Chapter 5—The Organization of Congress
I.
Congressional Membership
United states Congress is a bicameral legislature—House of Representatives & Senate
A. Congressional Sessions
1. Each term of Congress begins on January 3 in years ending in an odd number &
lasts for two years
2. Each Congressional term is 2 sessions
a. a session lasts one year & includes breaks for holidays and vacations
3. Congress remains in session until its members vote to adjourn.
4. If Congress is adjourned, the president may call it back for a special session
B. Membership of the House (435 Members—Representation based on population—Each
state has at least 1 seat.
1. Qualifications:
a. 25 years old
b. citizen of the United States for 7 years
c. legal resident of the state that elects him/her
d. Traditionally, live in the district they represent
2. Term of office:
a. 2 year term—Elections are held in November of even numbered years
3. Representation and Reapportionment:
a. Census every 10 years—Next census is 2010
b. Reapportionment—the population of each state determines how many of the
435 seats in the House of Reps. Each state gets.
4. Congressional Redistricting:
a. Redistricting—process of drawing new district lines after reapportionment
b. States legislatures have abused redistricting power by:
1. creating congressional districts of very unequal populations
2. gerrymandering---the dominant party in the legislature draws
boundaries to gain an electoral advantage
a. Packing a district—drawing lines to include as many voters as
possible in one district
b. Cracking a district--- spreading opposition voters across districts to
make it more likely majority party candidates will be elected.
C. Membership of the Senate—100 members—2 from each of the 50 states
1. Qualifications:
a. 30 years old
b. Citizen of the United states for 9 years
c. Legal resident of the state he/she represents
2. Term of Office:
a. 6 year term—elected in November of even # years
b. 1/3rd of the senators are elected every 2 years
3. Salary and Benefits
a. House & Senate set their own salaries—27th Amendment—Congressional
raises take effect after the next election.
b. Franking Privilege—Free postage for official business
c. Medical Clinic, gymnasium, large allowances, & annual retirement pensions
4. Privileges of members:
a. Free from arrest in all cases except—treason, felony, & breach of peace when
attending Congress or on the way to or from Congress
b. They cannot be sued for anything they say on the Senate or House floor
c. Each house may expel a member for a serious offense (treason & accepting
bribes)
d. Each house may censure (vote of formal disapproval) members guilty of
lesser crimes
D. The Members of Congress
1. 535 representatives & senators
2. 4 delegates in the house—one from D.C., Guam, American Samoa, & the Virgin
Islands ---and one resident commissioner from Puerto Rico
a. None can vote, but they attend sessions, introduce bills, speak in debates, &
vote in committees.
3. 50% of the members are lawyers & a large number come from business, banking,
& education
4. Typically Middle aged white males, but is beginning to reflect the diversity of the
general population
5. Incumbents usually win reelection. Why?—easier to raise campaign funds,
gerrymandering favored the incumbents party &Well known
6. Candidates are now using the internet to help them get elected & to stay in touch
with constituents.
II.
The House of Representatives
A. Rules for Lawmaking
1. Each House prints their rules every 2 years.
a. House debates rarely last longer than one day
b. Leaders may make key decisions without consulting the other members of
the House
c. Committees do most of the work
1. representatives tend to concentrate on & specialize in a few issues that
are important to their constituents (people they represent)
d. Republicans sit on rights & Democrats on the left
e. The majority party selects the leaders of the body, controls the flow of
legislative work, & appoints committee chairs
B. House Leadership
Leaders of the House serve the following purpose:
1. Organizing & unifying party members
2. Scheduling the work of the House
3. Making certain that lawmakers are present for key floor votes
4. Distributing & collecting information
5. Keeping the House in touch with the president
6. Influencing lawmakers to support policies of their political parties
House Officers
1. Speaker of the House—Presiding officer & its most powerful leader
a. Chosen by a caucus of the majority party & approved by the entire House
b. Appoints members to committees
c. Schedules bills for action
d. 3rd in line for the Presidency in the Line of succession
2. House majority Leader—Speaker’s top assistant
a. helps plan the party’s legislative programs
b. steer important bills through the House
c. make sure that chairpersons of the many committees finish work on bills important
to the party.
