1. [ 4.1 ] National Legislature Overview
Learning Objectives
Explain why the Constitution provides for the bicameral structure of Congress.
Explain the difference between a term and a session of Congress.
Describe a situation in which the President may convene or end a session of Congress.
Identify the personal and political backgrounds of members of Congress.
Describe the duties performed by those who serve in Congress.
Describe the compensation and privileges of members of Congress.

2. [ 4.1 ] National Legislature Overview
Key Terms
Delegates
Trustees
Partisans
Politicos
bills,
floor consideration
oversight function,
Nancy Pelosi
term
session
convenes
adjourns,
recess
prorogue
special session
Harry Truman
franking privilege

3. Warm-Up (Because its cold outside)
The National Legislature Overview
Warm-Up (Because its cold outside)

4. The Role of Congress in a Democracy: The Framers’ view
” …a history of repeated injuries and usurpations '
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

5. The Role of Congress in a Democracy
Representative Assemblies: The cure for overbearing executives (kings, presidents, governors, etc.)
No Taxation without representation!!
However…They also feared placing too much power in a democratically elected body…Why?
Solutions in the National Government?
Remember Federalist 10 and 51?:
Separation of Powers, Bi-Cameral Legislature, Checks and Balances

6. The Constitution creates a bicameral legislature for three reasons:
Two Houses of Congress
The Constitution creates a bicameral legislature for three reasons:
Historical: The British Parliament consisted of two houses since the 1300s, and many colonial assemblies were similar in form.
Practical: A bicameral legislature was necessary to compromise - the Virginia and New Jersey plans of representation.
Theoretical: The Framers favored a bicameral Congress in order that one house might act as a check on the other…Slow the legislative process…
One More thing….A reflection of the principle of federalism? (p.129…Visual, Quote)

7. Congress: The Job
Members of both houses of Congress have many roles to play. Analyze ChartsWhy are the legislative and agent of constituent roles the most important?

8. Representatives of the People
Senators and representatives are elected to represent people. As legislators, they have four voting options:
And…balancing national vs state/district concerns

9. Representatives of the People
Senators and representatives are elected to represent people. As legislators, they have four voting options:
So…Which is most prevalent today?
Polling data and gerrymandering combine to reinforce the delegate/Partisan roles

10. Committee Membership and Public Servants
As committee members, senators and representatives screen proposed laws before they are voted on.
Another vital part of their committee work involves the oversight function.
Members of the House and the Senate also act as servants of their constituents.
Requests from voters vary widely, and members of Congress take heed to many of them. Ignoring their constituencies would not bode well in the next election.
Mr. Duffy

11. Congress: The Job
Former House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama shake hands on the floor of the House. The Framers envisioned Congress as a body “whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country.”

12. A couple of “Terms”
A term is the length of time that officials serve after an election, as in a two- or six-year term.
The date for the start of each new term has been set by the Twentieth Amendment (1933) as “noon of the 3d day of January” of every odd-numbered year.

13. Sessions of Congress
A session is the regular period of time during which Congress conducts business.
Congress adjourns, or suspends until the next session, each regular session as it sees fit.
If necessary, the President has the power to prorogue, or adjourn, a session, but only when the two houses cannot agree on a date for adjournment.
Only the President* may call Congress into a special session—a meeting to deal with some emergency situation.
* At the State level, governors may call special sessions of state legislatures

14. Terms and Sessions of Congress
The Senate as a “Continuous Body”
The Senate is divided into three equal classes so that only a third of the Senate seats may change hands in an election. Analyze Charts How does the Senate arrangement differ from the House?

15. Congressional Compensation
Article I Section 6, Clause 1
The Constitution says that Congress fixes its own pay.
The late Senator Russell Long (D., Louisiana) once characterized this provision as one that gives to members of Congress “a power that no good man would want and no bad man should have.”
The 27th Amendment
modified this pay-setting authority. It declares that no increase in members' pay can take effect until after the next congressional election—that is, not until after voters have had an opportunity to react to the pay raise.

16. Congressional Compensation
This chart shows the salaries of members of Congress from a different perspective. Analyze Charts How do Congress’ salaries compare to the salaries of C.E.O.s and the average American?

17. Compensation
Base Pay - $174,000
Senate Leadership
majority Party Leader - $193,400
minority Party Leader - $193,400
House Leadership

Speaker - $223,500
majority Leader - $193,400
minority Leader - $193,400
The franking privilege allows members of Congress to mail letters and other materials postage-free by substituting their facsimile signature (frank) for the postage….Obsolete???

18. Membership Privileges
Members of Congress are immune from arrest for non-criminal offenses while engaged in congressional business.
More importantly, the Speech and Debate Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1) protects representatives and senators from suits for libel or slander arising from their official conduct.

19. Complete: Study Guide and REALIZE 1
Complete: Study Guide and REALIZE 1.1 Profiling Congress Activity Health Care Essay
Due on Thursday