Legislative Branch
Organization of
Congress
• U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature: made up of two house
• House of Representatives and Senate
• Each term of Congress starts on January 3 of odd numbered years
and lasts for two years
• Example: 112th Congress began term in 2011, current is 113 from 2013
to 2015
• Each term on Congress divided into two sessions/meetings
• A session lasts 1 year and includes holiday and vacation breaks
Organization of
Congress
• Until 1933 Congress in session generally from December to March
BUT because of increased workload and 20th Amendment it
changed
• Congress remains in session until its members vote to adjourn
• House nor Senate can adjourn for more than 3 days without approval
of other chamber
• If Congress is adjourned the President may call it back for a special
session.
Membership of the house
• 435 members
• Constitution does not set a number- states that number of seats must
be divided based on population of states
• Qualifications
• Representatives must be at least 25 years old
• Citizen of U.S for at least 7 years
• Legal resident of the state that elects them (usually live in district they
represent)
• Elected for 2-year terms
• Held in November of even-numbered years
• Basically every 2 years all 435 members must run for reelection
• 90% are reelected so there is continuity
Membership of the
Senate
• A least 30 years old
• Citizen of U.S. for 9 years
• Legal resident of the state they represent
• Elections held in November in even-numbered years and begin
term on January 3
• 6 year term and only 1/3 would run for reelection every 2 years
• If senator dies or resigns the state legislature may authorize the
governor to appoint someone
Salary and benefits
• Senate and House set their own salary
• Twenty-seventh Amendment
• Proposed in 1789 but finally ratified in May 1992
• Prohibits a sitting Congress from giving itself a pay raise- any new
congressional salary increase will take effect after an intervening
election
• Additional benefits: stationary, postage for official business
(franking privilege), medical clinic and gym
• Large allowances to pay for staff and assistants, trips home,
telephones and newsletters
• Income tax reductions to help maintain 2 houses & pension
Privileges of members
• Free from arrest “in all cases except treason, felony and breach of
the peace” when in Congress or on their way to/from Congress
• Cannot be sued for anything said on the House/Senate floor
• Does not apply to anything said outside of Congress
• Senate and House may judge and member and decide whether to
seat them
• Can refuse to seat someone by majority vote (exclusion)
• Each chamber may punish its own members by majority vote and
expel a legislator by 2/3 votes
• Censure: vote of formal disapproval of a member’s action
House of
Representatives
Representation and
Reapportionment
• In order to assign representation according to population the
Census Bureau takes a national census every 10 years
• Last in 2010
• Reapportionment: population of each state determines the new
number of reps to which each is entitled
• Originally the House only had 64 members but as the population
grew so did the number or reps
• 1929: Reapportionment Act limits House to 435
Congressional
Redistricting
• After states find out their new reapportioned representation each
state legislature sets up congressional districts- one for each
• Reps are then elected from these congressional districts
• Redistricting: Process of setting up a new district lines after
reapportionment
Congressional
Redistricting
• Over the years there have been 2 abuses of redistricting power:
• Creating districts of very unequal populations
• Gerrymandering
• Example: in 1960s there were some states in which the largest
district in the state had 2x the population of the smallest district
• In these examples a person’s vote in the largest districts had only
half the value of a person’s vote in the smallest districts
Gerrymandering
• Gerrymandering: the political party controlling the state
government draws a district’s boundaries to gain an advantage in
elections
• Term can be traced to Elbridge Gerry: early DemocraticRepublican governor of Massachusetts
• Signed a redistricting plan that gave his party a political advantage over
the Federalists
• To map one of the irregular districts that looked like a salamander an
artist added a head, wings and claws
• Newspaper editor published the map as a cartoon and labeled it a
“Gerrymander”
“Gerrymander”
Gerrymandering
• “Packing” and “cracking” are ways to gerrymander
• “Packing” a district means drawing the lines so they include as
many of the opposing party’s voters as possible
• Crowding the oppositions voters into one district makes the remaining
districts safe for the majority party’s candidates
• “Cracking” means dividing an opponent’s voters into other districts
• Division weakens the opponent’s voter base
• Supreme Court has ruled that congressional districts must be
compact and contiguous or physically adjoining
• This requirement plus one-person, one-vote ruling has cut down on
gerrymandering
Lawmaking in the
house
• At a first glance the House of Representatives may seem
disorganized
• Members chatting, reading, coming in and out, attending meetings
• Floor sessions usually start at noon or earlier
• Buzzers ring in offices, committee rooms and the Capitol building
• Mondays are routine work and Friday is a travel day for many so
most important work done Tuesday through Thursday
Rules for Lawmaking
• Main task of Congress is to make laws
• Complex rules are aimed at moving legislation quickly once it reaches
the floor
• Each chamber has past precedents based on past rulings that serve
as guide to conducting business
• House rules are generally aimed at defining the actions an
individual rep can take
• Example: speaking for 5 minutes or less during a debate
• Leaders in the House also have more power than leaders in the
Senate
• Example: they can make decisions about legislation w/o consulting
other House members
Importance of Party
Affiliation
• In both chambers Republicans sit on the right, Democrats on the
left
• Also in both, party with the larger number of members (majority
party) selects the leaders, controls flow of legislation and appoints
committee chairs
House Leadership
• Leaders in the House serve 6 main purposes:
• Organizing and unifying party members
• Scheduling the work of the House
• Making sure that lawmakers are present for key floor votes
• Distributing and collecting information
• Keeping the House in touch with the President
• Influencing lawmakers to support the policies of their political party
Speaker of the House
• Most powerful leader- presides over the House
• Constitution states that the House chooses their Speaker and other
officers
