Rachel F.'s AP US Govt. Blog

1. How is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee divided between Democrats and Republicans? There are 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. All 10 Democrats and 1 Republican have said they will vote against Pompey. 2. Why is it divided that way? (not in the article, from your brain) The ratio between the parties of committee members reflects the ratio of full Congress. 3. Why is Pompeo in danger of not getting the approval of the committee if there are more Republicans? The committee knows that other Republicans will support him anyway and bring him for a vote of the entire Senate. 4. What will happen if the Committee votes against him?  Can he still become Secretary of State? The Committee's vote is more symbolic endorsement because he will be confirmed by the entire Senate's vote. He can still become Secretary of State because in the Senate, the Republicans have the majority, and two Democrats have said they will vote for him. 5. Why are the two Democrats pl...

1. What bill did Lamar Alexander co-sponsor, and why does he think it didn't get more attention in Congress? He co-sponsored a bill to stabilize the market of the Affordable Care Act. However, Trump officials prevented Congress from paying more attention to it. 2. Why does Judd Gregg say that Alexander does not fit in today's politics? Alexander favors compromise while the current trend in politics involves populism and extremism. 3. Why did Lamar Alexander decide to leave his job as a Senate leader? He wanted to take a bigger role in policymaking with health and education. He felt that the leadership role was confining him from moving ahead. 4. What significant event was the centerpiece of his campaign to win the governor election in the 1970s? He walked across the state, stopping at schools and engaging with people in their daily environments. 5. How do his aides describe Obamacare? They highly dislike it, describing it as a "horrible, terrible, awfu...

1. How many Americans have participated in protests since the beginning of 2016?  one in five Americans 2. Which political issue drew the most support from people participating in marches? women's rights 3. How are people characterizing these protests compared to those in the past? Overall, people view the recent ones as more divisive and violent, and many think the views are more extreme. 4. What is the difference in enthusiasm about midterm voting between those who have participated in marches and those that have not? 83% of rallygoers plan to vote compared to 62% of people overall. (article: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/7/17209710/trump-protest-poll ) 5. What is the goal of "Town Hall for our Lives"? The goal is to confront legislators in person on the topic of gun violence. 6. How can Town Halls indicate enthusiasm for the November elections? It shows that people may actually make gun control a key voting issue and go ...

1. What question will be added to the Census in 2020? It will ask people to say which people in the household are citizens. 2. How does the government justify this addition? They say it will give more information about the United States. 3. Why do people have a problem with this addition? It could decrease the responses of people who are immigrants, particularly those who are not legal residents, of the United States and thus give an inaccurate count of population while allocating funding and determining congressional districts. 4. Why is it important to states that the undocumented immigrants that live there answer the Census? 5. What limit is put on the Census bureau to prevent the problems people are concerned about? 6. How are both critics of Trump and the Trump administration technically correct about this particular question on the Census? In previous years, the question about citizenship has appeared on a survey that is only sent to a small percentage of...

1.  Why does Shira Scheindlin argue that due process rights for men like Rob Porter have not been violated? The fifth amendment states that no one can "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.” However, men like Rob Porter are not losing life, liberty, or property with these allegations, so the due process is not necessary. 2.  How does she describe the steps in the process when a legal action is brought against a person? It is often lengthy and complicated due to the many people involved. 3.  What "two prongs" of due process does Andrea Curcio identify? First, the government must notify you when it wants to charge you with crime or take other action against you. Second, before action can be taken, the accused person must have the opportunity to present his or her side of the story to a neutral decision maker 4. How does due process impact the person accused of a crime?  Basically, it protects people from ar...

1. Why was it strange for the Democratic candidate to win in the Pennsylvania district? Trump won the district by 20 percentage points, and the turnout was fairly high 2. On the chart, what is "Democratic swing"? It is the difference between the results of the special election and the district’s partisan lean. Partisan lean is the average difference between how the constituency voted and how the country voted overall in the last two presidential elections, weighing the 2016 election at 75 percent and 2012 at25 percent. 3. Which special elections so far have had the largest Democratic swing? Alabama U.S. Senate (at 31), Kansas 4th (at 23), and Pennsylvania 8th (at 22) 4. How is the generic ballot polling different from the results so far in these special elections? Generic ballot polls are from registered voters or sometimes all adults rather than likely voters, and the actual results are from who actually did vote. As a result, so far, results indicate that ...

1. Where do the district court and appellate court fit into the organization of the federal courts?  The district court is the lowest level of the federal courts, and it serves as a trial court. The appellate court is the next level up, and it handles appeals from the district court. 2. What makes the 9th Circuit stand out from the other circuit courts? It tends to have liberal rulings that are often reversed by the Supreme Court if appealed. 3. What historical cause may make this Circuit Court more liberal than others? 15 out of the 23 judges in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals were appointed by Democrat Jimmy Carter. 4. Give two examples of very liberal decisions that have come from judges on this court. Stephen Reinhardt wrote the opinions that ruled the Second Amendment doesn't recognize an individual right to bear arms and participated in the ruling that said the Pledge of Allegiance includes unconstitutional endorsement of religion with the words "und...

