The Senate
__________________________ – senators elected by popular vote of people
Each state has 2 Senators
Senate has 100 voting members (no non-voting delegates)
Senate elections are staggered – ____________________________________ years –
each Senator term is 6 years
• __________________________________ on number of times a Senator can serve
• Senators chosen by the entire state, not districts
• Has special treaty ratification powers and confirmation powers of presidential
appointees
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• President of the Senate
• ___________________________
 Presides over Senate, but does not debate
 Also does not vote, unless to break a tie
 _________________________________ with little power
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President Pro Tempore
________________________________________
 Stands in as President when
VP is not present
 By tradition, usually the most senior Senator of the ___________________
 Unlike the VP, is a voting member
• Majority Floor Leader
• ______________________________
 Most influential member of the Senate and majority party spokesman
• Minority Floor Leader
• _________________________________
 Same role as House
Floor Leader
• Assistant Majority Leader
(Democratic Whip)
• ________________________________
 Role is same as House Majority
Whip
• Assistant Minority Leader
(Republican Whip)
• ________________________________
 Same role as House Minority
Whip
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The Senate:
Committees
Standing
• Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
• Appropriations
• Armed Services
• Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Budget
• Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Energy and Natural Resources
• Environment and Public Works
• Finance
• Foreign Relations
• Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
• Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• Judiciary
• Rules and Administration
• Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Veterans Affairs
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Special, Select, and Other
Indian Affairs
Select Committee on Ethics
Select Committee on Intelligence
Special Committee on Aging
Joint
Joint Committee on Printing
Joint Committee on Taxation
Joint Committee on the Library
Joint Economic Committee
Congressional Committees
• Why a Committee System?
 ____________________________________________________ – sending bills to
corresponding committee helps speed up process
 Allows study of legislation by specialists
• How the Committee System Works?
 Congress divides its tasks among _________________________________
committees and sub committees.
 The House and Senate each have their own committees, but they are similar
• 4 Types
1.) ______________________________: permanent committee that deals with specific
policy matters (agriculture, energy and natural resources, veterans affairs, etc…) ;
divided into subcommittees that handle more specialized problems
2.)______________________________ : temporary committee appointed for a specific
purpose; most are formed to investigate a particular issue (Watergate Committee,
Hurricane Katrina Committee, Y2K Committee, etc)
3.) _____________________________ : made up of members of both houses of
Congress; can be a select committee or perform routine duties
4.) ______________________________: temporary committee of members from both
houses created to resolve differences in House and Senate versions of a bill; is a
compromise committee
Congressional Committees
Standing and Subcommittees - Examples
House of Reps.
Standing Committee:
Committee on Resources
Sub Committees:
Office of Native American Affairs
Energy and Minerals
Fisheries and Oceans
Forests and Forest Health
National Parks
Water and Power
Senate
Standing Committee:
Environment and Public Works
Sub Committees:
Transportation and Infrastructure
Clean Air, Climate Change, Nuclear Safety
Fisheries, Wildlife, and Nature
Superfund and Waste Management
Congressional Committees
Membership and Leadership
Membership
• Percentage of each committee’s membership reflects the overall percentage of
Democrats and Republicans in each house
 Ex. – 53% of house is Republican, so 53% of all committee members will be
Republican
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Members try to serve on committees where they can
_____________________________ relating to their district or state, or influence
national public policy issues
 Ex – Kansas senator on the agriculture committee
 Ex – Iowa representative on the foreign relations committee
Leadership
• Committees are led by a ________________________________ who belongs to the
majority party and is chosen by majority party members of committee
Floor Debate
House
• _______________________________ decides if debate will be open rule or closed
rule and how long debate can last
• Members can only propose______________________________ (when allowed)
related to the topic of the bill
Senate
• More casual; no limits on debating riders are allowed
 Amendments not related to the topic of the bill
• Can filibuster
 _________________________________ by Senators to stall a bill from being
voted on
 Can only be ended by a ______________________(petition signed by 60 Senators)
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Why Do Incumbents Win?
Better name ___________________________
Can use franking privilege to sent out campaign letters
Have greater access to_________________________
Raise campaign money more easily (have support of PACs and lobbyists)
More campaign experience
Have large staffs to help with _____________________ and _______________
services
Take credit for federal money that gets allocated to their district or state
Criticisms of Congress
• Overstaffed and self-indulgent
• ______________________________________
 Both houses have created rules and limits to help curb legal bribes
 House rules allows only family and close friends to give gifts to representatives
 Senate put a limit of $50 on any gift (including dinner) and a $100/year limit on
gifts from a single source, unless the gift givers are family or “close personal
friends”