How Congress Works

Part 1:

Who’s in Congress?

Demographic Profile of Congress

Age Groups

EthnicityGender

Party

Source: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tt

House-Senate Differences

House

435 members; 2 yr terms

Low turnover

Speaker bill referral hard to challenge

Scheduling/rules controlled by majority party with powerful Rules Committee (controls time of debate, amends., etc)

Senate

100 members; 6 yr

terms

Moderate turnover

Referral decisions

easily challenged

Scheduling/rules

agreed to by majority &

minority leaders

House-Senate Differences

House

Debate limited to 1 hour

Members policy specialists

Emphasizes tax & revenue policy

More formal & impersonal

Senate

Unlimited debate unless cloture invoked

Members policy generalists

Emphasizes foreign policy

More informal & personal

Party Leadership

Bicameral Democratic Leadership

110th Congress

Senate Republican Leadership

110th Congress

HOUSE LEADERSHIP

Speaker (majority

party)

Democrats:

• Majority Leader

• Majority Whip

• Chairman of the Caucus

• Steering & Policy Committee

• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Speaker of the House

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Majority Leader

Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Majority Whip

James Clyburn (D-SC)

HOUSE LEADERSHIP

Republicans:

• Minority Leader

• Minority Whip

• Chairman of Conference

• Policy Committee

• Committee on Committees

• National Republican Congressional Committee

• Research Committee

Minority Leader

John Boehner (R-Ohio)

Minority Whip

Roy Blunt (R-MO)

SENATE LEADERSHIP

President of the Senate (Vice President)

President Pro Tempore (majority party)

Democrats:

• Majority Leader

• Majority Whip

• Chairman of Conference

• Policy Committee

• Steering Committee

• Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Majority Leader

Harry Reid (D-NV)

President Pro Temp

Robert Byrd (D-WV)

Majority Whip

Richard Durbin (D-IL)

President of the Senate

Joe Biden (D-DE)

SENATE LEADERSHIP

Republicans:

• Minority Leader

• Minority Whip

• Chairman of Conference

• Policy Committee

• Committee on Committees

• Republican Senatorial Committee

Minority Leader

Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Minority Whip

Trent Lott (R-MS)

Strength of Party Structure?

• Measure of party strength:

1. Ability of leaders to control party rules

and organization

2. Extent to which party members vote

together in the House and Senate

• Senate: less party-centered and leader

oriented

Party Unity

• Lower today than 100 years ago, but…..

• Ideology important variable explaining party voting (members vote with their party 80% of the time)

• Party polarization - vote in which majority of democrats oppose majority of republicans

• Polarization trends:

o 1976 HR = 36%; S = 37%

o 1995 HR = 73%; S = 69%

o 2000 HR = 43%; S = 49%

CAUCUSES

• Groups (may be bipartisan) meeting to pursue

common legislative objectives

• Rivals to parties in policy formulation

• Examples: Democratic Study Group,

Congressional Black Caucus, Tuesday Lunch

Bunch, Human Rights, Congressional Caucus for

Women’s Issues, Out of Iraq Caucus,

Rural Caucus, Travel & Tourism Caucus, House

Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children

"Congress in session is Congress on public

exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee-

rooms is Congress at work.” - Woodrow Wilson

Legislative Committees:

Function and Purpose

Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose

1. Consider bills (a.k.a. “mark-up” bills)

A bill with a member’s mark-up notes

Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose

2. Maintain oversight of executive agencies

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testifies before a Senate Appropriations

Committee hearing re: the Department of Defense Budget (May, 2006)

Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose

3. Conduct investigations

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified before the Senate Homeland Security

and Governmental Affairs Committee on Hurricane Katrina (Feb., 2006)

Types of Committees

Standing Committees - permanent panel with full legislative functions and oversight responsibilities

• Subcommittees – formed to tackle very specific tasks within the jurisdiction of the full committees

Select or Special Committees - groups appointed for a limited purpose and limited duration

Joint Committees - includes members of both chambers to conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks

Conference Committee - includes members of House & Senate to work out differences between similar bills

Standing Committees

House Standing Committees

Agriculture

Appropriations

Armed Services

Budget

Education & Workforce

Energy & Commerce

Financial Services

Government Reform

House Admin.

International Relations

Judiciary

Resources

Rules

Science

Small Business

Standards of Official Conduct

Transportation & Infrastructure

Veterans Affairs

Ways & Means

Senate Standing Committees

Agriculture, Nutrition, &

Forestry

Appropriations

Armed Services

Banking, Housing, & Urban

Affairs

Budget

Commerce, Science,

Transportation

Energy & Natural Resources

Environment and Public

Works

Finance

Foreign Relations

Governmental Affairs

Health, Education, Labor

& Pensions

Judiciary

Rules and Administration

Small Business and

Entrepreneurship

Veterans Affairs

Special, Select Committees

• House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming

• Senate Select Committee on Ethics

• House & Senate Select Committees on Intelligence

Gen. Michael Hayden is sworn in during a full

committee hearing of the Senate Select

Intelligence Committee on his nomination to be

director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Joint Committees

• Joint Economic Committee

• Joint Committee on Printing

• Joint Committee on Taxation

Joint Committee on

Taxation hearing

The Legislative Obstacle Course

How A Bill Becomes Law

Fact: About 5,000 bills are

introduced in Congress

every year, but only about

150 are signed into law.

1. Explain why so few bills

become law.

2. Is that a good thing or a

bad thing?

3. Should the legislative

process in Congress be

reformed? If yes, what

changes would you

recommend? If not, why

not?Source: http://acswebcontent.acs.org/olga/legissummbilltolaw.pdf

Title: Resolution Artist: Bob Gorrell

Date: 12/28/06 Source: http://www.gorrellart.com/

Artist: R.J. Matson, New

York Observer & Roll Call

Date: 1/18/07

Source:

http://www.cagle.com

Title: Imagine there’s no Congress Artist: Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette

Date: 6/06/07 Source: http://www.politicalcartoons.com/

Title: Senator Reid Can

Handle the Truth

Artist: RJ Matson

Date: 6/18/07

Source:

http://www.politicalcarto

ons.com

Source: http://bigpicture.typepad.com/ Date: 5/6/06