Chapter 6
The Legislative Branch
House of Representatives
Size:
 435 members based on
population
 Each state guaranteed at least
1 member
Term:
 All members serve a 2 year
term
 All members are up for
reelection in every even
numbered year
House of Representatives
Qualifications:
1. Must be at least 25 years old
2. Must be a citizen of the United
States for at least 7 years
3. Must live in the district you
represent
House of Representatives
Leader:
 Speaker of the
House


John Boehner
Speaker of the House

Always chosen from
the majority party
Steers legislation
through the House,
leads floor debates
Third in line for the
Presidency
House of Representatives
Majority leader of the House:
 Controls all the members of the majority
party (party with the most seats)
 Tries to keep the party together on all
issues
Minority Leader of the House:
 Controls all the members of the minority
party (party with the least seats)
 Tries to keep the party together on all
issues
House of Representatives
Privileges and benefits:
 $174,000 a year salary
 free office space/parking
 free health care
 free trips home
 discounted video production
 franking privilege
 immunity in certain cases
 free haircuts/restaurants/gym
Senate
Size:
 100 members
 2 from each state
Term
 1/3 of its members are elected
every 2 years
 Term = 6 years
Senate
Qualifications:
1. Must be at least 30
2. Must be a U.S. citizen for 9 years
3. Must live in the state they
represent
Senate

Official leader as per the Constitution
is the Vice President
 only votes if there is a tie vote
 is almost never there
Senate

Unofficial leader is the President
Pro Tempore


Serves as the leader when the Vice
President is not present
Usually the most senior member of the
majority party
Daniel Inouye
President Pro Tempore
Senate
Majority leader of the Senate:
 Controls all the members of the majority
party (party with the most seats)
 Tries to keep the party together on all
issues
Minority Leader of the Senate:
 Controls all the members of the minority
party (party with the least seats)
 Tries to keep the party together on all
issues
Senate
Privileges and benefits:
 $174,000 a year salary
 free office space/parking
 free health care
 free trips home
 discounted video production
 franking privilege
 immunity in certain cases
 free haircuts/restaurants/gym
Congressional Sessions




Starts on January 3rd of odd
numbered years
2 sessions in each Congress that
meet from January until November
Each new Congress gets a number
(currently the 112th Congress)
May meet in times of crisis if not
already in session
Congressional Districts



Each state is divided into one or
more House congressional
districts based on the census
taken every ten years
State legislatures are required to
divide their state into districts
that contain roughly equal
numbers of constituents
(Reynolds v. Simms)
This is to prevent
gerrymandering-creating oddly
shaped districts to ensure a
particular parties control of the
area
Congressional Committees
Standing Committee
 Permanent committees in Congress
 19 in the House, 17 in the Senate
 Cover areas that will always be
needed (education, foreign affairs,
agriculture)
 May be divided into sub-committees
to divide work even more
Congressional Committees
Select Committee
 Created to do a specific job that
does not fit the other committees
 Only meet for a specific time period
 Disbanded when done with their
work
Congressional Committees
Joint Committee
 Any committee that has members from
both the House and the Senate
 Economic, Printing, Taxation, and Library
committees are examples
Conference Committee
 A special form of a joint committee
 Used to help members from both the
House and the Senate to agree on all
issues on a proposed law
Congressional Committees
Seniority system:
 Party leaders make
committee assignments
 They consider members’
preferences, expertise, and
loyalty to the party
 Biggest factor is the
members seniority, how
long have they been in
Congress
 Those who have served the
longest get the best
assignments
Legislative Powers of Congress
1) Taxing and
Spending



