Warm up
• Write down your favorite activities over the
break.
• Write down what you wished you would
have accomplished.
• Write down everything you know or
believe regarding the 3 branches of
government?
Congress
If progress is the advancement of
society, what is congress?
Congress
US CAPITOL BUILDING
Legislative Branch – “makes laws”
Founders’ Intentions
1. Strongest branch
2. Separation of lawmaking power from
executive
3. Bicameralism balances large/small states
• House – (2 yr term)
– Represents more the “common man”
– more connected to people
• Senate – (6 yr term)
– Represents more the elite
– allows for independent thinking
– More prestigious and allows for greater political opportunity
Important Differences
House
• 435 members
• 2 year term
• 7 year citizen
Senate
• 100 members
• 6 year term
• 9 year citizen
• Initiate impeachment
• Revenue bills ($)
• Tries impeachment
• Approve presidential
appointments
• Approve treaties’
• Loose debate rules
• Strict debate rules
Important Differences
Size and Rules
 The Senate traditionally permits extended
debate on all issues
 In contrast, the House operates with an
elaborate system in which its Rules Committee
normally proposes time limitations for any bill
and a majority of the entire body accepts or
modifies those suggested time limits
Important Differences
Size and Rules
 Rules Committee (d) – A standing committee of
the House of Representatives that provides
special rules under which specific bills can be
debated, amended and considered by the
House
Important Differences
Debate and Filibusters
 Filibuster – Allowed in the Senate only
(Stopped in the House in 1811)
 Allows for unlimited debate on the issue before
the Senate
 Senators will employ a filibuster as a means of
trying to talk a bill to death
 Once a senator has the floor, he does not have
to surrender it
 Can be stopped only with a vote of cloture
Strom Thurmond Filibustered for over
24 hours against The 1957 Civil
Rights Act
Important Differences
Debate and Filibusters
 Cloture – Debate on a Senate bill may be
closed off if 16 senators sign a petition
requesting so and if, after two days have
elapsed, 3/5s of the entire membership vote to
limit consideration of the bill.
(Normally 60 Senators)
Enumerated Powers
Article I, Section 8
• To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports
• To borrow money
• To regulate commerce (states and foreign)
• To establish rules for naturalization
• To coin money
• To create courts (except Supreme Court)
• To declare war
• To raise and support an army and navy
Evolution of Powers
Elastic clause (Necessary and Proper)
-has extended powers of Congress
• Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed.
budget prepared by executive branch
• Appropriations – set amount of money made
available for various activity in a fiscal year
• Investigation – Congress can launch
investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski
hearings, Steroids in baseball)
Denied Powers
• 10th Amendment – “Powers not delegated…reserved”
• Congress may not:
– Suspend the writ of habeas corpus, unless necessary in
time of rebellion or invasion
– Pass any law which condemns persons for crimes or
unlawful acts without a trial
– Pass any law which retroactively makes a specific act a
crime (ex: post facto)
– Levy direct taxes on, except on the basis of a census
already taken
– Tax exports from any one state
– Give specially favorable treatment in commerce or taxation
to the seaports of any state or to the vessels using them
– Authorize any titles of nobility
House Leadership
SPEAKER
OF THE
HOUSE
MINORITY
LEADER
MINORITY
WHIP
MAJORITY
LEADER
MAJORITY
WHIP
Senate Leadership
PRESIDENT of the
SENATE
(VICE PRESIDENT)
PRES. PRO
TEMPORE
MAJORITY LEADER
MINORITY
LEADER
MINORITY
WHIP
(MOST POWERFUL)
MAJORITY
WHIP
Leadership
• Majority party controls the most significant
leadership positions
• House - Speaker of the House
•
•
•
•
Allows people to speak on floor
Assigns bills to committees
Influences which bills are brought to a vote
Appoints members of special and select committees
• Senate – Majority Leader
• Schedules Senate business
• Prioritizes bills
Formal Leadership
A. Leadership in the House
Speaker of the House
 The only leadership position mandated by the
Constitution is the Speaker of the House
 Third in line in presidential succession
 Traditionally, the most senior member of the
majority party serves as the Speaker
Formal Leadership
A. Speaker of the House
