1. The Congress III 10/31/2011

2. Clearly Communicated Learning Objectives in Written Form Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: – discuss and critically analyze political events in the United States government – identify and explain the role of formal (congressional) institutions and their effect on policy.

3. Office Hours and Readings Chapter 8 on Congress Office Hours – Tuesday 8-12 – Wednesday 8-10:30

4. CONGRESS The Defining Features

5. Bicameralism The Defining Feature of our Congress Most parliamentary systems have only 1 branch

6. The House vs. The Senate House More hierarchical Stronger Committees and more policy specialists Strict control of the floor Debate is more formal, limited and controlled Senate More consensual Weaker committees, policy generalists Loose Control of floor informal and unlimited debate

7. Very Formal No Personal Attacks Outrage in CongressCongress – Compared UK Australia Outrage in KoreaKorea Everywhere ElseElse

8. LEADERSHIP POSITIONS The House

9. The Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) John Boehner Elected From the Majority Party Leads the Debate Assigns Committee Positions

10. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Leader of the minority party (currently the Democrats)

11. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) Represents the GOP on the Floor Assists the speaker

12. Majority and Minority Whips Promote Party unity Assist with policy and leadership

13. SENATE LEADERSHIP

14. President of the Senate The Vice-President Breaks Ties in the Senate Not Much Else

15. The President Pro-Tempore of the Senate Daniel Inouye (D- Hawaii) Mostly a ceremonial position Third in-line for the presidency Had to wait since 1959 to get the job

16. Senate Majority Leader The power position in the Senate Harry Reid (D-NV) Leads the Democratic Party

17. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Leads the Republicans

18. VOTING AND REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS

19. Party Rules the Day You sit with your party You vote with your party – 60% are straight party votes – Members support their party <75% of the time

20. Other Guides to Voting Local Interests Voting as a trustee Logrolling

21. Voting in the House A Majority of votes moves legislation (218) You get a minimum winning coalition Omnibus Legislation

22. Voting in the Senate 51 votes in theory, 60 in reality – Filibuster – Cloture UCA’s Reconciliation

23. The Final Steps Must Pass both Houses in Identical Form – Conference Committee Sign or Veto Finally Becomes Law

24. COMMITTEES AND THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM

25. Why Committees Division of Labor Participation Specialization

26. The Role of Committees Process all the work Filter Legislation Where most legislation dies

27. Standing Committees Permanent entities 19 in the HouseHouse – about 42 per committee 16 in the SenateSenate – 20 per committee Membership reflects party proportion.

28. Other Committees Conference Committee Joint Committees Select Committees

29. Subcommittees Within a standing committee Provides more expertise, but slows things down

30. NOT ALL COMMITTEES ARE CREATED EQUAL

31. You want to be a chair Selected by party leaders Chairs wield vast power PACS give money to chairs and ranking membersmoney

32. Committee Types Reelection Prestige/power within the body Policy

33. Committees- Good and Bad In the House In the Senate What you don’t want