[AP CURRENT EVENT] February 20, 2012

Headline: Republicans offer more tax cuts, say no to Obama budget Date: 2/19/2012 Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/19/with-cooperation-on-capitol-hill-nearly-nilrepublicans-offer-more-tax-cuts-say/ Summary: Congress approval rating is 10%. President Obamas approval rating is 50%. House Republican leaders disagree with President Obama budget, but will cooperate if there are more tax cuts. Cantor says that presidential budget will rack up another $1,300,000,000,000 in debt. Republicans disagree. Congressional Republicans are working on Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups. Republicans want a 20% tax cut for small businesses. Tax cuts unlikely to get Democratic backing. Tax cut adds $93 billion to the deficit. House Republicans plan to pass their own budget, but it is unlikely that it will get a hearing in the Senate. Democrats say that the Republican budget is on-sided. Democrats want a balanced approach. Democrats want tax reform. Connection 1/Unit 1: This relates to Unit 1/the Constitution, because it talks about how Congress has the power of the budget. In this article, it talks about how Congress is deciding and discussing the presidential budget. This relates to the Constitution, because the Framers gave Congress the power to approve the budget and make budgets. It has the monetary power. Connection 2/Unit 2: The approval ratings of Congress and President Obama are affected by public opinion and measured by polls which related to Unit 2. Public opinion determines the approval rating of Congress and the President. If they are low, then public opinion is that Congress and the President do not do a good job of carrying out the nations policy. If they are high, then public opinion is that Congress and the President do a good job of carrying out the nations policy and the public approves. Unit 2 talks about how the Presidents popularity is measured by polls such as tracking poll, exit poll, straw poll, and push poll. Connection 3/Unit 3: The competition between the Republicans and Democrats over their favored budgets is an example of political parties which is in Unit 3. We learned in Unit 3 that the Framers of the Constitution warned us against splitting into political factions that would lead to a divided government. In the Federalist #10, Madison warned us. Now, there are political parties/factions battling in Congress for their own budget to be passed. Connection 4/Congress: This article relates to the Congress Unit, because it discusses how bills passed in one house must be passed in the other. The article says that House Republicans want to pass their own budget, but the bill will probably not get a hearing in the Senate. This connects, because it shows how a bill must be passed in both houses, and is a checks and balances of Congress on Congress. Connection 5/President: This article relates to the Presidency, because it discusses one of the presidential powers which is the power to plan a budget for the United States. The President can plan a budget, but needs congressional approval for it to pass. Congress can then edit or modify before passing. In this case, Republicans do not agree with the Presidents budget.

[AP CURRENT EVENT] February 20, 2012

Connection 6/Budget: This article relates to the budget, because both discuss the making of the Budget. Both include how the President and Congress go back and forth on deciding the budget. The President can send budgets to Congress for review and modification. The President and Congress negotiate on budget just like in the article how President Obama and House Republicans are negotiating over tax cuts. Connection 7/Judicial Branch: This article relates to the Judicial Branch, because the Supreme Court can judge legislative activities as unconstitutional. If the budget is passed with an unconstitutional add-on, then the Supreme Court can judge the budget to see if the act is constitutional or unconstitutional. Connection 8/Unit 4: This article relates to the Constitution, because in Unit 1. We discussed that political parties arent mentioned in the Constitution. But here are political parties fighting without any Constitutional jurisdiction so it connects.