UNIT 2: SECTION 1
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
Essential Question:
Explain How a Bill becomes a Law.
Congress Organizes
The Presiding Officers
• House of Representatives
– Speaker of the House
• The US Senate
– President of the Senate
• Presides over all actions in
the House
• Assigns all Bills to the
appropriate committees
• May vote on any bill on the
floor but Constitutionally,
he/she only has to vote in the
event of a tie
• The Speaker is 3rd in line for
the Presidency
• This position is held by the
Vice President
• Serves as a liaison
(connection) between the
President and the Senate
• May only vote on a bill if
there is a tie
• Most of the time, the duties
of this office are passed on
to the President Pro Tem
2
Congress Organizes
Other Congressional Leaders
• Majority and Minority Floor
Leaders (House)
– Serve as leaders of their
political party in the House
– Their job is organize their
parties action / views on
issues that are up for a vote
– They are assisted by members
of their party known as whips
• Committee Chairmen
– Members of the House and
Senate are assigned to a
variety of committees
– The leadership (chair) of each
committee is chosen from the
majority party in office based
on seniority (Seniority Rule)
• The longer a person serves in
office, the more powerful he
/ she becomes
3
Committees in Congress
Standing Committees
– Both the House and Senate have
permanent committees that are
assigned all bills relating to a
particular topic
– The Speaker (House) or the Pro
Tem (Senate) assign each bill to
the appropriate committee for
review
– Committees are organized based
on subject
• Tax bills go to the Ways and
Means Committee (House) or
Finance Committee (Senate)
4
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The House
• 1. Introduction of a bill
– A member of Congress introduces a
bill proposal for consideration.
• Bills come from a variety of sources such
as the Executive Branch, Special Interest
Groups, some are even suggested by
everyday citizens
• A Rider is a provision that is attached to
a bill in order to push through a lot of
unnecessary spending
5
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The House
• 2. Assigned to Committee
– After the bill is introduced, the bill
is assigned to the appropriate
committee for review
– While in committee the bill can be
changed, set aside (pigeonholed)
until it expires, or replaced with a
bill of the committees making
– If the committee takes no action on
a bill, other members may call for a
discharge petition to force the bills
release
6
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The House
• 3. Debate
– After a bill is released
from committee, it is
sent to the House
floor for debate
– A vote is called for the
original bill and for
each of its
amendments
• If the bill fails to pass,
it is dead
• If the bill passes the
House it is then sent to
the Senate
7
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The Senate
• Introduction of the Bill
– Bills are introduced to the
Senate usually by Senators
• Assigned to Committee
– New bills are assigned to the
appropriate committee for
review
– The committee releases the
bill for debate on the Senate
floor
• Filibuster may be called to
prevent a bill from passing
• A Cloture may be called to end
a filibuster but is rarely done
8
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The Senate
• 4. Conference Committee
– If the House and Senate each
pass their own version of the
bill it is sent to a Conference
Committee to work out the
differences and create a
SINGLE bill that they can both
vote on
– Compromises are reached
until the committee creates a
final version of the bill for
both houses to vote on.
• 5. A Final Vote is Called
– If the bill passes the Senate
and House it then is sent to
the President
9
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The
President
• 6. The President’s Options
– Once a bill makes its way the
Presidents desk, the President has
a few options
• Sign the bill into law
• Veto (reject) the bill and send it back
to Congress [Congress may override
the Veto with a 2/3 vote in both
houses]
• Allow the bill to become law by
ignoring it for 10 days
• Pocket Veto if the Congressional term
expires before the bill can become law,
it automatically fails
10
The House of Representatives
• Congressional Districts
– The area that a member
of the House represents
– Borders of the district
are selected by the state
legislature
– Gerrymandering
• Sometimes politicians try
to arrange district lines in
such a way as to give an
advantage to their parties
chance to be elected
The House of Representatives
• Formal Qualifications
– Must be at least 25 years
old
– Must have been a citizen
of the US for at least 7
years
– Must be a resident of
the state from which
elected
The Senate
• Size of the Senate
– There are 100 members
of the Senate (2 from
each state)
– The Framers hoped that
the Senate would serve
as a more stable
element of government
The Senate
• Election Terms
– Senators are chosen by
the people and are up
for election every 6
years
– The Senatorial terms are
staggered so that only
1/3 of the Senate is up
for election at a given
time
• This provides more
stability in government
The Senate
• Formal Qualifications
– Must be at least 30 year
old
– Must have been a citizen
of the US for at least 9
years
– Must be a resident of
the state from which
elected
The National Legislature
• Terms of Congress
– Each term of congress lasts 2
years
– Each term is broken into 2
sessions
– Congress adjourns for several
months to allow the
Congressmen to work in their
home regions
– In times of need, the
President may call the
Congressmen back into
special session to respond to
a major crisis
– Members of the House are up
for election every 2 years
The Members of Congress
• Personal / Professional
Background
– Not representative of
the typical Americans
– Most are lawyers and
come from a wealthy
background
US Senator
Barbara Boxer
US Senator
Diane Feinstein
The incumbency advantage
•
Incumbents have many advantages when it comes to running for reelection
– Franking Privilege
• The ability to print and mail goods at no cost
– Professional Staff
• To handle your day to day operations
– Patronage
• You are able to provide services to your constituents as part of your Congressional duties
– Gerrymandered Districts (safe-seats)
• Congressional district lines are drawn in such a way as to give one party an advantage
– Committee Service / Pork Projects
• While working on committees in Congress, you are able to bring federal moneys into the
district that can help create jobs. This extra spending is referred to as “pork”
– Campaign War-chest
• Since many members go years between anyone challenging them for their seats, they are
able to amass large amounts of money to pay for their campaign
• Average incumbent can outspent his/her opponent 3x
The House of Representatives
• Reapportionment
– Congress reorganizes / rearranges the number of
representatives each state gets in the House.
• In order to make sure that each state has a fair number of
representatives Congress, adjusts the numbers based on the
national census which is conducted every 10 years.
– States with major increases in population may gain seats,
while states whose population declines may lose seats
• This is conducted according to the Reapportionment Act of 1929
which established formal procedures for allocating House seats
– The number of representatives a state has greatly
influences the amount of power it has in the Federal
Government