“The Do-Nothing Congress”
 Congress returned to session in mid September after 5
weeks away from Washington
 Lawmakers only have a limited amount of time to
debate and vote on legislation before dealing with
their next big challenge
 WHAT EVENT IS HAPPENING IN NOVEMBER THAT
COULD AFFECT CONGRESS?
Upcoming Election
 Stakes are high:
 Who currently controls the House?
 Who currently controls the Senate?
According to a CNN poll…
 83% of Americans don't approve of the way Congress is
working
 A stunning 65% believe it to be the worst Congress of "their
lifetime"
Who is onGovernor
the and
PALtBallot?
Governor
 Incumbent: Tom Corbett
(Rep.) and Jim Cawley
 Running: Tom Wolf
(Dem.) and Mike Stack
House of Reps
 Republican party
currently holds 13/18 seats
What Congressional District do you live in?
District 6
 Current: Jim Gerlach (Rep.)
 Has been in office since 2003
 Retiring in 2014
 Candidates:
 Ryan Costello (R)
~ Chester County Commissioner, Attorney, Ex-Chester
County Recorder of Deeds
 Manan Trivedi (D)
~ Primary Care Physician, Iraq War Veteran, 2010/2012
Nominee
What can Congress do in a month?
 House Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) advised GOP
lawmakers expect “a brief, but busy session with
the key agenda item being the must-pass short-
term funding bill to keep the government running
until early December”
 Current funding runs out Sept. 30
 Congress is on track to extend it until a postelection session where control of the U.S. Senate
will determine what happens next
What can Congress do in a month?
 Entitlement reform
 Critical if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are to
remain secure
 Mandatory testing in schools impacted by NCLB
 Raising minimum wage
 Immigration
 Balance between border security and being a nation that
helps those seeking a better life
 Read through section 1 of your textbook (pg. 136-139)
 Answer the questions on your worksheet
 (skip over “How did we get here”)
 On the back of your paper, answer the following
questions as well:
 Which 5 states have the most members in the House of
Reps? (pg. 137)
 Which 5 states have the fewest members in the House of
Reps?
 What might have happened if the House of Reps had
never been formed and we only had a Senate?
Bicameral Legislature
Lawmaking body consisting of two houses: House of
Representatives and Senate
 How did we get there?
 Virginia Plan: Bicameral legislature with houses based
off population (larger states preferred)
 New Jersey Plan: Bicameral legislature with houses based
off a set number of representatives per state (smaller
states preferred)
 Connecticut Compromise: “THE GREAT
COMPROMISE”- One house (House of Representatives)
uses population data, the other uses a set number
(Senate)
What are the benefits of
having a bicameral
legislature?
Benefits of a Bicameral Legislature
 Typically represent larger countries
 Why?
 Prevent flawed/biased/reckless legislation from being
passed
 How?
 Provide enhanced oversight/control of the Executive
Branch
 How?
Unicameral Legislature
 Unicameral Legislatures are often found in unitary
systems of government
 Tend to be geographically smaller
 What are some advantages of having a unicameral
legislature (1 legislative body)?
Benefits of having a unicameral
legislature
 Advantages:
 Legislation can be proposed and passed quickly
 Fewer elected officials for the population to monitor
 Fewer competing political interests
 Greater accountability since legislators cannot blame
“the other chamber”
Bicameral Legislatures in practice:
UK
 The United Kingdom has a bicameral legislature.
 House of Commons (central lawmaking body)and the House
of Lords
 The members of the British House of Commons are elected
by citizens and serve maximum terms of 5 years
 The House of Lords comprises members who acquired
their positions either through inheritance or through royal
appointment to life terms
 Have diminished legislative power
 Still maintains a platform from which it can raise public
awareness of policy issues
 What are pros/cons of having a House of Lords?
Bicameral Legislatures in practice:
Canada
 The House of Commons possesses most of the political power
 The Senate has considerable power to investigate social and
policy questions and to revise legislation.
 Like the U.S. Senate, the Canadian upper house uses a regional
apportionment system for equal representation
 However, the system was modeled on demographics present in
1867
 Severely underrepresents the newer provinces, that now boast some
of Canada’s largest and most commercially successful cities.

