ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Does Congress function, in our time, as the founding fathers intended and does it serve the will of the people?
What is an Excursion? The excursions below (you choose which ones you want to do) will ask you to consider aspects of how Congress operates today. Each of these investigations into today's legislative branch will build upon the knowledge you gained in Gates 1-4. They will also prepare you for the written test at the end of the unit (which is a Common Core reading assessment for which you integrate ideas and evidence from 5 sources to argue for an answer to a question). In order to reach a score of 4 (Exceeds) or 3.5 (Meets Plus) on the electronic unit test, you need to complete at least 3 excursions, across all the gates.
In each excursion, you will be asked to consider whether or not the legislative branch is operating as it should, and you should make reference to the sources (by their letter), for support (or as examples of points you are making). How Congress "should" behave is certainly a topic on which people have many different opinions. In order to focus this, you will be asked to evaluate the following two ideas:
In each excursion, you will be asked to consider whether or not the legislative branch is operating as it should, and you should make reference to the sources (by their letter), for support (or as examples of points you are making). How Congress "should" behave is certainly a topic on which people have many different opinions. In order to focus this, you will be asked to evaluate the following two ideas:
- Is Congress operating as the founding fathers intended?
- Is Congress operating in a way that serves the will of the people?
The chart below is provided to help you think about four different places at which you might arrive at the end of each excursion.
EXCURSION 1: With increasing reliance on the reconciliation process, has the Senate filibuster outlived its usefulness? Or does it help balance the power of the majority and prevent extremism?Prompt: Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of keeping the filibuster and argue whether or not it should be ended - Does the use of the filibuster today align with the intentions of the founding fathers? Does it help serve the will of the people today? Should it stay or go? (Use the sources below in your response)
What is a filibuster? A filibuster is an attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter. The cloture rule – Rule 22 – is the only formal procedure that Senate rules provide for breaking a filibuster. Under cloture, the Senate may limit consideration of a bill or confirmation under consideration to 30 additional hours of debate (breaking a filibuster), but only if three-fifths of senators (60 votes) agree. While filibusters were used rarely throughout most of U.S. history (with a couple of exceptional periods), it has become more frequent in recent decades (see Source C for details). In practice, this means that controversial or partisan legislation requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate (in order to be able to defeat any filibuster the minority party might try to make against it).
Check out the video below: SOURCE A:
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EXCURSION 2: Has Congress given away its war authority, or have the increased powers given to the President helped better "provide for the common defence"?Prompt: Has Congress harmed our system of government by giving away its war powers to the President, or has this helped the government fulfill its mission to "provide for the common defence"?
First, consider a few facts. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 (as you saw in Gate 2), Congress was given the power to declare war as one of its specifically "enumerated" powers. But the last war that was declared by Congress was on Japan (Dec. 7, 1941) and Germany (Dec. 11, 1941, after Hitler declared war on the then-neutral United States). Yet there have been many U.S. military engagements since then (never declared as wars), along with military engagements in the 1800s that were never declared wars. Does the way in which we authorize the use of military force today align with the intentions of the founding fathers? Does it help serve the will of the people today? Should we continue to allow the President such power? (Use the sources below in your response). SOURCE A:
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EXCURSION 3: How has redistricting ("gerrymandering") altered the competitiveness and nature of the House of Representatives?Prompt: Consider whether gerrymandering is consistent with a democratic government - Does the practice of gerrymandering align with the intentions of the founding fathers and how they designed the House of Representatives? Does it help serve the will of the people today? Should the majority political party in state legislatures continue to be allowed to draw congressional district boundaries? (Use the sources below in your response)
SOURCE A:
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