The Congress
Chapter 13
• Due to the Great Compromise the
Congress is Bicameral
• Bicameral
– An institution consisting of two chambers
– The two chambers are the House of
Representatives and the Senate
• Senate terms are six years. Elections
are staggered so that approximately
one third of the seats are up for
election every two years.
• House terms are two years, with
Elections being held in every even
numbered year.
• Senate:
– Roy Blunt- R- 2016
– Claire McCaskill - D - 2018
House Districts
• US House of Representatives members from
Missouri (8 districts)
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William Lacy Clay (D)
Ann Wagner (R)
Blaine Luetkemeyer (R)
Vicky Hartzler (R)
Emanuel Cleaver (D)
Sam Graves (R)
Billy Long(R)
8th District is currently vacant
• While JoAnn Emerson was elected to
be the representative from the 8th, she
chose instead to retire into a job in the
private sector.
• This means Missouri will have a special
election on June 4 2013 to select the
new representative
June 4 2013 Special Election
• To represent Missouri’s 8th district in
the US House
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Steve Hodges (D)
Jason Smith (R )
Doug Enyart (C )
Bill Slantz (L)
• Lawmaking function
• Representation function
• Oversight function
• Lawmaking Function
- The authority (of a legislature) to make
the laws necessary to carry out the
government’s powers
• Representative Function
- The responsibility of a legislature to
represent various interest in society
• Trustee Model of Representation
– Says that representatives should act as
trustees of the broad interests of the
entire society.
– Trustee
• A legislator who acts according to their own
conscience and the broad interests of the
entire society.
• Instructed Delegate Model of
Representation
– Instructed Delegate
• A legislator who is an agent of the voters who
elected him or her and who votes according to
the views of constituents regardless of
personal beliefs.
• Oversight Function
- A supervisory activity of Congress that
centers on its constitutional responsibility
to see that the executive branch carries
out the laws faithfully and spends
appropriations properly.
• Constituents
- The people who reside within an elected
official’s political jurisdiction Or: The
body of citizens eligible to vote for a
particular representative.
- Members of Congress must be mindful of
the demands of their constituency, lest
they not get re-elected
• Pork-Barrel Projects
- Legislation whose tangible benefits are
targeted at a particular legislator’s
constituency (such as a new highway or
hospital)
• Service Strategy
- Use of personal staff by members of
Congress to perform services for
constituents in order to gain their support
in future elections.
• Most of the work in Congress is done in
standing committees
• Standing committee
- Permanent congressional committee with
a well defined, relatively fixed policy
jurisdiction. (Example: Senate Foreign
Relations Committee)
• Select Committees
- Temporary committees created for a specific time
period and specific purpose. (Example: Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence – Oversees the
CIA)
• Joint Committees
- Committee composed of members of both houses
to provide advisory functions. (Example: Joint
Committee on the Library – Oversees the Library
of Congress)
• Subcommittee
– A smaller organizational unit within a
committee that specializes in a particular
segment of the committee’s
responsibilities.
• Conference Committees
- Temporary committees formed to bargain
over differences in the House and Senate
versions of a bill. Membership is usually
appointed from House and Senate standing
committees that originally worked on the
bill.
• Enumerated Powers
(Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution)
– Include taxing, spending, borrowing, and coining;
regulation of foreign trade and trade among
states; regulation of the military (state militias,
an army and navy, and to declare war); as well
as the power to define the court structure.
• Powers of the Senate
– Must approve treaties and Presidential
Appointments
• The Necessary and Proper Clause
– Allows Congress to make laws that are
deemed to be necessary to carry out the
expressed powers. (Implied Powers)
• More rules are needed to govern the
House because it is so large. (435
members to the Senate’s 100)
• Rules Committee
- A standing committee of the House of
Representatives that provides special
rules under which specific bills can be
debated, amended and considered by the
house.
• Some of the
differences
between the
House and
Senate
• Redistricting – Getting favorable
boundaries
– After every ten year census, the 435
House seats are re-allocated among the
states by population.
– Reapportionment
- The reallocation of House seats among states
after each census as a result of population
change.
- States who have gained population may gain a
house seat, and visa versa with states who
have lost population.
• Due to population change in the 2010
census, Missouri went from 9 members
of the House to 8, beginning with the
2012 election
• After reapportionment, the house
districts in each state have to be redrawn, a responsibility that rests with
state governments. They are required
to be nearly equal in population.
• Redistricting
- The process of altering election districts in
order to make them as nearly equal in
population as possible.
Missouri Districts 2002-2012
The New Missouri Districts
• There are numerous ways to draw
districts and keep them equal in
population, including doing it in a way
that will benefit the party.
• Gerrymandering
– The process by which the party in power
draws election district boundaries in a
way that is to the advantage of its
candidates.
• Illinois Fourth District
• Party Caucus or Party Conference
- A group that consists of a party’s members in the
House or Senate and that serves to elect the
party’s leadership, set policy goals, and plan
party strategy.
• Party Leaders
- Members of the House and Senate who are chosen
by the Democratic or Republican caucus in each
chamber to represent the party’s interest in that
chamber and who give some central direction to
the chamber’s work.
• Party Discipline
- The willingness of a party’s House or
Senate members to act as a unified group
and thus exert collective control over
legislative action.
• In the chambers, Congress is organized
by party. When one party holds a
majority of the seats in a chamber,
they also hold the positions of power in
that chamber.
• Speaker of the House
- The presiding officer in the House of
Representatives. The Speaker is always a
member of the majority party and is the
most powerful and influential member of
the House.
