Power Branch

Introduces laws Legislative

Identify the Judicial
Declares laws unconstitutional branch of
Signs bills into law Executive
government
Coins money who holds Legislative

Nominates Supreme Court justices each power. Executive

Declares war Legislative

Vetoes bills Executive

Interprets/Makes meaning of laws Judicial

Serves as commander-in-chief of the army and navy Executive

Issues a pardon Executive

Overrides a presidential veto Legislative

Borrows money on behalf of the US Legislative

Makes treaties Executive

Impeaches/removes the president Legislative

Enquiry Question: How powerful is Congress?
 Learning Outcomes
• To evaluate the extent to which Congress is
still a powerful body
 Which branch of government
is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:
• You will work in three groups, with each of
you playing the role of a branch of
government.
• Familiarise yourself with the powers for your
branch and read the directions for part one.
• You have 10 minutes to prepare the role
playing scenario.
• You need to brain storm the actions that you
can take to accomplish your goal.
 Which branch of government
is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:
• Having prepared your scenarios, you need to
present your idea to the other branches of
government.
• Begin by having the executive branch present
their scenario, including their goal and the
actions they plan to take in order to accomplish
this.
• Repeat this step for the legislative and judicial
branches.
Which branch of government
is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:
• You have 15 minutes to
brain storm how you
would prevent the other
two branches of
government from
accomplishing their
goals through checking
their powers.
• You need to identify at
least three specific
actions you would take.
 Which branch of government
is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:
• As the three branches,
you need to explain how
you would attempt to
prevent the other
branches accomplishing
their goals.
• Start with the executive
branch,.
• Repeat for the legislative
and judicial branches.
Despite the checks and
balances, is there one
branch that is more
powerful than the How did the separation of
others? powers and checks and
balances make it difficult for a
single branch of government
to abuse its power?
 Is Congress the Broken
Branch?
YOUR TASK:
• Working in pairs, one of you will read the article “Is
Congress the broken branch?”
• The other will read the article “The Broken Branch: How
Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track”
• Highlight and annotate your article to show how your
knowledge and understanding both supports and challenges
the arguments in the text.
• Use the app “Scannable” to take a photo of both your article
and your partners (this app will automatically convert the
image to a pdf you can print and add to your folder).
 Learning Checkpoint:
Contributing to the wider debate

Is Congress the broken branch?

 ‘Congress has become the least
powerful branch of government.’
Discuss. (45)
 ‘Congress has become the least powerful
branch of government.’ Discuss. (45)

Evidence that Congress does not retain its political power includes:
• ability of the president to set the domestic agenda and circumvent
Congress through executive orders and recess appointments
• ability of the president to set the tone and direction of foreign
policy, and to deploy armed forces without congressional approval
• ability of the Supreme Court to strike down congressional
legislation
• complicated legislative process means far more laws are rejected
than passed
• parochialism makes Congress often incapable of acting in a
coordinated way
• Congress has the lowest public approval ratings of the three
branches of government
 ‘Congress has become the least powerful
branch of government.’ Discuss. (45)

Evidence that Congress remains a powerful body includes:

• continued dependence of the president on Congress for
all legislation and money
• continued dependence of the president on Congress for
all appointment confirmation and treaty ratification
• continued ability of Congress to override presidential
vetoes
• sometime willingness of Congress to set the policy
agenda, e.g. the ‘Contract with America’
 ‘Congress has become the least
powerful branch of government.’
Discuss. (45)
YOUR TASK:
• This
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• Whatanwere the strengths
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be improved?
 Examiner Advice
EXAMINER FEEDBACK:
YOUR TASK: “This is another very good
• Read the examiner advice answer. The argument is
cogently developed, and there is
for this question. the sense that the candidate is
• Read the sample answer in charge of their material
throughout. In the section on
and complete your marks the president in particular there
and feedback to this is some excellent supporting
detail. If it has a weakness, the
student. treatment of the two branches
• We will compare your is a little unbalanced, and
ideally there would be a bit
feedback to the feedback more on the Supreme Court.
from the examiner. Nevertheless, a really good
answer and worth 36 marks.”
 Learning Outcomes
• To evaluate the extent to which Congress is
still a powerful body
Plenary; Contributing to the wider
debate
Who is more powerful; Congress or the President?
Watch the video clip.

Is Congress more powerful than the

president?
 Homework
Application Task:
‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of
government.’ Discuss. (45)
Flipped Learning Preparation Task:
Revision in preparation for end of topic test
Stretch & Challenge Task
Attempt one (or more!?) of the example exam
questions….OR examine the SAMPLE ANSWER: To
what extent can Congress be considered the
“broken branch” of American government?
15 mark questions:
 Assess the significance of the
exclusive powers of the Senate.
(15)
 To what extent are parties the
most significant influence on
voting in Congress?
 Explain the key factors that affect
the relationship between the
Senate and the House of
Representatives.
 Why could the Senate be regarded
as superior in status and power to
the House of Representatives?
 Does the House of
Representatives carry out its
representative role more
effectively than the Senate?
45 mark questions:
 ‘Members of Congress are more
concerned with local issues than
with national or international
issues.’ Discuss.
 ‘Members of Congress are out of
touch with the people who elect
them.’ Discuss.
 To what extent does Congress still
have a meaningful foreign policy
role?
 To what extent does Congress
remain a powerful body?
 The main problem with Congress
is the lack of effective leadership.’
Discuss.