Congress I II Intro Qualifications Power House

Congress I. II. • Intro Qualifications/Power House & Senate Differences III. Organization & Leadership A. Leaders IV. Conc. Key Terms • • • Speaker of…? Majority Leader Whips President Pro-Tempore “Rookie” Senators

House & Senate Differences House Senate Minimum Age: 25 Years 30 Years US Citizenship: 7 year minimum 9 year minimum Term Length: (No term limit) 2 years 6 years Residency: Live in-state; usually in district Live in-state

House & Senate Differences House Number per state: Total Number: Based on population- (today about one per 650, 000) 435 Senate 2 per state 100

House & Senate Differences House Constitutional • Powers: Initiates all tax bills • Initiates all spending bills (Tradition) • Initiates Impeachment/ Removal Senate • Approves or rejects Presidential nominations • Ratifies or rejects treaties • Acts as jury in removal trial

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Key Concept: Majority Party The Majority Party has tremendous influence over all legislation passed—they choose Congressional Leaders House of Representatives Democratic (for now) Senate White House/Presidency Democratic

Leadership in the House of Representatives Speaker of the House Majority Leader Minority Leader Whips

The Speaker of the House • • • Chosen by vote of all House members (member of Majority party) Controls debate & the Calendar: determines which bills come up for discussion Tradition encourages the Speaker to be non-partisan & very often does not vote

Speaker Of The House • The Speaker’s office is located right off the Capital Rotunda

House Majority Leader • Leader of the majority party and in charge of their agenda.

House Minority Leader • Leader of the minority party and in charge of their agenda.

The Party Whips James Clyburn D-SC The current Whip • Whips: Build groups of support for bills to ensure party members vote “properly”

Leadership in the Senate President of the Senate (VP) • Symbolic President Pro-Tempore President Pro-Tem Majority Leader Minority Leader Whips “Rookie Senators” • Symbolic • Most powerful

President of the Senate The Vice President of the United States The VP only votes in the Senate to break a tie Joe Biden (D)

President Pro-Tempore of Senate Qualifications: Member of Majority party who has been in the Senate the longest.

“Rookie” Senators First-term Senators usually serve as “Chair” for debates because there are only 100 members of the US Senate.

Our US Senators Previous Occupation: Training Consultant/Social Worker Education: B. A. MSU 1975; M. S. W. MSU-1975 Religion: Methodist First Elected: 2000 Debbie Stabenow (D)

Our US Senators Previous Occupation: Attorney Education: JD Harvard Univ. , 1959 Religion: Jewish First Elected: 1978 Carl Levin (D)

Congress I. II. • Intro Qualifications/Power House & Senate Differences III. Organization & Leadership A. Leaders IV. Conc. Key Terms • • Speaker of House Whips Majority Leader President Pro. Tempore • “Rookie” Senators