____/25 –Workbook Score:
Name
Date
Period
____/10 –Notes Score:
APG Unit 2 Part 1: Congress and the Budget
Packet #2
Weeks: 2
____/35 –Total Score
Objectives: These are the key concepts that you must be able to answer after Unit 2 Part 1.
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Understand the powers of Congress, specifically the committee system
Determine the make-up of the current House and Senate.
Analyze how Congress and the President undertake the arduous task of developing an annual budget.
Evaluate how social policy impacts policy making decisions.
Determine the purpose of a tax
Chapter 12 Vocabulary: incumbents, pork barrel, House Rules Committee, filibuster, Speaker of the House, Majority Leader,
whips, minority leader, standing committees, joint committees, conference committees, select committees, legislative oversight,
committee chairs, seniority system, caucus, bill (17)
Chapter 14 Vocabulary: budget, deficit, expenditures, revenues, income tax, Sixteenth Amendment, federal debt, tax
expenditures, Social Security Act, Medicare, incrementalism, uncontrollable expenditures, entitlements, House Ways and Means
Committee, Senate Finance Committee, Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Congressional Budget Office,
budget resolution, reconciliation, authorization bill, appropriations bill, continuing resolutions (22)
Chapter 18 Vocabulary: social welfare policies, entitlement programs, means-tested programs, income distribution, poverty
line, feminization of poverty, progressive tax, proportional tax, regressive tax, Earned Income Tax Credit, transfer payment, Social
Security Act of 1935, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,
Social Security Trust Fund (15)
Homework Assignments:
Chapter 12 Materials
Vocabulary
 Notecards and Quiz Due:
Textbook:
 Congress (pp. 352-389) and Quiz Due:
Chapter 14 Materials
Vocabulary
 Notecards and Quiz Due:
Textbook:
 The Congress, the President, and the Budget: The Politics of Taxing and Spending (pp. 434-501) and Quiz Due:
Chapter 18 Materials
Vocabulary
 Notecards and Quiz Due:
Textbook:
 Social Welfare Policymaking (pp. 564-587) and Quiz Due:
Unit Reader:
 Stalemate and Pork: A Time-Honored Tradition Lives On and Quiz Due:
SCOTUS Cases (green cards): Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, United States v. Nixon, Clinton v. New York City
Extra Unit Practice: 5 Steps to a 5 Chapter 12
Unit 2 Test –
Unit 2 Guided Reading Point Matrix:
5 points.
3 points.
Chapter
Status/Point Value
12 –Congress
14 –The Congress, the President, and the
Budget
18 –Social Welfare Policymaking
Unit 2 Part 1 FRQ Creation
Unit 2 Part 1 Arch Question
Chapter 12 Key Concepts
12.1 The Representatives and Senators
1. How many committees are HR and Senators on (as an average)? Explain why this happens.
2. Based on the readings, do you think Congressmen/women are over/under worked? Support your answer with FACTS.
3. How many members are there in Congress? How are the divided?
4. Explain how the information in Table 12.2 SUPPORTS the Elite/Class Theory.
12.2 Congressional Elections
1. Explain why it is so important to be an incumbent.
2. Describe:
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Advertising:
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Credit Claiming:
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Position Taking:
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Weak Opponents:
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Campaign Spending:
3. How can incumbents be defeated?
4. Do you think incumbency is good or bad for democracy? Explain.
5. What is “gerrymandering” and how does it affect politics?
12.3 How Congress is Organized to Make Policy
1. Explain “bicameralism”, and where do we find it in the Constitution?
2. What is the role of the House Rules Committee in the HR?
3. Explain what “decentralized power” means in the Senate.
4. Explain the “filibuster” and “cloture” and how these can exasperate government operations.
5. Who is the leader of the HR and what are some of their duties?
6. Who is the majority leader in the HR and what are some of their duties?
7. What are “whips” and what role do they play in the HR?
8. Who is the president of the Senate? What is their PRIMARY duty in the Senate?
9. Who is the majority leader in the Senate and what are some of their duties in the Senate?
10. Explain the term “weak parties” and explain why this term matters in government.
11. Define and explain the following terms:
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Standing Committee:
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Joint Committee:
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Conference Committee:
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Select Committee:
12. Describe the job of a committee.
13. What is “legislative oversight” and how does it work?
14. Why are caucus (congressional) important to the committee system?
15. Define and explain the following terms:
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Personal staff:
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Committee staff:
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Staff agencies
12.4 The Congressional Process
1. Who can formally submit bills for consideration?
2. Describe unorthodox lawmaking.
3. What is omnibus legislation? In your opinion, is it good or bad for the democratic system?
4. Describe the relationship between the President and Congress for the creation of legislation.
Function Number One is:
1.
How many laws are introduced into Congress each year? What is the percentage that make it to law?
2.
