1. Unit 6 (4 oops!)Congress AP GOPO D127

2. Structure of CongressUnited States United StatesHouse of RepresentativesSenate 25 years old 30 years old 7 years a citizen of the US 9 years a citizen of the US 2 year term 6 year term A citizen of the state A citizen of the staterepresentedrepresented No term limits No term limits Original number was 65; in1911, the size was limited to 2 Senators per435.state, originally elected by The 435 are reapportioned State legislatures; inamong the states every 10 1913, the 17th Amendmentyears after the census is taken provided for direct electionof Senators 3. Constitutional PowersArticle I, Section 8: (Enumerated Powers) Lay and collect taxes, duties, imports and excises Borrow money Regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states Establish rules for naturalization and bankruptcy Coin money Fix the standard of weights and measures Establish a post office and post roads Issue patents and copyrights Create courts Define and punish piracies Declare war Raise and support an army and navy Provide for a militia Exercise exclusive legislative powers over the District of Columbia and otherfederal facilities 4. Constitutional Powers Elastic Clause Elastic Clause Necessary and Proper Clause allowed government to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States. McCulloch v. Maryland creation of the National Bank using the Elastic Clause and Commerce Clause 5. Exclusive Powers of the HouseExclusive Powers given to the House Revenue Bills must originate in the House.Although still around today, it has become blurredover the years. Often budget bills are consideredsimultaneously in both houses and tax policy hasbecome a major initiative of the president. Impeachment Power the authority to charge thepresident, vice president, and other civil officerswith high crimes and misdemeanors 6. Exclusive Powers of the SenateExclusive Powers given to the Senate Major Presidential Appointments must beconfirmed by the Senate. The Senate offers adviceand consent to the president by a majority voteregarding the appointments of federaljudges, ambassadors, and Cabinet positions. Treaties with other nations entered into by thepresident must be approved by a 2/3 vote of theSenate. 7. Evolutionary Powers Based of the Elastic Clause Oversight of the Budget Congress reviews and restrictsthe annual budge prepared by the executive branch.When a law is passed setting up a government program,Congress must pass an authorization bill that states themaximum amount of money available. When thenations budget is set, only Congress can set theappropriations the actual amount available in a fiscalyear for each program that is authorized. Investigation Congress may investigate both issues thatwarrant study and wrong doings by public officials.(Examples: Watergate and Clinton-Lewinksy Hearings) 8. Congressional LeadershipCurrent US House of Representatives Speaker of the House John Boehner (R - OH) Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R - VA) Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R - CA) Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D - MD)Current US Senate President of the Senate - Joe Biden (D)(VP) Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - NV) Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R - KY) President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (D - VT) Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D - IL) Minority Whip Jon Cornyn (R - TX)*Usually the same party holds both houses, occasionally there is a splitExamples: 1983-1985, 2001, 2010-? 9. The Speaker of the House Most important leadership position in the House Position is provided for in the constitution, the House shallchoose their Speaker and other Officers Today the majority party does the choosing Around the turn of the century, the speaker was all-powerful a revolt by membership in 1910 gave some of the Speakerspowers to committees, but todays speaker still: Recognizing members who wish to speak Ruling on questions of parliamentary procedure Appointing members to select and conference committees Directing business on the floor Exercising political and behind-the-scenes influence Appointing members of the committees who appoint members tostanding committees Exercising substantial control over which bills get assigned to whichcommittees 10. House LeadershipMajority Leader / Minority Leader / WhipsMajority Leader Often a stepping stone the Speakers position Responsible for scheduling bills and rounding up votes for bills theparty favorsMinority Leader Spokesperson for the minority party, and usually steps in theposition of Speaker when and if his or her party gains a majority inthe House.Party Whips Serve as go-betweens for the members and the leadership. Theyinform members when important bills will come up for a vote, dohead-counts and pressure members to support the leadership. 11. Senate Leadership President of the Senate Vice President of the US, canvote only in case of a tie and seldom attends Senatesessions. President Pro Tempore elected from majorityparty, largely ceremonial position official chair of theSenate, but since it has no real powers, the job ofpresiding over the Senate is usually given to a juniorsenator Majority Leader most influential person in the senate. Has the right to be the first Senator heard on the floor Determines the Senates agenda and usually helps assign committees Minority Leader has as much power as the majorityparty is willing to allow Whips same as the House 12. For tomorrow Read chapter on Congress must be completed byMonday. Vocabulary test on Tuesday (list emailed out) Test will be next Thursday 13. CongressDay 2Committees 14. Committees and Subcommittees Most of the real work goes on committees/subcommittees Bills are considered in committees and they investigateproblems and oversee the executive branch. More than 11,000 bills are introduced in the House and Senateover the two-year life span of a Congress. (112th) Each bill is submitted to a committee, the majority of bills arepigeonholed (forgotten); most bills die on committee About 3000 staff assist the various committees conductingresearch, administrative and clerical work The bills that survive the subcommittee phase are thenmarked up (changed or rewritten) and returned to the fullcommittee where they may be altered further. If thecommittee approves the bill, it will be sent first to the RulesCommittee in the House, and then to the floor. The bill is sentdirectly to the floor in the Senate. 