The major formal duties of the Speaker include
1) Presiding over meetings of the House
2) Appointing members of joint committees
and conference committees
3) Scheduling legislation for floor action
4) Deciding points or order and interpreting
the rules with the advice of the House
Parliamentarian
5) Referring bills and resolutions for the
appropriate standing committees of the House
18
Formal Leadership
A. Leadership in the House
Majority Leader
 Elected by a caucus of the majority party to
foster cohesion among party members and
to serve as a spokesperson for the party
 Majority leader influences the scheduling of
debate and generally acts as the chief
supporter of the Speaker
Formal Leadership
A. Leadership in the House
Minority Leader
 The candidate nominated for position by a caucus
of the minority party but has no actual powers
 Responsible for maintaining unity within party ranks
 speaks on behalf of the president of the minority
party if they do not control the White House
 consults with both the Speaker and the Majority
leader on recognizing members who wish to speak
on the floor, on House rules and procedures and
on the scheduling of legislation.
Formal Leadership
A. Leadership in the House
Whips
 assistants to the majority and minority leaders are
known as whips
 pass information down from the leadership to
party members
 ensure that members show up for floor debate
and cast their votes on important issues
Formal Leadership
B. Leadership in the Senate
President of the Senate
 The Constitution makes the vice president
the president of the Senate – his only
constitutionally defined job
 But normally vice president only come into
the Senate to break ties on important votes
Formal Leadership
B. Leadership in the Senate
Senate President Pro Tempore
 Position usually filled by the most senior
Senator from the majority’s party
 The Senate President Pro Tempore is the
ceremonial head of the Senate when the
Vice President is not in attendance
Formal Leadership
B. Leadership in the Senate
Majority/Minority Floor Leader
 The floor leaders have the right to be recognized
first in floor debates and generally exercise the
same powers available to the House majority and
minority leaders
 They control the scheduling of debate on the floor
in conjunction with the majority party’s Policy
Committee, influence the committee assignments
for new members or for senators transferring, and
influence the selection of other party officials.
Formal Leadership
B. Leadership in the Senate
Whips
 Senate whips, like their House counterparts,
maintain communication within the party on issue
positions and attempt to ensure that party
colleagues are present for floor debate and
important votes
Pay, Perks and
Priviledges
Members of Congress receive an
annual salary of $165,200
Leadership receives $183,500
Legislators also have many benefits
that are not available to most workers
27
Pay, Perks and
Priviledges
Special Benefits
Access to private Capitol gym facilities
Free, close-in parking at National and Dulles
Airports near Washington
Six free parking spaces in Capitol Hill garages
– plus one free outdoor Capitol parking slot
Special license plates which make them
exempt from parking tickets
Pay, Perks and
Priviledges
Special Benefits
They eat in a subsidized dining room
Free plants for their offices from the
national Botanical Gardens
Free medical care
Inexpensive but generous pension plan
Liberal travel allowances
Special tax considerations
Pay, Perks and
Priviledges
Personal Professional Staffs
Over 18,000 people are employed in the
Capitol Hill bureaucracy
About half of these are personal committee
staff members
The personal staff includes office clerks and
secretaries; media relation specialist;
legislative specialists; caseworkers; and
staffers who maintain local offices in the
district
Pay, Perks and
Priviledges
Personal Professional Staffs
The average Senate office employs
about 30 staff members
Senators from the more populous states
may have twice that number
Immunities Under Law
Members of Congress also benefit from a number
of special constitutional protections. Under Article
1, Section 6, it states they “shall in all Cases,
except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace,
be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance
at the Session of their respective Houses, and in
going to and returning from the same; and for any
Speech of Debate in either House, They shall not
be questioned in any other Place.”
