CONGRESS POWER POINT NOTES

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS 2A-2E

Unit 2

• Student Learning Goal 2A

• Know the differences in leadership, rules and organization between the House and the Senate

Congress

US CAPITOL BUILDING

Legislative Branch – “makes laws”

Founders’ Intentions

1. Strongest branch

2. Separation of lawmaking power from executive

3. Bicameralism balances large/small states• House – more connected to people (2 yr term)• Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr term)

Important Differences

House• 435 members• 2 year term• 7 year citizen• Initiate impeachment• Taxation/Revenue bills• Strict debate rules• Chooses Pres. If no

electoral college majority• No term limits

Senate• 100 members• 6 year term• 9 year citizen• Tries impeachment• Approve presidential

appointments and treaties

• Loose debate rules• Chooses VP if no

electoral college majority• No term limits

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 and immigration• To coin money• To award copyrights and patents for

ideas/inventions• To create lower courts (except Supreme Court)• To declare war• To raise and support an army and navy

Evolution of Powers

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, Steroid use in baseball, 9/11, etc.)

113th Congress (began 1-3-13)

• House:• 234 Republicans• 201 Democrats

• Senate:• 53 Democrats• 45 Republicans • 2 Independents (Maine and Vermont)

Who’s in Congress?

113th Congress (2013-15) - of the 535 members of the House and Senate combined: - 100 women and 435 men - 45 African-Americans - 38 Latino - 13 Asian/Pacific islander - 1 Native American - 8 LGBT - youngest is age 29; oldest is age 89; average age is 52. - 226 people have law degrees - 12 are foreign born - 108 have military service - 56% are Protestant; 31% Catholic

The Life of a Legislator

• Salary: $174K; Speaker $223K; other leaders $193K

• Staff: Budgets determined by state population; HR Reps – 14-18 staffers; Senate – 25-35 staffers – some in DC some in home district

• Constituent services – aka CASEWORK – help the folks at home with their government problems

• Travel – shuttle back and forth from DC to home district – maintain a home in 2 places (DC is hugely expensive!)

Kentucky Districts

Leadership

• Majority party controls the most significant leadership positions• House - Speaker of the House (R’s)

• 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 (D’s)• Schedules Senate business• Prioritizes bills• Vice president breaks voting ties

Leadership Positions in Congress

• Speaker of the House – John Boehner (R-OH)• House Majority Leader – Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)• House Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)• KY House District #4 – Thomas Massie (R-KY)• President of the Senate – Vice President Joe Biden

(D-DE)• President Pro-tempore of the Senate – Patrick Leahy

(D-VT) – most senior senator• Senate Majority Leader – Harry Reid (D-NV)• Senate Minority Leader - Mitch McConnell (R-KY)• Senior Senator from KY – Mitch McConnell (R-KY)• Junior Senator from KY – Rand Paul (R-KY)

Leadership in Congress

House Leadership

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

MINORITY LEADER

MINORITY WHIP

MAJORITY LEADER

MAJORITY WHIP

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• Two year terms – no term limits• 435 members, fixed by law• Larger legislative body than the Senate – has more formal

rules and procedures.• Name recognition among constituents not as strong as

with Senators• Was not originally conceived to have a great deal of

power – the Senate was to be more aristocratic to “keep down the turbulency of democracy.”

• Are policy experts in one or two areas of policy – know a lot about a few things!

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• House seats are considered “safer” for re-election than Senate seats.

• Because they represent fewer constituents than their Senate counterparts, House members can and do deliver more national services to their constituents at the local level. (A more personal touch = rewards at the ballot box.)

• “He helped my Grandma get her Medicare enrollment straightened out.”

• “She helped my child get a West Point appointment.”

THE POWER OF THE SPEAKER

• Formal Powers• Preside over the House• Recognize or ignore

those who wish to speak

• Appoint committee chairs

• Appoint Rules committee members

• Appoint members of special or select committees

• Refer all bills to one or more committee

• But he can’t do it alone…• Majority Leaders and Whips

are the chief legislative aides to the Speaker. They round up the party votes so it speaks with one voice.

• Rules Committee controls what is debated by placing time limits on debate and stating whether or not amendments can be made in or out of committee

Senate Leadership

PRES. PRO TEMPORE

MINORITY LEADER

MINORITY WHIP

MAJORITY LEADER

(MOST POWERFUL)

MAJORITY WHIP

PRESIDENT of the SENATE

(VICE PRESIDENT)

THE SENATE

• Smaller than the House – 100 members – 6 year terms.

• Originally chosen by each state’s legislature. The 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of Senators by the voters.

• Are policy generalists – know a little bit about a lot of policy areas!

• Has less formal rules and procedures and they are more non-partisan. (They tend to compromise with each other more than House members do.)

THE SENATE

• Prior to the advent of television, the seniority system prevailed in the Senate – senior senators were “show horses” and junior senators were “work horses”.

