Chapter 11 Discussion

The framers of the Constitution designed the Senate to filter the output of the sometimes hasty House. Do you think this was a wise idea? Why or why not? Respond to at least 2 other students’ posts.

Relevant Learning Objectives:

• Describe the role of Congress in the U.S. constitutional system.
• Define bicameralism
• Explain how fundamental characteristics of the House and Senate shape their elections.

Remember to incorporate the course readings to form a foundation for your responses. Additionally, you must properly cite the course text (Krutz, 2020, page number). Consult the Discussion Grading Guidelines for additional details.

Also response to the following posts- 

Post 1

First peer below

When I was thinking about this you have to remember that senators were picked by the state legislators. When the 17th amendment was ratified, that’s when the electorate started voting in the senators.

When the Constitution was being made, there were some concerns about the amount of power people should be given. They were concerned that the passions of the voters and the representative in the House needed an element to put them in check. George Washington may have told Thomas Jefferson that the Senate could cool the passions of the House the way that a saucer cools hot tea.

In this sense, the Senate was seen as a place for the process of passing legislation to slow down and be debated by representatives less beholden to the masses. Furthermore, longer debates were and still are permitted in the Senate than in the House. This certainly seemed like a good idea at the time. With the Senate’s role of checking the hastiness of the House, more informed and thought-out conclusions and laws could be made. However, now that senators are more directly responsible to the electorate, this effect has been diminished. (Krutz, 2020, page 414,406,)

Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government that represents the American people and makes the nation’s laws. It shares power with the executive branch, led by the president, and the judicial branch, whose highest body is the Supreme Court of the United States. Of the three branches of government, Congress is the only one elected directly by the people.

Article I—the longest article of the Constitution—describes congressional powers. Congress has the power to:

• Make laws
• Declare war
• Raise and provide public money and oversee its proper expenditure
• Impeach and try federal officers
• Approve presidential appointments
• Approve treaties negotiated by the executive branch
• Oversight and investigations

Biacameral is having a legislature split up into two different assemblies or houses known as bicameral legislature. So two legislative chambers.

Since the House is closest to its constituents because reelection is so frequent a need, it tends to be more easily led by fleeting public desires. In contrast, the Senate’s distance from its constituents allows it to act more deliberately. Each type of representative, however, must raise considerable sums of money in order to stay in office. Attempts by Congress to rein in campaign spending have largely failed. Nevertheless, incumbents tend to have the easiest time funding campaigns and retaining their seats. They also benefit from the way parties organize primary elections, which are designed to promote incumbency.

Sources:

gov/about-congress/what-congress-does” title=’https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/about-congress/what-congress-does<span class=”screenreader-only” style=”box-sizing: border-box;”><span>&nbsp;</span>(Links to an external site.)</span>’>https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/about-congress/what-congress-does (Links to an external site.)

Congressional Elections | American Government (lumenlearning.com 

Post 2

I do believe that the formation of the Senate to filter the output of the House was a wise idea. I see having a two-house Congress the same way I view the three branches of government, checks and balances. In the same manner that the legislative branch (Congress) checks and balances the executive and judicial branches, Congress needs that same oversight within. The way in which the House and Senate must pass identical bills requires for debate and essentially prevents legislation from being past hastily.

Congress as we know it today came from an attempt to revise the Articles of Confederations which at the time seemed to not be working (Krutz 2020 p. 404). Delegates from each state (except Rhode Island) got together and after much debate on whether to have a bicameral or unicameral congress the delegates landed on bicameral. Bicameralism is the division of legislators into two separate assemblies (p. 404). In the US these two assemblies are called the House of Representatives and Senate. The House of Representative is made up of representatives from each state and the number of seats granted to each state is based on its size. As of 2020, the House had a total of 435 members (cannot have more than 435) and the Senate had a total of 100 members made up of two Senators per state.

The role of Congress is to provide representation for the states proposing and passing legislation, bills, on behalf of the American people (p. 406). The function of passing bills is not easy, which was the goal of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention. The House and Senate must pass identical legislation before it is sent to the president. Whenever a new bill is proposed it is usually met with opposition by the opposite house leading to debate and compromises. The difficulty of passing legislation makes it less likely that Congress will pass laws without necessary deliberation (p. 406). The difficulty of passing legislation is also important because it keeps laws from being passed that would unfairly favor interest groups or single factions (p. 406).

As stated above the Senate is made up of 100 members, two from each state. The number of Senators allowed is specified in the US Constitution and it also limits the term to six year before the Senator must run for reelection (p. 406). At the onset of the bicameral congress, Senators were appointed by state legislators instead of elected by popular vote. However, in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment allowed for Senators to be elected instead of appointed (p. 406). Each state has a minimum of one House of Representatives member and members who are part of states having multiple members are divided into the state’s congressional districts. House members are voted for by the voters in their district not by voters in the entire state.

The number of seats in the House apportioned to each state can change every 10 years based off of the state’s census results; however, each state is guaranteed one seat. While the number of House members per state can change, the total number of House members in Congress was capped by Congress in 1929 at 435 members. The change every 10 years is called redistricting which means that the legislative districts are redrawn in each state if needed (p. 407). The redrawing of legislative districts ensures that there remains a similar number of voters in each district with the population growth or decline that occurs overtime.

References

Krutz (2020). The Great Compromise and the Basics Of Bicameralism. Found in American Government 2e. (Pp. 404 & 406)

Krutz (2020). Senate Representation and House Apportionment Found in American Government 2e (p.406)