Unit 4 · 10–15% of the exam
American Political Ideologies and Beliefs
How Americans form political attitudes: core values like individualism and free enterprise, political socialization, polling, and how liberal, conservative, and libertarian ideologies map onto policy.
What this unit tests
- ▸ Individualism, equality of opportunity, free enterprise, rule of law, limited government
- ▸ Political socialization and generational effects
- ▸ Scientific polling and its limits
- ▸ Ideology and economic / social policy
Live legislation demonstrating this unit (6)
An act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14.
How far does Congress's Article I taxing-and-spending power reach when exercised through budget reconciliation — a process that needs only 51 Senate votes but is limited by the Byrd Rule to budgetary provisions?
Rescissions Act of 2025
Who controls money after it is appropriated? The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 lets a President propose rescissions but requires Congress to approve them within 45 days — this act is that rarely-successful procedure actually working, cancelling roughly $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds.
Digital Asset Market Clarity Act
Not whether Congress can regulate digital assets — the commerce power clearly reaches them — but which agency gets the turf: the bill draws the statutory line between SEC (securities) and CFTC (commodities) jurisdiction, a case study in Congress structuring the administrative state.
GENIUS Act
When private companies issue dollar-pegged digital currency used for payments, is that banking (federal/state charters, reserve rules), securities issuance, or something new — and does the Article I coinage-and-commerce framework let Congress build a bespoke regime with both federal and state charter paths?
A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to "Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions".
After INS v. Chadha killed the one-house legislative veto, the Congressional Review Act became Congress's constitutional workaround: a joint resolution, passed by both chambers and signed by the President, that voids an agency rule and bans 'substantially similar' rules forever. This resolution used it to erase the CFPB's $5 cap on bank overdraft fees.
Sunshine Protection Act of 2025
Constitutionally trivial — the commerce power has governed time zones for a century. The exam-relevant content is the coalition: the House passed permanent daylight saving 308–117 in July 2026 with both parties split internally, because the cleavage is regional (northern states face 9 a.m. winter sunrises) and occupational (farmers, parents, golfers, sleep scientists), not ideological. Students who assume every congressional fight maps onto liberal-versus-conservative get this wrong on FRQs; this bill is the corrective.