Immunities Under Law
The arrest immunity clause is not really an
important provision today
The “Speech or Debate” clause, however, means
that a member may make any allegations or
statements he wishes in connection with official
duties and normally not be sued for slander or libel
Who’s in Congress?
110th Congress (2007-2008)
• 85% male
• 85% White
• 40% Lawyers
109th Congress (2005-2006)
• 29 accused of spousal abuse
• 7 have been arrested for fraud
• 19 arrested for writing bad checks
• 117 have bankrupted at least 2 businesses
• 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
• In 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving
Source: Congressional Quarterly, various years.
113th Congress
House of
Representatives
Elections
• House members directly elected
• All 435 seats in the House of
Representatives are up for election every
two years
• Senators directly elected after 17th Amend
• Senate terms are for six years and onethird of the seats are up for election every
two years
Candidates
To run for Congress, a candidate needs
simply to get the required number of
signatures on a petition and pay the
registration fee
the average cost of winning Senate
campaigns now being approximately $5
million and a winning House campaign
being approximately $770,000
Once in office, legislators spend some
time almost every day raising money for
their next campaign
Candidates
Congressional candidates are always
hopeful that a strong presidential
candidate will have “coattails” that will
sweep members of the same party into
office.
In reality, though, coattail effects have
been quite limited, appearing only in
landslide elections such as Lyndon
Johnson’s victory in 1964 or Barack
Obama in 2008
Power of Incumbency
 Members can use their status, as
incumbents to their benefit
 The three main ways are:
1. Advertising - Franking Priviledge
2. Credit claiming
3. Position taking
Advertising
This can be done through use of the
media, making personal appearances
and sending out newsletters – all to
produce a favorable image and to
make the incumbent’s name a
household word
Franking privileges are particularly
helpful for incumbents to send free mail
Credit Claiming
If a congressperson is voting on high profile
issues in a way the voters of his district/state
approve – then they will vote retrospectively
(remembering good things) to re-elect their
representative
This can be a huge advantage over challengers
who are not usually known to voters and have
no proven track record in Congress
Position Taking
The Congressman will use their
name recognition and attach it to
various popular positions
Not only must a Congressman
project an image as being
experienced, hard working, and
trustworthy – they must eventually
defend the stances they take on
policy-making decisions
Figure 13.1 Percentage of
Incumbents Reelected to
Congress
Source: Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi, Vital Statistics on American Politics, 1999–2000
(Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2000), table 1-18; 2004 update by Marc Siegal.
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Power of Incumbency
 Other Factors:
1. Pork Barreling
2. Casework
3. Money
Examples of pork-barrel spending in fiscal
year 2000 include:
$700,000 for the Admiral Theater in
Bremerton, Washington, the district of House
appropriator Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), despite a
$4.2 million privately-funded facelift; and
$500,000 for the Olympic Tree Program in
the state of Senate appropriator Robert
Bennett for the 2002 Winter Olympics
Pork Barrel
(d) - The public projects that a
congressman can claim credit
for that benefit his/her district or
state (federal projects, grants,
contracts, etc.)
Casework
(d) - Helping constituents as
individuals – cutting through
some bureaucratic red tape to
help out individual people in
their districts
Money
When an incumbent is not running for
reelection and the seat is open, there is a
greater likelihood of competition in the
election
Generally, these close elections are called
MARGINAL DISTRICTS – elections in
which the winner gets less than 55% of the
vote.
