• Aim: What does Congress do and how do
they do it?
Congress
US CAPITOL BUILDING
Legislative Branch – “makes laws”
If progress is the advancement of
society, what is congress?
Founders’ Intentions
1. Strongest branch
2. Separation of lawmaking power from
executive
3. Bicameralism balances large/small states
• House – more connected to people (2 yr term)
• Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr term)
• Which house is more powerful, the Senate
or the House of Representatives and why?
Important Differences
House
• 435 members
• Based on population
• 2 year term
• 7 year citizen
• Must be 25 years old
Senate
• 100 members
• Equal representation
• 6 year term
• 9 year citizen
• Must be 30 years old
• Initiate impeachment
• Revenue bills
• Tries impeachment
• Approve presidential
appointments
• Approve treaties
• Loose debate rules
• Strict debate rules
Constitutional Powers
Article I, Section 8
• To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports
• To borrow money
• To regulate commerce (states and foreign)
• To establish rules for naturalization
• To coin money
• To create courts (except Supreme Court)
• To declare war
• To raise and support an army and navy
• Fix the standards of weights and measures
Evolution of Powers
Elastic clause has extended Congressional
powers
• Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed.
budget prepared by executive branch
• Appropriations – set amount of money made
available for various activity in a fiscal year
• Investigation – Congress can launch
investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski
hearings, Steroids, Toyota)
• Aim: How does Congress exercise their
power of oversight?
Who’s in Congress?
• Still mostly white, male, and Christian
• http://media.cq.com/pub/demographics/
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/thefix/wp/2015/01/05/the-new-congress-is-80-percent-white80-percent-male-and-92-percent-christian/
New York Districts
New York 2nd District
Steve Israel (Democrat)
New York’s
Lee Zeldin (Republican)
nd
2
Congressional
District
House Size
• 435 Members
• Constitution requires reapportionment
every ten years based on the census
• States can gain or lose representatives
Powers of Congress:
• Represent Constituents, Make Laws
• Unique Powers of each house:
– House of Reps: Initiate tax laws and
spending bills, impeachment
• House Ways and Means Committee:
Oversees taxing and spending
– Senate: Confirmation of Presidential
appointments: federal court,
ambassadorships, cabinet positions, ratify
treaties, impeachment trial
– Neither House may: Pass Bills of
Attainder, Ex Post Facto Laws, Grant titles
of nobility, tax exports
Non Legislative (non-lawmaking) Tasks:
• Oversight: investigate charges of corruption and
waste
• Public Education: bring national attention to
important issues
• Impeachment of Officials
• Amending the Constitution (w. State Legislatures)
– 2/3 Vote by Members of Congress
– 3/4 Approved by State Legislatures
• Advice and Consent (confirmations)
Leadership
• Majority party controls the most significant
leadership positions
• House - Speaker of the House
•
•
•
•
Allows people to speak on floor
Assigns bills to committees
Influences which bills are brought to a vote
Appoints members of special and select committees
• Senate – Majority Leader
• Schedules Senate business
• Prioritizes bills
The Senate
• Vice Pres. is the President of the Senate (tie
breaker)
• The majority party picks a senior member to be
the President Pro Tempore in the VP’s
absence (honorific title)
• Majority Leader: elected by majority party
– Is recognized first in any debate
• Minority Leader: elected by minority party
What’s the whip?
Whips, deputy whips: Senator or Representative
who 1. ensures members are present to vote 2.
keeps track of how party members will vote on bills 3.
persuades party members to vote a certain way
Senate Leadership
Joe Biden
Orrin Hatch (R – UT)
PRESIDENT of the
SENATE
Mitch McConnell
(R – KY)
(VICE PRESIDENT)
PRES. PRO
TEMPORE
Harry Reid (D – NV)
MAJORITY LEADER
MINORITY
LEADER
Dick Durbin (D – IL)
MINORITY
WHIP
(MOST POWERFUL)
John Cornyn (R – TX)
MAJORITY
WHIP
House of Representatives
• Speaker of the House: elected by majority
party
– Powerful position
– 3rd in line to become president (after VP)
– Decides who will be recognized to speak
– Rules on which topics are relevant
– Influences committee assignments
– Names members to select committees and
conference committees
– Influences which bills get to the floor for debate
– Sets the calendar for when bills will be addressed
House Leadership
John Boehner (R –OH)
Nancy Pelosi
(D – CA)
SPEAKER
OF THE
HOUSE
MINORITY
LEADER
Kevin McCarthy
(R – CA)
MAJORITY
LEADER
Steve Scalise (R – LA)
MINORITY
WHIP
Steny Hoyer (D – MD)
MAJORITY
WHIP
Caucuses
• Association of Congress members created
to advance a political ideology, or a
regional, economic, or ethnic interest
• Approves committee assignments
• Elects committee leaders
• Helps build consensus on legislative
agenda of the party
Congressional Black Caucus is one notable
caucus of democrats
Congressional Caucuses
• Caucus: an association of members of
Congress created to advocate a political
ideology or a regional or economic interest
• Intra-party caucuses: members share a similar
ideology
• Personal interest caucuses: members share
an interest in an issue
• Constituency caucuses: established to
represent groups, regions or both
Table 11.5: Congressional Caucuses
Committees
• Committees are the most important
organizational feature of Congress
• Consider bills or legislative proposals
• Maintain oversight of executive agencies
• Conduct investigations
Types of Committees:
• Standing Committee: Permanently established
legislative committee that consider and are responsible