3. Majority Whip & deputy Whips
a. Serve as assistant floor leaders
b. Watch How majority members intend to vote on bills
c. Try to persuade them to vote the way the party wants them to
d. To see that party members are present to vote
4. Minority Whip & deputy Whips—Parallel’s the duties of the majority Whip
C. Lawmaking in the House
1. Bill—a proposal until both houses pass it and the president sign it & then it is law,
is introduced by a Representative in the House
2. The Speaker of the House sends the bill to the appropriate committee for study,
discussion, & review.
3. Bills that survive the Committee process are put on one of the House calendars
a. calendars—list bills that are up for consideration.
4. Rules Committee---Most powerful committee in the House of Representatives
a. Can move the bill ahead quickly, hold it back, or stop it completely
b. specifies how much debate time the bill can have & how much it may be
amended on the floor.
c. Settles disputes among other House committees
d. Often delays or blocks bills that representatives & House leaders do not want
to come to a vote on the floor. Rules committee draws criticism away from
members who do not want to take an unpopular stand on a bill if it reaches
the floor.
5. Quorum—the minimum number of members who must be present to permit a
legislative body to take official action.
a. Regular session of the House—218 members needed
b. To debate & amend legislation (Committee of the Whole)—only 100
members are needed
1. helps to speed up consideration of important bills, but the Committee
of Whole cannot pass bills
2. It reports a measure back to the full house with whatever changes it
has made
6. The House then passes or rejects the bill
III.
The Senate
A. The Senate at Work
1. Allows unlimited debate on proposed legislation
2. Senate is more informal than the House because the Senate has fewer rules
B. Senate Officers
1. Vice President—
a. Presides in the Senate and may only vote to break a tie
b. Does not take part in debates, but may try to influence senators through
personal contact
2. President Pro tempore
a. presides in the absence of the Vice President
b. Senate elects this leader from the majority party & is often a senior member
3. Majority and Minority Leader
a. Most important officers in the Senate
b. Elected by the members of their parties
Majority Leader:
a. Main job: steer the party’s bills through the Senate
1. plans the Senate’s work schedule & agenda with the advice of the
minority leader
2. encourages certain majority party members to attend important Senate
sessions & to organize support for key bills
Minority Leader
a. develops criticism of the majority party’s bills & tries to keep senators in
the minority party working together
Senate Majority & Minority Whips:
a.Helps make sure legislators are present for key votes
C. How Senate Bills are Scheduled
1. Can be introduced by any member of the Senate
2. Senate leaders control the flow of bills to committees and to the floor by
consulting closely with one another and with other Senators
3. The Senate has only 2 Calendars:
a. Calendar of General Orders---list all the bills the Senate will consider
b. Executive Calendar—schedules treaties & nominations
4. Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous consent—a motion by all members
present to set aside formal rules & consider a bill from the calendar
5. Ways to defeat a bill in the Senate
a. Filibuster—stall the legislative process & prevent a vote
1. by talking continuously
2. by delaying issues in committee
b. Cloture—3/5ths of the Senate votes for 1 hour debates for a bill (used to stop
a filibuster)
IV.
Congressional Committees
A. Purposes of Committees
1. Allows members of Congress to divide their work among smaller groups (Become
experts on the issues their committees consider)
2. Allows members of Congress to select the few bills from the many introduced in
Congress that are to receive further consideration.
a. Lawmakers in committees listen to supporters & opponentsof the bills, work
out compromises, & decide which bills will or will not have a chance to
become laws.
b. Most bills never get out of committee stage
3. Allows members of Congress to instruct the public about national problems &
issues such as organized crime, the safety of prescription drugs, & hunger in
America
B. Kinds of Committees
1. Standing Committees—permanent committees set up to oversee bills that deal
with certain kinds of issues.
