The Legislative Branch

Article I

of the

U.S. Constitution

What is the purpose of the Legislative Branch?

To make laws.

Facts About the House of Representatives

• Representatives are elected for 2 yr. terms.

• There are 435 members of the House.

• Representatives are proportionally based on the population of each state. (Remember the VA Plan?)

• PA has 18 members.• After the census is taken, the

House is reapportioned based on population shifts.

• What states do you think gain the most seats after every census? Who loses the most?

Qualifications to be a U.S. Representative

• Representatives must be 25 years of age.• Must be a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years.• Must be a legal resident of the state that they represent.• Typically, the Representative lives in the district they serve.

The House of Representatives

• The rules for the House are often created to make lawmaking more efficient.

• In the House, work begins with the committees. Due to the many people in the House, the work has to given out much more efficiently.

• The House begins all Congressional financial bills.

Leadership of the House

• Leadership of the house serves 6 purposes.

• #1 – Organizing party members.• #2 – scheduling House work

agenda.• #3 – making sure House members

are present to vote on issues.• #4 – distributing and collecting

information.• #5 – keeping the House in touch

with the President.• #6 – influencing other House

members.

• House of Representatives: 233 Republicans, 205 Democrats (including the 5

• Delegates and the Resident Commissioner), and 3 vacant seats.

• • Senate: 53 Democrats; 2 Independents, who caucus with the Democrats; and 45

• Republicans.

• 1

• 21 Members of the House and 1 Senator have no educational degree beyond a

• high school diploma

• 56% of the Members (247 in the House, 52 in the Senate) are Protestant, with

• Baptist as the most represented denomination;

• • 31% of the Members (136 in the House, 27 in the Senate) are Catholic;

• • 6.2% of the Members (22 in the House, 11 in the Senate) are Jewish;

• • 2.8% of the Members (8 in the House, 7 in the Senate) are Mormon (Church of

• Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints);

• • 3 Members (2 in the House, 1 in the Senate) are Buddhist, 2 House Members are

• Muslim, and 1 House Member is Hindu; and

• • Other religious affiliations represented include Greek Orthodox, Quaker,

• Unitarian Universalist, and Christian Science.

Speaker of the House• The Speaker of the House is the

leader of the House. He/ she is chosen in the beginning of every two year term.

• The Speaker is chosen from the party that controls the most seats in the House.

• The Speaker uses their position to appoint leaders of committees, schedule bills for actions, and recognize which people can speak on the House floor amongst other things.

John Boehner - CEO

House Majority Leader

• The Speaker’s top person is the Majority Leader. The current leader is Kevin McCarthy

• His job is to make sure that the parties bills are being sent to the floor.

• He also makes sure that the bills his political party is interested in passing is being worked on by their party.

Kevin McCarthy

Minority Leader and Whips

• The Minority Leader has no power over the scheduling.

• The Majority and Minority Whips have several jobs. Steve Scalise/Steny Hoyer (D)

• #1 – Watch how party members vote on particular issues.

• #2 – To persuade members to vote the same way on a particular issue.

• #3 – Make sure that party members are available to vote.

Nancy Pelosi

“Other” Roles of the House

• The House begins impeachment proceedings against government officials, including the President.

• Introduces all financial bills to Congress.

Standing Committees of the House

Agriculture, Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget, Education, Energy, Commerce, Financial, Gov’t Reform, House Admin., Int’l Relations, Judiciary, Resources, Rules, Science, Small Business, Official Conduct, Transportation, Veteran’s Affairs, and Ways and Means.

Facts About the U.S. Senate• Senators are elected for 6 yr. terms.• There are 100 members of the

Senate.• Senators are based on the equal

representation of each state. (Remember the NJ Plan?)

• The Senate has a much less formal system of rules for introducing and debating laws than the House. Why do you think that is?

• The Senate is ¼ the size of the House.

Qualifications to be a U.S. Senator

• Senators must be 30 years of age.

• Must be a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years.

• Must be a legal resident of the state that they represent.

• Senators, like Representatives have residences in both their home state and Washington D.C.

