1. Chapter 11 and 12

2. Power to impeach The House has the sole power to impeach or bring formal charges against someone in office. The Senate then serves as judge in impeachment cases. The House can impeach by a majority vote and the Senate may convict by two-thirds vote.

3. Impeachment To date the House has only impeached 17 people and the Senate has only convicted seven. In 1868 the House impeached Andrew Johnson, but failed by one vote to get the votes needed to convict him. Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only Presidents ever impeached Richard Nixon resigned from office of the Presidency in 1974 to avoid sure impeachment

4. Congress in Action - Chapter 12 Within a few weeks of opening day (Jan 3) the President gives his annual speech to the nation called the State of the Union Address. This State of the Union Address is basically a plan of the goals of the President’s Administration Speaker of the House is the most important position in the House. That person is chosen from the majority party and chosen every two years

5. Congress in Action If the speaker wants to vote she must appoint a temporary speaker called a Speaker Pro Tempore. Otherwise the Speaker does not vote unless to break a tie The Speaker of the House follows the Vice President in line of succession to the presidency

6. President of the Senate Vice President Not a member of Senate Does not have as much power as the Speaker of the House Only votes in case of a tie when a bill is proposed and voted on in the Senate President Pro- Tempore is elected by the Senate and is always a member of the majority party. He or she will serve in absence of the Vice-President.

7. Other leadership positions Floor leaders are officers of both the majority and minority parties in both the House and Senate. Each floor leader has a whip. This whip is an assistant floor leader. A Party caucus is a closed meeting held by members of each party in both houses. Party caucus is also called a party conference

8. Committee work A large bulk of work is done in committees headed by a committee chairman. This committee chairman is chosen by the majority party and will decide when the committee will meet and what bills will be discussed. Seniority Rule is an unwritten custom that those party members with the longest records of service will fill the most important positions such as Committee Chairman. These committees are set up so that each house can get more work done.