The Senate: 114th Congress

The Senate• 17th Amendment – senators elected by popular vote of people

• Each state has 2 Senators

• Senate has 100 voting members (no non-voting delegates)

• Senate elections are staggered – 1/3 elected every 2 years – each Senator term is 6 years

• No limit on number of times a Senator can serve

• Senators chosen by the entire state, NOT districts

• Has special treaty ratification powers and confirmation powers of presidential appointees

The Senate: Colorado’s Senators

Senior Senator, Michael Bennet (D)

Junior Senator, Cory Gardner (R)

The Senate: Leadership

Vice President

Majority Party Leader(Floor Leader)

Majority Party Whip(Assistant Floor Leader)

Minority Party Leader(Floor Leader)

President Pro Tempore

Committee Chairs

Minority Party Whip(Assistant Floor Leader)

The Senate: Leadership

• President of the Senate• VP, Joe Biden

Presides over Senate, but does not debate

Also does not vote, unless to break a tie

Ceremonial position with little power

The Senate: Leadership

• President Pro Tempore

• Orin Hatch (R-UT) Stands in as President

when VP is not present By tradition, usually the

most senior Senator of

the majority party Unlike the VP, is a

voting member

The Senate: Leadership

• Majority Floor Leader

• Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Most influential

member of the Senate and majority party spokesman

The Senate: Leadership

• Majority Whip

• John Cornyn (R-Texas) Role is same as

House Majority Whip

The Senate: Leadership

• Minority Floor Leader

• Harry Reid (D-NV) Same role as

House Floor Leader

The Senate: Leadership

• Minority Whip

• Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) Role is same as

House Majority Whip

Congressional Committees• Why a Committee

System? High volume of legislation

(bills) – sending bills to corresponding committee helps speed up process

Allows study of legislation by specialists

• How the Committee System Works? Congress divides its tasks

among approximately 250 committees and sub committees.

The House and Senate each have their own committees, but they are similar

Senate CommitteesStanding• Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry • Appropriations • Armed Services • Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs • Budget • Commerce, Science, and Transportation • Energy and Natural Resources • Environment and Public Works • Finance • Foreign Relations • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions • Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs • Judiciary • Rules and Administration • Small Business and Entrepreneurship • Veterans Affairs

• Special, Select, and Other • Indian Affairs • Select Committee on Ethics • Select Committee on Intelligence • Special Committee on Aging

• Joint • Joint Committee on Printing • Joint Committee on Taxation • Joint Committee on the Library • Joint Economic Committee

Congressional Committees:4 Types

1.) Standing : permanent committee that deals with specific policy matters (agriculture, energy and natural resources, veterans affairs, etc…) ; divided into subcommittees that handle more specialized problems

2.) Select : temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose; most are formed to investigate a particular issue (Watergate Committee, Hurricane Katrina Committee, Y2K Committee, etc)

3.) Joint : made up of members of both houses of Congress; can be a select committee or perform routine duties

4.) Conference: temporary committee of members from both houses created to resolve differences in House and Senate versions of a bill; is a compromise committee

Congressional Committees:Membership and Leadership

Membership• Percentage of each committee’s membership reflects the overall percentage of

Democrats and Republicans in each house Ex. – 53% of house is Republican, so 53% of all committee members

will be Republican

• Members try to serve on committees where they can influence public policy relating to their district or state, or influence national public policy issues Ex – Kansas senator on the agriculture committee Ex – Iowa representative on the foreign relations committee

Leadership• Committees are led by a chairperson who belongs to the majority party and is

chosen by majority party members of committee