Congressional Leadership
President of the Senate: Vice President of US; is
presiding officer of the Senate but not a member
 Recognize members
 Puts questions to a vote
 Cannot take floor to speak
 May ONLY VOTE to break a tie
President Pro Tempore – serves in the President’s
absence
 Elected by the Senate
 Leading (usually longest serving) member of majority
party
Speaker of the House: elected presiding officer of leader
of the majority party in the House.
 Keeps order
 Interprets and applies rules
 Names members to committee
 May debate and vote
 Votes to break a tie
Majority and Minority Leaders (both houses)
 Party officers and not official House or Senate
positions; chief spokesperson for their party
Whips: assist to the Majority and Minority Leaders
“whip up support”; see that all members present for
important vote.
CONGRESSIONAL COMPENSATION
1. SALARY:
 Members of Congress = $165,200
 Speaker of the House
and the Vice President = $212,100
(President = $400,000)

President Pro Tem of Senate = $183,500
Majority Leaders
Minority Leaders
2. NON-SALARY COMPENSATION:
 Special tax deduction
 Travel expenses
 Insurance
 Medical care
 Retirement plan
 Office D.C. and at home
 Staff for each office
 FRANKING PRIVLEDGE
3. PRIVILEGES:
 Protection from arrest while serving in Congress
(Only in civil, non-criminal offenses)
 Speech and Debate immunity: to protect the
freedom of legislative debate.
Protections includes floor debate, committee
work, other work generally related to
congressional business) NOT Press
Conferences, newsletter, etc.
Congressional Committees
Standing Committees
 permanent committees in Congress
 19 in the House, 17 in the Senate
 Cover areas that will always be needed
(education, agriculture, foreign affairs, etc.)
 May be divided into sub-committees to divide
work even more
Select Committees
 created to do a specific job that does not fit into
other committees
 only meet for a specific time period and disband
when they are done with their work
 example: committee created to investigate the
“Watergate Scandal”
Joint Committee
 any committee that has members from both the
House and the Senate
 example: taxation committee
Conference Committee
 a special form of a joint committee
 used during the “bill to law” process to help
members of the House and the Senate agree on
all the issues on a bill