Domestic Policy Essay #14

The Constitution grants the president certain enumerated powers. Describe two of these formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy.

a) The president is granted many powers due to the constitution. One would be the legislative powers that he has. With these, he can veto bills, perform pocket vetoes and even sign legislation. Another power he is granted is his appointment power, where he can call anyone into office.

Choose two of the following. Define each term and explain how each limits the president’s ability to influence domestic policy making in Congress.

Lame Duck Period: The lame duck period is a period of time in which an officeholder’s term is coming to an end. It limits the president's ability to influence domestic policy making in congress because congress becomes less responsive to the president and the president's power is viewed as begin diminished.
Mandatory Spending: Mandatory spending is spending not controlled by annual budget decisions. This takes aways form the president's ability to influence domestic policy because budgetary constraints make it difficult to accomplish policy goals, as well as the fact that it is difficult to make budget cuts that might accomplish policy goals.

2008-2)A number of factors enable presidents to exert influence over Congress in the area of domestic policy. However, presidents are also limited in their influence over domestic policymaking in Congress.

-The Constitution grants the president certain enumerated powers. Describe two of these formal powers that enable the president to exert influence over domestic policy.

-Choose two of the following. Define each term and explain how each limits the president’s ability to influence domestic policy making in Congress.

*Mandatory spending

*Party polarization

*Lame-duck period

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_us_gopo_q2.pdf

Congressional Reapportionment Essay #13

a) Congressional reapportionment is the process by which the House of Representatives in the USA are redistributed among the states following each mandated decennial census. It is important because it determines the increase or decrease in the number of seats a state has in the House or Congress.

b) Congressional redistricting is the process of redrawing district boundaries when a state has more representatives than districts.

c) During redistricting, politicians have two main goals during gerrymandering. One would be to enhance political party strength/to minimize the strength of the opposition party and another is to increase minority representation/to decrease minority representation.

d) The US Supreme court has created multiple limitations on congressional redistricting. One would be the fact that districts must be equally populated and another would be the limitation that district lines cannot be drawn solely based upon race.

2008-1) Congressional reapportionment and redistricting are conducted every ten years. When redistricting is conducted, politicians often engage in gerrymandering.
(a) Define congressional reapportionment and explain one reason why it is important to states.
(b) Define congressional redistricting.
(c) Explain two goals of politicians when they gerrymander during redistricting.
(d) Describe two limits that the United State Supreme Court has placed on congressional redistricting.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_gopo_us_sgs.pdf