Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Enforcement Powers: Part 2
Congress has been instrumental in enforcing civil rights laws and in shifting enforcement powers away from state governments and onto the federal government.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Powers of Congress: Enforcement Powers: Part 3
The investigative powers of Congress are inherent powers that compel people to share information and make enforcement of legislation possible.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress and the States: Part 1
Explains the rules around the election of members to the House of Congress, and how long they may serve.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress and the States: Part 2
Discusses how the lines for Congressional districts are determined and what happens if this is challenged.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 1
Explains how Congressional districts are determined to ensure equality of representation.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 2
Gerrymandering is still a problem in determining Congressional district lines, even with redrawing them after each ten-year census.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 3
Discusses how Senators are chosen by each state.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 4
Congress has over five hundred members and each one represents a large number of constituents, making the job of an elected official very challenging.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congressional Districts: Part 5
Compares the number of constituents and elected officials in other countries to those in the United States Congress.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Trustee vs. Delegate Theories of Representation
The anti-federalists supported the delegate theory of political representation, whereas the federalists believed in the trustee theory.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: The Challenges of Representation
The diversity of America's population today makes it increasingly difficult for politicians to represent the needs of all their constituents and to reach mutually agreeable decisions on issues.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Grants in Aid: Education Policy
Today we discuss federal grants-in-aid and and the impact of these on state education policy.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress: Serving Constituents Part 1
Members of Congress work hard to meet the needs of their constituents through newsletters, meetings, and other methods.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress: Serving Constituents Part 2
Constituents request many different things of their elected representatives, some of which are described here.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: Congress: Serving Constituents Part 3
The interests of constituents are always foremost in the minds of elected representatives, who work hard to bring projects and services to their districts. This ceates a favorable impression which can help them to get re-elected.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 1
Some of the important powers and responsibilities of Congress are explained.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 2
How Congress is organized into houses and committees is outlined in this podcast.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 4: Select Committees
Select committees and task forces are used by both the House and the Senate for specific purposes and a limited time.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 5
The House of Representatives has a set of rules governing how committees function. They establish things such as the kinds of issues committees can address, how long they can last, how many members a committee can have, and how many...
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 6
The House of Representatives has rules that guide debates, as well as a rules committee that deals with rules for special debates. Other rules for hearings, the presentation of bills, etc. are set by various committees.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 7: Senate Rules and Filibusters
The rules of the Senate are less rigid than for the House of Representatives, and permit the practice of filibustering, as well as the amendment of bills on the floor.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 7: Political Party Control
Compares how political parties are controlled in the House and the Senate.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 8: The Speaker of the House
The Speaker of the House of Representatives wields a good deal of power. For example, the Speaker controls committee appointments and sits on the Rules Committee.
Center For Civic Education
60 Second Civics: How Congress Functions: Pt. 9: Powerful House Committee Chairs
A discussion of the forms leadership takes in the House of Representatives and how it has changed at various times in American history. Committee chairs have sometimes held a lot of power and competed to control the legislative agenda.