HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE CHAPTER 5, SECTION 1 PART 2

ESSENTIAL QUESTION Why are the House and the Senate different when they both are houses within the Legislative Body?

I CAN: 1.Explain how both Houses of Congress are similar and different 2.Analyze the House and Senate based on their major facts and information 3.Understand the idea of gerrymandering and how it affects Congressional elections 4.Evaluate the leadership structure in both the House and the Senate

VIDEOS ON SENATE AND HOUSE YKvx3vH7c&feature=related YKvx3vH7c&feature=related Cram for the Exam

BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS Made by Connecticut Compromise Every two years 1/3 of Senators and all house members are up for election Print rules every two years Republicans sit on right; Democrats sit on left All proposed laws start as bills

BOTH HOUSES CONT. 27 th Amendment- pay increase would not take effect until next voting cycle Franking privilege- Congressional members can send mail for free May get up to $150,000 a year when they retire Cannot be arrested while they are attending Congress or going to Congress Cannot be sued for anything they say on the house or senate floor

DISCIPLINE IN CONGRESS Censure- vote of disapproval, majority of each house, lose of committee chair Expulsion- removal from office, 2/3 votes from corresponding house

DISCIPLINE IN CONGRESS Congressman dismissed for wearing hoodie

CENSURE IN CONGRESS feature=fvsr feature=fvsr Today in History: McCarthy Censure McCarthy on his Censure Have you decency sir

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Facts of Congress

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 435 members based on state population 2 year terms No term limits Elections held in November of even numbered years Off-Year elections- occurring during nonpresidential years

HOUSE CONT. Salary of Members: $174,000 Debate in house is limited to 1 hour All tax and revenue bills originate in the House Lower turnout during elections 90% reelected

QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS 1.25 years old 2.Citizen of the US for 7 years 3.Legal residents of the state that elects them

QUALIFICATIONS OF HOUSE Requirements-to-be-a-Representative-.htm Requirements-to-be-a-Representative-.htm

OATH OF OFFICE FOR MEMBERS I, (Name of Member), do solemnly swear (of affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

OATH OF OFFICE VIDEO

REPRESENTATION AND REAPPORTIONMENT Reapportionment Act of sets House at 435 total seats for 50 states Reapportionment- reassigning representation based on new number of population for each state Based on census- population count every 10 years Each state can gain/loss seats based on population but cannot go above 435 seats State legislatures sets up congressional districts for each representative and draws boundary lines Redistricting- setting up/drawing new district lines after reapportionment has taken place

WESBERRY VS. SANDERS 1964 “One person, One vote” rule, each vote in a congressional district should be worth about the same Today each district has around 710,000 people

REDISTRICTING VIDEO

2010 CENSUS AND HOUSE DISTRICTS

2010 KENTUCKY CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

GERRYMANDERING Process of drawing district lines to gain an advantage for one group or another; abuse of state redistricting power Elbridge Gerry- Governor of Massachusetts District shapes usually very irregular

4 TYPES OF GERRYMANDERING 1.Incumbent- agreement by both major parties to create safe districts for incumbents in office 2.Partisan- Benefits one political party over the other (usually whom every is in office during redistricting phase) 3.Racial-district lines drawn to either favor or harm ethnic/racial groups

GERRYMANDERING VIDEO &feature=endscreen&NR=1 &feature=endscreen&NR=1 Animal Kingdom video

POTENTIAL GERRYMANDERING

GERRYMANDERING CONT. Packing- drawing lines so they include as many of the opposing party’s voters as possible Cracking- dividing an opponent’s voters into other districts, weakens opponents voter base

REDISTRICTING VIDEO Gerrymandering, Packing, and Cracking feature=related feature=related Gerrymandering and Redistricting for women

RULES AND COMMITTEES Aimed at defining that actions an individual representative can take Rules are geared to move legislation quickly once it reaches the floor Committees do most of the work (especially in House) Membership is larger, organize into smaller groups to accomplish work more efficiently.