The Senate no longer reflects current demographics.
 Senators were initially appointed for life, but have been required
to retire at the age of 75
Unicameral Legislatures in practice:
Costa Rica
 Has a tradition of free, democratic elections dating to
1889
 Because of a previous history of authoritarianism,
Costa Rica has instituted many precautions aimed at
curtailing the concentration of power
 Political power is diffused by a constitutional provision
that prohibits both the president and members of the
Legislative Assembly from seeking reelection to
consecutive terms.
 Prevents one party from dominating the Assembly
 A tendency of unicameral legislatures
US House Background
 Elections held every even-numbered year
(ie: 2012, 2014…)
 All members have 2 year terms
 If a member dies or resigns during his term,
the governor of the home state is required to
call a special election to fill the vacancy
 In some states, the governor appoints a new
representative
 What could be a problem here?
Requirements for the House
 Be at least 25 years old
 Been a US citizen for
at least 7 years
 Be a legal resident of
the state you represent
 Not necessary to live
in district you run in
Question: How does the residency requirement play a role in politics? Explain.
US House of Representatives
 Based off population but each state must have at least 1
representative
 District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, and the
US Virgin Islands have one delegate who cannot vote
IS THIS FAIR?
House of Representatives
 Consists of 435 members
 Why 435?
1789: 65 reps in the House
(one for every 30,000 people)
 Over time change needed due to
added population
 1911: Limit to be 435

How does the 435 get divided?
 Apportioned (distributed by population)
 Each state gets a number appropriate to it from census
data
 If population increases, you may acquire seats
 If population decreases, you may lose seats
 Each state is divided into districts based off population
Which states have the most seats?
Which states have the fewest seats?
Gerrymandering
 Drawing district lines that favor a particular political party,
politician, group, etc.
 Ie: PA elects 18 House members…has to be divided into 18
congressional districts
 Process is controlled by the majority party in the state
legislature
 Intentionally used to benefit a particular political party
 help that party win more seats
 Goal: create many districts that will elect members of one
party, and only a few that will elect members of the
opposite party

Gerrymandering
To review…
 The idea behind gerrymandering is pretty simple:
 Redistricting to gain a party advantage
 You pack your opponents' supporters together
into very few districts.
 Then you make other districts relatively more
balanced — but you place enough of your
supporters in most of them to give you an
advantage.
Gerrymandering, again
Let’s take a look at gerrymandering in PA…
Drawn by Republicans in 2010 (more Republicans
in Congress for PA)
Gerrymandering at work
Senate
 Two Senators from each state
 Six year terms
 Elections held each even-numbered year
 Thus, 1/3 of Senate comes up for election every 2 years
 Ensures 2/3 have experience
 If someone dies, governors appoint
member until next regular election or
state has a special election
Requirements for the Senate
 Be at least 30 years old
 Been a US citizen for at least 9 years
 Be a legal resident of the state you represent
Are these requirements fair?
 House of Reps
 Senate
 At least 25 years old
 At least 30 years old
 A US citizen for at least 7
 A US citizen for at least 9
years
 A legal resident of the
state you represent
years
 A legal resident of the
state you represent
Should they be changed?
What are the differences
between the House and
Senate? Similarities?
Use pages 136-142, and your notes, to fill in this chart to
the best of your ability
Differences between House and
Senate
Add anything new to your charts
Explaining Term Lengths
Gerrymandering
Activity
Differences between House and Senate
Annual Salaries of Congress
Members
 How much do you think Congress gets
paid?
 How much SHOULD Congress get
paid?
Congress in General
 Salary: $174,000
 Members get an allowance to pay staff members as well
 Provided offices in Capitol
 Free trips to home state
 Allowances for local offices
 Franking privilege: right to mail letters or packages for
free
 Leaders in each chamber receive extra compensation
Congress (continued)
 Immunity when Congress is in session
 Cannot be arrested in or on their way to or from a
meeting in Congress

Reason: not unnecessarily kept from performing their duties
 Exempted from arrest or interrogation for any speech or
debate entered into during a legislative session
 Rules of Conduct
 Limits on outside income and full disclosure of finances
 Can challenge qualifications of newly elected members
Can our Reps be punished?
 Expulsion: Person must give up seat in
Congress
 Requires a 2/3 vote
 Only for very serious offenses
 Only happened 20 times (5 in House; 15 in
Senate)


Last House member in 2002 (James Traficant)
Last Senate member in 1862 (Jesse D. Bright)
 Many times expulsion votes fail or person in
question resigns

John Ensign of Nevada in 2011
Can our Reps be punished?
 Censure: Formal disapproval of actions
 Must stand alone at front of House/Senate and listen as
the charges are read
 Censures: 9 in Senate, 23 in House

