Legislative Branch

Organization of Congress

• U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature: made up of two house• House of Representatives and Senate

• Each term of Congress starts on January 3 of odd numbered years and lasts for two years• Example: 112th Congress began term in 2011, current is

113 from 2013 to 2015

• Each term on Congress divided into two sessions/meetings • A session lasts 1 year and includes holiday and vacation

breaks

Organization of Congress

• Until 1933 Congress in session generally from December to March BUT because of increased workload and 20th Amendment it changed

• Congress remains in session until its members vote to adjourn • House nor Senate can adjourn for more than 3 days without

approval of other chamber

• If Congress is adjourned the President may call it back for a special session.

Membership of the house

• 435 members• Constitution does not set a number- states that number or

seats must be divided based on population of states

• Qualifications• Representatives must be at least 25 years old• Citizen of U.S for at least 7 years• Legal resident of the state that elects them (usually live in

district they represent)

• Elected for 2-year terms • Held in November of even-numbered years • Basically every 2 years all 435 members must run for

reelection • 90% are reelected so there is continuity

Representation and Reapportionment

• In order to assign representation according to population the Census Bureau takes a national census every 10 years • Last in 2010

• Reapportionment: population of each state determines the new number of reps to which each is entitled

• Originally the House only had 64 members but as the population grew so did the number or reps

• 1929: Reapportionment Act limits House to 435

Congressional Redistricting

• After states find out their new reapportioned representation each state legislature sets up congressional districts- one for each

• Reps are then elected from these congressional districts

• Process of setting up a new district lines after reapportionment is called redistricting

Congressional Redistricting

• Over the years there have been 2 abuses of redistricting power:• Creating districts of very unequal populations• Gerrymandering

• Example: in 1960s there were some states in which the largest district in the state had 2x the population of the smallest district

• In these examples a person’s vote in the largest districts had only half the value of a person’s vote in the smallest districts

Gerrymandering

• Gerrymandering: the political party controlling the state government draws a district’s boundaries to gain an advantage in elections

• Term can be traced to Elbridge Gerry: early Democratic-Republican governor of Massachusetts • Signed a redistricting plan that gave his party a political

advantage over the Federalists • To map one of the irregular districts that looked like a

salamander an artist added a head, wings and claws• Newspaper editor published the map as a cartoon and

labeled it a “Gerrymander”

“Gerrymander”

Gerrymandering

• “Packing” and “cracking” are ways to gerrymander

• “Packing” a district means drawing the lines so they include as many of the opposing party’s voters as possible • Crowding the oppositions voters into one district makes the

remaining districts safe for the majority party’s candidates

• “Cracking” means dividing an opponent’s voters into other districts • Division weakens the opponent’s voter base

• Supreme Court has ruled that congressional districts must be compact and contiguous or physically adjoining • This requirement plus one-person, one-vote ruling has cut

down on gerrymandering

• http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp#40

• http://video.pbs.org/video/2191859524/

Rules for Lawmaking

• Main task of Congress is to make laws- complex rules and structure of leadership allow this to happen

• Each chamber has past precedents based on past rulings that serve as guide to conducting business

• House rules are generally aimed at defining the actions an individual rep can take• Example: speaking for 5 minutes or less during a debate

Rules for Lawmaking

• Complex rules are aimed at moving legislation quickly once it reaches the floor

• Leaders in the House also have more power than leaders in the Senate• Example: they can make decisions about legislation w/o

consulting other House members

Committee work

• Committees do most of the work in Congress.

• Because the House is so large members need to organize themselves into smaller groups to accomplish work

• Committees reps have influence and take time to study and shape bills

• Reps tend to focus on issues that are important to their constituents• A rep from Brooklyn, NY may be more focused on issues such as

civil rights and the arts

House Committees • 21 committees (20 are standing committees and 1 is a special committee).

• All but two committees (Budget and Ethics Committee) are divided into subcommittees- each with its own leadership.

• Standing Committee• Bill may undergo rigorous review, research, and revision. Members of the

standing committee may hold a committee hearing where they are informed by experts, question witnesses, view exhibits or photographs, examine material evidence, or observe demonstrations in order to gather information about a bill. Once satisfied with a bill’s content, the committee votes to report the bill to the House floor or let it die. 