Money
Incumbents have a huge advantage when it
comes to money and that’s what it takes to
win
The 1994 Senate races alone cost at least
$234 million, and the House candidates
spent another $327 million
Although most of the money spent in
congressional elections comes from
individuals (70%) the rest comes from PACs
– who usually give their money to the
incumbent
Elections
Divided Government
(d) – A government in which the president
and the majority party in Congress are not
from the same party
Republicans lost control of the Senate in
2001 and the House in 2007
Democrats won the Presidency in 2009
but then lost the House in 2011 and the
Senate in 2015
Congressional
Reapportionment
 The Constitution requires that representation
in the House be reapportioned by Congress
every 10 years, or whenever a new census is
taken
 This is why census taking is so important
 Redistricting is done by state legislatures
 The party in control in the state legislature
thus has a big advantage – they have the
right to gerrymander districts in order to give
their party’s candidate an advantage
• What was the
total loss in
both the House
and the Senate
over the course
of these 6
years?
• What was the
total loss in
both the House
and the Senate
over the course
of these 6
years?
California’s Districts
Representation
• Malapportionment – unequal population in
districts
– Baker v. Carr, 1962
– Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found unequal
district pop. unconstitutional – 14th amend
Court and Legislative
Action
Baker v. Carr, 1962
 The Court ruled that malapportionment
violated the equal protection clause of
the 14th Amendment
 Case stemmed from the fact that the
Tennessee Legislature had not
redistricted itself since the turn of the
century
 Baker v. Carr decision enshrined the
constitutional concept of “one man, one
vote”
Wesberry v. Sanders
The Court decided to look at a case involving
severe malapportionment in Georgia in which some
urban and liberal district were two and three times
the size of rural districts, thus diluting the votes of
those who lived in the cities
The Court ruled this practice illegal and stated that
Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, made it clear
that districts must be made equal size to insure
equal representation
Today, districts cannot vary in size by more than
1.5%.
Voting Right Act of 1965
Congress passed historic legislation in
1965 to protect Black voters in the South
This Act stated two things:
1.
States cannot restrict somebody the
right to vote on the basis of race
2.
States have to check with the Justice
Department before they institute new voting
procedures – including redistricting.
73
• Gerrymandering – district boundaries are
redrawn in strange ways to make it easy
for candidate of one party to win
– Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – redistricting for
political ideology was constitutional, led to
increase in minority reps
Illinois 4th District
Luis Guitierrez – (D-IL)
Gerrymandering
The federal government began to encourage
another type of gerrymandering in the 1990s
The Justice Department issued orders to
states to create congressional districts that
would maximize the voting powers of
minority groups
Why - Stated reason: To ensure equality in
representation for minority candidates, thus
ensuring minorities more equal treatment
from government.
…in the House of Representatives
…in the Senate
…if the House and Senate bills are not
identical, then a Conference
Committee tries to work out a
compromise bill.
…then, the president either approves
or vetoes the bill.
Committees and
Subcommittees
• Most real work happens here
• Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or
killed
There are four types of major committees:
Standing
Select
Joint
Conference
82
Types of Committees
• Standing committee
– handle bills in different policy areas
– (ex. Appropriations, Agriculture, Armed Services,
Science, Ways and Means, Foreign Relations, etc.)
