Congress In Action
Ch. 12 Notes and Review
Congress Organizes
Sect. 12.1
Speaker of the House
Arguably the most powerful person in
Congress (House or Senate)
 The elected presiding officer of the
House and the leader of the majority
party in the House
 Expected to preside in a fair and
judicious manner, also expected to help
their own party whenever possible

Roles and Duties
To preside and keep order over the
House
 Decides who gets to speak and when
 Interprets and applies the rules
 Refers bills to committees
 Decides when to call a vote
 With careful planning, can usually
decide the outcome of most votes

Speaker of the U.S. House
John Boehner – Republican from
Ohio
President of the Senate
Sounds more important than it really is.
 Not a member of the Senate at all.
 The position is reserved for the Vice
Pres.
 When the VP is there, he or she does
have the powers of the presiding officer
 However, the VP is rarely present in the
Senate.

VP usually goes to the Senate for
special occasions or events of critical
importance
 VP (Pres. Of the Senate) most
important role is to vote in case of a tie

President of the Senate and V.P. of the
U.S. Joseph Biden
Democrat from Delaware
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
Presides over the Senate when the VP
is not present; most of the time.
 Elected by the members of the Senate
 A leading member of the majority party
(not necessarily the same party as the
VP)

President Pro Tempore of the U.S.
Senator Daniel K. Inouye – Democrat
from Hawaii
Floor Leaders and Party Whips

Floor Leaders (Majority and Minority)
– These are “unofficial” positions but hold the
most power next to the Speaker of the
House
– They are concerned with party strategy
– Help to “steer” Congressional actions to
best benefit their party
– Chosen by their party

Majority and Minority Whips
– Assistant to the Majority and Minority
Floor Leaders
– Again, chosen by their party
– Try to organize the vote by their party
members. Obviously, they try to
convince their members to vote with
the party
House Majority Leader
Cong. Eric Cantor – Republican from
Virginia
House Minority Leader
Cong. Nancy Pelosi – Democrat from
California
Senate Majority Leader
Sen. Harry Reid – Democrat from
Nevada
Senate Minority Leader
Sen. Mitch McConnell – Republican
from Kentucky
Senate Majority Whip
Sen. Richard Durbin – Democrat from
Illinois
Senate Minority Whip
Sen. Jon Kyl – Republican from Arizona
House Majority Whip
Cong. Kevin McCarthy – Republican
from California
House Minority Whip
Cong. Steny Hoyer – Democrat from
Maryland
Party Caucuses (Party Conference)
Closed meeting of each party in each
house
 Deals with party organization
 Selection of party leaders
 Discussion on committee selection
 Issues of party strategy

Committee Chairpersons
The head of each standing committee in
each chamber of congress
 Decides when the committee will meet,
what bills they will discuss, when to hold
public hearings and which witnesses to
hear
 Chairperson will try to see their
committee’s bills all the way through
passage

The Seniority Rule
An unwritten custom in Congress
 The most important jobs and committee
assignment go to the those with the
longest records of service to Congress
 Particularly important in committees
since that is where most of the difficult
work of Congress takes place

Seniority Rule Pros
The most experienced and respected
people will hold the most important jobs
 Easy rule to apply
 Eliminates bickering among party
members

Seniority Rule Cons
Ignores ability or someone’s specialty
 Discourages young members
 Members who have been in Congress
for a long time might be out of touch
with the wishes of the people
 No new people with new ideas

End of 12.1
More Later
Making Laws
12.3 & 12.4
Origin of Bills

Bills come from many sources.
– Exec. Branch Agencies
– Industry
– Special Interest Groups
– Private Citizens
– Members of Congress
House or Senate
A Bill can begin its process in either the
House or Senate.
 Depends on who is sponsoring the Bill.
 Tax Bills MUST begin in the House of
Representatives.

Public and Private Bills
Public Bills apply to the nation as a
whole.
 Private Bills apply to a select group who
are uniquely affected by the Bill.

Riders and Pork Barrel
Additions to a Bill that are unrelated to
the intended subject.
 Items that are unlikely to pass on their
own. Included in an unrelated Bill so as
to “ride” through the process and
become law.
 Usually a pet project of particular
members of Congress.
 Pork Barrel Spending!!

Christmas Trees
A Bill with LOTS of Riders.
 Gifts for everyone.

Introduction
Each Bill is numbered and given a title.
 Copies are made for each
Representative.
 Entered into The Record.
 The Bill is read to the whole House.

The Speaker
The House Speaker assigns the Bill to a
Committee.
 Has some discretion (flexibility) where
he/she sends the Bill.
 This can have a huge impact on the
chances for the Bill’s survival.

Standing Committee Sieve
Standing Committees receive a huge
amount of Bills.
 They must sift through them and focus
on only the Bills with the most merit or
importance.
 All others are “killed”.

“Pigeon Holed”
Not accepted and not rejected.
 Put on a shelf and never acted upon.
 Requires a majority vote in the House to
save it.

Subcommittees
Needed to divide up the overall
workload of the committee as a whole.
 Research, hearings, debates, mark ups
and revisions.
 Only when subcommittee work is done,
the Bill will be considered by the
committee as a whole.

Quorum
The minimum number of Representative
that must be present for the House to
do business (vote).
 Quorum Calls – Force Reps. to drop
what they are doing and go to the floor
of the House.

Consideration by the HOUSE
Read, Debated, Amended, rewritten.
 Finally voted on!
 On to the Senate.

Lawmaking in the
Senate
12.4 Notes
Formality and Strictness Rules

Senate rules are less formal and less
strict. More “gentlemanly” behavior is
just assumed.
Time and Subject Rules
Strict rules in the House.
 Senate:

– No limits on speaking time.
– No limits on subject.
– Only two speeches per Senator per day.
The Filibuster
A notorious feature of the Senate.
 Filibuster – an attempt to “talk a Bill to
death”, or at least to delay a vote.
 No time limits on a Senators speech.
He/She can talk for as long as they are
able.
 Delay a vote or force changes to a Bill.


Effectiveness
– Very effective
– Many compromises are reached just by the
threat of a filibuster.
Filibuster Video Clips
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0
,32068,62728779001_1955614,00.html
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVc2
kMXF_8c
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a94c
m4Fv_34
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIG
-kfT9bI

Fixing the Filibuster
 http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/fi
xing-thefilibuster/6wtibiv?cpkey=bf5dae20-e26c467e-a023da6634bebded%7C%7C%7C%7C

Cloture
The Cloture Rule, can essentially put an
end to a filibuster.
 Requires 3/5 vote of the Senate (60)
votes.
 Senators hesitate to call for Cloture.

– Honor of Senate tradition
– They may want to use the filibuster
themselves later
Conference Committees
A committee with members of both the
House and the Senate
 Must make House and Senate versions
of a bill identical.
 After leaving Conference, the bill must
again be passed in both houses before
being sent to the President.

The President’s Options
1. Sign the Bill and it becomes law.
 2. Veto the Bill. Send it back to
Congress with objections.

– 2/3 vote in both houses to override a veto;
not likely.

3. Do nothing for 10 days and the Bill
becomes law automatically.
– What purpose?
4. Pocket Veto: Do nothing and
Congress’ session ends before the 10
day rule. The Bill dies.
 What purpose?

The Line Item Veto
Line Item Veto: Get out a marker and
cross out items that the President does
not like, then sign it into law.
 Line Item Veto Pros?
 Line Item Veto Cons?
