1. Congress in Action
Chapter 12
US Government

2. The House First Day Congress Convenes
Speaker is the senior member of the majority party
Seating
Democrats to left
Republicans to right
Officers chosen by membership
Rules adopted
Committee members appointed
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Paul Ryan

3. Senate First Day Congress Convenes
New members sworn in (Remember only 1/3 of seats are up at a time)
Many incumbents are reelected
Committee vacancies filled

4. State of the Union Address (Article 2, Section 3)
Once organization is complete, joint committee of Congress lets the President know when and where the State of the Union Address is to be delivered by the President to a Joint Session of Congress (President must be invited to address Congress)
Purpose
To report on domestic/foreign affairs
Recommends legislation
Lays out policy

5. Presiding Officers Speaker (Article 1, section 2, clause 5)
Leader of the majority party
Presides over sessions
Recognizes members to speak-cannot speak until recognized
Interprets rules
Refers bill to committee
Rules on points of order
Puts questions to a vote
Appoints committee members
Signs bill/resolutions
Tie breaking vote - a tie defeats a measure

6. President of the Senate (Article 1, section 3, clause 4)
Filled by vice president
Same powers of Speaker except cannot participate in debate
President Pro Tempore
Presides in absence of President of the Senate
Elected by Senate
Member of the majority party
Orin Hatch (R), Senate President Pro Tem
Vice President and President of the Senate
Mike Pence

7. Floor Leader Party caucus
Closed meeting of members of each party in each house
Meets just before session convenes
Deal with party organization, select floor leaders, and discuss committee membership
Majority and Minority leaders (both houses)
Picked by party members
Are legislative strategists - carry out the decisions of caucus
Chief party spokesperson in their chamber
Steer floor action to party’s benefit

8. Majority and Minority Whips (both houses)
Help floor leaders
Keep check on vote count
Serve as liaison between party members and party leadership

9. House Majority Leaders House Minority Leaders
Floor Leaders House
House Majority Leaders
Republican Leader
Kevin McCarthy
Republican Whip Steve Scalise
House Minority Leaders
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Whip
Steny Hoyer

10. Senate Minority Leaders Senate Majority Leaders
Floor Leaders Senate
Senate Minority Leaders
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Democratic Whip Dick Durbin
Senate Majority Leaders
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
Republican Whip John Cornyn

11. Committee Chairman Chosen by majority party Decide
When committee will meet
Which bills will be heard
If hearings will be public or private
What witnesses will be called
Testbook Page 143 for List of Committees of Congress

12. Types of Committees Standing Permanent committees
20 in House; 16 in Senate
Number of members varies from in House and in Senate
Representatives serve on 1 or 2 major committees
Senators serve on 3 or 4 major committees
Chairmen are chosen according to seniority
Bills referred to proper committees by Speaker of the House or President of the Senate

13. Majority party holds the most seats on a committee
Members chosen by floor vote but this merely ratifies what was decided by the caucus
Committees are divided into subcommittees: 99 in House and 70 in Senate
House Rules Committee most powerful as it schedules bills to appear on the floor for consideration
In Senate, Majority Floor Leader decides which bills appear on floor

14. Select
Special group set up for a specific purpose and a limited time
Usually investigative in nature – remember oversight function
Joint
Has members from both houses
Some are investigative and issue reports to both houses
Some are permanent and some are temporary
Conference
Temporary committee designed to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions of the same bill

15. …Admit it… You started to sing in your head didn’t you?
How a Bill Becomes a Law
…Admit it… You started to sing in your head didn’t you?

16. How a Bill Becomes a Law - House
Bill - a proposed law
Revenue Bills must originate in the House

17. Types
Public - measures that apply to the whole nation ie taxes
Private - measure that apply to certain people/places
Resolution - measure relating to the internal workings of Congress and concern only one house

18. Joint resolution - must be passed by both houses and approved by the President (ie: appropriate money)
Concurrent resolution - passes by both houses; used to express legislative opinion or internal rules; does not have the force of law
Rider - provision attached to another bill because it probably wouldn’t pass on its own

19. Referred to committee
Bill is placed in hopper
Clerk of House numbers/titles bill
Bill is entered into the House Journal and Congressional Record
This is the first reading
Bill is printed/distributed to members
Bill is referred by Speaker to appropriate committee

20. Committee stage
Very few bills pass this stage
Hold hearings in committee or subcommittee
May recommend it to floor
May amend it
May unfavorably recommend it
May make a new one
May pigeon-hole it - dies in committee though a discharge petition can force it to the floor

21. Calendar
After making it through committee, the bill is placed on a calendar
Union - for bills dealing with revenue, appropriations, government property
House - for all public bills
Private - for all private bills
Corrections - for bills taken out of order
Discharge - for petition to discharge bills from committee

22. House Rules Committee approves taking bill off calendar and sets up time for its appearance on the floor - bill can die here

23. Floor
Bill gets its second reading
General debate occurs - strict rules govern debate
Voted on
House may act as a Committee of the Whole to bypass part of the procedure and speed things up; this is used for important bills and requires a quorum (218 members)

24. Voting
Voice - aye or nay
Standing - stand up to be counted
Teller - walk down aisle and count (rarely used today because of electronic voting)
Roll call - call each individual for vote
Electronic - used today the most

25. Final steps
If approved at the second reading, bill is printed (engrossed)
Read for third time
Final vote

26. How A Bill Becomes A Law - Senate
Introduction by Senator
Given a number and title
Read twice
Referred to committee
Committee
Same as in House
Only one calendar
Bills called to floor by majority floor leaders

27. Debate
Unlimited
2 speech rule - Senator may only speak twice on same piece of legislation
Filibuster - attempt to talk a bill to death by monopolizing floor until Senate drops bill
Cloture rule – procedure limits a Senator’s speech to one hour
Hard to get
3/5 (60) must vote for it
Vote

28. How A Bill Becomes A Law - Final Stages
Conference committee
Irons out differences in the two versions of the bill
Bill submitted to both houses for approval
May not be amended at this stage
Goes to President

29. Presidential action
May sign
May veto
Pocket veto - may keep it for 10 days and do nothing
If Congress in session, automatically becomes law
If Congress adjourns, automatically vetoed
Line item veto - gives President power to reject/veto parts of bill without vetoing the whole bill
Clinton v. New York City 1998
Supreme Court ruled line item veto unconstitutional