• Caucus (closed meeting) of the majority party chooses the Speaker at
the start of each session of Congress and then the entire membership
approves the choice
• Speaker can influence proceedings by deciding who to recognize to
speak first
• Also deals with bills: schedules them and refers them to the proper
committee
• Speaker often talks with dozens of members of Congress in return
for support by reps on important issues
Current Speaker
• John A. Boehner
• Ohio’s 8th
Congressional
District
Representative
• Republican
House floor leaders
• Speaker’s top assistant is the majority leader
• Helps plan party’s legislation, steer important bills through the House
and make sure chairpersons of committees finish work on important
bills
• Majority leader is also the floor leader of their political party and is
elected by the majority party
• Whips: assistant floor leaders
• Help the majority leaders, watch how members intend to vote on bills
and persuade them to vote a certain way and see that party members
are present to vote
• Minority party also has a leader and whips
Current Majority
Leader
• Kevin McCarthy
• California's 23rd
District
Representative
• Republican
How house bills are
scheduled
• Bill is dropped into the hopper (a box near the front of the
chamber)
• After bill introduced the Speaker sends it to the appropriate
committee for study, discussion and review
• 10,000+ bills introduced during each term of Congress but only
about 10% ever go to the full House for a vote
• Bills that survive are put on the calendar for consideration
How house bills are
scheduled
• Bill is dropped into the hopper (a box near the front of the
chamber)
• After bill introduced the Speaker sends it to the appropriate
committee for study, discussion and review
• 10,000+ bills introduced during each term of Congress but only
about 10% ever go to the full House for a vote
• Bills that survive are put on the calendar for consideration
5 Calendars in the
house
• Union Calendar: bills dealing with money issues
• House Calendar: public bills
• Private Calendar: bills that deal with individual pieces or places
• Consent Calendar: bills that give the House unanimous consent to
debate out of regular order
• Discharge Calendar: petitions to discharge a bill from committee
House Rules
Committee
• Rules Committee serves as the “traffic officer” in the House
• Helps to direct the flow of major legislation
• Oldest and most powerful House committee
• Bills can be quickly moved ahead, held or stopped completely
• Because the committee has the power to decide how and when
legislation will be considered it has often been the focus of
political battles
Function of the
Rules Committee
• Major bills that reach the floor of the House for debate and a vote are
done by a special order from the Rules Committee
• As major bills come out of the committee they either go on the Union
or House calendar
• Because there are so many bills on the calendar the chairperson of the
bill may ask the Rules Committee to move it ahead and send it to the
House floor
• Rules Committee may also include a time limit for debate and specify
how much a bill may be amended on the floor
Other purposes of
the rules committee
• Settles disputes among other House committees
• Example: Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs
Committee
• Rules Committee often delays or blocks bills that representatives
and House leaders do not want to vote on
• Take criticism away from members who might have to take an
unpopular stand on a bill if it reaches the floor
Quorum for Business
• Quorum: minimum number of members who must be present to
permit the legislative body to take official action
• Regular session quorum of the House: 218
• When House meets to debate and amend legislation it may often
sit as the Committee of the Whole- 100
• This procedure helps speed the consideration of important bills
• Committee of the Whole cannot pass a bill but can report back to
the full house
Senate
Senate leaders
• Closely parallels the House except Senate does not have a
Speaker
• Because senators have more freedom in their activities, party
leaders have less influence over other senators
• Vice president is the leader but only votes to break a tie
• May recognize members and put questions to vote but cannot take
part in debate
• Most vice presidents spend most of their time focusing on the
executive branch- leaving little time presiding over the Senate
• In VP absence the president pro tempore presides
• Voted by the Senate, from the majority party and usually a senior
member
informal atmosphere
• Rules more flexible than in the House- designed to make sure all
senators have maximum freedom to express their ideas
• Usually allowed unlimited debate on proposed legislation
• Senate rules spelled out in fewer than 100 pages
• May debate on a proposal for weeks or months before taking
action
President pro
tempore
• Patrick Leahy
• Vermont
• Democrat
Senate Majority &
minority floor leaders
• Majority and minority leaders are most important officers in the
Senate
• Elected by members of their party they are party officials rather
than official Senate officers
• Main job: steer the party’s bill through the Senate
• Two positions work together to plan schedule and agenda
• Responsible for making sure senators attend important sessions,
organize support on key bills and make sure people are present to
vote
How senate bills are
scheduled
• More informal than the House- no Rules Committee
• Senators control the flow of bills to committees and to the floor
for debate and vote by consulting closely with one another
• Senate only has 2 calendars
• Calendar of General Orders: lists all bills the Senate will consider
• Executive Calendar: treaties and nominations
• Bills brought to the floor by unanimous consent- motion of all
members to set aside formal rules and consider a bill
The Filibuster
• Because debate is unlimited, one way for senators to defeat a bill they
oppose is to filibuster
• Filibuster: keep talking until a majority of the Senate either leaves or
agrees to modify the most controversial parts
• Senators who have the floor stand and talk- after the first 3 hours they
may talk about any topic they want
• Longest filibuster: Strom Thurmond against the Civil Rights Act of
1957 at 24 hrs 18 minutes
• Filibuster is stopped when 3/5 vote for cloture which only allows 1
hour per senator
• Filibuster not as strong a weapon anymore because the Senate will set
aside time to handle other business but sometimes threat of one is
enough to delay or defeat a bill
Famous Filibusters
Huey P. Long
Strom Thurmond
Effectively used the filibuster
against bills he thought favored
the rich over the poor. The
Louisiana senator frustrated
colleagues while entertaining
spectators with his recitations of
Shakespeare and his reading of
recipes Long once held the
Senate floor for 15 hours.