Trace how a bill becomes a law:
House
 Introduced:
Senate
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Introduced:
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Referred to House Committee:
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Referred to Senate Committee:
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Referred to Subcommittee:
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Referred to Subcommittee:
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Reported by Full Committee:
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Reported by Full Committee:
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Committee on Rules:
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Full Senate Debates/Votes:
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Full House Debates/Votes:
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If Passes/Fails:
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If Passes/Fails
Conference Committee:
House approval by how many votes (% and #s):
Senate approval by how many votes (% and #s):
President must
Sign:
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Veto:
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Wait 10 days:
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Wait 10 days (Congress is adjourned):
5. Define and explain the following:
 Party influence:
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Constituency verses ideology:
6. What is a lobbyist and how do they influence the policy process?
7. How is the power of the lobbyist regulated? Do you agree with this? Explain.
12.5 Understanding Congress
1. How is Congress undemocratic?
2. What does representativeness v. effectiveness mean? Explain.
3. Is government the solution to our problems, or is it the problem itself? Explain with examples from Chapter 12.
Chapter 14 Key Concepts
14.1 Sources of Federal Revenue
1. What is the current federal budget today?
2.
Why is income tax a cooperative type of federalism?
3.
Explain how cooperate and individual income taxes differ. Why is this shocking?
4.
Explain how the federal government borrows money.
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What is this money used for?
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How is this money repaid?
5.
What is the current federal debt? Is this shocking to you? Explain.
6.
How is deficit spending related to the national debt?
7.
Explain why governments issue bonds  what are these bonds used for financially?
8.
Define the following:
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Tax loopholes:
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Tax expenditures:
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Tax reduction:
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Tax reform:
14.2 Federal Expenditures
1. What is government expenditure?
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List the two most expensive expenditures.
2.
How has the national security state changed over time?
3.
How has the social service state changed over time?
4.
Define and explain how both of these programs ARE HURTING the American public (use your minds folks!):
5.
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Social Security:
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Medicare:
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What happens to social security in 2018?
Describe “incrementalism” and the four features of it:
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6.
Why are uncontrollable expenditures detrimental to the national budget?
14.3 The Budgetary Process Today
1. What does “stakes and strategies” mean when we are talking about the federal budget?
2.
Describe the following players in the budgetary process:
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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
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The Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
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The Appropriations Committees and their sub committees
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The government Accountability Office (GAO)
3.
How does the president submit his budget to congress?
4.
Describe the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and explain the three goals it established:
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5.
What is a sequestration?
14.4 Understanding Budgeting
1. How is the budget connected to the size of our government?
2.
Explain the connection between voters who are poor and government benefits.
3.
Explain the connection between political action committees (PAC) and the budget.
4.
Has our government grown too large? Explain by using examples from Chapter 12.
Chapter 18 Key Concepts
18.1 What is Social Welfare
1. Explain what is meant by social welfare policy.
2. Summarize how liberals and conservatives disagree about the conduct and impact of public assistance programs.
3. Differentiate between entitlement programs and means-tested programs.
18.2 Income, Poverty, and Public Policy
1. Distinguish the three major types of taxation: progressive, regressive, and proportional.
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Show how each affects the public class structure in different ways.
2. Indicate the role that entitlements play in the U.S. budgetary system.
3. Explain why policymaking in the United States is very incremental in nature.
18.3 Helping the Poor? Social Policy and Poverty
1. Summarize the effects that social welfare programs have had on the day-to-day living conditions of groups of Americans, such
as the poor, the young, and the elderly.
2. Identify the major American social welfare programs and the groups that benefit from them.
3. Trace the evolution of America’s social welfare programs, with emphasis on the role of the Great Depression.
18.4 Living on Borrowed Time: Social Security
1. Compare and contrast the views of recent presidents of both political parties toward social welfare expenditures.
18.5 Social Welfare Policy Elsewhere
1. Contrast social welfare policy in the United States with that of other major Western democracies.
18.6 Understanding Social Welfare Policy
1.
Examine the relationship between social welfare policy and the scope of government. How does the creation of social
welfare policy influence the scope of our:
 National Government:
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State Government:
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Local Government:
Unit 2 Part 1 FRQ Creation: Create an FRQ based on the following political cartoon. The FRQ must have a minimum of 3 action
verbs that require you to complete three different objectives and must contain a minimum of five vocabulary terms from the Unit. Include
the answers to the FRQ as well.
APG Unit 2 Part 1 Arch Questions -Putting it all Together
Directions: Use the information that we have covered in Unit 2 Part 1 to answer the following questions. You will randomly present
these responses to the class:
1. Explain why Congress is divided into committees. What is the purpose of this system? What are the benefits and drawbacks
to this system?
2.
Compare the federal governments revenue to its expenditures at https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federalbudget-101/spending/. Pick one mandatory program and one discretionary program. Elaborate on their purpose.