How Congress Works
SENATE
•Two from
each State
•Upper House
113 Congress (2013-2014)
Senate:
Majority Party: Democrat (53 seats)
Minority Party: Republican (45 seats)
Other Parties:
2 Independents (Caucus with the Democrats)
Total Seats: 100
Note:
Senator Angus King was elected as an
Independent from Maine
Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont was
elected as an Independent.
President of the Senate
Joseph Biden
Vice President of
the United States
• Only votes in
case of tie
• First in line for
Presidency
• Former Senator
from
Pennsylvania
•
President Pro Tempore
Patrick Leahy (Democrat)
Vermont– Handles
day-to-day leadership of the
Senate
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (Democrat)
Nevada – also known
as Floor Leader
SENATE MINORITY
LEADERSHIP
Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell
Republican
Kentucky
House of
Representatives
•Based on
Population
•Lower House
435 Members
• Party Divisions
– 233 Republicans– Majority
Party
– 199 Democrats - Minority
Party
• 3 Seats are currently vacant
• 435 Members
Current Vacancies
State, District
Reason for Vacancy, Successor
Virginia
The Honorable Eric Cantor resigned from the 113th
Congress effective 6:00 p.m. on August 18, 2014.
New Jersey
The Honorable Robert E. Andrews resigned from the
113th Congress on February 18, 2014.
North Carolina
The Honorable Melvin L. Watt resigned from the 113th
Congress on January 6, 2014.
Speaker of the House – Leads
the House of Representatives
and is a member of the
majority party. Second (2nd)
in line for the Presidency.
John Boehner
Republican
Ohio
HOUSE MAJORITY
LEADERSHIP • Develops the issues
Kevin McCarthy–
House Majority
Leader
Republican, California
and policies that form
the Republican
agenda.
• Sets the legislative
schedule by selecting
which bills the House
will consider and the
timing of their
consideration.
House Minority Leader
• Nancy Pelosi
• Represents Democrats
on the House
• Democrat from
California
• She leads the Minority
Party. Presently that is
the Democratic Party.
Committees
• Every new bill
introduced goes
to committee
• The Committee
decides if the bill
will go on to the
floor for a vote
They can:
• pass it
• kill it
• pigeon hole it.
Types of Committees
• Standing – permanent committee that specializes
in one topic – ex. Appropriations
– Subcommittees – Smaller committees within a
standing committee
• Select – Temporary committee to deal with
issues needing special attention
• Joint Committees- includes members of both
houses
– Conference Committees – work out language of a
proposed law.
Copy and Answer the Following
Questions.
1. What is a whip in Congress?
2. Who are the majority and minority whips
in the House and Senate?
3. On what committees do Saxby Chambliss,
Johnny Isakson, and Austin Scott serve?
4. What type of committee has been working
on the budget crisis?
Miscellaneous Committee
Information
• Committee Chairperson is usually a
member of the majority party
• Membership of committee is in ratio to
make up of Senate or House
• Seniority System determines who get
the best or most important committee
assignments.
AGE
• The average age of Senators in
August of the 113th Congress was
62
• The average age of the
Representatives in August of the
113th Congress was 57
•
Ethnicity/Gender
•
•
•
•
•
African American 44 (2 are nonvoting delegates)
American Indian
2
Asian Pacific
13 (2 are nonvoting delegates)
Caucasian
440
Hispanic
38 (2 are nonvoting
delegate/commissioner)
• Women
101 (Includes 2 nonvoting
delegates)
7 MOST POPULAR
RELIGIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Catholic
Baptist
Methodists
Jewish
Presbyterian
Episcopal
Protestant
Other Characteristics
• Most common professions were public
service/politics, business, and law.
• Most have college degrees
• Most were born in the State that elects them
• Many are not independently wealthy and
depend on their salaries
• Nearly 1/3 of Senators were once House
members
• Some have only a high school diploma
Compensation - Salary
• Congressmen/women - $174,000 per
year.
• The Majority and Minority Leaders in
both the House and Senate and the
President pro tempore of the Senate
earn $193,400
• The Speaker of the House earns
$223,500.
• http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/we
ekly/aa031200a.htm
Compensation – Nonsalary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Special tax exemption for maintaining two houses
Hospitalization, life, and health insurance
Retirement pay
Provide both office and budget funds for staff
Franking privilege: Mailing is free
Free printing
Free parking
Gymnasiums
Limits on Congressional Pay?