Bob Casey Jr. Pat Toomey

Leadership of the Senate

• Leadership in the Senate is very different from the House.

• In the Senate, leadership is not based on party affiliation.

• Leadership does not pressure Senators to pass legislation like they do in the House.

• Again, the atmosphere is more relaxed.

President of the Senate

• The President of the Senate is not selected, but is the Vice-President.

• The President of the Senate is not an elected Senator, so he/she cannot debate on issues.

• The President also cannot vote on an issue unless there is a ties amongst the 100 Senators. He is the tie-breaking vote.

Joe Biden

President Pro Tempore

• Often, the Vice-President concedes (gives up) his Presidential duties because they are “beneath him.”

• Instead, the leadership of the Senate goes to the “temporary president.”

• He resides over the Senate and recognizes speakers on the Senate floor and call legislation to a vote.

Patrick Leahy

Senate Majority and Minority Leaders

• He is comparable to the House Majority Leader. He is the “real leader” of the Senate.

• He pushes the Democrats agenda through the Senate.

• He is comparable to the House Minority Leader.

• He pushes the Republican agenda in the Senate.

Harry Reid

Mitch McConnell

Jobs Unique to the Senate

• Approve Presidential appointments including foreign ambassadors and Supreme Court Justices.

• Hold Impeachment proceedings.

Term Limits for Congressmen

• There are no Constitutional limitations for how many terms a Congressmen may run for.

Representative John Dingell D-MI

Senator Robert Byrd D-WV

Conference Committee

• The most important committee in Congress is the conference committee.

• If both houses pass a different version of the same bill, members of both houses will work out their differences together.

• Congress cannot send a bill to the President unless it states the same thing from both houses.

• The President CANNOT get both versions and pick which one he prefers. Why not?

• Because that is not constitutional.

Congressional Staffers

• The people that work for the Congressman can be very influential on his decisions.

• The staffers give the Congressman information on the bills.

• They talk to his constituents.

• Gather polling information.

• Gather insight into Congressional voting.

The Filibuster

• If a Senator does not like a bill, they can threaten a filibuster.

• This means that a Senator can stall the vote on a bill so that the Senators will not vote for the bill. They are allowed to talk continuously about anything to avoid the vote.

• This can only be ended when the Senator ends the filibuster or a 60 Senators vote to end the filibuster.

The Beginning of “Bill”

• A proposed law, a bill, is put into the hopper.

• From there, the Speaker gives the bill to the appropriate committee to study, discuss, and review.

• Often, a bill is given to a subcommittee to be reviewed and revised before the general committee approves it.

• Only about 100-200 bills out of thousands each year survive the committee and are put on the House calendar.

“Bill” Reaches the Floor

• After a bill is put on the calendar, it is looked at by the Rules committee to have its’ fate determined. The Rules committee will decide when the bill goes to the floor.

• Once a bill reaches the floor of the House, it is debated on, altered, and ultimately, voted on for final approval.

“Bill” Becoming a Law

“Bill” is introduced. He is put into the

hopper forconsideration.

“Bill” is assigned to a committee to be

reviewed.

“Bill” is often assignedto a subcommitteefor more members

to review.

After being approved by a committee, “Bill”

moves to the Rules Committee and then to

the House floor for vote.

Introducing Bills for Consideration

“Bill” is introduced to the Senate.

“Bill” either goes to asmall committee or he

is debated on the Senate floor.

“Bill” is voted on by the Senate.

“Bill” Goes to the White House

• After Congress has agreed to a bill, they send it to the President to sign into law.

• If the President agrees with the bill, he will sign it and “Bill” becomes a law.

• If the President disagrees with “Bill,” he will veto it, and “Bill” goes back to Congress.

“Bill” Continues on His Journey

“Bill” is agreed uponBy the House and

The Senate

Conference Committee

The White HouseBack to Congress

(if necessary)

Overriding the President

• If the President vetoes “Bill,” the Congress can use the Veto Override and still make “Bill” into a law.

• It takes two-thirds of the Congress to override the President. That is about 356 votes. Is it easy to get a veto override?