Does Congress actually represent USA?

Current Speculation of a 113th Congress By: Sam and Ebrahim

Who is Congress?
Bicameral government
House of Representatives
Leader: Speaker of The House (John Boehner)

Senate
Leader: U.S. Vice President (Joe Biden)

What they do
Propose and pass bills through the Speaker of the House based on plurality vote (shown on CSPAN) Represent people of their district usually
multiple small cities or 1 large city (Houston) Previously represented 33,000 now 700,000 people

Elections and Terms

Each House member serves 2 year terms Senators serve 4 year terms Are experts in national laws and foreign policy Both can run for president Elected in general elections; nominated in the party primaries

Trouble with 3rd parties

Fun fact: Republicans hate the tea party Demand publicity on their issues they want publicized Want representation for minorities Bring up there issues to Congress to achieve their goals through recognition of their issues of interest
Dont want to want to win the elections, they just want focus on the issues they feel are undermined or ignored

Money and Lobbying

Loopholes on limitations for donations to political candidates including judges
Obama.com gave Pres. Obama free money in his re-election campaign

Who are lobbyists?

People in interest or advocacy groups trying to influence the governments decisions Most are wealthy businessmen

Grassroot lobbying promoting an issue to make the public push it to their local government Direct Lobbying talking direclty to senators, house members, The US president, and people in power in an attempt to influence decisions to pass or kill bills LOBBYING IS PROTECTED BY THE 1st AMENDMENT (petition of government)

Inequality
Glass ceiling - white males seem to have higher salaries and more benefits than minorities across USA (influences elections) Equal Rights Act 1972 not being passed influenced inequality Congress is mainly white, but the overall US Population differs from the leaders representing the United States

Corporate Influence
Corporations give politicians money through Political Action Commitees (PACs) Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA) of 1974
Due to Nixons Watergate Scandal corporate campaign contributions were banned Established Federal Elections Comission (FEC) to enforce laws to regulating the federal government

Works Cited
http://artandhistory.house.gov/mem_bio/mem_pres.aspx http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/opinion/flynn-expand-congress/ http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/08/the-illegal-donorloophole.html www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crspublish.cfm?pid=%260BL%2BR%5CC%3F%0A http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/04/14/if-congress-lookedlike-us/