- “The second most powerful person in
Washington”
• Majority Leader of the House
- A legislative position held by an important
member of the majority party in the
House of Representatives. Duties include
fostering cohesion among party members
and to act as spokesperson for the
majority party.
- Elected by the majority party to this
position
• Minority Leader of the House
- Legislative position held by an important
member of the minority party in the
House of Representatives, with the same
duties as the majority leader, except for
the opposition party.
- Also elected by their party.
• The Vice President of the United States
is the President of the Senate and may
vote to break a tie. However, the Vice
President is rarely present for Senate
meetings
• President Pro Tempore
- The senator who presides over the Senate
in the absence of the Vice President.
• Senate Majority Leader
- The chief spokesperson of the majority party in
the Senate, who directs the legislative program
and party strategy.
• Senate Minority Leader
- The party officer in the Senate who commands
the minority party’s opposition to the policies of
the majority party and directs the legislative
program and strategy of his or her party.
• Whips
- A member of Congress who aids the
majority or minority leader of the House
or Senate. Duties include delivering
messages, keeping track of votes and
encouraging party unity.
• Bill
- A proposed law within Congress
• To become law, a bill must pass
through both the Senate and the
House.
• Step 1: The Bill is introduced into
either the House or Senate, is assigned
a number, and is then sent to the
relevant committee.
• Step 2: The relevant committee
reviews the bill, and sends it to an
appropriate sub-committee. Many bills
simply die here, because they lack
interest to most members or simply
don’t have merit.
• Since most bills die in committee, we
say they have “gate-keeping authority”
• Gate-Keeping Authority
– The power to decide whether a particular
proposal or policy change will be
considered
• Step 3: Assuming the bill has merit,
the subcommittee will schedule
hearings on it, hearing testimony from
interested experts, lobbyists and
administrators.
• Step 4: The subcommittee, if they still
find merit in the bill, then
recommends the bill back to the
original committee who can hold more
hearings.
• Committees are the site of most
congressional logrolling
• Logrolling
- The trading of votes between legislators so
that each gets what he or she most wants.
• Step 5: If the majority of the
committee recommend passage, then
the bill goes back to the full chamber
for action.
• Things are different in the House and
the Senate. In the House, the rules
committee determines when the vote
will be, how long debate will last, and
whether amendments will be allowed.
This rules committee exists in the
House because it is too large to
effectively operate without strict
rules.
• In the Senate, the majority and
minority leaders schedule bills. Then,
there is unlimited debate unless 3/5
(60) of the Senate vote for Cloture.
• Cloture
- A parliamentary maneuver that limits
Senate debate.
• Cloture is a pre-emptive way to block a
filibuster.
• Filibuster
- A procedural tactic in the U.S. Senate
whereby a minority of legislators prevent
a bill from coming to a vote by holding the
floor and talking until the majority gives
in and the bill is withdrawn from
consideration.
- In modern times, the mere threat of a
filibuster will often make the other party
move on to other business.
• In the House, amendments proposed
have to be germane (on topic) to the
original bill. In the Senate, any
amendment can be proposed to any
bill, called a rider.
• Rider
- An amendment to a bill that deals with an
issue unrelated to the content of the bill.
Riders are permitted in the Senate but not
the House.
• To pass, a bill needs a simple majority
(50% plus 1). However, to move
forward, identical versions of the bill
must pass through both the House and
the Senate.
• If a similar (but different) bill passes in
each of the House and the Senate, it is
referred to a conference committee to
form a compromise. This compromise
bill is sent back to the House and the
Senate for a final vote.
• Assuming an identical version of the
bill has passed both the House and the
Senate, it goes to the President. If the
President signs the bill it becomes law.
Otherwise, he uses veto.
• Veto
- The president’s rejection of a bill, thereby
keeping it from becoming law unless
Congress overrides the veto.
• If the President uses veto, the
Congress can override this through a
2/3 vote of each chamber, which can
make the bill a law without the
President’s signature.
The Congress in Missouri
• In Missouri the Congress is known as
the General Assembly
• Missouri General Assembly
- The legislative branch of the Missouri
Government, composed of a House of
Representatives and a Senate.
– This means the Missouri General Assembly
is also bicameral
• Missouri House of Representatives
- The Missouri House has 163 members,
representing 163 districts.
- Terms are 2 years, with a term limit of 4.
- Each district has approximately 31,000
people in it.
• Cape City
– 147th District – Kathy Swan (R)
• Cape County (other than Cape City)
– 146th District – Donna Lichtenegger (R)
• Missouri Senate
– 34 members, each representing a district
of approximately 160,000 people
– Members serve four year terms, with
generally half the seats up for re-election
every two years with a term limit of 2.
– This area is in the 27th district,
represented by Wayne Wallingford (R ) .
Ain’t that something?
• Interestingly, the Republican party was
the only party to run candidates in this
area for both the MO House seats and
the MO Senate Seat.
• Generally, the Missouri General
Assembly works the same as the U.S.
Congress, with committees, and subcommittees.
• Just like in the U.S. Congress, an
identical bill must pass both the House
and the Senate before being sent to
the Governor.
• Just like in the U.S. Congress, the
Governor may veto the bill, refusing to
sign it into law.
• However, just like in the U.S. system,
the bill can still become law with
approval of 2/3 of the members of
both houses, overriding the veto.
• However, unlike the U.S. Congress,
General Assembly members also face a
line item veto
– Line Item Veto
• The power of the governor to veto certain
aspects of a bill without vetoing the entire
bill.
• These “lines” can be re-inserted with a 2/3
vote of the General Assembly, in the same
way Congress can override a regular veto.