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

2. Congress US CAPITOL BUILDING Legislative Branch – “makes laws”

3. Congress in the Constitution Checked and balanced by Executive and Judiciary Bi-cameral Congress – Senate and House check each other House member – elected every 2 years Senator – elected every 6 years House members directly elected Senators directly elected after 17 th Amend.

4. Cup and Saucer House – Cup of tea – hot –More connected to passionate interests of the public –Why? – elected every 2 years Senate – Saucer under cup – cool –Less connected to public interest allowing for more independent thinking and rational thought –Why? – elected every 6 years

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. Elastic Clause aka – “necessary and proper” clause Allowed the federal gov to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out the above mentioned laws McCulloch v. Maryland – creating a national bank is not a power given by the Constitution, but it is necessary for the government to handle finances

7. House of Rep Powers Revenue Bills – must originate in the House (taxes) Impeachment power – authority to charge civic officers with crimes (Senate conducts the trial)

8. Senate Powers Presidential appointment confirmation – Senate must approve Foreign Treaty approval – Must approve Presidential treaty by 2/3 vote

9. Important Differences House 435 members 2 year term 7 year citizen Initiate impeachment Revenue bills Senate 100 members 6 year term 9 year citizen Tries impeachment Approve presidential appointments

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

11. Leadership Political parties very important Majority vs. Minority Majority party controls holds the most significant leadership positions

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

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

14. Who’s in Congress? 110 th Congress 85% male 85% White 40% Lawyers 109 th 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

15. Incumbents Career politicians, office holders in elections Name recognition Franking privileges – free mailing

16. New York Districts

17. Representation Malapportionment – unequal population in districts –Wesberry v. Sanders – found unequal pop. unconstitutional, equal access needed Gerrymandering – district boundaries are redrawn in strange ways to make it easy for candidate of one party to win –Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – upheld that race can be a factor in redistricting, led to increase in minority reps

18. New York 4 th District Carolyn McCarthy - D

19. 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

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

21. Step 2 - Committee Bill is assigned to a particular committee in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture Committee) Most bills die in committee

22. Step 3–Rules Committee Before bill can go to floor in House, it must first set time limits and amendment regulations.

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

24. The “Nuclear Option” In 2005, Bush trying to nominate judges to Supreme Court Dems filibustered nominee debate as position remained unfulfilled GOP threatened to change Senate rules to make filibuster illegal

25. 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

26. 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

27. Override

28. Committees and Subcommittees Most real work happens here Bills are worked out or killed

29. Types of Committees Standing 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)

30. Types of Committees Joint 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 SubcommitteesCongressional Committees and Subcommittees

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

32. 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)

33. Rules Committee House of Representatives Sets rules for debate Closed rule – (gag rule) – limited debate, no amendments Open rule – permits amendments, less strict time limit on debate

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

35. 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

36. Term-limits Debate No current limit on how many terms members of Congress can serve 1.Some argue this has weakened popular control of Congress, reps might be unresponsive to their constituents 2.Some argue most experienced reps have the expertise to bring home more benefits (pork, riders, etc.)