1. Ch. 12
Action!
Congress in

2. Congress Gets Organized!
The First Day in the House
All members are sworn in
House elects the Speaker
Always a member of the majority party – they have picked him in private meetings before session

3. John Boehner Elected Speaker

4. Congress Gets Organized!
Members are put into committees
Also prearranged
Majority party gets a majority in every committee
Seniority Rule – longest serving members get the first pick, become chairperson

5. Congress Gets Organized!
First Day in the Senate
1/3 of the members are sworn in (only 1/3 coming off of election)
Vacant committee seats are filled

6. Senate Swearing in Ceremony

7. House Leadership Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)
Presides over House session

8. House Leadership Speaker of the House
Refers bills to relevant committee
Appoints members of the Rules committee

9. House Leadership House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R)
Helps Speaker to plan party strategy

10. with former Majority Leader Tom Delay
Lessons in
Congressional
Leadership
with former Majority Leader Tom Delay

12. House Leadership House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R)
Right hand of Majority Leader

13. House Leadership Link between leadership and “rank and file”
Check who plans to vote and how
Persuade “defectors” to vote with the party

14. House Leadership House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Plans minority party strategy to take power back
Expected to become Speaker if they win

15. House Leadership
House Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

16. Senate Leadership President of the Senate Vice President of the U.S.
Joe Biden

17. Senate Leadership Presides over the Senate Powerless and thankless job
V.P. has better things to do
Can only vote to break a tie

18. Senate Leadership President Pro-Tempore of the Senate
Patrick Leahy (D)
Presides in place of the VP

19. Senate Leadership President Pro-Tempore of the Senate
Longest serving member of the majority party
Also doesn’t want to do it, passes the job off on junior members

20. Senator Byrd and Ted Stevens

21. Senate Leadership Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Plans party strategy

22. Senate Leadership Places bills on the calendar for voting
May speak first on any bill
Refers bill to relevant committee

23. Senate Leadership
Senate Majority Whip
Richard “Dick” Durbin (D-IL)

24. Senate Leadership
Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

25. Senate Leadership
Senate Minority Whip
John Cornyn (R)

26. Committees
Committee – expert groups of Congressmen who decide what bills will go to the whole house for a vote
Most work in Congress is done in committees

27. Types of Committees
Standing Committee – permanent committees that remain from session to session

28. Current Standing Committees in the House of Representatives
Agriculture
Appropriations
Armed Services
Budget
Education and the Workforce
Energy and Commerce
Financial Services
Government Reform
House Administration
International Relations
Judiciary
Resources
Rules
Science
Small Business
Standards of Official Conduct
Transportation and Infrastructure
Veterans Affairs
Ways and Means

29. Current Standing Committees in the Senate
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Appropriations
Armed Services
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Environment and Public Works
Finance
Foreign Relations
Governmental Affairs
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Indian Affairs
Judiciary
Rules and Administration
Small Business
Veterans Affairs

30. Types of Committees
Select or Special Committees – Temporary committee to investigate wrongdoing or research a special matter
Examples: Senate Watergate Committee, Select Committee on Aging

31. Types of Committees
Joint Committees – have members of both the House and Senate
Conference Committees – compromise different versions of bills between House and Senate

32. How a Bill Becomes a Law
For a brief overview, let’s watch a short documentary on the process

33. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 1 – The House Bill is introduced
Can only be introduced by a member of the House
Bill is read to the entire chamber

34. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 2 – The House
Referred to a standing committee
Speaker of the House chooses the committee
Full committee decides whether to consider it, or “pidgeonhole” it

35. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 3 – The House Referred to subcommittee
Chairman of the committee decides which subcommittee
Subcommittee does the vast majority of research and work on the bill
90% of bills die in steps 2 and 3

36. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 4 – The House
Committee/Subcommittee Hearings
Government officials, experts invited to speak in favor or against bills
Congressmen may take “junkets,” or trips to locations for further research
Meanwhile, they “markup,” or make changes to the bill

37. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 5 – The House
Sent back to full committee
Committee can either
Send the bill to step 6 with a “do pass” recommendation
Or refuse to report the bill, thus killing it

38. How a Bill Becomes a Law
*If the rest of Congress disagrees with a committee’s decision to kill a bill, there is one option*
Discharge Petition – majority of the House votes to pull a dead bill out of committee

39. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 6 – The House
Referred to Rules Committee
Places bill on the calendar
Sets the rules for time limits and number of amendments allowed
If they refuse to put rules on it…

40. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 7 – The House Whole House Debates
During debate, members can propose amendments to add onto the bill
In the House, amendments must be relevant to the subject of the bill

41. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 8 – The House Whole House Votes
Majority vote passes, sends bill to the Senate

42. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 9 – The Senate Introduced in the Senate
Referred to a standing committee
Senate Majority Leader chooses which committee

43. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 11-12 – The Senate
Same as House – referred to subcommittee, back to committee, then out to floor for debate

44. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 13 – The Senate Whole Senate Debates
No Rules Committee, so no limits on time or amendments
Filibuster – talking at length to stall action on a bill, can only be ended by cloture (60 votes)

45. How a Bill Becomes a Law This leads to…
Riders - amendments that have nothing to do with a bill
This leads to…
Pork Barrel Spending

46. Pork Barrel Spending
Generally occurs through a process called “Earmarking”
Setting aside money within an appropriations bill and “earmarking” it for a specific purpose
For some reason, doesn’t go through typical spending authorization procedures that other spending proposals go through
Cost taxpayers approximately $17.1 billion in 2008

47. In 2008 Taxpayers Paid For… $148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute
$211,508 for olive fruit fly research in Paris, France
$1,117,125 to suppress Mormon crickets
$1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service (Rangel is the Congressman who got this money spent)
$98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia

48. Jeff Flake on 60 Minutes

49. Pork Barrel Spending How congressmen “bring home the bacon”
Shows constituents that their congressman gets “stuff” for their district or state
Helps congressman win reelection!

50. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 14 – The Senate Senate votes
Step 15 – Conference Committee
Members of both houses’ subcommittees that worked on the bill compromise
Both houses then vote again on the compromise bill

51. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 16 – The President
President has 3 options (maybe 4):
1. Sign the bill, make it law

52. How a Bill Becomes a Law Step 16 – The President
President has 4 options:
2. Veto the bill, explain why
Goes back to Congress, who can override with 2/3 vote in both houses

53. How a Bill Becomes a Law
3. Wait 10 days and let it become law without his signature
4. (Maybe) Pocket Veto - If Congress ends its session before 10 days are up, bill dies without a veto