1. What are the disadvantages for Scott Pruitt of using rule making? The rule-making process is slow and requires many steps like collecting public input and can be slowed down by lawsuits. 2. How has the enforcement of environmental regulations changed from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration? The enforcement is much less strict under the Trump administration. For example, the agency has not said anything about counties that failed to meet ozone restrictions by the October 17 deadline. 3. What change has Pruitt made to the process for investigating potential violations of environmental regulations?   The enforcement division is required to get permission from headquarters before carrying out an investigation. 4. How many environmental regulations has Pruitt removed? He has tried to roll back at least 19 environmental regulations 5. Why are some people critical of having so many environmental regulations? They think it is bad for busine...

1. What action (or lack of action) caused the government shut down? Congress did not pass a government funding law before the old one expired. Their failure was due to Democrats insisting on withholding support for funding bills unless there were deportation protections for DREAMers while Republicans refused to include such measures. 2. In a shutdown, which government functions continue? Which ones stop? Many functions like military and law enforcement and social security continue to make sure society does not collapse. Nonessential functions as determined by the government, often jobs like managing parks and memorials, will cease, and workers are furloughed. 3. How were Democrats able to force Republicans to address the DACA issue? Democratic votes are required to pass the government funding, so by refusing their votes until DACA was addressed, Democrats forced Republicans to address the issue.   4. Why were some Democrats eager to end the shut down so...

1.  If the vice president and majority of the cabinet decide the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, what step do they take first? They put it down in writing and send it to the speaker of the House and the Senate's president pro tempore. 2. How many people does it take to make the vice president the acting president? 1 Vice President and 8 Cabinet members, so 9 people. 3. What happens if the president disagrees with the VP & cabinet? Congress would settle the matter with a vote, with a 2/3 majority in each house to retain the Vice President as acting president. 4. What event led to the passage of the 25th Amendment? John F. Kennedy's assassination and its resulting chaos caused the passage of the 25th amendment. 5. Prior to the 25th Amendment, what happened if the VP office was vacant?  The Constitution was vague on this point, and it was interpreted to mean there was no way to fill the VP office during the term....

1. Why did the Trump administration decide to end the Voter Fraud  Commission? States resisted the commission's requests for extensive voter information.  2. What claims had Trump made about voter fraud? He claimed that there was substantial evidence for voter fraud and that millions of fraudulent votes had cost him the popular vote 3. What rate of voter fraud was found by a Loyola Law School study?  A few hundred ballots at most over 15 years during which over 800 million votes were cast. 4. What rate of voter fraud did the North Carolina Board of Elections find? (North Carolina has some of the strictest voter laws in the country) only 0.00002 percent 5. What information does Trump base his claims on? His claims are based on a misinterpretation of a 2012 Pew Center that addressed the technology used for voter registration that retained deceased and relocated voters on the rosters. 6. Why do Republicans continue to emphasize the danger of vot...

1. What problem did General Electric have with the version of the tax reform bill passed by the House of Reps? It could greatly increase their taxes by restricting deduction of losses of some overseas units. 2. How is the Senate version different than the House version of this tax reform bill regarding the provision GE was worried about? The Senate's version keeps the company's ability to count the overseas losses when calculating tax liability. 3. How do foreign owned airlines and Delta want the tax bill to be different? Foreign owned airlines want to prevent a provision in the Senate bill that mandates foreign airlines to pay taxes on income earned on US flights. Delta, on the other hand, wants to keep the tax in the bill to raise money. 5. What will happen to the bill after it is debated and voted on in the Senate? Leaders in both chambers of Congress make compromises and merge the two competing bills. 6.  What problem do real estate company lobbyists ha...

1. Which two senators does the article single out as being potential obstacles to the passing of the tax bill & where are they from? Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine 2. What indications has Murkowski made about how she may vote on this tax bill? She has remained noncommittal in her responses to questions about how she will vote. 3. What did Republicans add to the bill that would specifically encourage Murkowski to vote for the bill? They included a provision to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic Wildlife Natural Refuge. 4. Why would Murkowski be more likely to support the bill if it adds this provision? It would bring significant revenue to her state and probably also make her popular for future reelections. 5. Why does Murkowski support "Obamacare" if she is a Republican? It has decreased the percentage of uninsured people in her state, which is a good thing. 6. How long has drilling in this part of Alaska been banned? 37...