• Special Committee- appointed to perform a special function that is beyond the authority or capacity of a standing committee. • A select committee is usually created by a resolution that outlines its duties and

powers and the procedures for appointing members. Select and special committees are often investigative in nature, rather than legislative, though some select and special committees have the authority to draft and report legislation

Importance of Party Affiliation

• In both chambers Republicans sit on the right, Democrats on the left

• Also in both, party with the larger number of members (majority party) selects the leaders, controls flow of legislation and appoints committee chairs

House Leadership

• Leaders in the House serve 6 main purposes:• Organizing and unifying party members

• Scheduling the work of the House

• Making sure that lawmakers are present for key floor votes

• Distributing and collecting information

• Keeping the House in touch with the President

• Influencing lawmakers to support the policies of their political party

Speaker of the House

• Most powerful leader- presides over the House

• Constitution states that the House chooses their Speaker and other officers• Caucus (closed meeting) of the majority party chooses the

Speaker at the start of each session of Congress and then the entire membership approves the choice

• Speaker can influence proceedings by deciding who to recognize to speak first

• Also deals with bills: schedules them and refers them to the proper committee

• Speaker often talks with dozens of members of Congress in return for support by reps on important issues

Current Speaker

•John A. Boehner

• Ohio’s 8th Congressional District Representative

•Republican

House floor leaders

• Speaker’s top assistant is the majority leader• Helps plan party’s legislation, steer important bills through

the House and make sure chairpersons of committees finish work on important bills

• Majority leader is also the floor leader of their political party and is elected by the majority party

• Whips: assistant floor leaders• Help the majority leaders, watch how members intend to

vote on bills and persuade them to vote a certain way and see that party members are present to vote

• Minority party also has a leader and whips

Current Majority Leader

•Eric Cantor

•Virginia's 7th District Representative

•Republican

Questions to answer

• If you had to put yourself into a committee which one would you choose and why?

• If you wanted to absolutely stay out of a committee which one would it be and why?

• What is one committee that you think does not need to exist in the House of Representatives and why?

House of Rep Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYLT83MdjcA

• Video context: • Republican Congressman Steve King from Iowa. • He is about to vote on the deal to end the government

shutdown. • Talks about why he is voting no on a deal to end a very

unpopular shutdown.

Lawmaking in the house

• At a first glance the House of Representatives may seem disorganized • Members chatting, reading, coming in and out, attending

meetings

• Floor sessions usually start at noon or earlier • Buzzers ring in offices, committee rooms and the Capitol

building

• Mondays are routine work and Friday is a travel day for many so most important work done Tuesday through Thursday

How house bills are scheduled

• Bill is dropped into the hopper (a box near the front of the chamber)

• After bill introduced the Speaker sends it to the appropriate committee for study, discussion and review

• 10,000+ bills introduced during each term of Congress but only about 10% ever go to the full House for a vote

• Bills that survive are put on the calendar for consideration

How house bills are scheduled

• Bill is dropped into the hopper (a box near the front of the chamber)

• After bill introduced the Speaker sends it to the appropriate committee for study, discussion and review

• 10,000+ bills introduced during each term of Congress but only about 10% ever go to the full House for a vote

• Bills that survive are put on the calendar for consideration

5 Calendars in the house

• Union Calendar: bills dealing with money issues

• House Calendar: public bills

• Private Calendar: bills that deal with individual pieces or places

• Consent Calendar: bills that give the House unanimous consent to debate out of regular order

• Discharge Calendar: petitions to discharge a bill from committee

House Rules Committee

• Rules Committee serves as the “traffic officer” in the House • Helps to direct the flow of major legislation

• Oldest and most powerful House committee • Bills can be quickly moved ahead, held or stopped

completely

• Because the committee has the power to decide how and when legislation will be considered it has often been the focus of political battles

Function of the Rules Committee

• Major bills that reach the floor of the House for debate and a vote are done by a special order from the Rules Committee

• As major bills come out of the committee they either go on the Union or House calendar

• Because there are so many bills on the calendar the chairperson of the bill may ask the Rules Committee to move it ahead and send it to the House floor

• Rules Committee may also include a time limit for debate and specify how much a bill may be amended on the floor

Other purposes of the rules committee

• Settles disputes among other House committees• Example: Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs

Committee

• Rules Committee often delays or blocks bills that representatives and House leaders do not want to vote on• Take criticism away from members who might have to

take an unpopular stand on a bill if it reaches the floor

Quorum for Business

• Quorum: minimum number of members who must be present to permit the legislative body to take official action

• Regular session quorum of the House: 218

• When House meets to debate and amend legislation it may often sit as the Committee of the Whole- 100 • This procedure helps speed the consideration of important bills

• Committee of the Whole cannot pass a bill but can report back to the full house

Senate

Membership of the Senate

• A least 30 years old

• Citizen of U.S. for 9 years

• Legal resident of the state they represent

• Elections held in November in even-numbered years and begin term on January 3

• 6 year term and only 1/3 would run for reelection every 2 years

• If senator dies or resigns the state legislature may authorize the governor to appoint someone

