Ch. 12 Action! Congress in

Congress Gets Organized! The First Day in the House All members are sworn in House elects the Speaker Always a member of the majority party – they have picked him in private meetings before session

John Boehner Elected Speaker http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoChannel=1003&videoId=174161251

Congress Gets Organized! Members are put into committees Also prearranged Majority party gets a majority in every committee Seniority Rule – longest serving members get the first pick, become chairperson

Congress Gets Organized! First Day in the Senate 1/3 of the members are sworn in (only 1/3 coming off of election) Vacant committee seats are filled

Senate Swearing in Ceremony http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2011/01/05/bts.senate.swearing.in.senatetv.html

House Leadership Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) Presides over House session

House Leadership Speaker of the House Refers bills to relevant committee Appoints members of the Rules committee

House Leadership House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R) Helps Speaker to plan party strategy

with former Majority Leader Tom Delay Lessons in Congressional Leadership with former Majority Leader Tom Delay

House Leadership House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R) Right hand of Majority Leader

House Leadership Link between leadership and “rank and file” Check who plans to vote and how Persuade “defectors” to vote with the party

House Leadership House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Plans minority party strategy to take power back Expected to become Speaker if they win

House Leadership House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Senate Leadership President of the Senate Vice President of the U.S. Joe Biden

Senate Leadership Presides over the Senate Powerless and thankless job V.P. has better things to do Can only vote to break a tie

Senate Leadership President Pro-Tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy (D) Presides in place of the VP

Senate Leadership President Pro-Tempore of the Senate Longest serving member of the majority party Also doesn’t want to do it, passes the job off on junior members

Senator Byrd and Ted Stevens http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-5-2006/headlines---braked-alaska

Senate Leadership Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Plans party strategy

Senate Leadership Places bills on the calendar for voting May speak first on any bill Refers bill to relevant committee

Senate Leadership Senate Majority Whip Richard “Dick” Durbin (D-IL)

Senate Leadership Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Senate Leadership Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R)

Committees Committee – expert groups of Congressmen who decide what bills will go to the whole house for a vote Most work in Congress is done in committees

Types of Committees Standing Committee – permanent committees that remain from session to session

Current Standing Committees in the House of Representatives Agriculture Appropriations Armed Services Budget Education and the Workforce Energy and Commerce Financial Services Government Reform House Administration International Relations Judiciary Resources Rules Science Small Business Standards of Official Conduct Transportation and Infrastructure Veterans Affairs Ways and Means

Current Standing Committees in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Appropriations Armed Services Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Budget Commerce, Science, and Transportation Energy and Natural Resources Environment and Public Works Finance Foreign Relations Governmental Affairs Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Indian Affairs Judiciary Rules and Administration Small Business Veterans Affairs

Types of Committees Select or Special Committees – Temporary committee to investigate wrongdoing or research a special matter Examples: Senate Watergate Committee, Select Committee on Aging

Types of Committees Joint Committees – have members of both the House and Senate Conference Committees – compromise different versions of bills between House and Senate

How a Bill Becomes a Law For a brief overview, let’s watch a short documentary on the process

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 1 – The House Bill is introduced Can only be introduced by a member of the House Bill is read to the entire chamber

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 2 – The House Referred to a standing committee Speaker of the House chooses the committee Full committee decides whether to consider it, or “pidgeonhole” it

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 3 – The House Referred to subcommittee Chairman of the committee decides which subcommittee Subcommittee does the vast majority of research and work on the bill 90% of bills die in steps 2 and 3

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 4 – The House Committee/Subcommittee Hearings Government officials, experts invited to speak in favor or against bills Congressmen may take “junkets,” or trips to locations for further research Meanwhile, they “markup,” or make changes to the bill

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 5 – The House Sent back to full committee Committee can either Send the bill to step 6 with a “do pass” recommendation Or refuse to report the bill, thus killing it

How a Bill Becomes a Law *If the rest of Congress disagrees with a committee’s decision to kill a bill, there is one option* Discharge Petition – majority of the House votes to pull a dead bill out of committee

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 6 – The House Referred to Rules Committee Places bill on the calendar Sets the rules for time limits and number of amendments allowed If they refuse to put rules on it…

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 7 – The House Whole House Debates During debate, members can propose amendments to add onto the bill In the House, amendments must be relevant to the subject of the bill

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 8 – The House Whole House Votes Majority vote passes, sends bill to the Senate

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 9 – The Senate Introduced in the Senate Referred to a standing committee Senate Majority Leader chooses which committee

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 11-12 – The Senate Same as House – referred to subcommittee, back to committee, then out to floor for debate

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 13 – The Senate Whole Senate Debates No Rules Committee, so no limits on time or amendments Filibuster – talking at length to stall action on a bill, can only be ended by cloture (60 votes)

How a Bill Becomes a Law This leads to… Riders - amendments that have nothing to do with a bill This leads to… Pork Barrel Spending

Pork Barrel Spending Generally occurs through a process called “Earmarking” Setting aside money within an appropriations bill and “earmarking” it for a specific purpose For some reason, doesn’t go through typical spending authorization procedures that other spending proposals go through Cost taxpayers approximately $17.1 billion in 2008

In 2008 Taxpayers Paid For… $148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute $211,508 for olive fruit fly research in Paris, France $1,117,125 to suppress Mormon crickets $1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service (Rangel is the Congressman who got this money spent) $98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia

Jeff Flake on 60 Minutes http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2154119n&tag=related;photovideo

Pork Barrel Spending How congressmen “bring home the bacon” Shows constituents that their congressman gets “stuff” for their district or state Helps congressman win reelection!

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 14 – The Senate Senate votes Step 15 – Conference Committee Members of both houses’ subcommittees that worked on the bill compromise Both houses then vote again on the compromise bill

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 16 – The President President has 3 options (maybe 4): 1. Sign the bill, make it law

How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 16 – The President President has 4 options: 2. Veto the bill, explain why Goes back to Congress, who can override with 2/3 vote in both houses

How a Bill Becomes a Law 3. Wait 10 days and let it become law without his signature 4. (Maybe) Pocket Veto - If Congress ends its session before 10 days are up, bill dies without a veto