Assignment : Researching Congress Article I of the U.S. Constitution outlines the powers of Congress.

The Founding Fathers saw Congress as the most important branch of government, and this is evident in the fact that the Constitution grants Congress the most powerful function of government - to make laws. Members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection every two years. The Founding Fathers developed this as a mechanism to ensure that this branch of government was accountable to the people and to prevent abuses to power (at the time it was the only part of the federal government that was directly elected, and the Founding Fathers had a bit of a trust issue with the public).

Today, Congress has a whole has fallen out of public favor. The latest polling numbers put the Congressional job approval rating at around 12%. One would think that with approval ratings that low we would have constant turnover in the House of Representatives, when actually the opposite happens.

In the 2014 election the incumbents were reelected in the House of Representatives at a rate of 95% (in 2010 it was 85%, in 2012 it was 90%, 95% in 2014, and 97% (!!) in 2016). Name recognition with voters is one of the big reasons why House members are reelected over and over again. For this assignment I want you to do your research so you know who your member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Note: Students each term accidently discuss their Florida Representative - be sure you are looking at your representative in Washington DC

. Instructions: For this assignment please answer ALL the questions below. The format for this assignment will be a little different. You do not want to write this one as an essay. You will want to go and answer each part.

(For example: 1. ANSWER 2. ANSWER).

You are required to write in full sentences/paragraphs. You will not earn credit for bullet points or lists. The answers to these questions should be in your textbook or in the links I provide below.

1. Background on the Congress

a. How many members of in the U.S. House of Representatives? Senate?

b. Currently, what party is in control of the House of Representatives? Senate?

c. How often are members of the House elected? How often are members of the Senate elected?

d. How do we determine how many Representatives we have? How do we determine how many Senators we have?

e. Who determines House districts?

f. How many House districts are in Florida? How many are members of the Florida U.S. House delegation are Democrats? Republicans?

g. Who are the U.S. Senators representing Florida? What party affiliation are Florida's U.S. Senators? How long have they been in office?

2. Background on your Representative

a. Who is your Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives?

b. What is his/her political party?

c. How long have they been a member of Congress?

d. Does this person hold a leadership position in Congress? What committee memberships does he/she hold?

e. What is a midterm election? Why is it important? What are the early discussions in the media about the 2018 midterm election? Is your member running for re-election in 2018? When were they first elected? Who is their opponent(s) in 2018?

How much money has your member raised? How much has opponent? 

3. About your District

**This is the section where most students struggle - if you have questions please let me know.**

a. What is your district (example: My district is the Florida 7th)

b. Is your district considered a safe party district? (Example my district is a toss up district). Find your district on the map and it will tell you

c. Review the data that the US Census has on your district. Discuss at least four demographics that may impact elections in your district. These should be at least 2 paragraphs and this should be a discussion of demographics on what makes your district a safe Republican/Democratic district or a competitive district. You need to EXPLAIN how the demographics impact elections.

d. What is gerrymandering? Does gerrymandering impact your district? Why or why not? (Hint: google "gerrymandering in Florida")

4. Your Representatives behavior in Congress

a. Review the information about your Representative at the following websites: govtrack and votesmart

b. Write a paragraph discussing at least three things from your research on your member of the U.S. House of Representatives you learned that would impact your vote in the next election.

I am looking for specific policy positions or voting behavior not generics. This should be a fairly sophisticated discussion. Again, be as specific as possible.

5. Reflection: Write me two paragraphs in reflection of this assignment. What are you taking away from this? What does this tell you about the role of Congress in modern politics?