LEADERSHIP IN THE HOUSE: 6 PURPOSES 1.Organizing and unifying party members 2.Scheduling the work of the House 3.Making certain that lawmakers are present for key floor votes 4.Distributing and collecting information 5.Keeping the house in touch with the President 6.Influencing lawmakers to support the polices of their political party

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Presiding officer and most powerful leader Chosen by caucus from majority party Follows Vice- President in line of succession Salary- 223,500 John Boehner (R- OH)

ROLES OF THE SPEAKER Chooses chairperson and majority party members to Rules Committee and other committees First to speak on legislation and recognizes members to speak on legislation Schedules bills for action and refers bills to proper committees

HOUSE FLOOR LEADERS Majority/Minority Leaders- a party, not House official, who carry out party agendas, plan legislative programs, and steer important bills through Congress

HOUSE FLOOR LEADERS Majority/Minority Whip- Assistant floor leaders whose goal is to watch how party members intend to vote, encourage them to vote with the party, and see party members are present to vote

LEADERSHIP VIDEO pVzOp4&feature=relmfu pVzOp4&feature=relmfu Facts of Congress: Congressional Leaders

VIDEO TOUR OF HOUSE A&feature=relmfu A&feature=relmfu

LAWMAKING PROCESS To introduce a bill, it must be placed in the Hopper, a mahogany box near the front of the room Only 10 to 20 percent of bills introduced ever make it to the full house for a vote Those that survive committees are put on a Calendar, listing the bills up for consideration

THE HOPPER

5 CALENDARS OF THE HOUSE 1.Union- lists bills dealing with money 2.House- Most other public bills 3.Private- bills dealing with individual people or places 4.Consent- any bill the House gives unanimous consent to debate out of regular order 5.Discharge- petition to discharge a bill from committee

HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE Provides “rule”, or special order, for each bill When will bill be debated, how long debate can last, and can the bill be amended Resolves disputes between two committees Controlled by majority party and so reflects their priorities

HOUSE QUORUM Minimum number of members who must be present to permit a legislative body to take official action 218 members are needed for a majority Committee of the Whole will sometimes meet and only 100 members are needed to move a bill to the whole house floor

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VIDEO House-of-Representatives.htm House-of-Representatives.htm

WHY WE HAVE A SENATE Senate.htm Senate.htm Facts of Congress Senate

SENATE 100 Senators 6 year terms No term limits Run at-large elections, meaning they are statewide and cover a larger constituent base

SENATE CONT. Continuous body- portion of members retain their seats during elections Fewer rules than in House More informal atmosphere Usually allows unlimited debate

SENATE BILLS SCHEDULED Senate Leaders control the flow of bills to committees, floor debates and vote Runs day to day operations on unanimous consent- set aside rules and consider bill from calendar.

TWO SENATE CALENDARS 1.General Orders- lists all bills the Senate will consider 2.Executive Calendar- schedules treaties and nominations

BILLS CONT. Filibuster- stall or block legislation and prevent a vote from occurring Can only be stopped by invoking cloture- cuts debate to 1 hour on a bill and then have a vote Takes 3/5 (60) votes to enact cloture

FILIBUSTER VIDEOS Facts of Congress George Mitchell on Filibuster History of the Filibuster

SENATE LEADERSHIP: VICE PRESIDENT President of the Senate Votes in case of a tie May recognize members, put questions to a vote, but may not take part in Senate debate

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE Means “for the time being” Presides in absence of the Vice President Elected by the Senate and usually senior member of the majority party 4 th in line of succession

SENATE MAJORITY/MINORITY LEADERS Most important officers in the Senate Sets agenda for Senate Oversees and manages floor debates Steer the party’s bills through the Senate

WHY WE HAVE A HOUSE AND SENATE a-House-and-a-Senate.htm a-House-and-a-Senate.htm

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