Unit 4: Congress, Presidency, & Bureaucracy

Textbook: Government in America: People, Politics and Policy (Chapters 12 - 15)

Unit Summary: Students will address the overarching essential question, “How does the federal government function?" This unit will include an examination of the powers and structures of Congress. This investigation includes the organization and operation of Congress through leadership, committees and caucuses. The learners will also examine the powers of Presidency and the divisions and functions of the Executive Branch. The relationship between the legislative and executive branches in fashioning the national budget is also explored. The role and function of bureaucratic structures needed to implement legislation and executive actions will also be a topic of inquiry.

Essential Questions: 1. How is legislative authority organized within the American system of governance? 2. How is executive authority organized within the American system of governance? 3. To what extent do the Legislative and Executive Branches complement each other? 4. To what extent is the federal bureaucracy necessary for the implementation of policy?

Day 1 Topic: Congress

Format: - View Bicameral Congress Crash Course # 2 9:05 - Students will complete a Webquest comprised of a series of tasks involving the House of Representatives, Senate, Congressional committees and members of Congress.

Homework: Complete Webquest; Read Chapter 12, Congress

Format: - View Congressional Committees Crash Course # 7 8:28 - Class discussion of Webquest

Homework: Read Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes, by Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark.

Format: - View Congressional Leadership Crash Course #8 8:12 - Discuss Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes. In groups, students will discuss reading and answer questions. Class discussion will follow. Day 4 Topic: Congress

Format: View The West Wing, Season 2 Episode 17 “The Stackhouse Filibuster”; also involves GAO

Quiz, Chapter 12. Multiple choice questions and 1 FRQ

Homework: Read Chapter 13, The Presidency

Day 6 Topic: Presidency

Format: - View Presidential Power Crash Course #11 6:30 - Students will complete a Webquest comprised of a series of tasks involving the White House

Homework: Complete Presidential Webquest

Format: - View Presidential Powers Crash Course #12 7:53 - Class discussion of Webquest

Format: Begin PowerPoint Presentation, The Presidency (up to the 25th Amendment) View The West Wing, Season 2 “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen Part 1”

Format: Complete PowerPoint Presentation, The Presidency

Homework: Read Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (the steel seizure case)

Format: - View How Presidents Govern Crash Course #14 9:22 - Discussion of the American Presidency Fact Sheet & Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer Day 11

Homework: Read Chapter 14, The Congress, The President, and the Budget: The Politics of Taxing and Spending

Day 12 Topic: Federal Budget

Format: - PowerPoint presentation, The Budget (first few slides up to gov’t shutdown) - Penny Game (from Concord Coalition): in groups, students estimate where most of the money in the federal budget comes from and where it goes to

Format: - View The West Wing, Season 5 Episode 8 “Shutdown”

Format: - Complete PowerPoint presentation, The Budget

Days 15 & 16 Topic: Federal Budget

Format: Budget Simulation, Concord Coalition’s online Federal Budget Challenge. Students must close the budget deficit and consider the political consequences of budgetary decisions.

Day 17

Homework: Read Rulemaking by Cornelius Kerwin and Scott Furlong

Day 18 Topic: The Bureaucracy

Format: - Discuss reading and excerpts - Begin PowerPoint Presentation, The Bureaucracy - View Crash Course #15 Bureaucracy Basics

Homework: Read Chapter 15, The Federal Bureaucracy Day 19 Topic: The Bureaucracy

Format: - PowerPoint Presentation, The Bureaucracy - View Crash Course #16 Types of Bureaucracies

Days 20 & 21 Topic: The Bureaucracy

Format: - Project: Battle of the Bureaucracies. In groups, students will profile a federal bureaucracy and justify its continued existence. - View Crash Course #17 Controlling Bureaucracies

Days 22 & 23 Topic: The Bureaucracy

Format: Bureaucracy Presentations

Day 24

Unit test Chapter 12 (mc), Chapter 13 (mc), Chapter 14 (mc), Chapter 15 (mc & frq)