If progress is the advancement of society, what is congress?

US CAPITOL BUILDING

Legislative Branch – “makes laws”

1. Strongest branch2. Separation of lawmaking power from

executive3. Bicameralism balances large/small

states House – more connected to people (2 yr term) Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr

term)

House 435 members 2 year term 7 year citizen

Initiate impeachment Revenue bills

Strict debate rules

Senate 100 members 6 year term 9 year citizen

Tries impeachment Approve presidential

appointments Approve treaties’ Loose debate rules

Establish Federal courts: i.e. inferior courts

Congressional oversight: exercise some control over executive agencies.

Current issue—Obamacare and Mrs. Sebilius coming before Congress to answer questions.

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

Elastic clause has extended Congress powers

Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed. budget prepared by executive branch

Appropriations – set amount of money made available for various activity in a fiscal year

Investigation – Congress can launch investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski hearings, Steroids in baseball)

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

MINORITY LEADER

MINORITY WHIP

MAJORITY LEADER

MAJORITY WHIP

PRES. PRO TEMPORE

MINORITY LEADER

MINORITY WHIP

MAJORITY LEADER

(MOST POWERFUL)

MAJORITY WHIP

PRESIDENT of the SENATE

(VICE PRESIDENT)

Majority party controls the most significant leadership positions

House - Speaker of the House Allows people to speak on floor Assigns bills to committees Influences which bills are brought to a vote Appoints members of special and select

committees

Senate – Majority Leader Schedules Senate business Prioritizes bills

110th Congress (2007-2008) 85% male 85% White 40% Lawyers109th Congress (2005-2006) 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

House members directly elected Senators directly elected after 17th

Amend House Incumbent advantage – Why?

Name recognition Proven track record Franking privileges – free mailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx47Njaj1hg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LES2Fn-IxOg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Malapportionment – unequal population in districts Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found

unequal district pop. unconstitutional – 14th amend

Gerrymandering – district boundaries are redrawn in strange ways to make it easy for candidate of one party to win Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – redistricting

for political ideology was constitutional, led to increase in minority reps

• Create legislation, make laws

• Founders believed in a SLOW process

• Founders believed efficiency was a trait of an oppressive government

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvY0Q3tI6I&feature=relmfu

Introduced in Senate or House (except tax)

Single or multiple reps can introduce bill

1. Bill is assigned to a particular committee in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture Committee)

2. Bill is then placed in sub-committee3. Bills are debated and “marked up”4. Most bills die in committee, committee

can vote to “report out” a bill

Before bill can go to floor in House, it must first set time limits and amendment regulations. Closed rule – sets time limits, restricts

amendments Open rule – permits amendments Restrictive rule – permits some

amendments

Senate Debate Less formal, no speaking limit Filibuster – practice of stalling a bill w/

debate Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to

stop debateHouse Debate More formal, no filibuster, strict rules

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

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

Most real work happens here Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or

killed http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=EI8IbBHWeXo

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)

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

Subcommittees

Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally

Committee Chairman Senior member of committee Controls membership and debate

11,000 bills introduced yearly, most die Committees can…

Report out favorably/unfavorably Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss) Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)

Groupings of members pushing for similar interests

Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest, Congressional Black, Women’s, Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils, Steel

“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

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.)