Salary and benefits

• Senate and House set their own salary

• Twenty-seventh Amendment• Proposed in 1789 but finally ratified in May 1992• Prohibits a sitting Congress from giving itself a pay raise-

any new congressional salary increase will take effect after an intervening election

• Additional benefits: stationary, postage for official business (franking privilege), medical clinic and gym

• Large allowances to pay for staff and assistants, trips home, telephones and newsletters

• Income tax reductions to help maintain 2 houses & pension

Privileges of members

• Free from arrest “in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace” when in Congress or on their way to/from Congress

• Cannot be sued for anything said on the House/Senate floor • Does not apply to anything said outside of Congress

• Senate and House may judge and member and decide whether to seat them • Can refuse to seat someone by majority vote (exclusion)

• Each chamber may punish its own members by majority vote and expel a legislator by 2/3 votes

• Censure: vote of formal disapproval of a member’s action

informal atmosphere

• Rules more flexible than in the House- designed to make sure all senators have maximum freedom to express their ideas• Usually allowed unlimited debate on proposed legislation

• Senate rules spelled out in fewer than 100 pages

• May debate on a proposal for weeks or months before taking action

Senate leaders• Closely parallels the House except Senate does not have a

Speaker

• Because senators have more freedom in their activities, party leaders have less influence over other senators

• Vice president is the leader but only votes to break a tie• May recognize members and put questions to vote but cannot

take part in debate

• Most vice presidents spend most of their time focusing on the executive branch- leaving little time presiding over the Senate

• In VP absence the president pro tempore presides• Voted by the Senate, from the majority party and usually a senior

member

President pro tempore

•Patrick Leahy

•Vermont

•Democrat

Senate Majority & minority floor leaders

• Majority and minority leaders are most important officers in the Senate

• Elected by members of their party they are party officials rather than official Senate officers

• Main job: steer the party’s bill through the Senate• Two positions work together to plan schedule and agenda

• Responsible for making sure senators attend important sessions, organize support on key bills and make sure people are present to vote

How senate bills are scheduled

• More informal than the House- no Rules Committee

• Senators control the flow of bills to committees and to the floor for debate and vote by consulting closely with one another

• Senate only has 2 calendars• Calendar of General Orders: lists all bills the Senate will

consider • Executive Calendar: treaties and nominations

• Bills brought to the floor by unanimous consent- motion of all members to set aside formal rules and consider a bill

The Filibuster• Because debate is unlimited, one way for senators to defeat a

bill they oppose is to filibuster

• Filibuster: keep talking until a majority of the Senate either leaves or agrees to modify the most controversial parts

• Senators who have the floor stand and talk- after the first 3 hours they may talk about any topic they want

• Longest filibuster: Strom Thurmond against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 at 24 hrs 18 minutes

• Filibuster is stopped when 3/5 vote for cloture which only allows 1 hour per senator

• Filibuster not as strong a weapon anymore because the Senate will set aside time to handle other business but sometimes threat of one is enough to delay or defeat a bill

What Does a Senator Do All day?

Read “What a United States Senator Does” by Senator Everett McKinley

Dirksen. As you read write down the different jobs and responsibilities

Senator Dirksen describes on the list of things to do.

Staff and Support Agencies

Congressional staff role

• The work of Congress is so massive and complicated that lawmakers need trained staff to help

• Lawmakers rely on their staff to do much of the important work on legislation • Handle Congressional workload• Communicate with voters• Help run committee hearings and floor sessions • Draft new bills • Write committee reports • Attend committee meetings

• Also do lots of PR- making sure there is publicity, researching what is going on in their home state and writing speeches and newsletters

Congressional staff growth

• Originally there were no personal aides- reps and senators did everything on their own

• Inadequate staffing had become an urgent complaint by the time Congress considered the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946• After, number of staff members drastically increased • By 1990 over 11,500 staff members employed

Personal staff

• Congress includes two types of staff: personal and committee • Personal staff work directly for individual congressmen • Committee staff work for the many House and Senate

committees

• Size of a personal staff varies because allowances to pay for them are based on population of the congressman’s state and distance from the capital

• Yearly budget is mostly to pay for staff salaries

• The administrative assistant, called an AA, is the most important legislative aide • Runs the lawmaker’s office, supervises the schedule and

gives political advice

Legislative assistants

• LAs make sure that the lawmaker is well informed on the bills they are dealing with • Does research, draft bills, studies current bills and writes

speeches and articles

• Another important part of the job- attend committee meetings when the lawmaker cannot be present• Legislators are in so many committees that they cannot

physically attend all meetings• Trust the LAs judgment on the bill in question

• Often, when the buzzer rings, legislators run in to the chamber to cast a vote even if they have no clue what it is about • Simply look for their LAs to give them a thumb up or down