a. exist from one congress to the next
b. The majority party in each house controls the standing committees
1. Majority party selects a chairperson from among its members
2. The party in power will often have a larger proportion of its members
on the most important committees
2. Subcommittees—are part of nearly all standing committees
a. specializes in a subcategory of its standing committee’s responsibility
b. Usually continue from one congress to the next
3. Select Committees –Temporary committees that study a specific issue & reports
its findings to the House or the Senate. These issues can include:
a. matters of great public concern
b. overlooked problems
c. problems of interest groups
***Select committees may or may not continue from one Congress to the
next***
4. Joint Committees—Made up of members from both the House & Senate
a. may be permanent or temporary
b. usually act as study groups with responsibility for reporting their findings
back to the house and Senate
c. Do no6t have the authority to deal directly with bills or to propose legislation
to the Congress
5. Conference Committees---temporary committees set up when the House & Senate
have passed different versions of the same bill
a. usually come from standing committees that handled the bill in question
b. Main job: Resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill
c. A majority of the conferees from each house must accept the final
compromise bill before it is sent to the floor of the House & Senate
d. There it must be accepted or rejected.
C. Choosing Committee Members
The right committee assignment can help a lawmaker in the following ways:
1. By increasing a lawmaker’s chances for reelection
2. By ensuring that the lawmaker will help shape national policy on issues such as
education, the budget, & foreign policy
3. By enabling lawmakers to influence other lawmakers—Ex: Member of the Rules
Committee
1. The political Parties assign members to the standing committees.
a. Lawmaker may request a transfer from one committee to another
b. Each member may only serve on a limited number of committees or
subcommittees
2. The Chairpersons of standing committees decide when their committees will meet,
which bills they will consider, & for how long
a. They also decide when hearings will be held & which witnesses will be called.
b. They hire committee staff, control the committee budget, & manage the floor
debates that take place on bills from their committees.
4. Seniority System—the member of the majority party with the longest
uninterrupted service on that committee as chairperson
V.
Staff & Support Agencies
A. Congressional Staff Role
1. Communicate with voters
2. Help to run committee hearings & floor sessions
3. drafting new bills
4. writing committee reports
5. attending committee meetings
6. write speeches & newsletters for congressmen
7. raise funds for election campaigns
8. meet with lobbyist & visitors from home
B. Congressional Staff Growth Increased--- Why?
1. Lawmaking became more complex
2. Lawmakers could not be experts on all the issues that came from their committees
3. Constituents increased their demands—Letters from people, etc.
C. Personal Staff
1. Work directly for individual senators & representatives
2. Administrative Assistant (AA)—is an aide who runs the lawmaker’s office,
supervises the lawmaker’s schedule, & gives advice on political matters
3. Legislative Assistant (LA)—makes certain that the lawmaker is well informed
about the many bills with which he or she must deal
a. LA does research, draft bills, studies bills currently in congress, & writes
speeches & articles for the lawmaker
b. Assists the lawmaker in committee meetings & attends the meetings when
the lawmaker cannot be present
c. LA keeps track of bills in committees & on the floor of Congress
4. Caseworkers—handle the many requests from people in a lawmaker’s state or
congressional district
a. They staff offices in key cities of the lawmaker’s state & in Washington,
D.C.
D. Committee Staff
1. draft bills, study issues, collect information, plan committee hearings, write
memos, & prepare committee reports.
a. Senior Committee staff members are very experienced in the area their
committee covers (tax policy, foreign affairs, or health care)
E. Support Agencies
1. Library of Congress---used for information & research on related matters to bills
2. Congressional Budget Office (CBO)—1974
a. Coordinates the budget making work of Congress
b. Studies the budget proposals put forward by the president each year
c. Makes cost projections for new programs
3. Government Accountability Office (GAO)—1921—Review the financial
management of government programs, collect government debts, settle claims, &
provide legal service
4. Government Printing Office
a. does the printing for the entire federal government