Evaluate The View That The Congress Is Effective In Representing The Electorate.(30)

Question 1

Paragraph One ➡️ Congressional Elections
- For: Congress Does Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 1

• It can be argued that Congress effectively represents the electorate as elections to Congress
  are very frequent, with the whole House of Representatives and 1⁄3 of the Senate being
  reelected every 2 years.
  This allows the US electorate to regularly hold their representatives to account and to check
  the power of the President’s party and President during midterms.
• It can also be argued that members of the House of Representatives being elected every 2
  years and Senators being elected every 6 years complement each other well and lead to
  effective representation of the electorate in different ways.
  –The fact they wouldn’t have to face re-election in less than 2 years time allowed them to
  exercise their judgement and do what they thought was right without fear of being
  immediately voted out by the Republican base in primaries.

Question 2

Paragraph One ➡️ Congressional Elections
- Against: Congress Doesn’t Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 2

– It can also be argued that members of the House of Representatives are elected too frequently.
The fact they are elected every 2 years leads them to almost constantly focus on raising money
and being reelected, rather than representing their constituents.
It has been estimated that members of Congress can spend up to half of their working
hours on fundraising activities, especially during election years, significantly reducing the
time available for legislative and constituency work.

Question 3

Paragraph Two ➡️ Representation Of Interests
- For: Congress Does Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 3

They spend a lot of time in their constituencies, including holding regular town hall meetings
in which they meet face to face with those they represent.
The average Representative holds nine town halls per 2 year Congress and the average
Senator holds seven, according to research by Columbia University.
Congresspeople and Senators seek to represent the interests of their constituency in Congress
by voting in a way that the majority of their district/state would support.
– Democrat Senator Joe Manchin has often voted with the Republicans, in large
part due to the fact he represents West Virginia which supported Trump in both 2016 and
2020. He was successfully reelected in 2018.

Question 4

Paragraph Two ➡️ Representation Of Interests
- Against: Congress Doesn’t Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 4

– the importance campaign financing to fighting elections also makes lawmakers
susceptible to being influenced by the interests and demands of lobbyists and interest groups,
therefore undermining democracy and their primary role of representing their state/district.
– The NRA has a massive budget for lobbying, campaign contributions, and public
relations efforts, raising over $250M each year.

Question 5

Paragraph Three ➡️ Descriptive Representation
Against: Congress Doesn’t Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 5

– It can be argued that Congress doesn’t perform its representative function effectively as
Congress today is far more white, male, straight, college educated and old than the US
population as a whole.
A quarter of members of the 118th Congress are non-white, compared to 41% of the US
population.
Just 28% of all members of the 118th Congress are women, compared to 51% of the US
population.
– the Black Lives Matter movement
pushed for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which sought police reform through
addressing issues like chokeholds, no-knock warrants, and qualified immunity for officers.
This failed to be passed by the Senate, however, in which the black population is
significantly underrepresented, with there being just eight black Senators.

Question 6

Paragraph Three ➡️ Descriptive Representation
Against: Congress
For: Congress Does Perform Its Representative Function Effectively

Answer 6

– The 118th Congress has 137 non white members, compared to the just 86 non white
members 10 years ago in the 113th Congress.
The 118th Congress has 150 women members, compared to the 100 women members in the
113th Congress 10 years ago.
– Caucuses can also be seen as playing an effective role within Congress at promoting the
interests of minority voters. The Congressional Black Causus, for example, is made up of
African-American members of Congress and is currently chaired by Steven Horsford.
It played an important role in pushing for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in 2021.