• Now, it is an incubator for presidential hopefuls. • For example, in recent history, Bob Dole, John

Kerry, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Rick Santorum all used their senate years to gain the experience they needed on those “generalist” issues to be able to mount a serious presidential candidacy.

Unit 2

• Student Learning Goal 2B

• Understand the role of committees in the legislative process

Committees and Subcommittees

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

killed• This is where interest groups and lobbyists

can influence legislation the most.• Testify on upcoming bills to persuade or

dissuade passage.

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, Watergate, Iran-Contra, etc.)

Types of Committees

• Joint committee - consist of both House and Senate members- Meant to draw attention to issues- Recent fiscal cliff and budget negotiations - Amendment proposals

• Conference committee – consist of both House reps and Senators– formed to hammer out differences between House and

Senate versions of similar bills

Committee Membership

• Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally (except House Rules Committee where majority has membership in a 2:1 ratio.)

• Committee Chairman– Senior member of committee– Controls membership and debate

Work of Committees

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

– Report out favorably/unfavorably– Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss – bill is

killed)– Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)

Congressional Caucuses

• Groupings of members pushing for similar interests

• Republicans and Democrats have party caucuses

• Also Informal gatherings often cross party lines.• Examples – Automotive, Black Legislators,

Boating, Chicken, Everglades, Prayer, Songwriters, Doctors, Aviation, Global Health, Second Amendment, Women’s Senate/House Caucus

Unit 2

• Student Learning Goal 2C

• Describe house House seats are reapportioned and gerrymandered

(Re)-Apportionment

• Every 10 years, we conduct the US Census. It was officially done on April 1, 2010.

• Between 2010 and the 2012 election, house seats are reapportioned (redistributed) based upon population gains and losses – the fixed number is 435 by Congressional law.

• They can increase the number of HR members if they want to but have chosen not to.

• Looking at my CSPAN map - you can see the BIG gains and losses (Texas +4; Ohio -2; NY -2).

• A congressional district = 600,000 to 750,000 approx.

“Gerrymandering”

• State legislatures draw or re-draw congressional district lines.

• These are subject to Supreme Court approval and can be changed if “gerrymandering” is thought to be present.

• Gerrymandering is drawing congressional district lines to favor one political party over another or “racial gerrymandering”, to favor one race over another.

• These result in the non-competitive districts we have talked about (where either the R or D always wins) or “safe seats”.

“Packing and Cracking”

Packing a district means drawing the

lines so they include as many of the opposing party’s voters as possible. Results in a safe seat for each district or political party.

Cracking means dividing an opponents voters into other districts, weakening the opponent’s voter base. Results in safe seats for one party only.

“Gerrymandering” back then

In 1812, Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander.

“Gerrymandering” today

Photo credit – Emerson Holladay

Is Hamilton County “Gerrymandered”?

Compact and Continuous

The Supreme Court has ruled that districts must be compact and continuous or physically adjoining.

This requirement plus the “one-person, one-vote” principal has cut down on some of the worst examples of gerrymandering.

Is this legal?

• There are 3 districts represented – Red, Blue and Green. Is this legal?

Is this legal?

• YES…a square within a larger square, or a circle within a larger circle, is not permitted.

• But a similar shape can be effectively achieved with a narrow strip or path of land that joins the outer area to the inner area, as in the letter "C". This example contains three contiguous election districts, where each district contains portions of the other two districts.

Is this legal?

• This example contains three contiguous election districts, where each district contains portions of the other two districts.

Representation

• 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

Unit 2

• Student Learning Goal 2D

• List the steps in moving a bill through Congress to become a law

How Does a Bill Become a Law?

How A Bill Becomes a Law

•Founders believed in a SLOW process – they thought efficiency was a trait of an oppressive government

•So be careful what you wish for - remember, the Nazi government was VERY efficient…

•There are numerous “stop signs” or hurdles to clear along the way to stop legislation from going forward.

•Only 3-5% of proposed bills become law.

Step 1 – Introduce Bill

• Introduced in Senate or House (except taxation or revenue bills)

• In the House, it goes in the “Hopper”.• Single or multiple reps can introduce bill• Sponsors and Co-Sponsors• Immediately a bill is assigned to a committee• This example will begin with a bill in the

House

When a bill in the HR is proposed, is placed in the “hopper”, it is numbered,

and read & referred to committee by the

Speaker of the House. Like our own “Judy the Traffic Cop” here in the

Fort, nothing and I mean NOTHING happens in the

House without the Speaker’s say-so!

“Judy the Traffic Cop goes to D.C”…..or “Just How Powerful is the Speaker Anyway?”

