Legislative Branch
Transcript of Legislative Branch
Legislative Branch
Chapter 5-7
Congress
• A bicameral body
• Meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C
• May goal is to introduce legislation
Congress
• Each term lasts two years
• The first term began March 4, 1789
• Each session convenes on January 3rd following the November election
Congress
• The President is the only one who can call special sessions
• The last one was called by President Truman
House of Representatives
• 435 members– Set in 1929
• Each state must have at least one member
• Membership is based on population – Is controlled by the census which is taken
every ten years according to the 9th amendment
House of Representatives
• 1959/1960- went to 436 and 437 members because of Alaska and Hawaii.
• In 1961, it went back to 435 members
House of Representatives
• States with only one representative– Delaware– Montana– North Dakota– South Dakota– Vermont– Wyoming– Alaska
Gerrymandering
• Introduced by Elbridge Gerry
• The party in power draws up the districts and it usually works in the favor of the party in power
• This is also done at the local and state levels
Qualifications for Representative
• Must be at least 25 years old
• U.S. citizen for at least seven years
• Live in the stated elected from
• They serve a 2 year term
• Salary: $161,000 (probably more now)
Senate
• 100 members (2 from each state)
• Elected to a six year term
• Qualifications– Must be 30 years old– Be a U.S. citizen for 9 years– Live in the state elected
Congress in Action
• Opening Day
– Begins at noon on January 3rd; there are no sworn members
– Clerk of preceding house presides and calls roll
• The clerk is a non-member
Congress in Action
• Members answer roll call and choose the speaker of the house– Must be from the majority party
• The speaker is sworn in by the “Dean of the House” (the one who has been there the longest)
• The speaker then swears in the other members
Congress in Action
• Open Day (cont.)– Republicans sit on the right– Democrats sit on the right– Independents may sit on either side– Members than adopt the house rules
• They usually remain the same
– Standing committees are then appointed
Congress in Action
• Opening Day in the Senate– Only 1/3 of the senate is new, so it takes less
time to swear people in– Standing committees are then appointed
State of the Union Address
• When congress notifies the President they are organized the President responds with what he hopes to accomplish while in office
• Members of Congress with the exception of one member from each house will not attend, along with a cabinet member so that if there is a catastrophe, government may go on.
State of the Union Address
• The President appears in person
• There are many dignitaries invited by the president
• The address includes issues on the economy, domestic issues, and foreign affairs
Officers of House and Senate
• Speaker of the House– Usually has been in the house for a long
period of time and highly respected– Nancy Pelosi (D)-CA currently holds the office– Sam Rayburn held the position for 17 years, 2
months, and 2 days– Last Republican to hold the position was
Dennis Hastert (R)-IL
Speaker of the House
• Duties of Speaker of the House– Maintain order in the House of Reps.– No person may speak unless recognized by
the speaker
Officers of the House and Senate
• Majority Leader- Steny Hoyer (D)
• Minority Leader- John Boehner (R)
• Majority Whip- James Clayburn (D)
• Minority Whip- Roy Blunt (R)
Officers of the House and Senate
• President of the Senate- Dick Cheney– May only vote to break ties
• President Pro-Tempore- Robert Byrd– He replaced Ted Stevens, who replaced 100
year old Strom Thurmond (retired in 2003
• Majority Leader Harry Reid– Previous to Reid, was Bill Frist, who replaced
Trent Lott because of a racist statement given at a birthday party
Committees
• Majority party controls all committees• Standing Committee
– Permanent committees– 19 in the House has 10-62 members– 17 in the Senate has 9-28 members
• Special Committee– Usually put into effect for investigations like
Watergate, Un-American activities, Whitewater
Committees
• Joint Committee– Members from both houses serve on
committee– Many believe this is the best kind of
committee
• Conference Committee– Used to push bills through respective houses
Punishment in Congress
• People from Congress who have been punished– 15 have been expelled from the Senate
• 14 after the Civil War
– The last person was David Durenberger who was denounced and not re-elected
Punishment in Congress
• House personnel punished– Reprimanded Adam Clayton Powell, Jim
Wright, Barney Frank, and Newt Gingrich – Michael Myers from Pennsylvania was
expelled from the House in 1980– James Trafficant recently was convicted of
fraud and tampering, but was not re-elected
Seniority Rule
• Senior members get the best committees to serve on as well as a preference on seating and offices
Bills becoming Laws
• Over 20,000 introduced each session
• Only 10% become law
• Anyone may write a bill, but only a congressperson may introduce one to the floor
• Process for introducing a bill is by dropping it in the “hopper”– A box at the end of the clerk’s desk
Types of Bills
• Public Bills– General applications like taxes, patents, etc
• Private Bills– Apply to certain places or persons (MLK day)
• Resolution– Either house for specific item (new money)
Types of Bills
• Joint Resolution– Temporary measures
• Concurrent Resolution– Usually deals with foreign policy– Present directive to allow President Bush to
attack Iraq
Committee Status on Bills
• Groups of Congress people go through the bills to decide which are important– They may “pigeon-hole”- kill the bill– Committee may take a junket (fact-finding trip)
used to be used for vacations– Committee may discharge (blast bill out of
committee)
Rules and Calendars
• Calendar- is a schedule of when a bill will appear on the floor for consideration
• All bill pending action are read by the committee and then read a second time if they reach the floor
• Debating a bill is limited to one hour in the House
Voting on a Bill
• Most common way (Yea or Nay) called a voice vote
• Teller vote where each person walks between two people giving their vote to leader
Voting on a Bill
• Roll call all people in Congress are polled one by one
• When a bill has been approved it is then engrossed and sent to the printers in final form
Bill in the Senate
• Basically, the same as in the House
• Filibuster- talking a bill to death by trying to delay a vote
• Strom Thurmond holds the current record for filibustering 24 hours +
• The Senate may invoke the cloture rule which limits debate before it starts
Final Stage of the Bill
• Voted on, engrossed, and finally approved
• Bill then goes to the opposite house for their approval
• Bill may be derailed in either house
• Bill then goes to the President
Final Stage of Bill
• President’s options– Sign– Veto– Pocket veto- when the Congress goes out of
session and bill dies– Leave it lie on the President’s desk and after
10 days it becomes law