2. Article I The Legislative Branch

3. ARTICLE I- THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH The United States Congress is bi cameral. Both houses of Congress meet at the capitol building in Washington D.C.

4. The House of Representatives

5. Congressional Terms The term for a Congressperson is 2 years. The next Congressional election will be in 2012 There is NO limit to the # of terms a person may run

6. Qualification for Congress people 25 years old Have been a citizen for 7 years Must live in district they represent (our Congressman lives in Vineland)

7. House of Representatives There are currently 435 members in the House of Representatives

8. This # was set in 1929 to curb the size of House of Reps. Every 10 years a census is taken and seats are re- allocated based on population shifts.

9. The latest trends have been that the Northeastern states, like NJ, NY and PA have lost seats to the “Sun Belt” states.

10. House of Representatives Can you guess which state sends the most people to the House of Representatives? Guess how many? How many does NJ send?

11. New Jersey New Jersey sends 12 people to the House of Representatives.

12. WHY are there more Congressional Districts in North Jersey? In which Congressional District do you live?

13. House Leadership The Head of the House of Reps is called the Speaker of the House. Today that man is John Boehner. He is a Republican from Ohio.

14. House Leadership The Republicans have a majority leader and the Democrats have a minority leader. Each party also employs a WHIP Any guess what the whip does?

15. House Leadership The job of the whip is to ensure that members of the party vote on bills. There is a lot of pressure in Congress to vote along party lines.

16. Political Parties The party with the majority of members controls the House. The Speaker of the House is always a member of the majority party as are ALL Committee Chairpersons. Committee Chairs must be of the MAJORITY PARTY with most Seniority on that Committee. Bills are passed by a majority vote so who controls the House is mucho important!

17. Political parties of 112 th Congress There are 242Republicans in the House 192 Democrats 1 Vacancy

18. Powers exclusive to the House All appropriation (tax/spending) bills must BEGIN in the House. WHY? Only the House can impeach(accuse) the President.

19. Approbations Bills Why do you suppose all $$$ bills must begin in the House of REPS?

20. Impeachment The 107 th Congress impeached President Bill Clinton. They charged him with 2 crimes. Perjury & Obstruction of justice

21. Finally….. The slide you have been waiting for….. Who is EHT’s Congressman?

22. Frank LoBiondo- Republican- 2 nd district

23. Now let’s look at the SENATE!

24. Senate Terms The term for a Senator is SIX years! The terms are unlimited.

25. Qualification for the Senate 30 years old Have been a citizen for 9 years Must live in the state they represent

26. Senate States are equally represented in the Senate (thanks to NJ!) Each state has ___ Senators and since there are ___ states there are ___ people in the Senate.

27. Senate Leadership Technically the VP is the head of the Senate…

28. Senate Leadership But since he is busy doing who knows what…. He only votes on bills if there is a tie! It happens

29. Senate Leadership The person who takes on the leadership role when the VP is not around is the PRESIDEMT PRO TEMPORE He is selected from the majority party. Honorable Daniel K. Inouye

30. Powers Exclusive to the Senate The Senate has 3 exclusive powers!

31. Ratify Treaties All treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by the Senate by a 2/3’s vote. This is an example of ____________ &__________.

32. Approve Presidential Appointments All Presidential appointees(and there are 1000’s) must be approve by a majority vote in the Senate. The approval of SCJ Clarence Thomas was very controversial.

33. Serve as the jury during Impeachment trials A 2/3 vote of the Senate was required to remove Bill Clinton from office. Most Senators voted along party lines and the vote to remove was defeated.

34. Party membership in the Senate 55Republicans 44 Democrats 1 Independent

35. Staggered Elections In 2010 1/3 of the Senate will run for re- election 2012- 1/3 will run 2014- 1/3 will run 2010- people elected in 2010 will run for re-election in 2016 This is complicated! Why bother?

36. The Current salary for Congresspersons is $162,100; the Speaker makes $208,100 and Majority and Minority Leaders $108,100-not a bad chunk of change!