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TODAY’S CLASS
 Introduction to the Legislative Branch
 Background Notes
 Class Discussion
 Intro to other concepts
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
QUICK BRAINSTORM
 Make a “T” chart of the House and Senate. List what you know
about each of them based upon prior knowledge and the
notes you had on the Constitution.
 What does this image have to do with Congress?
BASIC STRUCTURE
 Bicameral Legislature
 Historical Context
 Virginia Plan
 New Jersey Plan
 Connecticut Compromise
NOTES SUGGESTION
House of Representatives
Topic
Number of Members
Age Requirement
Residency Requirement
Citizenship Requirement
Term Length
Term Limit
Non-voting Members?
Other Notes
Senate
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 Based off population but each state must have at least 1
representative
 District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the US
Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Island all have one delegate who
cannot vote
 Consists of 435 members
 Why 435?
 1789: 65 reps in the House (one for every 30,000 people)
 Over time change needed due to added population
 1911: Limit to be 435
HOW DOES THE 435 GET DIVIDED?
 Apportioned (distributed by population)
 Each state gets a number appropriate to it from
census data
 If population increases, you may acquire seats
 If population decreases, you may lose seats
 Each state is divided into districts based off
population
 Gerrymandering: drawing district lines that favor a
particular political party, politician, group, etc.
HOUSE (CONTINUED)
 Elections held every even-numbered year
 All members have two-year terms
 If a member dies or resigns during his term, the governor of the home state is
required to call a special election to fill the vacancy
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE HOUSE
 Be at least 25 years old
 Been a US citizen for at
least 7 years
 Be a legal resident of the
state you represent
 Not necessary to live in
district you run in
SENATE
 Two Senators from each state
 Six year terms
 Elections held each even-numbered year
 Thus, 1/3 of Senate comes up for election every 2 years
 Ensures 2/3 have experience
 No non-voting members
 If someone dies, governors appoint member until next regular election or
state has a special election
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SENATE
 Be at least 30 years old
 Been a U.S. citizen for at least 9
years
 Be a legal resident in the state
you represent
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 The House has nonvoting members, while the Senate does not. Do you believe that U.S. territories
should have representation in the Legislature?
 Do you think that members of Congress should be limited on how many times they can run for office?
Why or why not?
 How much do you believe a member of Congress should make per year? Why?
 Is a slight political edge through gerrymandering worth the trouble of manipulating the district lines?
Why or why not?
 Based on the guide/game, do you believe that we need to change the way we apportion districts to
combat the gerrymandering issue?
TODAY’S CLASS
 Discussion Questions
 Continuation of Congressional Overview
 Separating the House and Senate
 Congressional Salary
 Congressional Structure
SPECIAL POWERS BY CHAMBER
 House
 Starts revenue bills
 Impeach public officials
 Chooses president if electoral
majority not reached
 Senate
 Impeachment trials
 Vice president if no VP candidate gets
enough votes
 Treaties approved with 2/3 vote
 Supreme Court justices approved by
majority vote
CONGRESS IN GENERAL
 Salary: $174,000
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Members get an allowance to pay staff members as well
Provided offices in Capitol
Free trips to home state
Allowances for local offices
Franking privilege: right to mail letters or packages for free
Leaders in each chamber receive extra compensation
 No limits on how many terms you may have
CONGRESS (CONTINUED)
 Immunity when Congress is in session
 Cannot be arrested in or on their way to or from a meeting in Congress
 Reason: not unnecessarily kept from performing their duties
 Actually a check on the Executive…why?
 Rules of Conduct
 Limits on outside income and full disclosure of finances
 Can challenge qualifications of newly elected members
CAN OUR REPS BE PUNISHED?
 Expulsion: Person must give up seat in Congress
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Requires a 2/3 vote
Only for very serious offenses
Only happened 20 times (5 in House; 15 in Senate)
Many times expulsion votes fail or person in question resigns
 Censure: Formal disapproval of actions
 Must stand alone at front of House/Senate and listen as the charges are read
 Must give up any committee chairs or extra duties
 Censures: 9 in Senate, 23 in House
CONGRESSIONAL ORGANIZATION
TERMS AND SESSIONS
 Term of Congress begins at noon on January 3rd of every odd numbered year
 114th Congress will go from 2015-2017
 (Elected members in Nov. of 2016 get sworn in on Jan. 3, 2017)
 Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once each year
JOINT SESSIONS
 Normally, the Senate and House work as two separate entities
 However, there are times both of them meet together in a joint session
 Example: President gives State of the Union address
 All members of Congress meet in the House chamber to hear the Presidential speech
 Current Event Example: Papal Address
ORGANIZATION
 Under the Constitution
 House of Reps must select a presiding officer
 Speaker of the House
 Vice President of the United States is the president of the Senate
 Senate must have someone selected to serve in the absence of the Vice President
 President Pro Tempore
HOW DO WE DECIDE THE LEADERS?
 Caucuses: Private meetings in which each party selects leaders
 Occurs on the first day of each term of Congress
 Democratic party chooses their own leaders
 Republican party chooses their own leaders
 Majority party: political party with the most members in each
house
 Minority party: political party that has fewer members
 Question: What is the minority and majority parties of our houses
today?
