Congress
I.
II.
•
Intro
Qualifications/Power
House & Senate
Differences
III. Organization &
Leadership
A. Leaders
IV. Conc.
Key Terms
•
•
•
•
•
Speaker of…?
Majority Leader
Whips
President Pro-Tempore
“Rookie” Senators
House & Senate Differences
House
Senate
Minimum Age:
25 Years
30 Years
US Citizenship:
7 year
minimum
9 year
minimum
Term Length:
(No term limit)
2 years
6 years
Residency:
Live in-state;
usually in
district
Live in-state
House & Senate Differences
House
Number per
state:
Total Number:
Based on
population- (today
about one per
650,000)
435
Senate
2 per state
100
House & Senate Differences
House
Constitutional
Powers:
• Initiates all tax
bills
• Initiates all
spending bills
(Tradition)
• Initiates
Impeachment/
Removal
Senate
• Approves or
rejects
Presidential
nominations
• Ratifies or
rejects treaties
• Acts as jury in
removal trial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw
Key Concept:
Majority Party
The Majority Party has tremendous influence over
all legislation passed—they choose Congressional
Leaders
House of
Representatives
Democratic (for
now)
Senate
White House/Presidency
Democratic
Democratic
Leadership in the House of
Representatives
Speaker of the House
Majority Leader
Minority Leader
Whips
The Speaker of the House
•
•
•
Chosen by vote of all House
members (member of Majority
party)
Controls debate & the
Calendar: determines which
bills come up for discussion
Tradition encourages the
Speaker to be non-partisan &
very often does not vote
Speaker Of The House
• The Speaker’s office
is located right off the
Capital Rotunda
House Majority Leader
• Leader of the majority party and in charge
of their agenda.
House Minority Leader
• Leader of the minority party and in charge
of their agenda.
The Party Whips
James Clyburn D-SC
The current Whip
• Whips: Build groups
of support for bills to
ensure party
members vote
“properly”
Leadership in the Senate
President of the Senate (VP) •Symbolic
President Pro-Tempore
Pro-Tem
Majority Leader
Minority Leader
Whips
“Rookie Senators”
•Symbolic
•Most powerful
President of the Senate
The Vice President of the
United States
The VP only votes in the
Senate to break a tie
Joe Biden (D)
President Pro-Tempore of Senate
Qualifications:
Member of Majority party who has been in
the Senate the longest.
“Rookie” Senators
First-term Senators usually serve as “Chair” for
debates because there are only 100 members of the
US Senate.
Our US Senators
Previous Occupation:
Training Consultant/Social
Worker
Education: B.A. MSU1975; M.S.W. MSU-1975
Religion: Methodist
First Elected: 2000
Debbie Stabenow (D)
Our US Senators
Previous Occupation:
Attorney
Education: JD Harvard
Univ., 1959
Religion: Jewish
First Elected: 1978
Carl Levin (D)
Congress
I.
II.
•
Intro
Qualifications/Power
House & Senate
Differences
III. Organization &
Leadership
A. Leaders
IV. Conc.
Key Terms
•
•
•
•
Speaker of House
Whips
Majority Leader
President ProTempore
• “Rookie” Senators