– most important and have been “standing” or existing for
a long time (permanent)
-There are 19 Standing Committees in the House and 16
in the Senate
• Select committee
– formed for specific purposes and usually temporary – run
investigations (ex. Aging, Intelligence) or Executive
oversight
- almost all legislative measures are considered by the
appropriate Standing Committee
Types of Committees
• Joint committee
– consist of both House and Senate members
– similar in purpose to Select committee
– they cannot report bills to the floor
– role is usually to fact find or create publicity on a certain
area of the law or policy in Washington
• Conference committee
– consist of both House reps and Senators
– formed to hammer out differences between House and
Senate versions of similar bills
– Their purpose is achieving agreement between the
House and the Senate on exact wording of legislation, if
passed in different forms by their respective chambers
Committee Structure
House Rules Committee
 Because of its special “gatekeeping” power
over the terms on which legislation will reach
the floor of the House of Representatives, the
House Rules Committee holds a uniquely
powerful position
 The committee sets the time limit on debate
and determines whether and how a bill may be
amended
Committee Membership
• Controlled by majority party, committee
membership divided proportionally
• Committee Chairman
– Senior member of committee of majority party
• Seniority System – A custom followed in both chambers
specifying that members with longer terms of continuous
service will be given preference when committee
chairpersons and other significant posts are selected
– Majority party controls membership and
debate
Work of Committees
• 11,000 bills introduced yearly, most die
• Committees can…
– Specialize or a divide the legislative workload
– Report out favorably/unfavorably
– Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss)
– Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)
Congress has over 200 committees and subcommittees
Representatives, on average, serve on 5 committees;
Senators on 11
 House Committee on Energy and Commerce
 Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer
Protection
 Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
 Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
 Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
 Committee on Environmental and Public Works
 Committee on Foreign Relations (chair)
 Subcommittee on Aviation
 Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Product Safety and
Insurance
 Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant
Marine
 Subcommittee on National Ocean Policy Study
 Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant
Marine
 Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs
 Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps
and Narcotics Affairs
Congressional Caucuses
• Groupings of members pushing for similar
interests
• Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest,
Congressional Black, Women’s,
Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils,
Steel
Source: U.S. House of Representatives, 2009.
How A Bill Becomes a
Law
• Create legislation, make laws
• Founders believed in a SLOW process
• Founders believed efficiency was a trait of
an oppressive government
Step 1 – Introduce Bill
• Introduced in Senate or House (except tax)
• Single or multiple reps can introduce bill
Step 2 - Committee
1. Bill is assigned to a particular committee
in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and
Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture
Committee)
2. Bill is then placed in sub-committee
3. Bills are debated and “marked up”
4. Most bills die in committee, committee
can vote to “report out” a bill
Step 3–Rules Committee
• Before bill can go to floor in House, it must
first set time limits and amendment
regulations.
– Closed rule – sets time limits, restricts
amendments
– Open rule – permits amendments
– Restrictive rule – permits some amendments
Step 4 – Floor Debate
Senate Debate
• Less formal, no speaking limit
• Filibuster – practice of stalling a bill w/
debate
• Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to stop
debate
House Debate
• More formal, no filibuster, strict rules
Step 5 - Voting
• Majority passes
• If the bill passes, it must go through the
same process in the opposite chamber
with a sponsor
• If the bill passes one house and fails the
other, it must start over
• If the Senate and House cannot come to
agreement over two versions, it goes to
Conference Committee to fix it and
resubmit the bill
Presidential Action
• Sign – bill becomes law
• Veto – bill returns to origin
• Override – 2/3 vote in both houses can
override veto
• Pocket Veto – President has 10 days to
act on a piece of legislation. If he receives
the bill within 10 days of the end of the
Congressional session, and doesn’t sign,
it dies
Override
How Members
of Congress Decide
 There are six main influences on how
representatives vote
 Constituency
 Interest Groups
 Party Discipline
 Committee Assignments
 Whip System
 Logrolling
How Members
of Congress Decide
A. Constituency
 Voting on what their constituents want is not that
simple
 First of all, more than 30% of the people in a
congressional district can’t name their
representative
 Plus, voting at midterm election is usually around
35%
 However, the advent of polling, e-mail and 800
numbers have all made communication easier
How Members
of Congress Decide
B. Interest Groups
 Besides money, interest groups can mobilize
public support or opposition on a given topic
 Sophisticated “grassroots” lobbying means
interests groups will send out thousands of
letters with names of constituents who have
simply called into a toll-free number and
reported their name and addresses
How Members
of Congress Decide
C. Party Discipline
 At the turn of the century, party leaders could almost
dictate to 90% of their members how to vote on an
import bill (called a roll-call vote)
 Because of independent, privately funded
campaigns, only 3% of all bills are still passed in
that manner
 Now you have party votes in which half of the party
may vote one way and the other half the other way
 Typically, party unity is greater in the House than in the
Senate mainly because the House has stricter procedural
rules about how to vote than the Senate
How Members
of Congress Decide
D. Committee Assignments
 The growth in the number of committee and
subcommittees (over 200 in 2003) has had a
recent impact on how Congress votes
 House and Senate leaders can favor those who
have voted their way in the past by awarding them
committee chairmanships.
