US Government:
Legislative Branch
National Government
• Legislative branch (Congress)
• Executive Branch (President, Cabinet, Cabinet
departments)
• Judicial branch (Supreme Court)
• Checks & balances: ability of each branch to
keep the others “in check”
• Separation of powers: so no one branch gets
too powerful
Legislative Structure
• Bicameral (2 houses): House of
Representatives & Senate, mostly white men,
middle-aged, lawyers, businessmen, bankers
• House: 435 members, represents the common
man, based on population based on census
every 10 yrs, represent “districts”, elected
every 2 years in even # yrs
• Must be 25 years old, naturalized citizen for 7
years, legal resident of state you represent
Representation
• Constituents: the people they represent
• Reapportionment: chg in # of reps based on
change in census #s
• Redistricting: setting up new district lines
after reapportionment
• Gerrymandering: one party draws the district
boundaries to benefit their party (illegal)
• 113th Congress: 232 Reps, 200 Dems, 3 vacant
seats (Republicans hold majority)
House Leadership:
Boehner
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Pelosi
Speaker of the House: John Boehner [R]--Ohio
Majority Leader: Eric Cantor [R]--Virginia
Majority Whip: Kevin McCarthy [R]—California
Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi [D]--California
Minority Whip: Steny Hoyer [D]—Maryland
Cantor
McCarthy
Hoyer
Law-making in the House
• Bill is dropped in the “hopper”—gets HR#
• Goes to committee—only about 10-20% come
out of committee
• Goes on calendar
• Rules Committee decides which bill go to the
floor for debate & voting
• Must have a quorum (majority) present to vote
(218 members)
• If passed, goes to Senate
Senate
• 2 per state (100 today)
• Must be at least 30 yrs old, naturalized citizen
for 9 yrs, legal resident of state represented
“at-large”
• 1/3 elected every 6 yrs, even # years
• 27th amendment: can’t vote pay raise during
current session
• Can exclude or censure a member
Senate
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More informal than the House
Usually debate is unlimited
Vice-Pres. Breaks tie: Joe Biden
President pro tempore: presides—
usually majority party’s most senior
member
• Current pres pro tem: Patrick Leahy
[D]--Vermont
Other Senate Leadership
• Democrats have current majority:
53 Dems, 45 Republicans, 4
independents
• Majority Leader: Harry Reid
• Majority Whip: Dick Durbin
• Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell
• Minority Whip: John Comyn
Bills in the Senate
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Calendar of General Orders lists the bills
Vote to bring bills to the floor—given S #
Goes to committee
Unlimited debate on floor
Can filibuster (speak to stall the voting process)—
longest ever was Strom Thurmond [SC]—24
hours, 18 mins
• Can stop a filibuster by voting for cloture—limits
speaking to one hour
• If passes, goes to House
Committees
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Standing: permanent
Subcommittees: subcategories of other committees
Select: temporary, usually to study one issue
Joint: members from both Houses
Conference: temporary, set up when different versions
of a bill have been passed by both houses
• Extremely important to be on committees—MUCH
power! Usually done by seniority
• Chair is very powerful: decides everything (when they
meet, bills to be considered, who speaks, etc.)
• Most important committees: Rules, Ways & Means,
Appropriations (controls the $$$)
Congressional Support
• Staffers & secretaries do much of the
research, answer calls, make calls & write
legislation for members of Congress
• Personal & committee staffers, adminstrative
& legislative assistants, caseworkers
• Library of Congress
• Congressional Budget Office
• General Accounting Office
• Government Printing Office
Legislative Powers
• Expressed (enumerated): 18 powers
• Implied: uses “necessary & proper clause”—
can make any laws necessary to carry out
expressed powers
• Denied powers: can’t suspend writ of habeas
corpus, no bills of attainder (conviction w/out
trials), no ex post facto laws (making
something illegal that you did when it was
legal)
Powers
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Tax, borrow, coin $, punish counterfeiters
Regulate commerce/trade
Declare war
Raise/support an army/navy/national guard
Punish acts committed on international waters &
against other nations
• Naturalization laws, post office,
copyrights/patents, create courts, govern DC,
necessary & proper laws as needed
Other powers
• Power to choose a President if there is no
majority in the electoral college (only twice:
1800 & 1824)
• Settle Presidential succession issues (Nixon’s
resignation, Kennedy’s assassination)
• Impeachment
• Confirmation power (Senate): appointments
• Ratification power: treaties
• Amendment power: 2/3rds vote
Still other powers!
• Investigative: investigations, hold hearings,
subpoena witnesses
• Oversees executive agencies
• Can limit those agencies—cut purse strings!
• Can limit President’s power to declare
national emergency
• Controls the budget
• Override Presidential veto
Law-making
• Bills that pass both the House & Senate but
are different go to Conference Committee
• If passed, goes back to both for final vote
• Then goes to President
• Sign, veto, pocket veto
• Can override, but hard to do—rare
• Any bill that doesn’t passdies
• “pigeonholing”: bill dies in committee
• Line-item veto: ruled unconstitutional
How can you influence Congress?
• Write, call or email your Senator or
Representative—they all have websites!
• Reps. for 30252: Paul Broun [R], Hank Johnson
[D], Lynn Westmoreland [R], David Scott [D]
• http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
• GA Senators: Saxby Chambliss [R] & Johnny
Isakson [R]
• Join a political party
• Join an interest group (lobbying)
• Join a Political Action Committee: raise $
How can they help you?
• Call, write or email their caseworker with your
problem, question or request
• They try to get bills passed that bring $/jobs to
your state/district (sometimes “pork”)
• Try to get grants & contracts (especially
Defense contracts) for their states…Ga has
LOTS of military bases thanks to former
Senator Sam Nunn!