Congress Approval Ratings - Historic Job Approval Data

The approval rating for Congress is abysmally low, and most Americans say they have almost zero faith it can solve our most important problems and view its leaders with severe contempt. But they  also keep re-electing the  same people to represent them in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives  year after year. How can that be? How can an institution be more unpopular than Satan, feel pressure from Americans to set term limits for themselves  yet see 90 percent of its incumbents be re-elected?   Are voters confused? Fickle? Or just unpredictable? And why are approval ratings for Congress so low? Congress Approval Ratings Its no secret that Americans loathe Congress the institution. A majority of voters routinely tell pollsters they dont believe most members of the House and Senate deserve to  be re-elected.  Americans have held the nations legislative branch in low regard for years now, the public-opinion firm Gallup wrote in 2013.   In early 2014, the  portion of people who said the nations lawmakers should win re-election sunk to a low of 17 percent in Gallups survey.  The low approval rating  followed congressional inaction over spending limits and an inability to reach compromise on a number of issues or avoid the government shutdown of 2013. Gallups historical average of Americans supporting re-election for members of Congress is  39 percent.   And yet: Members of Congress have no trouble getting re-elected. Incumbents Are Safe Despite Congress historically abysmal approval ratings, well over 90 percent of House and Senate members who seek re-election win their races on average, according to data published from the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. Few things in life are more predictable than the chances of an incumbent member of the U.S. House of Representatives winning reelection, writes the Center for Responsive Politics.  With wide name recognition, and usually an insurmountable advantage in campaign cash, House incumbents typically have little trouble holding onto their seats. The same goes for members of the Senate. Why Our Lawmakers Keep Getting Re-Elected There are several reasons lawmakers keep getting re-elected aside from their name recognition and typically well funded campaign coffers. One of the reasons is that its easier to dislike an institution than it is a person, especially when that person is one of your neighbors. Americans can loathe the inability of the House and Senate to reach agreement on things like the national debt. But they find it more difficult to hold their lawmaker solely responsible. The popular sentiment seems to be, as The Washington Posts Chris Cillizza  once put it,  Throw the bums out. But not my bum. Times Are Changing That sentiment - Congress stinks but my representative is OK - seems to be fading, however. Pollsters at Gallup found in early 2014, for example, that a record-low portion of voters, 46 percent, said their own representative deserved re-election. The enduring unpopularity of Congress appears to have seeped into the nations 435 congressional districts, Gallup wrote. While Congress as an institution is no stranger to voter disenchantment, American voters are usually more charitable in their assessments of their own representatives in the national legislature. But even this has fallen to a new trough. Congress Approval Ratings Through History Heres a look at the Gallups organizations numbers by year. The approval ratings shown here are from the public opinion surveys conducted the latest in each year listed. 2016: 18%2015: 13%2014: 16%2013: 12%2012: 18%2011: 11%2010: 13%2009: 25%2008: 20%2007: 22%2006: 21%2005: 29%2004: 41%2003: 43%2002: 50%2001: 72%2000: 56%1999: 37%1998: 42%1997: 39%1996: 34%1995: 30%1994: 23%1993: 24%1992: 18%1991: 40%1990: 26%1989: Not Available1988: 42%1987: 42%1986:  42%1985:  Not Available1984:  Not Available1983: 33%1982: 29%1981: 38%1980: 25%1979: 19%1978: 29%1977: 35%1976: 24%1975: 28%1974: 35%

The United States Refugee Act of 1980

When thousands of refugees fled wars in Syria, Iraq, and Africa during 2016, the Obama administration invoked the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980 in declaring that the United States would embrace some of these victims of conflicts and admit them into the country. President Obama had the explicit statutory authority to accept these refugees under the 1980 law. It allows the president to admit foreign nationals who face â€Å"persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion† into the United States. And particularly in times of crisis, to protect U.S. interests, the law gives the president the power to deal with â€Å"unforeseen emergency refugee situation† such as the Syrian refugee crisis. What Changed With the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980? The United States Refugee Act of 1980 was the first major change in U.S. immigration law that attempted to address the realities of modern refugee problems by articulating a national policy and providing mechanisms that are capable of adapting to changing world events and policies. It was a statement of Americas long-standing commitment to remaining what it has always been – a place where the persecuted and oppressed from across the globe can find refuge. The act updated the definition of refugee by relying on descriptions from the United Nations Convention and Protocol on the Status of Refugees. The law also raised the limit on the number of refugees the United States could admit annually from 17,400 to 50,000. It also gave the U.S. attorney general the power to admit additional refugees and grant asylum to them, and expanding the offices powers to use humanitarian paroles. Establishing the Office of Refugee Resettlement What many believe is the most important provision in the act is the establishment of specific procedures on how to deal with refugees, how to resettle them and how to assimilate them into U.S. society. Congress passed the Refugee Act as an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act that was passed decades before. Under the Refugee Act, a refugee was defined as a person who is outside their country of residence or nationality, or someone who is without any nationality, and is unable or unwilling to return to his or her homeland because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of raise, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or membership in a political group or party. According to the Refugee Act: â€Å"(a) There is established, within the Department of Health and Human Services, an office to be known as the Office of Refugee Resettlement (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the Office). The head of the Office shall be a Director (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the Director), to be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the Secretary). â€Å"(b) The function of the Office and its Director is to fund and administer (directly or through arrangements with other Federal agencies), in consultation with the Secretary of State, and programs of the Federal Government under this chapter.† The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), according to its website, provides new populations of refugees with the chance to maximize their potential in the United States. â€Å"Our programs provide people in need with critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society.† The ORR offers a wide spectrum of social programs and initiatives. It provides employment training and English classes, makes health services available, collects data and monitors the use of government funds, and acts as a liaison between service providers in state and local governments. Many refugees who escaped torture and abuse in their homelands benefited greatly from mental health care and family counseling provided by the ORR. Often, the ORR takes the lead in developing programs that harness the resources of federal, state and local government agencies. In 2010, the United States resettled more than 73,000 refugees from more than 20 countries, according to federal records, largely because of the federal Refugee Act.