Last one in 2010: Charles Rangel of New York
Review from yesterday:
Congressional Salaries
Delegated Powers (again…)
 Article I, Section 8: Powers delegated to Congress
 Financing Government
 Regulating and Encouraging American Trade/Industry
 Defending the Country
 Creating Lower Courts: National Court System
 Providing for Growth
Financing Our Government
 Borrowing Money
 Collecting Taxes
 Printing and Coining Money
 Spending for Programs
Regulating Trade
 Domestically
 Trade between states (interstate commerce)
 Laws to protect rights of inventors (patents, trademarks,
copyrights, etc.)
 Internationally
 Tariffs and embargoes
 Trade with foreign nations
Defending Our Country
 Declaration of War
 Only Congress can do this!
 Have we had times when we fought without declaring
war?
 Maintaining armed forces, regulating use of troops
 Approval of Treaties
Providing for Growth
 Regulation of Immigration/Naturalization
 Govern US territories, national parks, naval bases, etc.
 Provide admission for new states
 Acquire lands
 War, eminent domain, treaties, purchase or gift, etc.
Implied Powers
 The elastic clause
 “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the foregoing powers”
 Stretches Congressional role to many other areas
 Examples: Military academies and draft (necessary to
ensure defense of US), minimum wage (regulation of
commerce)
Special Powers by Chamber
 House
 Starts revenue bills
 Impeach public officials
 Chooses president if
electoral majority not
reached
 Senate
 Impeachment trials
 Vice president if no VP
candidate gets enough
votes
 Treaties approved with
2/3 vote
 Supreme Court justices
approved by majority
vote
Impeachment
 Read through the article on impeachment
 Summarize the main point of each section
 What can the president be impeached for?
 What’s the formal procedure for impeachment
proceedings?
 After impeachment, what happens in the Senate?
Impeachment
 Impeachment: accuse an officeholder of misconduct
 If guilty, they may be removed from office
 Charges drawn up in House
 Majority votes in favor of charges, official is impeached
 Senate will then hear trial with vice president acting as the judge
(exception: presidential impeachment, when the chief justice
presides over hearing)
 If 2/3 of Senate finds accused guilty, they may be dismissed
from office
Presidents up for impeachment
Andrew Johnson
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton
Review from yesterday
 What does impeachment mean?
 How many presidents have been
impeached?
 What was each man’s outcome?
 Describe the process of impeachment
What Congress Can’t Do…
 Infringe on Reserved Powers to States (which
amendment?)
 Regulate elections, create schools, establish marriage
laws, etc.
 No ex post facto laws (laws that apply to actions that
occurred before laws were passed)
 No bills of attainder (sentence people to prison
without trial)
What Congress Can’t Do…
 No passing laws that violate Bill of Rights
 No favoring trade of a specific state
 No titles of nobility
 No suspending writ of habeas corpus (cannot remove
right to a court order)
Terms and Sessions
 Term of Congress begins at noon on January 3rd of
every odd numbered year
 113th Congress will go from 2014-2015
 Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once
each year
Sessions of Congress
 Congress divided into two sessions, one for each year
of the term
 Begins on January 3rd unless Congress proposes
another date
 When legislative work is done, both houses adjourn
and the session is ended
 The president may call them back into a special session
after they have adjourned (this would occur for a serious
problem only, ie: Hurricane Katrina)
Joint Sessions
 Normally, the Senate and House
work as two separate entities
 However, there are times both of
them meet together in a joint
session
 Example: President gives State of
the Union address
 All members of Congress meet in
the House chamber to hear the
Presidential speech
 Example: Visiting leaders
 Example: 9/11
Organization
 Under the Constitution
 House of Reps must select a presiding officer
 Speaker of the House
 Vice President of the United States is the president of
the Senate
 Senate must have someone selected to serve in the
absence of the Vice President

President Pro Tempore
How do we decide the leaders?
 Caucuses: Private meetings in which each party selects
leaders
 Occurs on the first day of each term of Congress
 Democratic party chooses their own leaders
 Republican party chooses their own leaders
 Majority party: political party with the most members in
each house
 Minority party: political party that has fewer members
 Question: What are the minority and majority parties of
our houses today?
Senate
 Vice president does not usually preside over daily
meetings, thus majority party selects the president pro
tempore
 Literally means for the time being
 Presides over day-to-day meetings
 Each party has a leader who is assisted by a party whip
 Whip counts votes, encourages party loyalty, and
ensures that the party’s members are present for
important votes
House of Representatives
 Speaker of the House presides over the House when it
is in session
 Always a member of majority party
 Most powerful officer of the House


