Historical Examples: Watergate and the Church Committee (investigating intelligence abuses, protecting civil liberties).
• The War Powers Resolution (1973): Congress’s legislative response to executive military overreach, attempting to assert its constitutional authority.

Representation: The Problem of Gerrymandering

• Partisan gerrymandering distorts representation, maximizing one party’s advantage.
• Consequence: Reduced accountability, increased ideological polarization, leading to gridlock.

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Ethics and Campaign Finance

• The Debate: The tension between limiting large donations (seen as “corrupting influence”) and protecting free speech rights.
• Challenges: Political funding frequently circumvents regulatory limits, eroding public trust.

The Budgetary Labyrinth and Gridlock

• The official Fiscal Year timeline (October 1) is rarely met due to political polarization.
• Failure to Pass: Congress relies on temporary Continuing Resolutions (CRs) instead of regular appropriations bills.
• Impact: This fiscal instability hinders long-term federal planning and affects the timely delivery of student aid

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Beyond the Ballot Box

• Civic learning must involve action: critical thinking, local debate, and community participation.
• Defending Freedoms: Understanding and preparing to defend Constitutional freedoms is essential for maintaining a free democratic society.
• Call to Action: Engage in local political life, understand how Congress funds your community (libraries, education), and hold representatives accountable for securing opportunity.

Chapter 11: Congress - Exam Review Questions

    - What is Congress?
    - What are the roles of Congress?
    - What are the powers of Congress?
    - What are the functions of Congress?
    - What are the types of Congress?
    - What are the types of Congressional committees?
    - What are the types of Congressional leadership?
    - What are the issues with Congress?
    - What are the issues with Congressional leadership?
    - What are the issues with Congressional committees?
    - What are the issues with Congressional powers?
    - What are the issues with Congressional functions?
    - What are the issues with Congress?
    
    
   
  
    

Authorship and License

Do not submit to Quizlet, Chegg, Coursehero, or other similar commercial websites.

Graphics are from Norton Publishers, produced using Google resources including nano banana, Gemini, or NotebookLM, or original work unless otherwise noted.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.