2. Congress I.Intro II.Qualifications/Power House & Senate Differences III.Organization & Leadership A.Leaders IV.Conc. Key Terms Speaker of…? Majority Leader Whips President Pro-Tempore “Rookie” Senators

3. House & Senate Differences HouseSenate Minimum Age:25 Years30 Years US Citizenship: 7 year minimum 9 year minimum Term Length: (No term limit) 2 years6 years Residency: Live in-state; usually in district Live in-state

4. House & Senate Differences HouseSenate Number per state: Based on population- (today about one per 650,000) 2 per state Total Number: 435100

5. House & Senate Differences Initiates all tax bills Initiates all spending bills (Tradition) Initiates Impeachment/ Removal Approves or rejects Presidential nominations Ratifies or rejects treaties Acts as jury in removal trial HouseSenate Constitutional Powers:

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw

7. Key Concept: The Majority Party has tremendous influence over all legislation passed—they choose Congressional Leaders Majority Party House of Representatives Senate Democratic (for now) Democratic White House/Presidency Democratic

8. Leadership in the House of Representatives Speaker of the House Majority Leader Minority Leader Whips

9. The Speaker of the House Chosen by vote of all House members (member of Majority party) Controls debate & the Calendar: determines which bills come up for discussion Tradition encourages the Speaker to be non-partisan & very often does not vote

10. Speaker Of The House The Speaker’s office is located right off the Capital Rotunda

11. House Majority Leader Leader of the majority party and in charge of their agenda.

12. House Minority Leader Leader of the minority party and in charge of their agenda.

13. The Party Whips Whips: Build groups of support for bills to ensure party members vote “properly” The current Whip James Clyburn D-SC

14. Leadership in the Senate President of the Senate (VP) President Pro-Tem Majority Leader Symbolic Minority Leader Whips “Rookie Senators” Most powerful President Pro-Tempore

15. President of the Senate The Vice President of the United States The VP only votes in the Senate to break a tie Joe Biden (D)

16. President Pro-Tempore of Senate Qualifications: Member of Majority party who has been in the Senate the longest.

17. “Rookie” Senators First-term Senators usually serve as “Chair” for debates because there are only 100 members of the US Senate.

18. Our US Senators Debbie Stabenow (D) Previous Occupation: Training Consultant/Social Worker Education: B.A. MSU- 1975; M.S.W. MSU-1975 Religion: Methodist First Elected: 2000

19. Our US Senators Carl Levin (D) Previous Occupation: Attorney Education: JD Harvard Univ., 1959 Religion: Jewish First Elected: 1978

20. Congress I.Intro II.Qualifications/Power House & Senate Differences III.Organization & Leadership A.Leaders IV.Conc. Key Terms Speaker of House Whips Majority Leader President Pro- Tempore “Rookie” Senators