1. How many total Republicans in Congress have already announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018? 14 (12 House Republicans and 2 Senators) 2. How many total Democrats in Congress have already announced that they will not run for reelection in 2018? 3 (3 House Democrats and 0 Senators) 3. What is so unique about the discrepancy between these two groups? The high number of Republicans who are leaving suggests that they anticipate a wave of Democratic popularity. Their actions could contribute to such a Democratic trend. 4. What factors do the authors of the article suggest are behind these decisions not to run for reelection? Republicans may fear backlash against the whole party due to the unpopularity of Donald Trump. Some may just be getting old. Others may not want to face tougher elections now that the Republican party appears to be weakening. 5.  Why might the elections for those in "safe red districts" be more difficult than in rece...

1. What three observations did the study find about media outlets with a right leaning audience? These media outlets hard reporters who were less likely to challenge what the president said, offered fewer negative and more positive evaluations of Trump, and used fewer types of sources for the reporting. 2. How did right leaning media outlets and left leaning media outlets use sources differently? The right leaning media tends not to use Trump and his administration, outside experts, or interest groups. On the other hand, left leaning audience outlets used a variety of sources, with 70% containing two or more types of sources. 3. How much more likely were left leaning outlets to include negative coverage of Trump? Left leaning outlets were three times more likely to cover Trump negatively compared to right leaning sources. 4. How often did left leaning and right leaning outlets refute something said by Trump? It was 7 times more common in left leaning outlets than in...

1. What news events are being covered by major outlets as the same time as Hurricane Maria?  Other issues were a health care bill that failed to pass, Alabama's primary elections, and Trump's argument with NFL protests. 2. Use the first chart to estimate about how many fewer times Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico are mentioned online than the hurricanes that hit the mainland US. It was mentioned about 5-6 times less than Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. 3. Use the second chart to estimate about how much less time was devoted to  Hurricane Maria & Puerto Rico in TV coverage than the hurricanes that hit the mainland US.  Hurricane Maria received less than about a third of the times or Harvey and of Irma. 4. Which two networks mentioned Hurricane Maria the most?  CNN and BBC 5. What do some cite as the reason for Puerto Rico being treated differently by the media?  Puerto Rico is a US territory rather than a state. 6....

1. According to the research, who is more likely to become a lobbyist, a member of the House or the Senate? A higher percent Senators retire and become lobbyists. The numbers of the Senate also show more of a oscillating pattern because there are fewer Senators retiring each year, making small changes quite influential on the percentages. 2. Why were Congressmen less likely to become lobbyists in the 1970s and 1980s? Lobbying in general was much less popular and lucrative, and it only really grew starting in the 1990s. 3. Why does this research likely underestimate the revolving door? They can only track the number of registered lobbyists, but there are many who do work that is almost identical to the tasks of lobbyists but are not registered. 4. Why do you think committee chairmen are more likely to become lobbyists?   They have more experience working with a variety of lawmakers and are better at pushing policies than congressmen who tended to follow rathe...

1.  What was the overall general finding of Broockman and Kalla’s analysis of campaign activities? Campaigning basically has no effect on people's general election choices. 2.  What two time frames did Broockman and Kalla analyze in their study? They looked at within 2 months of the election and also at longer than 2 months before the election. 3.  At what rate did they find that people were actually persuaded with campaign activities close to the election? The rate was about 1 in 800 people reached was persuaded. This is almost 0. 4. How were the results different in the study between activities months before the election, and those that occur close to the election day? Campaigning has almost no chance of persuading people when it is close to the election because almost everyone has already decided who to vote for, often based on parties, and cannot be moved by  these methods. Earlier, campaigns are more effective in changing opinions, but ...

1. Why do conservatives want to hold this event at Cal-Berkeley? Perhaps they hope to change the minds of an audience that will listen to the ideas presented by the Free Speech Week speakers. More likely, they want to hold it at this school because it is considered a highly liberal environment that strongly rejects conservative ideas, so conservatives expect retaliation that will make their opponents look bad. 2. What is the initial position a public university should take when they get a request to host a speaker? They should allow them regardless of the speaker and how he or she is seen. They then need to consider the logistics of the requested location and time. 3. What are "content neutral" rules? These regulations prevent officials from telling the organizers to change their plans based on what point of view they are presenting. The decision must be based on other logical factors such as the capacity of the requested space. 4. In what ways might there b...

1. How popular were Clinton and Trump compared to past candidates for president? They are the least popular candidates on record. Trump is most disliked, and Clinton is second most disliked. The negative attitudes toward them led to campaigns where each candidate tried to make people hate the other candidate more rather than like him or herself more. 2. How much did minor party voting increase from 2012 to 2016? It increased significantly, with Stein and Johnson receiving shares of votes that were over 3 times more than in 2012. 3. How did Clinton's negative attacks on Trump, combined with minor party candidates, end up hurting her? These factors influenced people who preferred her to Trump to vote for the third party candidates instead. 4. How did Trump compare to Romney in 2012 among white voters? Trump did a little worse than Romney, pulling in 58% of the white voters compared to Romney's 59%. 5. How did Clinton compare to Obama in 2012 among the differ...