CONGRESS ORGANIZES
I. Congress Convenes – on January 3rd of every odd-numbered year
1. Opening Day in the House
a. The Clerk of the House from the preceding term presides.
b. A Speaker is elected. The Speaker is a long-standing
member of the majority party. The election is a formality.
c. The Speaker takes the oath of office and swears in the rest
of the members.
d. House elects its clerk, parliamentarian, sergeant at arms,
chief administrative officer, and chaplain.
Opening Day in the Senate
a. The Senate is a continuous body and has been
organized since its first session in 1789.
b. Newly elected and reelected members are sworn in,
vacancies in Senate organization and on committees
are filled, and a few other details are attended to.
State of the Union Message
a. Once both houses are organized, a joint committee informs the
President. In late January or early February, the President
delivers his annual State of the Union message.
b. In this address, the President reports on both domestic and
foreign policy. The President lays out the broad shape of the
policies his administration will follow and the course that he has
charted for the nation.
I. Presiding Officers
1. The Speaker of the House
a. Is the more important and powerful position
b. Has two primary duties: to preside and to keep order
i. Interprets and applies the rules, refers bills to committee,
rules on points of order, puts motions to a vote, decides the
outcome of most votes taken on the floor
c. Follows the Vice President in the line of succession to the
presidency
The President of the Senate
a. The Vice President is the president of the senate
i. Unlike the House, Senate does not choose presiding officer
ii. President of the Senate is not a member
b. Powers - recognize members, put questions to a vote, etc.
Cannot debate on the floor
c. President pro tempore serves in the absence of the Vice
President. He is elected by the Senate and is the majority party
leader.
I. Party Officers
1. The Party Caucus
a. Closed meeting for members of each party in each
house
b. It meets just before Congress convenes in January and
occasionally while Congress is in session.
c. It deals mostly with matters of party organization
The Floor Leaders
a. After the speaker, the majority and minority floor leaders are the
most important officers in Congress.
b. They are legislative strategists who try to carry out the decisions of
their parties’ caucuses and steer floor action to their parties’
benefit.
c. They are assisted by whips. The majority and minority party
whip are assistant floor leaders. They act as liaisons between the
party’s leadership and its rank-and-file members.
I. Committee Chairmen
a. Most work in Congress is done by committee.
Committee chairmen head the standing committees in
each chamber.
1.Seniority Rule – an unwritten custom that the most
important posts will be held by those party
members with the longest records of service in
Congress.
COMMITTEES IN CONGRESS
I. Standing Committees – permanent panels to which similar bills are sent
1. Committee Assignments
a. House committees have between 10 to 75 members.
Senate committees have between 14 and 28 members.
b. The fate of most bills is decided in the various standing
committees. Bills receive their most thorough inspection
in committee and members of both houses tend to respect
the decisions of committees.
c. When a bill is introduced in either house, the Speaker or
the president of the Senate refers the measure to the
appropriate standing committee.
d. Most standing committees are divided into
subcommittees.
The House Rules Committee
a. “Traffic Cop” in the lower house
b. A bill gets to the floor only if it has been granted rule
by the Rules Committee.
Select Committees
a. Panels set up for a specific purpose and, most often,
for a limited time.
b. Most select committees are formed to investigate a
current matter.
Joint and Conference Committees
a. A joint committee is one composed of members of both
houses.
b. Some are select committees set up to serve a temporary
purpose. Some are permanent groups. Others are set up
to investigate and issue reports to the House and Senate.
c. Both houses must pass identical versions of the same bill
before it can be signed by the President. A conference
committee can be created to iron out the differences in a
bill.
HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW: THE HOUSE
I. The First Steps
1.A bill is a proposed law presented to the House or
Senate for consideration. Most bill originate
somewhere in the executive branch. Some come
from standing committees in Congress. Only
members can introduce bills in the House and the
do so by dropping them in the “hopper”.
