Jeromy Rech

AP Government Unit V Free Response Questions

1. The Framers created a bicameral legislature, consisting of a House of Representatives and a

Senate. Identify and explain two advantages and drawbacks of having a bicameral Congress:

(+) Checks and Balances: a bicameral legislature allows for a check and balance between
the two houses --- for many laws/bills, they are passed in the House and then checked in
the Senate, and then the president, so most issues are resolved before execution of law,
and it also tries to certify that laws are properly scrutinized
(+) Representation: when deciding about how to act with the Virginia Plan and the New
Jersey Plan, the Connecticut Plan/Great Compromise allowed for both to be incorporated
with a two house system. Now both small states and big states can have equal
representation by population (House) and a set number of representations (Senate).
(-) Slow: the constant bickering between both bodies causes many laws and bills to move
slowly and never get into action. Although a conference committee will sometimes do the
trick, it is quite possible that one house may not give in to the demands of the other,
which wastes time that could have been used for drafting legislation.
(-) Costly: everyone from both houses (540 members + entire staff) is on the government
payroll. With most, if not all, making a six figure pay check, the American taxpayers dollar
is wasted for many countless and unneeded staff member.

2. The federal courts are part of a system of checks and balances created by the Constitution.
With respect to this issue, identify and explain one check on judicial power held by Congress, by
the executive and on the other branches held by the judiciary.

Congress: confirmation of appointment: when the president chooses his appointment for a
court, like the Supreme Court, Congress needs to confirm the appointee. This process lead
to senatorial courtesy, which involves asking the senator from the appointees stare prior
to public announcement to get a feel for Congresss reaction.
Executive: judicial appointment: the presidents job is to appoint judges to different courts,
so he/she has the power to change the courts by his appointment. It is very common, and
also called court stacking, for a president to fill courts with people who will rule in a similar
ideology to that of him/her.
Judiciary branches: judicial review unconstitutionality: through the process of judicial
review, a court can declare a law unconstitutional if it infringes upon the rights guaranteed
by the Constitution. This allows the judicial branch to rule the some of the legislative and
executives decisions are null and void and no longer law.

3. Is Congress effective in exercising legislative oversight of the federal bureaucracy? Support

your answer by doing one of the following: Explain two specific methods Congress uses to
exercise effective oversight of the federal bureaucracy. OR Give two specific explanations for the
failure of Congress to exercise effective oversight of the federal bureaucracy.

The Budget Process: no money may be spent unless it has been fist authorized by
Congress. Authorization legislation (permission to begin/continue government
agency/program) originated in a legislative committee and states the maximum amount of
money than an agency may spend on a given program. If you control the flow of money,
you control the heart, brain, and muscles of the body, so in short, Congress is in control of
the living air and water that agencies need to survive.

Agency Approval: every agency (with the exception of a few presidential offices and
commissions) must have congressional approval. This being said, Congress influences
(and sometimes determines precisely) the behavior of the agency by the statutes it
enacts. This control is by definition oversight, and it is used very effectively to control
most agencies.