The record for the longest individual
speech- filibustered for 24 hours and
18 minutes against the Civil Rights
Act of 1957.
Staff and Support
Agencies
Congressional staff
role
• The work of Congress is so massive and complicated that
lawmakers need trained staff to help
• Lawmakers rely on their staff to do much of the important work
on legislation
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•
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Handle Congressional workload
Communicate with voters
Help run committee hearings and floor sessions
Draft new bills
Write committee reports
Attend committee meetings
• Also do lots of PR- making sure there is publicity, researching
what is going on in their home state and writing speeches and
newsletters
Congressional staff
growth
• Originally there were no personal aides- reps and senators did
everything on their own
• Inadequate staffing had become an urgent complaint by the time
Congress considered the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946
• After, number of staff members drastically increased
• By 1990 over 11,500 staff members employed
Personal staff
• Congress includes two types of staff: personal and committee
• Personal staff work directly for individual congressmen
• Committee staff work for the many House and Senate committees
• Size of a personal staff varies because allowances to pay for them
are based on population of the congressman’s state and distance
from the capital
• Yearly budget is mostly to pay for staff salaries
• The administrative assistant, called an AA, is the most important
legislative aide
• Runs the lawmaker’s office, supervises the schedule and gives
political advice
Legislative assistants
• LAs make sure that the lawmaker is well informed on the bills
they are dealing with
• Does research, draft bills, studies current bills and writes speeches
and articles
• Another important part of the job- attend committee meetings
when the lawmaker cannot be present
• Legislators are in so many committees that they cannot physically
attend all meetings
• Trust the LAs judgment on the bill in question
• Often, when the buzzer rings, legislators run in to the chamber to
cast a vote even if they have no clue what it is about
• Simply look for their LAs to give them a thumb up or down
Purpose of Committees
• Committees help ease the Congressional workload and and are key
power centers in Congress
• Allows members to divide work among many smaller groups
• Lawmakers can become specialists on the issues their committee
considers vs. looking at thousands of bills
• From huge numbers of bills introduced, committees select specific
bills to receive further attention
• In committees is where lawmakers hear the pros and cons of a bill to
decide if it is worth becoming a law
• Committees hold public hearings and investigations to help the
public learn about key problems and issues facing the nation
Kinds of Committees
• Congress has 4 basic kinds of committees:
• 1. Standing committee
• 2. Select committee
• 3. Joint committee
• 4. Conference committee
Standing committee
• Permanent groups to oversee bills that deal with specific issues
• Continue from one Congress to the next
• House and Senate each create their own standing committeeoccasionally adding or eliminating a committee when necessary
• Majority party in each house controls the standing committee
• Therefore, the majority of the members of each standing committee
are also members of the majority party
Subcommittee
• Each subcommittee specializes in a subcategory of its standing
committees responsibility
• Subcommittees usually continue from one congress to the next
• Example:
Select committees
• Temporary committees that study one specific issue and report
their findings to the Senate or the House
• Issues can include:
• Matters of great public concern
• Overlooked problems
• Problems of interest groups
• Usually do not last more than 1 term of Congress but can be
renewed and continue to meet
Joint committees
• Made up of members from both the House and Senate
• May be temporary or permanent
• Members are from both political parties and coordinate the work
of the two houses of Congress
• Do not have the authority to deal directly with bills or to propose
legislation to Congress
Conference committees
• Temporary committee set up when the House and Senate have passed
different versions of the same bill
• Job of the committee is to resolve the differences between the two
versions of the bill
• A majority of the members in the committee from each house must
accept the final compromised bill before it can be sent to the floor of the
House and Senate
• Once on the floor it cannot be amended- it must be accepted or rejected
as is
committees of the U.s.
Congress
• https://www.congress.gov/committees