Congress Notes 3
Congress in Action
Congressional Organization
• Congress convenes on January 3rd of
every odd numbered year
• There are a variety of important events
that occur on opening day in the Senate
and the House such as election of officers
and the administration of oaths of office
• The presiding officer of the house is known as The
Speaker of the House
• S/He is the most powerful (wo)man in the House of
Representatives
• S/He is the elected presiding officer of the House and
the acknowledged leader of the majority party
• Her/His primary duties are to preside and keep order
during session
• S/He may not debate issues and preside over the house
at the same time
• S/He follows the Vice President in the line of succession
to the Presidency
• The Vice president is the leader of the Senate, however he does not
take as active a role in the day to day operations of Congress as the
Speaker of the house
• Underneath the presiding officers in congress are the party floor
leaders and the whips
• These positions are meant to serve as tools for the political parties
to operate within the activities of congressional session
• The party caucus is the meeting between members of one of the two
political parties to discuss party organization
• One of the most important jobs of the majority caucus is choose
committee chairman
• Seniority Rule: That the senior members of the party will take the
ranking posts that are available
• Many critics believe that this system ignores talent and ability and
does not result in the best possible person actually filling the post
Congressional Committees
• A standing committee is a permanent committee that focuses its
efforts on legislation in a specific area
ex: Agriculture, Budget,
National Security
• The House Committee on Rules is the committee that screens bills
before they reach the floor, they can speed, delay, or even prevent a
bill from reaching the floor
• Select committees are set up for a limited amount of time to deal
with a specific issue, often times they are used to investigate a
current issue that congress needs information on
• Joint committees are made up of members of both houses in order
to not have committees in the house and the senate that duplicate
each others work
• A conference committee is set up to make sure that a bill being
voted on is uniform and agreeable to both houses of congress
How a Bill Becomes a Law
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Most bills begin as a need or request outside the legislative branch
Bills, both public and private are presented to the House or Senate for
enactment into law
Joint resolutions are similar to bills, however they deal with unusual or
temporary matters
Concurrent resolutions are put forth by both houses but are not signed off
on by the President, hence forth not giving them the strength of a law
Resolutions are brought up in one house or the other and often deal with
matters exclusive to the operation of the House or the Senate
Many bills contain Riders, which are provisions that are not likely to pass on
their own, so they are attached to something more important with the hopes
that it will be pushed through
Congressional committees are often so bogged down with bills that they are
split into subcommittees to examine bills dealing with specific issues
There are a number of procedures and rules that the House deals with in
the presentation, debate, and passing of a bill
• Resolutions are brought up in one house or the other
and often deal with matters exclusive to the operation of
the House or the Senate
• Many bills contain Riders, which are provisions that are
not likely to pass on their own, so they are attached to
something more important with the hopes that it will be
pushed through
• Congressional committees are often so bogged down
with bills that they are split into subcommittees to
examine bills dealing with specific issues
• There are a number of procedures and rules that the
House deals with in the presentation, debate, and
passing of a bill
Bills in the Senate
• Bills are introduced by Senators who are
formally recognized for that purpose
• Senatorial debate over legislation is often
unrestrained and can on for long periods of time
• Some senators try to filibuster, or talk a bill to
death in an attempt to stall to the point where the
bill is dropped
• There is the rule of Cloture which attempts to
stop filibustering and limit debate, however it is
so difficult to invoke that it is largely ignored
Committees in Congress
• Congress does much of its work in committees.
• Standing committees are the permanent committees in
both houses.
• The Senate has 17 standing committees and the House
has 19; the other types of committees are:
• select–special, often temporary bodies
• joint–usually permanent, made up of members of both
houses
• conference–temporary, joint committees formed to work
out differences in Senate- and House-passed measures.
Bills and the President
• The last step in making a bill into law is the approval of
the President
• When a bill reaches his desk he has 4 options
• He can sign it and it becomes law
• He may veto it and it goes back to the Congress or dies
• He may allow the bill to become law by not signing it
within 10 days
• He may use a pocket veto, if Congress adjourns within
ten days of presenting the bill and he does not sign it
then it will die
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– Veto literally translated means “ I Forbid”.