Types of Bills and Resolutions
1. Publics bills are measures applying to the nation as a
whole
2. Private bills are measures that apply to certain persons or
places
3. Joint Resolutions are proposals for some action that has
the force of law when passed. They usually deal with
special circumstances or temporary matters.
4. Concurrent Resolutions are a statement of position on an
issue. This does not have the force of law.
5. Resolutions are measures dealing with some matter in
one house. This does not have the force of law.
6. A rider is a provision not likely to pass on its own that is
attached to an important measure.
The First reading
1.The clerk numbers and gives each bill a short
title. Then, the bill is entered into the House
journal and in the Congressional Record.
2.Bill is referred to the appropriate committee.
The Bill in Committee
1. Committees decide the fate of many of the thousands of bills
introduced in each session.
2. Many are pigeonholed – they are never acted upon.
3. A discharge petition enables members to force a bill that has
been in committee for 30 days onto the floor for consideration.
If the petition is signed by a majority of the House, the
committee has seven days to report the bill.
Gathering Information – most committees handle their work
through subcommittees.
Committee Actions
a. When a subcommittee has finished its background work on
a bill, it goes to the full committee. The committee may:
report the bill favorably with a “pass” recommendation”,
refuse to report the bill, report the bill in an amended form,
report the bill with unfavorable recommendation, or report
a committee bill.
I. Scheduling Floor Debate
1. Calendars
a. The five calendars in the House are: The Calendar of
the Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union, The House Calendar, The Private
Calendar, The Corrections Calendar, and The
Discharge Calendar
Rules
a. The Rules Committee must grant a rule before bills can
reach the floor
i. May not grant rule and kill bill
ii.May set special rule with conditions
b. Bills can be privileged and be called up at almost any time.
Major a proportions and general revenue bills, etc.
I. The Bill on the Floor
1. If a bill reaches the floor, it receives a second reading.
2. Committee of the Whole deals with important measures and
consists of all the members of the House.
3. Debate
a. Due to the size of the House, restrictions are placed on
floor debate
b. Any member can “move the previous question” and
demand a vote
Voting
a. Bills may be the subject of many floor votes as they are amended
b. Methods include: Voice votes (most common), standing vote,
teller vote, roll-call vote
Final Steps
a. Once a bill has been approve at the second reading, it is
engrossed (printed in its final form). It is read a third time and a
final vote is taken. If it passes, the Speaker signs it. It is placed
on the Senate president’s desk
THE BILL IN THE SENATE
I. Introducing the Bill
1. Bills are introduced by Senators who are formally
recognized for that purpose.
2. A measure is then given a number, a short title, read
twice, and referred to a committee, where the bill is dealt
with much as it is in the House.
I. Rules For Debate
1. Debate is unrestrained in the Senate. Senators may speak on the floor for as
long as they please but may only speak twice on a given question. The
Senate’s consideration of a bill is brought to a close by a unanimous consent.
2. The Filibuster
a. This is essentially an attempt to talk a bill to death. It is a stalling tactic
used to delay or prevent the Senate from taking action on a measure.
b. Even the threat of a filibuster has resulted in the Senate’s failure to
consider a number of bills.
3. The Cloture Rule
a. It was adopted in 1917 after one of the most notable filibusters.
b. This rule allows for Cloture (limiting debate). A vote to invoke this rule
must be taken two days after a petition calling for that action has been
submitted by at least 16 Senators.
I. Conference Committees
1. There are times when one House will not accept the other
House’s version of a bill. When this happens, the bill is turned
over to a conference committee.
2. The conferees are named by the respective presiding officers
and are mostly members of the standing committees that first
handled the measure in each House.
3. They cannot include any new material. They can only
consider the points in the bill on which the two Houses
disagree.
4. Once they have agreed, they submit their compromise bill to
both Houses.
I. The President Acts
1. When a bill is presented to the President he may: sign the
bill, veto the bill, allow the bill to become law without
signing it, or use the “pocket” veto.