Congress - Functions - Representation

Question 1

Congress representation good:

House v Sen and stats

Answer 1

House of reps better represents states (Cali 52 seats, vermont 1)
2009 17% women, 2019 21%
2009 8% African American 2019 9.5%
2009 5% Hispanic 2019 8.6%

Question 2

Congress representation bad:

Answer 2

Descriptive representation is bad
23% women falls hugely short of 51% of country
9.5% African American still short of 14% of country
8.6% Hispanic still short of 16.3%
Senate significantly behind Reps

Question 3

Reasons for Incumbency rates so high

Answer 3

80+% incumbency rate at mid terms because of:
Name recognition 
Record of achievement in legislation
Lack of challenge in own party 
Gerrymandering, Pork

Question 4

Pork

Answer 4

• Approval ratings for individual members than the whole house
• Based off earmarks, which are crucial to rep demo
• Alaska Ted Stevens 223M Bridge to nowhere, island of 50 people
• Mississippi 350M Rocket test for defunct programme

Question 5

Gerrymandering

Answer 5

• The state legislature is responsible for redistricting constituencies (Districts)
• The redrawing passes like legislation, meaning a majority will pass
• Packing and cracking of ethnicity, age, income
• 2012 Cong election GOP 234 seats, 47% of votes, DEM 201, 48%
• Creates safe seats, est 80% of seats are safe, no threat of held to account

Question 6

Influences on congressional legislation

Answer 6

• Constituents through pork. Rocket centre 5000 jobs - Mississippi senators 350M
• Because of gerry, some may ignore constituents, knowing they can’t be voted out
• Pressure groups/Lobbyists - NRA Score cards, might donate to congressmen supporting
• Party - Party ideology - Standard Repub/Dem
• Congressional caucus - Party factions/issue factions - Bike caucus promotes cycling to work