SENATE
 Vice president does not usually preside over daily meetings, thus majority
party selects the president pro tempore
 Literally means for the time being
 Presides over day-to-day meetings
 Each party has a leader who is assisted by a party whip
 Whip counts votes, encourages party loyalty, and ensures that the party’s members
are present for important votes
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 Speaker of the House presides over the House when it is in session
 Always a member of majority party
 Most powerful officer of the House
 No member may speak until recognized by Speaker
 Speaker influences the order of business in the House
 House also has majority/minority leaders and whips
COMMITTEES
 Committees meet to consider legislation and hold hearings
 Each committee has a chairperson and ranking member
 Chairperson: majority party
 Ranking Member: minority party
 Usually the longest serving member of the minority party represented is named
Ranking Member
 Subcommittees: smaller groups that consider legislation before it is looked at
by full committee
POWERS OF CONGRESS
DELEGATED POWERS (AGAIN…)
 Article I, Section 8: Powers delegated to Congress
 Financing Government
 Regulating and Encouraging American Trade/Industry
 Defending the Country
 Creating Lower Courts: National Court System
 Providing for Growth
FINANCING OUR GOVERNMENT
 Borrowing Money
 Collecting Taxes
 Printing and Coining Money
 Spending for Programs
REGULATING TRADE
 Domestically
 Trade between states (interstate commerce)
 Laws to protect rights of inventors (patents, trademarks, copyrights,
etc.)
 Internationally
 Tariffs and embargoes
 Trade with foreign nations
DEFENDING OUR COUNTRY
 Declaration of War
 Only Congress can do this!
 Have we had times when we fought without declaring war?
 Maintaining armed forces, regulating use of troops
 Approval of Treaties
PROVIDING FOR GROWTH
 Regulation of Immigration/Naturalization
 Govern US territories, national parks, naval bases, etc.
 Provide admission for new states
 Acquire lands
 War, eminent domain, treaties, purchase or gift, etc.
IMPLIED POWERS
 The elastic clause
 “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the
foregoing powers”
 Stretches Congressional role to many other areas
 Examples: Military academies and draft (necessary to ensure defense of US),
minimum wage (regulation of commerce)
WHAT CONGRESS CAN’T DO…
 Infringe on Reserved Powers to States (10th Amendment)
 Regulate elections, create schools, establish marriage laws, etc.
 No ex post facto laws (laws that apply to actions that occurred before laws
were passed)
 No bills of attainder (sentence people to prison without trial)
 No taxing exports
WHAT CONGRESS CAN’T DO…
 No passing laws that violate Bill of Rights
 No favoring trade of a specific state
 No titles of nobility
 No withdrawing of money without a law
 No suspending writ of habeas corpus (cannot remove right to a court order)
HOW A BILL
BECOMES A LAW
BASIC DEFINITIONS
 Bill: Proposed Law
 Appropriation Bill: Bill Approving the spending of money
 Note: Appropriations bills MUST begin in House of Reps
 Filibuster: Method of delaying a vote in Senate by using lengthy
speeches
 Cloture: Legislative procedure for ending debate in Senate and
taking a vote
BASIC DEFINITIONS (CONTINUED)
 Veto: President rejecting a bill passed by Congress
 May be overridden by a 2/3 vote in both houses
 Pocket veto
 President does not sign or veto bill within 10 days and Congress is NOT in session
 Note: If Congress is in session and bill sits on desk, it automatically becomes law
THE
ACTUAL
PROCESS
HOUSE ACTIONS
 Placed on House calendar and Speaker decides when bill will reach floor for
debate
 Before debating bill, House Rules Committee decides how much time will be
allotted for bill
 Evenly distributed between supporters and opponents of the bill
 Amendments to bill may be proposed at this time but must be relevant to
the bill
HOUSE (CONTINUED)
 Committee of the Whole: Entire House acts as one big committee debating bills
in some cases
 Amendments may be offered, debates taken for short time, then a vote on the
amendment
 When discussion on amendments and bill is complete, vote is taken
HOUSE ACTIONS
 Placed on House calendar and Speaker decides when bill will reach floor for
debate
 Before debating bill, House Rules Committee decides how much time will be
allotted for bill
 Evenly distributed between supporters and opponents of the bill
 Amendments to bill may be proposed
at this time but must be
relevant to
the bill
HOUSE (CONTINUED)
 Committee of the Whole: Entire House acts as one big committee debating bills
in some cases
 Amendments may be offered, debates taken for short time, then a vote on the
amendment
 When discussion on amendments and bill is complete, vote is taken
RULES FOR VOTING IN THE HOUSE
 Quorum needed for House to conduct business
 Majority of the members present
 Majority needed to pass a bill in most cases
 Roll-call votes for important bills
 Each member’s name is called and their vote is recorded
SENATE
 Same steps as House: presented,
committee,
recommendations/amendments,
committee vote, floor debate, floor
vote
 Differences
 No limit to debate on bills, thus
speeches may last long time
 To prevent a vote in some cases,
Senators will threaten to speak for
hours to “talk the bill to death”
 Known as a filibuster
SENATE (CONTINUED)
 Debate can be limited however
 3/5 vote of the full Senate can limit time on debate, ending the ability to filibuster
 Cloture: procedure for
Senate and taking
ending debate in
the vote
BILL PASSED BOTH…NOW WHAT?
 If bills have any difference, conference committee occurs
 Equal number of Senators and Representatives who work to reach a compromise on
the bill
 Compromise sent back to both houses to be voted upon
 Once passed, sent to the desk of the president
PRESIDENT AND THE BILL
 Sign bill into law
 Refuse to sign bill (veto); Sent back to
it was rejected
Congress with reasons as to why
 Pocket Veto
***VETOES CAN BE OVERRIDDEN WITH A 2/3 VOTE
SOURCES OF LAW IDEAS
 Citizens: Only if they speak up!
 Groups: Businesses and influence groups
 Congressional Committees
 Members of Congress
 President: Often during State of Union Address
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