 After the Republican sweep in 1994, they eliminated the
seniority system in assigning chairmanships, increasing
the trend of rewarding faithful representatives with
positions that would help them in their next election
How Members
of Congress Decide
E. Whip System
 Serves mainly as a communications network
 The whips in both houses take polls of their
members in order to tell leadership if they
have enough support on certain bills
How Members
of Congress Decide
F. Logrolling
 Logrolling – Congress
members exchange
votes
 bills might pass for
frivolous reasons
Other Congressional
Functions
Oversight Function
 Another function of Congress is overseeing the
bureaucracy and the executive branch
 Oversight (d) – The responsibility Congress has
for following up on laws it has enacted to ensure
they are being enforced in the way Congress
intended.
How Members
of Congress Decide
Oversight Function
In regards to bureaucratic agencies,
Congress has three oversight functions:
– 1)
No agency may even exist (with the
exception of some presidential offices and
commissions) without congressional approval
– 2)
Even if an agency can operate, it can’t
spend money without committee authorization
– 3)
Just because a committee authorizes
the spending, that doesn’t mean the agency is
appropriated the full amount
Oversight Function
• Some examples of congressional oversight in
action would include:
– 1949 – Senate subcommittee investigation revealed
high level corruption in the Truman administration
– 1960s – Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s
televised hearing helped to mobilize opposition to the
Vietnam War
– 1973 – Watergate investigation exposed White House
officials who illegally used their positions for political
advantage
• D. Oversight Function
–1975-76 – Select Committee inquiries identified
serious abuses by intelligence activities.
–1987 – Oversight efforts disclosed statutory
violations in the executive branch’s secret arm
sales to Iran
–1998 – Special Committee investigation of
President Clinton led to his impeachment.
Clinton’s Impeachment
Trial
Other Congressional
Functions
Public-Education Function
• Congress also decides what issues will come up
for discussion and decision; agenda-setting is a
major facet of its public-education function
• Agenda-setting (d) – Determining which publicpolicy questions will be debated or considered by
Congress
Criticisms of Congress
• “Pork” – aka “pork-barrel legislation” – bills to
benefit constituents in hope of gaining their
votes
• Logrolling – Congress members exchange
votes, bills might pass for frivolous reasons
• Christmas-tree bill –bill with many riders (pork)
– in Senate, no limit exists on amendments, so
Senators try to attach riders that will benefit their
home state
Term-limits Debate
•
No current limit on how many terms
members of Congress can serve
1. Some argue this has weakened popular
control of Congress, reps might be
unresponsive to their constituents
2. Some argue most experienced reps have
the expertise to bring home more
benefits (pork, riders, etc.)
Trustee, Delegate, or
Party Member
Trustee (Attitudinal View)
A member of Congress fills the role of trustee (d) – when he
acts according to his conscience and the broad interests of
society as a whole
Delegate (Representational View)
A member of Congress fills the role of delegate (d) – when he
votes according to the view of his constituents, regardless of
his personal feelings
Party Member (Organizational View)
A member of Congress fills the role of party member (d) – when
he votes according to the view of his party affiliation
Trustee, Delegate, or
Party Member
• Which way does Congress vote? Why?
– Be sure to be specific if the Senators and
House of Representatives should vote the
same or different.
• Which way should Congress vote? Why?
– Be sure to be specific if the Senators and
House of Representatives should vote the
same or different.
– Be sure to include Connstituency, Interest Groups, Party Discipline,
Committee Assignments, Whip System, Logrolling