No member may speak until recognized by Speaker
Speaker influences the order of business in the House
 House also has majority/minority leaders and whips
Committees
 Committees meet to consider legislation and hold hearings
 Each committee has a chairperson and ranking member
 Chairperson: majority party
 Ranking Member: minority party
 Usually the longest serving member of the minority party
represented is named Ranking Member
 Subcommittees: smaller groups that consider legislation
before it is looked at by full committee
How a Bill Becomes a Law
History of the Filibuster
The
Actual
Process
Step-by-Step
 A bill is introduced in either the House or Senate
 Exception: Appropriation Bill must be in House
 Bill assigned letters and numbers to denote it (Ie: HR1215)
 HR=House of Reps
 1215=Place among bills introduced during current session
 Once bill is introduced, it is printed in the Congressional
Record (publication of daily proceedings in Congress)
Committee Process
 Once proposed, bill goes to standing committee
 Permanent Congressional committee that meets regularly
 Bill goes to committee based on subject (ex. Agriculture)
 May be referred to subcommittee for review
 Actions in committee
 Set aside and essentially killed
 Hearings: witnesses for and against bill to help committee
recommend accepting, rejecting, or changing the current bill
 After the hearing, committee can pass as is, change and
pass, or kill the bill
House Actions
 Placed on House calendar and Speaker decides when
bill will reach floor for debate
 Before debating bill, House Rules Committee decides
how much time will be allotted for bill
 Evenly distributed between supporters and opponents
of the bill
 Amendments to bill may be proposed
at this time but must be relevant to
the bill
House (continued)
 Committee of the Whole: Entire House acts as one big
committee debating bills in some cases
 Amendments may be offered, debates taken for short
time, then a vote on the amendment
 When discussion on amendments and bill is complete,
vote is taken
Rules for voting in the House
 Quorum needed for House to conduct business
 Majority of the members present
 Majority needed to pass a bill in most cases
 Roll-call votes for important bills
 Each member’s name is called and their vote is recorded
Senate
 Same steps as House: presented,
committee,
recommendations/amendments,
committee vote, floor debate,
floor vote
 Differences
 No limit to debate on bills, thus
speeches may last long time
 To prevent a vote in some cases,
Senators will threaten to speak
for hours to “talk the bill to
death”

Known as a filibuster
Senate (continued)
 Debate can be limited however
 3/5 vote of the full Senate can limit time on debate,
ending the ability to filibuster
 Cloture: procedure for
ending debate in
Senate and taking
the vote
Bill Passed Both…Now What?
 If bills have any difference, conference committee
occurs
 Equal number of Senators and Representatives who
work to reach a compromise on the bill
 Compromise sent back to both houses to be voted upon
 Once passed, sent to the desk of the president
President and the Bill
 Sign bill into law
 Refuse to sign bill (veto); Sent back to
Congress with reasons as to why it was rejected
 Pocket Veto
***VETOES CAN BE OVERRIDDEN WITH A 2/3 VOTE
Basic Definitions Review:
 Bill: Proposed Law
 Appropriation Bill: Bill Approving the spending of money
 Note: Appropriations bills MUST begin in House of Reps
 Filibuster: Method of delaying a vote in Senate by using
lengthy speeches
 Cloture: Legislative procedure for ending debate in Senate
and taking a vote
Sources of Law Ideas
 Citizens: Only if they speak up!
 Groups: Businesses and influence groups
 Congressional Committees
 Members of Congress
 President: Often during State of Union Address
Extension Activity- 15 points
 Take some time to create your own law
 Once written down, give your law to one classmate (House of
Reps/Senate)
 They can approve, amend, or veto your law
 They must write what they decide to do on your paper and sign it
 Next, give your law to another classmate (House of Reps/Senate)
 They can approve, amend, or veto your law
 Thy must write what they decide to do on your paper and sign it
 Finally, give your law to one final classmate (President)
 They either approve or veto your law
 They must write what they decide to do on your paper and sign it
Name the following:
 Vice President:
 President Pro Tempore:
 Senate Majority Leader:
 Senate Minority Leader:
 Senate Whips:
 Speaker of the House:
 House Majority Leader:
 House Minority Leader:
 House Whips:
 Vice President: Joe Biden
 President Pro Tempore: Patrick Leahy
 Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid
 Senate Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell
 Senate Whips: Richard Durbin (D) and John Kyl (R)
 Speaker of the House: John Boehner
 House Majority Leader: Kevin McCarthy (R)
 House Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi (D)
 House Whips: Steny Hoyer (D) and Steve Scalise (R)
Remainder of Class…
Explain the significance of each
term to the legislative branch:
(This will count as 2 extra points
toward your chp test)
Bicameral legislature
Apportioned
Gerrymandering
Immunity
Expulsion
Censure
Caucuses
President pro tempore
Elastic clause
Impeach
Appropriation bill
Filibuster
Cloture
Veto