AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

 Can you name your 2 senators?  Can you name your representative?  The 535 members in Congress are NOT a representative cross-section of America  “Average” member—white male in his early 50s  The median age in the House is over 55 and in the Senate, nearly 60.

 More women then ever before—70 in the House and 16 in the Senate  First Female Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi D-CA)  3 standing committees in the House and 1 in the Senate are chaired by women  43 African Americans, 26 Hispanics, 6 Asian Americans, 1 Native American, 1 Native Hawaiian  Rep. David Wu (D-OR) first ever Chinese American  Senator (President) Barack Obama (D-IL) is only the 5 th African American elected to the Senate.

 Most married, few divorced, average of 2 children  Religion: 60% Protestant, 30% Catholic, 7% Jewish, 1 person is Muslim, a few have no religious affiliation  1/3 House and ½ of Senate are lawyers  More than 80% have college degrees with many having advanced degrees (master, ph.d)  Several millionaires  A large number of House members rely on their salary as their main source of income

 Experience: Senate 2 terms; House 4 terms  1/3 of Senators were House members  Several Senators were former governors  A few senators were in the President’s cabinet or some other high job in the executive branch

 Members of Congress play 5 major roles:  Major roles  1) legislators  2) representatives of their constituents  Minor roles  3) committee members  4) servants of their constituents  5) politicians

 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE  Four voting options as a representative  1) Trustee  Each question must be decided on its merits  Call issues as you see them regardless of what constituents might think  2) Delegate  An agent of those who elected them  They should vote the way the “people back home” would want them to vote

 They suppress their own views, ignore their party, etc.  3) Partisans  First allegiance is to their party  Leading factor influencing voting  4) Politicos  Attempt to combine the basic elements of the trustee, delegate, and partisan roles  They try to balance conflicting factors

 COMMITTEE MEMBERS  Proposed laws are assigned to a committee  OVERSIGHT FUNCTION—Congress, through its committees, checks to see that the various agencies in the executive branch are working effectively and acting in line with the policies that Congress has set by law  SERVANTS  Try to help as many people back home as possible  Congressmen deal with requests from their first day in office

 SALARY  $165,200 / year  Speaker of the House: $208,100 (same as the Vice President)  The Senate’s President Pro Temp and Majority and Minority Floor leaders in both houses received $180,100  NONSALARY COMPENSATION  Special federal tax deduction

 Generous travel allowance  Relatively inexpensive health and life insurance  Medical care, at very low rates, at any military hospital  Generous retirement plan  Pays out based on seniority  Long-time members receive $150,000 per year  Members also have offices provided and funds are available to pay staff

THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE—mail letters and other materials postage-free by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for the postage Free printing  Radio and television tapes at very low cost  Gymnasiums, restaurants, Library of Congress, reserved parking at the Capitol and Washington airports

 THE POLITICS OF PAY  Two restrictions on Congressional pay:  1) Presidential veto  2) Opinion of constituents  XXVIIth Amendment—Can’t receive a pay raise until an election has occurred  MEMBERSHIP PRIVILEGES  Privilege from arrest during their attendance at a session of Congress and going to and from that session (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1)

TThis clause is intended to protect freedom of legislative debate HHowever, members may not defame another member in a public speech, article, or otherwise. TThe End