How Congress Works
Part 1:
Who’s in Congress?
Demographic Profile of Congress
Religion:
Christian (all den’ns): 90%
Jewish: 6.8%
Buddhist: .55%
Muslim: .37%
Atheist: .19%
Undisclosed: 1.1%
Source: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tt
House-Senate Differences
House
Senate
435 members; 2 yr terms
100 members; 6 yr terms
Of the people
Somewhat removed from the
people
Passionate
Deliberative
More formal & impersonal
More informal & personal
Always directly elected
Directly elected since 1913
Low turnover
Moderate turnover
Members policy specialists
Members policy generalists
Emphasizes tax & revenue
policy
Emphasizes foreign policy
House-Senate Differences
House
Debate limited to 1 hour
Senate
Unlimited debate unless cloture
invoked (filibuster)
Scheduling/rules controlled by
majority party with powerful
Rules Committee (controls time of
Scheduling/rules agreed to by
majority & minority leaders
debate, amends., etc)
Rules committee allows or
disallows amendments to bills
Unlimited amendments to bills
(even if they don’t apply at all)
All spending bills must start in
the house
Approves executive
appointments (judges,
ambassadors) and treaties
2014 Senate
2014 House of
Representatives
HOUSE LEADERSHIP
Speaker (majority
party)
Republicans:
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Chairman of the
Caucus
• Steering & Policy
Committee
• Congressional
Republican
Campaign
Committee
Speaker of the House
John Boehner(R-OH)
Paul Ryan (R-MN)
Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Majority Whip
Steve Scalise (R-LA)
HOUSE LEADERSHIP
Democrats:
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip
• Chairman of
Conference
• Policy Committee
• Committee on
Committees
• Democratic National
Congressional
Committee
• Research Committee
Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer (D -MD)
SENATE LEADERSHIP
President of the Senate
(Vice President)
President Pro Tempore
(majority party)
Republicans:
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Chairman of Conference
• Policy Committee
• Steering Committee
• Republican Senatorial
Campaign Committee
President of the Senate
Joe Biden (D - Delaware)
Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
President Pro Temp
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Majority Whip
John Cornyn (R-TX)
SENATE LEADERSHIP
Democrats:
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip
• Chairman of
Conference
• Policy Committee
• Committee on
Minority Whip
Dick Durban (D-IL)
Committees
• Democratic Senatorial
Committee
Minority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV)
Strength of Party Structure?
•
Measure of party strength:
1. Ability of leaders to control party rules
and organization
2. Extent to which party members vote
together in the House and Senate
• Senate: less party-centered and leader
oriented
Party Unity
• Lower today than 100 years ago, but…..
• Ideology important variable explaining party
voting (members vote with their party 80% of
the time)
• Party polarization - vote in which majority of
democrats oppose majority of republicans
Party
Polarization over
time
CAUCUSES
CAUCUSES
• Groups (may be bipartisan) meeting to pursue
common legislative objectives
• Rivals to parties in policy formulation
• Examples: Democratic Study Group,
Congressional Black Caucus, Tuesday Lunch
Bunch, Human Rights, Congressional Caucus for
Women’s Issues, Out of Iraq Caucus,
Rural Caucus, Travel & Tourism Caucus, House
Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children
"Congress in session is Congress on public
exhibition, whilst Congress in its committeerooms is Congress at work.” - Woodrow Wilson
Legislative Committees:
Function and Purpose
Legislative Committees:
Function & Purpose
1. Consider bills (a.k.a. “mark-up” bills)
A bill with a member’s mark-up notes
Legislative Committees:
Function & Purpose
2. Maintain oversight of executive agencies
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testifies before a Senate Appropriations
Committee hearing re: the Department of Defense Budget (May, 2006)
Legislative Committees:
Function & Purpose
3. Conduct investigations
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified before the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee on Hurricane Katrina (Feb., 2006)
Types of Committees
 Standing Committees - permanent panel with full
legislative functions and oversight responsibilities
• Subcommittees – formed to tackle very specific
tasks within the jurisdiction of the full committees
 Select or Special Committees - groups appointed for a
limited purpose and limited duration
 Joint Committees - includes members of both
chambers to conduct studies or perform housekeeping
tasks
 Conference Committee - includes members of House
& Senate to work out differences between similar bills
Standing Committees
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 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
Types of Committees
 Standing Committees - permanent panel with full
legislative functions and oversight responsibilities
• Subcommittees – formed to tackle very specific
tasks within the jurisdiction of the full committees
 Select or Special Committees - groups appointed for a
limited purpose and limited duration
 Joint Committees - includes members of both
chambers to conduct studies or perform housekeeping
tasks
 Conference Committee - includes members of House
& Senate to work out differences between similar bills
How A Bill Becomes Law
Fact: About 5,000 bills are
introduced in Congress
every year, but only about
150 are signed into law.
Source: http://acswebcontent.acs.org/olga/legissummbilltolaw.pdf
1.
Explain why so few bills
become law.
2.
Is that a good thing or a
bad thing?
3.
Should the legislative
process in Congress be
reformed? If yes, what
changes would you
recommend? If not, why
not?