15. Types of Committees Standing Committee (most important) handle bills indifferent policy areas, thus shaping legislation at a very criticalpoint. House has 20, Senate has 16. Select Committees formed for a specific purpose and areusually temporary. Example: Watergate, Select Committee onAging and Select Committee on Indian Affairs. (SPECIAL) Joint Committee similar to Select committees, but consistof members from both the House and Senate. Example, a JointCommittee was formed to investigate Iran-Contra in the 1980sand they oversee institutions such as the Library of Congress. Conference Committee also consists of members fromboth chambers, but they are formed exclusively to hammer outdifferences between House and Senate version of similar bills.A bill goes to a conference committee after is has beenapproved in separate processes in the two houses, and acompromise bill is sent back to each house for final approval. 16. Standing Committees in CongressStanding Committees Standing CommitteesHouse of RepresentativesSenate1.Agriculture1.Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry2.Appropriations *2.Appropriations3.Armed Services3.Armed Services4.Budget4.Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs5.Education and the Workforce5.Budget6.Energy and Commerce6.Commerce, Science and Transportation7.Ethics7.Energy and Natural Resources8.Financial Service8.Environment and Public Works9.Foreign Affairs9.Finance10. Homeland Security10. Foreign Relations11. House Administration11. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs12. Judiciary12. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions13. Natural Resources13. Judiciary14. Oversight and Government Reform14. Rules and Administration15. Rules *15. Small Business and Entrepreneurship16. Science, Space and Technology16. Veterans Affairs17. Small Business18. Transportation and Infrastructure19. Veterans Affairs20. Ways and Means * 17. Committee Membership Committee Membership is controlled by the parties, primarily the majority party Each member of the House usually serves on two standing committees, unless he orshe is on an exclusive committee Appropriations, Rules or Ways and Means Each senator may serve on two major committees and one minor committee The chairman and a majority of each standing committee come from the majorityparty The remaining committee members are from the minority party, but they are alwaysa minority on the committee. Assignments are based on the personal and political qualities of the member, his orher region and whether the assignment will help reelect the member. Committee chairmen are the most important shapers of the committee agenda.Their positions were made powerful by the House 1910 revolt, which transferredpower from the Speaker to the chairmen. From 1910 until the early 1970s, chairmen were strictly chosen by the senioritysystem. In the early 1970s, the House decided to select committee chairmen by secret ballotsfrom all of the majority members. (Further info on this later in PPT) 18. How are members assigned? Before Members are assigned to committees, each committees size and theproportion of Republicans to Democrats must be decided by the party leaders. Thetotal number of committee slots allotted to each party is approximately the same asthe ratio between majority party and minority party members in the full Chamber. Members are then assigned to committees in a three-step process. Each of the two principle parties in the House is responsible for the assigning itsmembers to committees, and at the first stage, each party uses a committee oncommittees to make the initial recommendations for assignments. At the beginning of the new Congress, (1) Members express preferences forassignment to the appropriate committee on committees. Most incumbents preferto remain on the same committees so as not to forfeit expertise and committeeseniority.(2) These committees on committees then match preferences with committeeslots, following certain guidelines designed in part to distribute assignments fairly.They then prepare and approve an assignment slate for each committee, and submitall slates to the appropriate full party conference for approval. Approval at thissecond stage often is granted easily, but the conferences have procedures fordisapproving recommended Members and nominating others in their stead. (3) Finally, at the third stage, each committee submits its slate to the full Chamberfor approval, which is generally granted. 19. The Rules Committee in the House Plays a key role in shaping legislation because it sets veryimportant rules for debate when the bill is presented tothe House after it leaves the committee. A Closed Rule (sometimes called a gag rule) sets strict time limitson debates and forbids amendments from the floor, except thosefrom the presenting committee. Under closed rule, members not onthe committee have little choice but to vote for or against the bill as itis. An Open Rule permits amendments and often has less strict timelimits, allowing for input from other members. The Rules committeeis controlled by the Speaker, and in recent years, has put more andmore restrictions on bills, giving Rules even more power. A Restrictive Rule, permits certain kinds of amendments, but notothers to be made into a bill on the floor. 20. Congressional ReformsReforms on the 1970s that further democratized the workings of Congress, it becameknown as the Bill of RightsHouse: Committee chairmen to be elected by secret ballot in party caucus (attempt toreplace seniority system) No member to chair more than one committee All committees with more than twenty members to have at least four subcommittees(at the time Ways and Means had no subcommittees) Committee and personal staffs to be increased in size Committee meetings to be public unless members vote to close themSenate: Committee meetings to be public unless members vote to close them Committee chairmen to be selected by secret ballot Committees to have larger staffs No senator to chair more than one committee* This resulted in Proxy Voting written authorization to cast another persons vote * 21. Congressional Reforms Cont.House Reforms in 1995 Banned proxy voting Limited committee and subcommittee chairmens tenures tothree terms (6 years) and the Speakers to four terms (8 years) They allowed more frequent floor debate under open rules They reduced the number of committees and subcommittees They authorized committee chairmen to hire subcommitteestaffsSenate Reforms in 1995 A 6 year term limit on all committee chairmen (no limit on themajority leaders term) A requirement that committee members select their chairmenby secret ballot 22. Other Information Multiple Referral Congressional process whereby a bill may be referred to several committees Allows all voices to be heard, but often is time consuming and allows for greater negative input as well Committee of the Whole (only in the House),technically the House is the largest committee and it canact as a Committee, only needs 100 members. Quorum for the House itself is 218 Discharge Petition device by which any member ofthe House after a committee has had the bill for 30 days,may petition to have it brought to the floor. (needs 218signatures) only used 24ish times successfully 23. For Monday Vocab Quiz on Tuesday Schagrin will discuss committees HW: House Ways and Means, Rules, Appropriations Resolutions, a Bill to Law and other options