• Presidential veto
• Voter fallout (we get mad!)
• Twenty-seventh Amendment says no
increase can take place until the next
session of Congress
• The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 set a
pay raise equal to what other
government employees were getting
unless Congress voted against it
Free Speech Privilege
• Article I, Section 6, Clause 1
• Congressmen/women can feel free to speak
their mind without fear
• This extends to anything said in the House
or Senate or in committee
• Protects legislative debate
• They can not defame or lie about another
member
House of
Representatives
Basic Facts
State Representation
Key
Green – Gained
Purple – Lost
Yellow – no change
House of Representative Size
•
•
•
•
•
Congress set the size at 435 members
State’s representation set by the Census
The 435 votes are apportioned
Each State has at least one vote
Washington DC, Guam, Virgin Islands, and
American Samoa elect a representative with
no voting power
• Puerto Rico chooses a resident
commissioner, also with no vote
Reapportionment
• The representation is redistributed after
each Census
• The original number was set at 65 until a
Census could be taken
• After the first Census the number was
changed to 106.
• By 1912 the size was 435
• The House ignored the 1920 Census
2003 Apportionment
• States that gained
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Arizona – 2
Florida – 2
Georgia – 2
Texas – 2
California – 1
Colorado – 1
Nevada – 1
North Carolina - 1
• States that lost
New York – 2
Pennsylvania – 2
Connecticut – 1
Illinois – 1
Indiana – 1
Michigan – 1
Mississippi – 1
Ohio – 1
Oklahoma – 1
Wisconsin - 1
Reapportionment Act of 1929
1. Set the “permanent” size of the House at
435
2. The Census Bureau decides the
reapportionment after each census
3. The President then sends this plan to
Congress
4. Each house has 60-days to reject the plan.
If neither does, it becomes effective.
Term
• Each elected Representative serves a two
year term.
• There is no limit to how many times they
can be elected
• John Dingell, Democrat from Michigan,
has served the longest. He first took
office in 1955 when he took his late
father’s seat.
Congressional Elections
• When are they
held?
– First Tuesday after
the first Monday in
November in even
numbered years
• Off-Year Elections
– Also known as
midterm elections
– Held in the middle of
the Presidential term
– Usually the party in
charge, President’s
party, loses seats in
this election
Congress after the 2006 elections
Voting Districts
• Single Member District – Congressional
District - The voters of each district will
elect their own Representative
• General Ticket - at large – Since1842 this
can only be used for States with one
Representative
Gerrymandering
• Voting districts drawn to favor one party
over the other by including more of that
parties members.
– Districts may be drawn to concentrate the
opposition’s voters in just a few districts
leaving the majority vote for their candidates
– Districts may be drawn to leave just a few
members of the opposition party in each district
and keep them from winning
“One person, one vote”
• Wesberry v. Sanders: 1964
– Wesberry’s Georgia 5th
Congressional district was
larger than most
– He sued saying it violated his
equal vote based on 14th
Amendment
– Supreme Court agreed and
Georgia was forced to redraw
its districts.
Oyez: Wesberry v. Sanders, 376
U.S. 1 (1964), U.S. Supreme
Court Case Summary & Oral
Argument
• Reynolds v. Sims: 1964
– Alabama law required one
State Senator from each county
– Some counties had more
people
– Did it violate 14th Amendment
equal protection clause?
– Supreme Court –Alabama law
did violate – that districts
should be drawn by population
– Oyez: Reynolds v. Sims, 377
U.S. 533 (1964), U.S. Supreme
Court Case Summary & Oral
Argument
House of Representatives
Qualifications
1. 25 years old
2. US citizen for at least seven (7) years
3. Must be an inhabitant of the State from which
he/she is elected
 Informal qualification is that they live in the
district from which they are elected
 Others that can make or break a candidate: party
identification, how well known is the name,
gender, ethnic characteristics, and political
expertise
Challenges
• Majority vote to refuse to seat a memberelect
– 1900 Brigham Roberts (Utah) because he was a
polygamist
– 1967 Adam Clayton Powell was denied a seat
because he was accused of misappropriating
funds– Supreme Court said they must seat him
because he met the qualifications
Punish for “disorderly behavior”
• Requires a majority vote
– 1989: Jim Wright (D) resigned before he could be
reprimanded for financial dealings with interest groups
– 2006: Tom Delay (R) resigned before he was reprimanded
– 1990: Barney Frank (D) was reprimanded for his
relationship with a male prostitute – reelected by his
constituents
– 2006: Mark Foley (R) resigned after it was revealed he sent
inappropriate e-mails to a page
– 1997: Gerry Eastman Studds (D) Censured by the House of
Representatives for having sexual relations with a teenage
House page.
