1. If progress is the advancement of society, what is congress?

2. Don’t forget to review the worksheet that I gave you regarding powers of the branches…answers are online.

3. Founders’ Intentions Strongest branch
Separation of lawmaking power from executive
Bicameralism balances large/small states
House – more connected to people (2 yr term)
Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr term)

4. Important Differences
House
435 members (Public
Law 62-5)
2 year term
7 year citizen
Initiate impeachment
Revenue bills
Strict debate rules
Senate
100 members
6 year term
9 year citizen
Tries impeachment
Approve presidential appointments
Approve treaties’
Loose debate rules

5. Constitutional Powers
Article I, Section 8
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports
To borrow money
To regulate commerce (states and foreign)
To establish rules for naturalization
To coin money
To create courts (except Supreme Court)
To declare war
To raise and support an army and navy

6. Evolution of Powers Elastic clause has extended Congress powers
Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed. budget prepared by executive branch
Appropriations – set amount of money made available for various activity in a fiscal year
Investigation – Congress can launch investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski hearings, Steroids in baseball)

7. House Leadership SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE MINORITY LEADER MAJORITY LEADER
MINORITY WHIP
MAJORITY WHIP

8. PRESIDENT of the SENATE
Senate Leadership
PRESIDENT of the SENATE
(VICE PRESIDENT)
PRES. PRO TEMPORE
MAJORITY LEADER
(MOST POWERFUL)
MINORITY LEADER
MAJORITY WHIP
MINORITY WHIP

9. Leadership
Majority party controls the most significant leadership positions
House - Speaker of the House
Allows people to speak on floor
Assigns bills to committees
Influences which bills are brought to a vote
Appoints members of special and select committees
Senate – Majority Leader
Schedules Senate business
Prioritizes bills

10. Who’s in Congress? 110th Congress (2007-2008) 85% male 85% White
40% Lawyers
109th Congress ( )
29 accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 arrested for writing bad checks
117 have bankrupted at least 2 businesses
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
In 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving

11. Elections House members directly elected
Senators directly elected after 17th Amend
House Incumbent advantage – Why?
Name recognition
Proven track record
Franking privileges – free mailing

12. Ga Districts

13. Representation Malapportionment – unequal population in districts
Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found unequal district pop. unconstitutional – 14th amend
Gerrymandering – district boundaries are redrawn in strange ways to make it easy for candidate of one party to win
Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – redistricting for political ideology was constitutional, led to increase in minority reps

14. 11,059 bills were introduced in 2007-2009

15. How A Bill Becomes a Law Create legislation, make laws
Founders believed in a SLOW process
Founders believed efficiency was a trait of an oppressive government

16. Step 1 – Introduce Bill Introduced in Senate or House (except tax)
Single or multiple reps can introduce bill

17. Step 2 - Committee
Bill is assigned to a particular committee in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture Committee)
Bill is then placed in sub-committee
Bills are debated and “marked up”
Most bills die in committee, committee can vote to “report out” a bill

18. Step 3–Rules Committee
Before bill can go to floor in House, it must first set time limits and amendment regulations.
Closed rule – sets time limits, restricts amendments
Open rule – permits amendments
Restrictive rule – permits some amendments

19. Step 4 – Floor Debate Senate Debate Less formal, no speaking limit
Filibuster – practice of stalling a bill w/ debate
Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to stop debate
House Debate
More formal, no filibuster, strict rules

20. Step 5 - Voting Majority passes
If the bill passes, it must go through the same process in the opposite chamber with a sponsor
If the bill passes one house and fails the other, it must start over
If the Senate and House cannot come to agreement over two versions, it goes to Conference Committee to fix it and resubmit the bill

21. Presidential Action Sign – bill becomes law
Veto – bill returns to origin
Override – 2/3 vote in both houses can override veto
Pocket Veto – President has 10 days to act on a piece of legislation. If he receives the bill within 10 days of the end of the Congressional session, and doesn’t sign, it dies

22. Committees and Subcommittees
Most real work happens here
Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or killed

23. Types of Committees Standing committee Select committee
– handle bills in different policy areas
(ex. Appropriations, Agriculture, Armed Services, Science, etc.)
– most important and have been “standing” (existing) for a long time
Select committee
– formed for specific purposes and usually temporary – run investigations (ex. Aging, Intelligence)

24. Types of Committees Joint committee Conference committee
– consist of both House and Senate members
similar in purpose to Select committee
Meant to draw attention to issues
Conference committee
– consist of both House reps and Senators
formed to hammer out differences between House and Senate versions of similar bills
Congressional Committees and Subcommittees

25. Committee Membership
Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally
Committee Chairman
Senior member of committee
Controls membership and debate

26. Work of Committees 11,000 bills introduced yearly, most die
Committees can…
Report out favorably/unfavorably
Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss)
Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)

27. Congressional Caucuses
Groupings of members pushing for similar interests
Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest, Congressional Black, Women’s, Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils, Steel

28. Criticisms of Congress
“Pork” – aka “pork-barrel legislation” – bills to benefit constituents in hope of gaining their votes
Logrolling – Congress members exchange votes, bills might pass for frivolous reasons
Christmas-tree bill –bill with many riders (pork)
in Senate, no limit exists on amendments, so Senators try to attach riders that will benefit their home state

29. Term-limits Debate
No current limit on how many terms members of Congress can serve
Some argue this has weakened popular control of Congress, reps might be unresponsive to their constituents
Some argue most experienced reps have the expertise to bring home more benefits (pork, riders, etc.)

30. The term “pork barrel” refers to legislation specifically designed to
A. encourage a balanced federal government
B. ensure the careful inspection of farm goods and other foodstuffs
C. distribute excess produce to the poor
D. provide funding for local projects that are intended to benefit constituents
E. equalize representation between farming and non-farming states

31. The details of legislation are usually worked out in which of the following settings?
A. a party caucus
B. the majority leader’s office
C. the floor of the House
D. legislative hearings
E. a subcommittee

32. Most of the bills introduced in the House and Senate are then
A. passed by one chamber but not in the other
B. passed by both chambers, but never sent to the full Congress
C. referred to committee but never sent to the full Congress
D. voted down during the amendment stage of the floor debate
E. killed in the Rules Committee