All bills that concern
money must start in the
House
Authorization Bills creates projects and caps
the spending on them
Appropriation Bills provides the money for
government projects
Legislative Powers of Congress
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
Regulate foreign and interstate
commerce
Declare War
Maintain Army and Navy
Approve Treaties (Senate)
Borrow money
Coin, print, and regulate money
Establish Courts
Create Postal Service
Non-Legislative Powers of Congress
1) Propose amendments
2) Count Electoral votes
 If no one wins a majority, the
House picks the President and The
Senate picks a Vice President
3) Settle Presidential succession
issues
Non-Legislative Powers of Congress
4) Approve or reject Presidential
appointments (Senate)
5) Impeach government officials
 House-brings charges
 Senate-serves as Jury and decides
guilt or innocence
6) Oversees all government actions
(special investigations)
Limits to Congressional Power
1)
2)
3)
Can’t suspend writ of habeas
corpus (can’t hold a person in
jail without issuing formal
charges)
Can’t favor one state over another
Can’t pass bills of attainder
(laws that punish a person without
a trial)
Limits to Congressional Power
4)
5)
6)
President can veto
bills
Laws can be
declared
unconstitutional
Can’t pass ex post
facto laws (laws
that punish a person
for an action that
was not illegal at the
time it was
committed)
Congressional Staffs
Personal Staff
 Help gather info on new
bills
 Arrange meetings and
calendars
 Write speeches
 Deal with media and
lobbyists
 Interns volunteer time
 Pages run errands
Congressional Staffs
Committee Staff
 People with expert knowledge in
that field
 Work for the committee, not an
individual
 Draft bills, organize meetings, and
negotiate with lobbyists
Congressional Staffs
Support Services
 Library of Congress-largest library
in country, has 1 copy of all books
published in this country
 Congressional Research Service
(CRS)-Looks up facts for Congress
 General Accounting Office (GAO)reviews the spending of all
government agencies
 Congressional Budget Office (CBO)Analyzes and predicts budget costs
for the federal budget
Congress At Work
Lawmaking
 Most important role
 All Congressmen try to provide for
the needs of their home district
 Try to carry out the needs of their
constituents
Congress At Work
Casework
 Help constituents deal with the
federal government
 They get over 80,000 e-mails a day
 They get 10,000 formal requests for
help each year (per office)
 Usually this work is handled by their
staffs
Congress At Work
Helping The Home District
 Try to get as much government $ into home district as
possible
 Includes things like post offices, dams, military bases,
veteran’s hospitals, and mass transit systems
 Try to build and protect local industries (ex: tobacco in NC or
the automotive industry in Michigan)
 Also try to get government contracts to local state businesses
(ex: a contract to make army uniforms at a plant in
Burlington)
 These programs are called pork-barrel projects
Bill to Law
1)
2)
3)
4)
Bill starts in the House of
Representatives (as long as it is
not a bill involving $, it may also
start in the Senate)
Bill is given to the clerk or put in
the hopper
Clerk numbers the bill (HB001)
Bill is then sent to the appropriate
standing committee
Bill to Law
5) Committee then makes 1 of 3 choices:
-may vote on the bill as is
-may kill bill right here
-may send it to subcommittee for more debate
and research
6) Subcommittee then may do the one of the
following:
-vote on bill and send it back to full committee
-vote to kill the bill
-will research more into the bill and hold public
hearings on it
-may pigeonhole the bill (set it aside and forget
about it)
Bill to Law
7) Subcommittee votes to send the bill back
to the standing committee
8) Standing committee votes on the bill
-if a yes vote, bill goes to full House
-if no, the bill is killed
9) Bill is then sent to full House for debate
-set rules on who can speak at debate
-time limits are put in place to hold
debate to a set time frame
Bill to Law
10) Full House then votes on the bill
using 1 of 3 methods:
-a voice vote (simple yea or nay),
used for bills that are clearly
popular or unpopular
-a standing vote, members simply
stand if they are either for or
against the bill
-a roll-call vote, each member is
called on personally to give vote
which then becomes a matter of
public record
Bill to Law
11) If the vote is yea, Speaker then
signs the bill and sends it to the
Senate, if nay, the bill is killed
12) Bill is then formally read in the
Senate
13) Bill is given a new
number(SB001)
14) Bill is sent to the appropriate
committee
Bill to Law
15) Committee then makes 1 of 3
choices:
-may vote on the bill as is
-may kill bill right here
-may send it to subcommittee for
more debate and research
Bill to Law
16) Subcommittee then may do the
one of the following:
-vote on bill and send it back to full
committee
-vote to kill the bill
-will research more into the bill and
hold public hearings on it
-may pigeonhole the bill (set it
aside and forget about it)
Bill to Law
17) Subcommittee votes to send the
bill back to the standing committee
18) Standing committee votes on the
bill
-if a yes vote, bill goes to full House
-if no, the bill is killed
Bill to Law
19) Bill is then sent to the full senate
for debate
-no formal rules of debate as in the
House
-Senators opposed to the bill may
lead a filibuster to kill the bill
(talking until the Senator who
proposed the bill pulls it from
debate)
-A filibuster can be ended when
3/5ths of the Senators vote for
cloture
Bill to Law
20) Full Senate votes on the bill, if nay the
bill is killed
21) If Senate approves of the bill and it
differs even by one word it is sent to a
conference committee to work out a
compromise version
22) New version is then sent each house for
one more vote
-if nay in either house, the bill is killed
-if yea in both houses, bill goes to the
President
Bill to Law
23) President has several options:
-may sign bill into law ending process
-may veto bill
-may pocket veto the bill-if the President
does nothing to the bill for 10 days and
congress is not in session, the bill is killed
-if President does nothing for 10 days and
congress is in session, bill
becomes
a law
Bill to Law
24) If the President vetoes the bill, it
goes back to Congress for a new
vote
-if 2/3rds of both houses vote yea, bill is
a law
-if less than 2/3rds, the bill is killed
How a Bill Becomes a LAW
From a Visual Perspective