1. Congress

2. WHO’S IN CONGRESS?

3. Demographic Profile of the 111th Congress Age Groups Source: Source: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tthttp://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tt Party Gender Ethnicity

4. Party Share of 113 th - Senate Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) Vacant Party TotalVacant DemocraticIndependentRepublican End of previous congressprevious congress 512471000 Begin 532451000 Latest voting share 55%45%

5. Party Share of 113 th - House Party TotalVacant DemRep End of previous congress previous congress 1912414322 Begin 2002344341 Latest voting share 46.1%53.9%

6. Brainstorm similarities and differences between House and Senate…

7. House-Senate Differences House 435 members; 2 yr terms Low turnover Speaker bill referral hard to challenge Scheduling/rules controlled by majority party through Rules Committee ( controls time of debate, amends., etc) Senate 100 members; 6 yr terms Moderate turnover Bill referral decisions easily challenged Scheduling/rules agreed to by majority & minority leaders

8. House-Senate Differences House Debate limited to 1 hour Members policy specialists Emphasizes tax & revenue policy More formal & impersonal Senate Unlimited debate unless cloture invoked Members policy generalists Emphasizes foreign policy More informal & personal

9. Your turn… Using the organizer provided, work independently to uncover the information needed to complete each section. Begin with Similarities and Differences … Next to Leadership positions… Lastly, Committees …

10. HOUSE LEADERSHIP- Majority Party Speaker (majority party) Republicans: Majority Leader Majority Whip Rep. John Boehner Speaker of the House Majority Leader-Rep. Eric Cantor Majority Whip-Rep. Kevin McCarthy

11. HOUSE LEADERSHIP- Minority Party Democrats: Minority Leader Minority Whip Minority Leader-Nancy Pelosi Minority Whip- Rep. Steny Hoyer

12. SENATE President of the Senate (Vice President) President Pro Tempore (majority party) Democrats: Majority Leader Majority Whip Chairman of Conference Policy Committee Steering Committee Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Dick Durbin Assis. Maj. Leader/ Maj Whip Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) President Pro Tem Leahy(D-VT) President of the Senate Joe Biden (D-DE) Search Results

13. MINORITY PARTY SENATE LEADERSHIP Republicans: Minority Leader Minority Whip Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Minority Whip- Jon Kyl

14. Strength of Party Structure Measure of party strength: 1.Ability of leaders to control party rules and organization 2.Extent to which party members vote together in the House and Senate, but… Senate: less party-centered and leader oriented

15. Party Unity Lower today than 100 years ago, but….. Lower today than 100 years ago, but….. Ideology important for party voting (members vote with their party 80% of the time) Ideology important for party voting (members vote with their party 80% of the time) Party polarization – strength in which majority of Democrats oppose majority of Republicans (and vice versa) Party polarization – strength in which majority of Democrats oppose majority of Republicans (and vice versa) Party polarization increasing over past decade. Party polarization increasing over past decade.

16. "CONGRESS IN SESSION IS CONGRESS ON PUBLIC EXHIBITION, WHILST CONGRESS IN ITS COMMITTEE-ROOMS IS CONGRESS AT WORK.” - Woodrow Wilson