Step 2 - Committee

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 the appropriate sub-committee

3. Bills are debated and “marked up” (amended or edited)

4. Most bills die in committee, committee can vote to “report out” a bill (favorably or unfavorably)

5. “Discharge petition” gets a bill out of committee in the HR only (219 signatures needed to go directly to the floor of the house for a vote)

– rarely happens except, of course, in Hollywood films. See the film Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde if you are curious.

Step 3–Rules Committee

• 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

Step 4 – Floor Debate

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

– Harry Reid “nuclear option” of 2013• Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to stop debate

(60 votes)

House Debate• More formal, no filibuster, strict rules

THE SENATE IN ACTION

• All bills are placed on one calendar via a unanimous consent vote.

• But since a single senator can object and derail the process, the majority and minority leader discuss the vote beforehand to avoid any derailments.

• Most of the time, the Senate allows unlimited debate. • The filibuster is used as a tactic to stall voting. One can

speak nonstop for as long as one wishes. • The longest filibuster came from Senator Strom Thurmond

(D-SC, later R-SC) in 1957. He spoke for 24 hours and 17 minutes to hold up a Civil Rights bill.

• Only a cloture vote can stop a filibuster (60 votes needed to be filibuster proof). (Known as Rule XXII)

• Now, a “gentleman’s filibuster” has been agreed upon – 9am to 5pm, and the speaker can resume speaking the next day.

Voting on a Bill

In the House, voting is done electronically. In the Senate, each member’s name is still called out loud in alphabetical order. A quorum is needed to conduct any official business (50% +1 is usually sufficient).

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 – both houses MUST agree on a final version or no go!

Presidential Action

• Sign the bill into a law.• Veto the bill & it goes back to Congress. They can override his

veto with a 2/3 vote of both Houses.• Allow it to become a law without a signature (do nothing for 10

days if Congress is in session – it becomes law).• “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(or if congress is not in session), and doesn’t sign, it dies.

• Most laws are passed the last few days before Congress takes an official recess, making pocket vetoes a distinct possibility.

• In Congress is in recess (an official vacation), the president can appoint some people to positions WITHOUT Senate approval.

Unit 2

• Student Learning Goal 2E

• Discuss the budget process and the criticisms related to it

Fiscal Policy• Fiscal Policy is the impact of the

federal budget on the economy--for example- taxes, spending and borrowing--so in talking about the budget process, we are talking about making

fiscal policy

The Fiscal Year• The fiscal year for the national gov’t is

from Oct. 1-Sept. 30. (KY – July 1 to June 30)

• IF Congress & the President can’t get the budget completed on time, Congress can pass a continuing resolution. This will continue to fund the gov’t at last year’s level.

• If Congress doesn’t pass a continuing resolution or the President doesn’t sign it, the national gov’t shuts down until a budget or a continuing resolution can be passed – like this time last year.

• See handouts of the current budget

MAJOR PLAYERS

• Executive Branch–The President–The Office of Management & Budget

–The Bureaucracy

MAJOR PLAYERS

• The Legislative BranchHouse & Senate

AppropriationsCommittees

House & Senate Budget Committees

House Ways & Means Committee

Senate Finance CommitteeCongressional Budget Office

The Process

The President is supposed to prepare the budget and present it to Congress by the first Monday in February.

The Office of Management & Budget

• The OMB will also take requests from the different executive agencies and departments.

• The President will give the OMB his guidelines for the budget.

• The OMB uses all of this info to prepare the budget.

Congress• The Budget Committees in the House &

Senate receive the budget & study it.• Each committee makes a

recommendation to their chamber by early May and this recommendation becomes the – Budget Resolution

The Budget Resolution is a goal--NOT binding!! It can change!

• During the summer, each chamber passes 13 appropriations bills.

• Pass a law to authorize the creation of a program, then pass another to appropriate $ to fund the program>

• Once Congress passes a budget, each chamber usually has to pass a budget reconciliation resolution

• A budget reconciliation resolution resolves the differences between what the House or Senate meant to spend --budget resolution--and what they actually spent!!

• After the House and Senate agree on the appropriations bills and pass them, the President signs them (and we all faint!:)

• Remember – we ran without a budget for 5 years and funded the government on 2009 levels for that time.

• This is an election year so expect Congress to play budget hardball with the president!

Criticisms of “Pork”

• “Pork” – aka “pork-barrel legislation” – bills to benefit constituents in hope of gaining their votes (now called “earmarks” because pork-barrel has such a negative connotation)

• Logrolling – Congress members exchange votes, bills might pass for frivolous reason

• Christmas-tree bill –bill with many riders (pork)– in Senate, no limit exists on amendments, so Senators

used to try to attach riders that will benefit their home state

Term-limits & “Pork”

• 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 because they think we aren’t interested in what they do.

2. Some argue most experienced reps have the expertise to bring home more benefits and government projects but with Tea Party members overseeing government spending, pork barrel spending has declined as of late – good news – we have decreased spending – bad news - we need the Brent Spence bridge rebuilt