Transcript
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The speaker introduces the video’s focus on Congress in AP Government and previews the learning objective. He also briefly promotes the review packet before moving into the lesson.
Speaker A
Hey there and welcome back to Heimler's History.And furthermore, welcome to the first video covering Unit 2 of the AP government curriculum.This video is all about the Congress of the United States, its structure and its power.So if you're ready to get them brain cows milked bicameral style, well then, let's get to it.As always, let me begin by telling you what we're aiming to accomplish in this Describe the different structures, powers and functions of each house in Congress.Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.Now, before we jump in, let me remind you that if you need help getting an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in May, then you can check out my AP Government Ultimate Review packet.It's got exclusive videos content from this guy, practice questions, essential questions and answers in AP style practice exams to get you ready for the exam.
So if that's something you're into, then, you know, get your clicky finger out and check the link in the description.
This section explains Congress as a bicameral legislature and breaks down the Senate and House of Representatives. It covers representation, term lengths, age requirements, census-based apportionment, and how each chamber’s structure affects responsiveness and coalition-building.
Speaker A
Okay, let's talk about Congress, and first we'll deal with its structure.The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature, which means that it contains two houses.Now, remember that the Federal Congress under the Articles of Confederation only had one house in Congress, and each state was represented equally.But as my grandpappy used to say, that turned out to be about as effective as a steering wheel on a mule.So under Article 1 of the Constitution, congressional power was divided into two houses.First is the Senate, in which each state is represented equally.
So no matter how many people live in an area in the Senate, each state has two representatives and therefore two votes.So that means with 50 states, we currently have 100 senators.Now, traditionally, the Senate is considered the more mature body in Congress on account of its members that are required to be older than those in the House.You can't become a Senator unless you've attained to the wizened old age of 330 years old.Additionally, senators hold six year terms, which is longer than House members.And the reason is that the framers of the Constitution wanted this House to be more insulated from public pressure, which I'm going to tell you about in a moment when we talk about House members.Senators have more constitutional responsibility than do House members, and we'll talk more about that in the next video.And the last general idea you need to know about the Senate is because each state only has two Senators, they represent the entire state.
And that means that Senators are less connected to the intimate details of most of the people that they represent.Instead, senators deal more with big issues and generalities, here's the House of Representatives, in which each state is represented by population.
So more populous states have more representatives and less populous states have less.And constitutionally, every state, no matter how small it is, is guaranteed at least one representative.Currently, federal law has capped the number of Representatives in the house at 435.So how do we figure out how many Representatives each state gets?Excellent question.
We figure that out by means of the census, which happens every 10 years, and it measures how many people live in the US and where they live.And then based on that data, seats in the House are reapportioned to reflect the now, the House is a little more scrappy than the Senate for a couple of reasons.First, a Representative only has to be 25 years old to run for a seat, which is approximately the year that a human brain is done developing.So that is something for which we can all be thankful.Additionally, House members only hold two year terms, so potentially there's a lot more turnover.Now, the two year terms serve a very important purpose.Because Representatives face re election not too long after their butt cheeks hit their Congressional seat.That means that they have to be much more responsive to the people who elected them.
Furthermore, because there's usually so many more House members per state than Senators, though not in every case, they are closer to the issues that people in their districts care about since they don't represent a whole state, just a portion of the state.And one more thing, because of these shorter term lengths, House members are less likely to form bipartisan coalitions in order to pursue various legislative goals.And a coalition is just an alliance of legislators that work together for a common goal.
The speaker shifts to Congress’s role in making laws and how a bill must pass both chambers before reaching the president. He then compares debate rules in the Senate and House, emphasizing how chamber size shapes procedure.
Speaker A
Okay, so now you understand the basic structure in each House.Now let's talk in general about the purpose of Congress.Since Congress embodies the legislative branch of the government, that means their unique purpose in our government is to make laws no other branch of the federal government can.And we're going to talk more about how that gets done in the next two videos.But for now, just understand, in order for a bill to become a law, both houses of Congress have to agree by vote on identical versions of the bill.And if they do, then it gets passed to the President for signing.And that's how a bill becomes a law.Now, in order for bills to get passed, there is an awful lot of debate that happens on the floors of both houses.But because each House is structured differently, they have different rules for debate.
Because the Senate is smaller, their rules provide for unlimited debate on bills.But on the other hand, the House has so many members, they have rules that restrict debate to an hour per.There are actually lots of caveats to what I just said for the House.But for our purposes, you just need to know that the Senate debates are a lot more relaxed and informal, whereas House debates are a lot more structured and governed by rules.And it's the size and structure of each House that dictates those formalities and informalities.
This chapter explains where Congress gets its authority from Article I, Section 8 and defines enumerated powers. It reviews key powers like budgeting, taxation, coinage, war powers, and military funding, then introduces implied powers through the necessary and proper clause.
Speaker A
Okay, so we've talked about the structure and the function of Congress.Now let's see where they get their power and what kinds of power they have.And for that, you need to know Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.In this section, we have what's called the enumerated powers of Congress.And if you enumerate something, that just means you list it out.And so here in Article 1 section, in section 8, the Constitution makes a list of exactly what powers belong to Congress, which enables them to do the work of passing legislation.And there are five of these enumerated powers that the AP overlords want you to know.First, Congress has the power to pass a federal budget.Sometimes you'll hear this referred to as the power of the purse.Passing the federal budget, as you can imagine, is an incredibly complex process which can often take months of negotiation to settle.
Second, Congress has the power to raise revenue, which is accomplished through taxation in various forms.The biggest portion of their revenue comes from income taxes, and then you have other taxes like tariffs, etc.Third, Congress has the power to coin money.And this is a very good thing because it creates a uniform currency throughout the nation and saves us from the headache of having different currencies in each state.Fourth, Congress has the power to declare war.And it was very important to the framers of the Constitution that the branch of government that represented the people be the one responsible for sending those people to war.Fifth, Congress has the power to raise and maintain the armed forces.Again, very important that this job belongs to the people's representatives instead of the president, who could very easily slide into tyranny with that power.So those are some of the enumerated powers that you need to know, but we also need to talk about the implied, implied powers of Congress.
Now, when something is implied, it means that you understand the meaning, even if it's not explicitly said.So implied powers are those powers which belong to Congress but aren't actually written in Article 1, Section 8.And so where in the world does Congress get these powers?Well, they get this power from the necessary and proper clause at the end of Article 1, Section 8.And it basically says right after it enumerates all the powers of Congress that this body also has the power to pass any law which may be deemed necessary and proper to carrying out the enumerated powers.And Congress has used that power over the years to pass a wide range of legislation on economic and environmental and social issues.
The video wraps up with a brief conclusion and calls to action. The speaker points viewers to the review packet, subscription link, and playlist for further help.
Speaker A
Okay, thanks for watching.Here is the link right here to my View packet.If you want help getting an A in your class and a 5 on your exam in May, and if you want me to keep making these videos, then you can let me know that by subscribing.And finally, if you want more help on unit 2, then this playlist right here is going to make all your dreams come true.Heimler out.