Expel a member by a 2/3 vote
Five members have been expelled from the House
– three of them were removed in 1861 for supporting the
Confederate States' secession, which led to the Civil
War.
– In 1980, Michael Myers (D) was expelled for accepting
bribes (376 to 30)
– In 2002 James Traficant (D) was expelled following his
conviction for taking bribes, filing false tax returns,
racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at
his farm in Ohio and on his houseboat in Washington
DC, and is currently serving out an 8-year prison term
scheduled to end in 2010..
How a Bill Becomes a Law
• More than 10,000 bills are introduced during
each term of Congress, yet only several
hundred pass all the hurdles and become law.
• Bills: Two Categories:
– Private-Concern individual people or places.
– Public-Apply to the entire nation, involve general
matters like taxation, civil rights, or terrorism.
Ideas for bills come from
sources such as
• Members of Congress
• Citizens
• Lobbyists representing Special-interest
groups
• Presidents
• Officials working in the Executive
Branch
Introducing a Bill
• Members of Congress who wants to
sponsor a bill has to draft it or put the
idea in written form.
• Staff’s for representative’s or
senator’s draft bills.
Introducing a Bill
• Senator’s introduce a bill by making a
formal announcement in the Senate.
• HOR’s introduce a bill by dropping it
in a “hopper” (a box that is specific
for the purpose) The bill might be
given a number such as HR 1266.
• The bill is then sent to the Standing
Committee, of each chamber of
Congress, which is concerned with
bills on that particular subject.
The Work of Committees
• Several options when a bill goes to
committees
– Pass it without changes
– Change it and suggest it be passed
– Replace with an alternative bill
– kill it by majority vote
– pigeonhole it (set it aside without
considering it). This is what happens to
most bills in committee.
Favored bills
• Committees may keep the bill as is or
make changes
• Throw out bill but write new one with
same subject
• Then passed to subcommittee
Subcommittee
• Further work and study
• By law public hearings are held for
people affected by bill
• May be other changes
• Then returned to full committee
Debating a Bill
• HOR’s spend a small amount of time
on any one bill.
• The Rules Committee of the House
schedules consideration of bills.
• The Rules Committee decides when a
bill will be debated and for how long.
Debating a Bill
• The House can speed up debate on
bills with the process of “Committee
of the Whole.” This is a special
gathering of all House members.
Debating a Bill
• The Senate has freer debates.
• Senator’s are allowed to speak for an
unlimited time.
• Senator’s use this to kill certain bills
they do not support by filibustering.
• Cloture can end a filibuster.
Voting on a Bill
• After a bill has been debated, it
is brought to a vote.
• This is done in one of three
ways.
Voting on a Bill
• 1) Voice Vote (Member saying Yea or No) For
bills that are clearly popular or unpopular.
• 2) Standing Vote (Those who support the bill will
stand and be counted) then those who oppose
will stand and be counted.
• 3) Roll-Call Vote (each member’s name is called
individually) Must vote yea, nay, or present
which means “no opinion.” This is a matter of
public record. Happens in the Senate. The House
has a computerized voting system.
Conference Committees
• These committees work to correct
differences between bills that are
similar, conflicting, and passed in both
houses.
• They work to reach a compromise that
will satisfy both houses.
• Both houses have to pass revisions or it
does not become a law.
Signing or Vetoing a Bill
• After both houses of Congress pass
a bill, it is sent to the President for
signing thus becoming a law.
• The President, however, can veto
the bill.
Signing or Vetoing a Bill
• If the President does not sign the bill within
10 days and Congress is in session then the
bill becomes law. If Congress is not in
session the bill will die. (Pocket Veto).
• The last chance to save a bill after
presidential veto is to override it in
Congress by two-thirds vote in each house.
Committees: Little Legislatures
• Each house of Congress considers
thousands of bills, or proposed laws, in
the course of a session.
• To handle so many bills each house has
developed a system of committees.
Lobbyists
• A person who is employed by and acts for
an organized interest group or corporation
to try to influence policy decisions and
positions in the executive and legislative
branches.
Special Interest Groups
• an organization of people with some
common interest who try to influence
government decisions
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbsRx
WZK0cQ