for legislation within a certain subject area
– Can propose legislation by reporting a bill out to the full House or
Senate
• Select Committees: Appointed for a limited time and
purpose
• Joint Committees: Committees on which both Senators
and Representatives serve – an important joint
committee is a Conference Committee – appointed to
resolve differences in the Senate and House versions of
the same bill
Committee Composition:
• The Committee Chair is a powerful position
• The majority party makes up a majority of each
committee and names the chairperson
• Traditionally, the majority party member with the
greatest seniority on a particular committee
serves as its chairman
– Each House member serves on two Standing
Committees (one if they are on an “exclusive
committee” – i.e. Ways and Means, Appropriations)
– Each Senator may serve on two “major” committees
and one “minor” committee
The House Rules Committee
Determines rules under which bills will be
considered
• Setting calendar
• time limits for debate
• Can decide if amendments to bills can be made
on floor (open rule) or only in committee stage
(closed rule)
Can help or hurt a bill by:
•
delaying vote
• Making it easy to add “killer amendments” or
“sweetener amendments”
Other Important Committees in
the House of Representatives
• House Appropriations Committee:
funding for contracts and agencies
• House Ways and Means Committee:
taxation, tariffs, and entitlement programs
(welfare, social security, unemployment,
Medicare)
House Standing Committees
Agriculture
Appropriations
Armed Services
Budget
Education & Workforce
Energy & Commerce
Financial Services
Government Reform
House Admin.
International Relations
Judiciary
Resources
Rules
Science
Small Business
Standards of Official
Conduct
Transportation &
Infrastructure
Veterans Affairs
Ways & Means
Senate:
Senate Judiciary Committee: Conducts
hearings and interviews of nominees to the
federal courts, including Supreme Court
nominees.
Senate Appropriations Committee: Funding
for government agencies
Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
Foreign aid and policy
Senate Armed Services Committee:
Oversight over the military and matters
related to national defense.
Senate Standing Committees
Agriculture, Nutrition, &
Forestry
Appropriations
Armed Services
Banking, Housing, &
Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science,
Transportation
Energy & Natural
Resources
Environment and Public
Works
Finance
Foreign Relations
Governmental Affairs
Health, Education,
Labor & Pensions
Judiciary
Rules and
Administration
Small Business and
Entrepreneurship
Veterans Affairs
Special, Select Committees
• House Select
Committee on
Energy
Independence &
Global Warming
• Senate Select
Committee on
Ethics
• House & Senate
Select
Committees on
Intelligence
Gen. Michael Hayden is sworn in during a full
committee hearing of the Senate Select
Intelligence Committee on his nomination to be
director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Joint Committees
• Joint Economic Committee
• Joint Committee on Printing
• Joint Committee on Taxation
Joint Committee on
Taxation hearing
Decentralization of Congress
• Today, power is more decentralized
than in the past – members must work
for their constituents and not always
for the party
• Chairmen cannot always block
legislation or discourage junior
members
• Process of lawmaking is slower for this
reason – more amendments to bills
are proposed
Congressional member behavior
• Members may be devoted to constituents, their
own views, pressure groups, or party leaders…
• Representational view: members vote to
please their constituents, often to win reelection
• Organizational view: if not voting for their
constituents, vote along party lines, committees
• Attitudinal view: member’s ideology determines
members vote. Members of House more along
lines of average voter, Senators less so…
• Either way, member behavior is not
usually obvious
Reforming Congress:
Areas which could be reformed:
• Franking Privilege: the ability of members to mail
letters to their constituents free of charge
• Pork Barrel Legislation: Legislation that gives
tangible benefits to constituents in several districts or
states in the hope of winning their votes in return
(highways, dams, post offices)
• Party Polarization: A vote in which a majority of
Democratic Legislators oppose a majority of
Republican legislators
• Term Limits: should members of Congress have
term limits?
Ethics:
Senate:
House:
• Gifts: no more than $100 except • Gifts: no more than $100 except
from spouse or personal friend
from spouse or personal friend
• Lobbyists may not pay for gifts, • Lobbyists may not pay for gifts or
travel, or charitable contributions travel, even if lobbyists is spouse
to groups controlled by senators or personal friend
• Fees: No fees for lectures or
• Travel: House members may
writings (“honoraria”) except for
travel at the expense of others if
charity in certain circumstances
travel is for officially connected
meetings
• Outside income may not exceed
15 percent of Senators salary
• No honoraria
• Ex Senators may not try to
• Ex members may not lobby
influence members of Congress
Congress for one year after
for one year after leaving Senate
leaving office
Questions to Think About:
• Why are members of the House more concerned
about their committee membership than senators?
• What factors might influence the decisions of a
committee when considering legislation?
• Why might a member of Congress try to get on
certain committees?
• To what extent do the opinions of committee
members reflect public opinion?
• How can committee assignments and activities be
politicized?
• How does party leadership impact how business is
conducted in Congress? In which house is party
leadership more important?