Unit 2: interactions among branches of government study guide answer key

LO: Explain how the structure, powers, and functions of both houses of Congress affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.1 By design, the different structures, powers, and functions of the Senate and the House of Representatives affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.2 Though both chambers rely on committees to conduct hearings and debate bills under consideration, different constitutional responsibilities of the House and Senate affect the policy-making process.

CON-3.B.3 Chamber-specific procedures, rules, and roles that impact the policy-making process include:

CON-3.B.4 Congress must generate a budget that addresses both discretionary and mandatory spending, and as entitlement costs grow, discretionary spending opportunities will decrease unless tax revenues increase or the budget deficit increases.

CON-3.B.5 Pork-barrel legislation and logrolling affect lawmaking in both chambers.

LO: Explain how congressional behavior is influenced by election processes, partisanship, and divided government.

LO: Explain how communication technology has changed the president’s relationship with the national constituency and the other branches.

LO: Explain how the exercise of judicial review in conjunction with life tenure can lead to debate about the legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s power.

CON-5.B.3 Controversial or unpopular court decisions can lead to challenges to the court’s legitimacy and power that Congress and the president can address only through future appointments, legislation changing the Court’s jurisdiction, or refusing to implement decisions.

LO: Explain how Congress uses its oversight power in its relationship with the executive branch.

PMI-2.C.2 As a means to curtail the use of presidential power, congressional oversight serves as a check of executive authorization and appropriation.

LO: Explain how the president ensures that executive branch agencies and departments carry out their responsibilities in concert with the goals of the administration.

PMI-2.D.2 Compliance monitoring can pose a challenge to policy implementation.

LO: Explain the extent to which governmental branches can hold the bureaucracy accountable given the competing interests of Congress, the president, and the federal courts.

Article I of the United States Constitution creates a bicameral, or two-house, legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The current structure of the Congress was the result of the Great (Connecticut) Compromise, reached at the Constitutional Convention. The Founding Fathers based their compromise in part on the belief that each house would serve as a check on the power of the other house. The House of Representatives was to be based on the population in the states, representative of the people, with its members chosen by popular vote. The Senate was to represent the states equally, with each state having the same number of senators, chosen by the state legislatures. Article II of the United States Constitution creates the roles and responsibilities of the office of the president. The office of the president may be the most important single position in the government of the United States. From the time of George Washington to the present, holders of the office of the president have striven to be more than just a ceremonial head of state. The American president is not just a figurehead but also a personality who commands power and respect. Through this position, they oversee a vast bureaucracy of policy wonks, cabinet secretaries, and staff and aides who help a president carry out US law and presidential policy. Finally, the United States has a dual system of courts—a federal court system and the court systems of each of the 50 states. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no national court system. State courts had the sole power to interpret and apply laws. This weakness led to Article III of the Constitution, which states that there shall be one Supreme Court and that Congress may establish a system of inferior courts. The Supreme Court interprets challenges to federal laws and those interpretations alter or set how the law is to be carried out going forward.