The Dream of the American Renaissance - 1016 Words

The Dream of the American Renaissance The American Renaissance is a tangent of the heavy Romanticism that influenced America prior, and expands upon the growing interest of the common man. The Period had writers of the Transcendentalist belief, who aspired to become larger than life itself; to ascend onto the level of a deity, and to break free from a dangerous world full of adversary. Their Dream of Ascendance, their goal of becoming independent, is the one thought that was fully realized throughout this period. The Transcendentalists at the time embraced being different, allowing themselves to become distant from the people by welcoming what was already there; nature. The period also offered the alternative view; the highly cynical attitude towards humans gave another outlook that shows how far humanity has to go to achieve this goal. The American Dream of Self-Reliance expresses itself the most during The American Renaissance; with writers such as Emerson and Thoreau showing the beliefs of the Transcendentalists both physically and philosophically, leading to the ascendance of the individual in independence. The American Renaissance was carried by the Transcendentalists and their polar opposites, the Dark Romantics. The beliefs of the two were relatively the same, and were only different through the way they saw mankind; the optimism towards success, or the pessimistic view of failure. The Transcendentalists believed that the key to success in ascending into Godhood wasShow MoreRelatedThe Harlem Renaissance and Its Effect on the American Dream1541 Words   |  6 PagesThe Harlem Renaissance and its Effect on the American Dream What was the Harlem Renaissance? The Harlem Renaissance was a period of time in American history that emphasized African American culture in the form of music, art, and poetry. 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A Study on the Problems Faced by Teachers in a Mixed free essay sample

A Study on the Problems faced by Teachers in a Mixed-ability Class. P. Karthi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Gobi Arts Science College, Gobichettipalayam. Mixed ability as used in ELT usually refers to the differences that exist in a group in terms of different levels of language proficiency. This might be a result of simply the amount of time they have spent for learning, their different language learning abilities or learning style preferences. Almost all groups are mixed-ability.The world of English language teaching (ELT) presents a great number of ideas and concepts, expounding a vast assortment of styles, models and techniques, but often makes a general assumption on the make-up of actual classes in which such teaching methods are to be employed. In an ideal teaching environment, we might all wish for energetic, highly-motivated and able students coupled with a limitless supply of time and resources, but the reality that many of us have to face is far from the ideal situation. For a variety of restrictive reasons there is a need for teachers to make the best use of what is available and to do so in the most productive way that ones personal teaching methodology might allow. Teaching students with mixed ability can pose a unique set of challenges. Diversity in language, culture, confidence and ability can all come into play for teachers in the classroom Working with students, sending them down different paths in order to arrive at a similar goal can be one of the most challenging things for teachers of all backgrounds.However with patience, respect and hard work all the seemingly grand problems can be overcome to the benefit of all. As such, it is our intention to present a brief, basic summary of what we believe to be a sound starting methodology for approaching classes with students of mixed abilities. As a first step in managing the diversity of student ability in the classroom, there needs to be an analysis of the needs of the students. With this analy sis the teacher will gain much ground in the effort to determine and support the needs of every student. This analysis will provide an opportunity for the students to reflect on their ability and style and prepare them for the fact that the class will not be managed in the traditional manner. While this action seems to add work for the instructor on the front end of things we think we can easily liken it to the old adage ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. Upon determination of the individual student needs the teacher can strive to coordinate the students into functional learning groups based on their skills and learning pace.The construction of focus groups allows the instructor to proactively increase the effectiveness of the lesson plan and provide realistic and achievable assignments to the students. The groups can work together based on their skill level or at that time the instructor can intermingle the weaker with the advanced, which will also contribute to creating variety in the class. This method allows for all students to advance toward a mutual go al at an appropriate pace for their capacity and avoids putting them off with material that is outside of their aptitude.Provided the instructor has established focus groups based on ability or learning pace the next step is to consider the curriculum to be utilized. The instructor should prepare a collection of authentic information and materials that can be used with varying requirements for the class. These materials can be utilized in the classroom to provide different tasks for the unique skill levels so as to achieve conformity in the exercise, while utilizing realistic expectations of what can be accomplished based on individual groups.To this end the instructor can include several different versions of the same homework task in order to align with achievement levels and maximize the benefit to all the students. Ultimately in this very limited summary we feel that we need to consider the psychology of the students, the effects of this methodology on them and how to work to benefit each and every student. If caution is not taken to include all students fully the weaker students will potentially not achieve and consequently experience the natural reaction of avoiding the activities they are not successful in.Because of this reaction the ach ievement gap will only be widened rather than narrowed. To this end, instructors must make an effort to make the classes inclusive while differentiating in order to ensure student achievement across the board and not just with the better performing students. While there are so many different facets in managing a class of students with mixed abilities, by taking some basic measures teachers can manage the challenge effectively for the benefit of all. We can be certain hat we have only begun to scratch the surface of the issues faced by teachers of classes with mixed ability students, but we hope we have provided some basic building blocks for individual instructors to start with. As instructors we have the responsibility to show respect and provide reasonable attention to all students and we feel strongly that utilizing the previously stated methodology is a start down a path to achieve such ends. Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Classroom.