Chapter 9 Congress
Congress
• Origins, Structure, and Membership
• Bicameral Differences
• Rules of Lawmaking: How a Bill Becomes a
Law
• Budgeting and Oversight
Legislative Branch
• English Legislative Heritage
– Parliament
• The Great Compromise
– Bicameral Design
• Apportionment
• Congressional Districts
– Political Equality
– Gerrymandering
Constitutional Basis
• Article I, Section 1 - All legislative powers
vested in a Congress…
• Article I, Section 8 - Powers to…
• Article I, Section 9 - Be no section
• Article I, Section 10 - Be no state section
• Compromise in structure and
representation
The Electoral Connection
• Qualifications (25/7 and 30/9 - resident)
• Factors contribute to the composition of
Congress:
— who decides to run
— the incumbency effect (95-98/83-85%)
• Terms and Sessions (Jan 3rd - 109th)
• Term Limits
Differences between the House and the Senate
- filibusters/riders permitted
13-12
The First
“Gerrymander”
13-3
13-2
Reapportionment of House Seats following the 1990 Census
13-5
Sociological Representation?
Moderate Growth
13-6
The Electoral Connection:
Incumbent Winning
Percentages
Politico Styles
• Trustee representation
– trusted to use own judgement and conscience
– social issues
• Delegate representation
– expected to vote constituents desires
– economic - “bread and butter issues”
• Domestic Policy Decisions
• Foreign Policy Decisions
• Constant battle to balance
What Exactly Do They Do?
• Continuous Campaign
• Pork Barrel Politicking
• Constituent Case Work
Constituent Service
Internal Influence
• Reciprocity - log rolling
• Personal Courtesy - “the honorable gentleman
from”, stigmas of personal attacks.
• Specialization - committee expertise
• Caucuses are groups of senators or representatives
who share certain opinions, interests or social
characteristics.
+ Democratic Study Group
+ Congressional Black Caucus
+ Hispanic Caucus
+ Caucus for Women’s Issues
The Organization of Congress
• Party Leadership
• The Committee System
• The Staff System
Party Leadership: House
Congressional leadership is chosen every two
years at the beginning of each new
congressional session.
• Minority Party
• Majority Party
–
–
–
–
Speaker of the House
Majority leader
Majority whip
Committee on
Committees -Conference
– Minority leader
– Minority whip
– Steering and Policy
Committee
House Leadership
Means of Selection
Party Leadership: Senate
• Formal
– President of the
Senate
• Vice president
• Votes to break ties
– President pro
tempore
• ceremonial position
• given to ranking
member of the
majority party
• Informal
– Majority leader
• Whip
– Minority leader
• Whip
– Majority Policy
Committee
– Minority Policy
Committee
Senate Leadership
Means of Selection
The Committee System
• Standing committees (19/16) and their
respective subcommittees (88/68)
• Select committees
• Joint committees
• Conference committee
Standing Committees
• Standing committees are the most
important arenas of congressional policy
making.
+ Permanent: exist from session to session
+ Power to receive and process legislation
+ Exception: House Rules Committee
+ Jurisdiction specified by subject matter and
generally mirrors major cabinet department
+ Assignment based on needs of members
+ Leadership based on seniority on the committee
13-10
Other Committees
• Select committees: a temporary
legislative committee set up to highlight
or investigate a particular issue
• Joint committees: a legislative committee
with members from both chambers
formed to study particular issues
• Conference committee: a joint committee
created to reach compromise on
legislation passed by both chambers
The Staff System
• Staffs are maintained in Washington, D.C.
and back home.
– Legislative assistant
• Work with legislative drafting
• Develop policy ideas
– Administrative assistant
• Work with lobbyists
• Work on constituent requests
• Congressional committees are also provided
staffs.
• Support agencies provide information
support.
– Congressional Budget Office
– General Accounting Office
– Congressional Research Service
The Growth of Congressional
Staffs
Rules of Lawmaking:
How a Bill Becomes a Law
•
•
•
•
•
Filing with clerk
Committee deliberation
Debate
Conference committee
Presidential action
How a Bill Becomes a Law
How a Bill Becomes a Law
• Legislation must be introduced in either
the House or the Senate before it
officially becomes a bill.
• Assigned a bill number (H.R. 1 or S. 1)
• Assigned to the appropriate committee
based on jurisdiction of the standing
committees
Committee Deliberation
• Most of the work on legislation is conducted at
the committee level.
• 95% of bills die at the committee or
subcommittee level.
• Discharge petition may be used to pull a bill out
of committee.
House Rules Committee
• Each bill that survives committee must
go through the Rules Committee.
• Determines the length of debate and the
nature of amendments that may be
offered to the legislation
The Senate’s Unanimous
Consent Rule
• The Senate lacks a Rules Committee.
– Executive Calendar (Treaties and Appointments)
– Calendar of General Orders
• The Senate utilizes the unanimous
consent rule to permit bills to reach the
floor.
• Any senator can kill a bill by withholding
consent
Debate
• Contrary to the House, the Senate
permits open and lengthy debate on
legislation.
• A filibuster can be used to “talk a bill to
death.”
• A cloture vote is used to defeat a
filibuster:
– sixty votes necessary to end filibuster.
Conference Committee
• A conference committee is called when
different versions of a bill are passed by
the Senate and the House and a
compromise is needed.
• Members of the committee that worked
on the legislation serve on the committee.
• Compromise must be approved by both
the House and the Senate.
Presidential Action
• The president may
+ sign the bill into law;
+ allow the bill to become law without his
signature;
+ veto (reject) the bill with a formal veto
message
+ override by two-thirds vote of both
chambers;
+ Pocket veto.
Budget Process
13-15
Beyond Legislation:
Other Congressional Powers
• Oversight
• Advice and Consent
• Impeachment
Oversight
• Oversight is the effort by Congress,
through hearings, investigations, and other
techniques, to exercise control over the
activities of the executive agencies while
legislation is being implemented.
• The appropriations process is an important
oversight tool.
Advice and Consent
• The Senate must approve presidential
appointments by a simple majority.
• Treaties must be approved by the Senate
with a two-thirds vote.
– Executive agreements circumvent this
process.
– Congress can refused to appropriate
funding.
Impeachment
• The president and other high-ranking
officials may be removed from office by
through impeachment by the House and
conviction in the Senate.
• Grounds include treason, bribery, and other
high crimes and misdemeanors.