Chapter 12 — Congress Objective Students will

American Government Congress US CAPITOL BUILDING Legislative Branch – “makes laws”

American Government Founders’ Intentions 1. Strongest branch 2. Separation of lawmaking power from executive 3. Bicameralism balances large/small states • House – more connected to people (2 yr term) • Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr term)

American Government 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

American Government Constitutional 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

American Government Evolution of Powers Elastic clause has extended Congress powers • 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)

American Government House Leadership SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE MINORITY LEADER MINORITY WHIP MAJORITY LEADER MAJORITY WHIP

American Government Senate Leadership PRESIDENT of the SENATE (VICE PRESIDENT) PRES. PRO TEMPORE MINORITY LEADER MINORITY WHIP MAJORITY LEADER (MOST POWERFUL) MAJORITY WHIP

American Government 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

American Government Elections • House members directly elected • Senators directly elected after 17 th Amend • House Incumbent advantage – Why? – Name recognition – Proven track record – Franking privileges – free mailing

American Government Illinois Districts

American Government Representation • Malapportionment – unequal population in districts – Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found unequal district pop. unconstitutional – 14 th amend • 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

American Government Luis Guitierrez – (D-IL) Illinois 4 th District

American Government 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

American Government Step 1 – Introduce Bill • Introduced in Senate or House (except tax) • Single or multiple reps can introduce bill

American Government 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

American Government 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

American Government 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

American Government 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

American Government 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

American Government Override

American Government Committees and Subcommittees • Most real work happens here • Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or killed

American Government Types of Committees • Standing committee – handle bills in different policy areas – (ex. Appropriations, Agriculture, Armed Services, Science, etc. ) – most important and have been “standing” (existing) for a long time • Select committee – formed for specific purposes and usually temporary – run investigations (ex. Aging, Intelligence)

American Government Types of Committees • Joint committee – consist of both House and Senate members – similar in purpose to Select committee – Meant to draw attention to issues • Conference committee – consist of both House reps and Senators – formed to hammer out differences between House and Senate versions of similar bills

American Government Committee Membership • Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally • Committee Chairman – Senior member of committee – Controls membership and debate

American Government Work of Committees • 11, 000 bills introduced yearly, most die • Committees can… – Report out favorably/unfavorably – Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss) – Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)

American Government Congressional Caucuses • Groupings of members pushing for similar interests • Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest, Congressional Black, Women’s, Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils, Steel

American Government 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

American Government • 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. )

Section Assessment 1. Describe the leaders of the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate. 2. Describe the process by which a bill becomes a law.

• Summary: In a paragraph, describe what you have learned today.