Operations of Congress

1. Operations of Congress

2. Presiding Officers • HoR: Speaker of the House • Selected by majority party • HoR also has House Majority Leader – but the Speaker is true leader • Presides over HoR meetings • Is expected to be impartial in the way meetings are run • Great deal of power – recognizing speakers, referring bills to committees, answering procedural questions, declaring outcome of votes • Names members to all select (special) committees & conference committees (committee that meets w/ Senate to resolve differences in legislation) • Votes only to break a tie • Appoints temporary speakers (speakers pro tempore) • Is 3rd in line to succeed the president

3. Senate: Vice President • Called President of the Senate • Symbolic office • Senate often chooses president pro tempore (temporary presiding officer) to run the meetings • Only specific power: break ties • Can also: • Monitor debates • Count electoral votes • Senate: Senate Majority Leader • Holds the real power in the Senate

4. Other Leaders… • HoR: • Majority Leader: chosen by majority party, develops party goals & policies • Majority Whip: assistant to majority leader, pressures members to support party goals • Committee Chairpersons: from majority party, establish legislative calendar & schedule committee hearings • Rules Committee Members: HoR leaders selected to make rules for legislative debates & amendment options for bills; control final agenda for HoR floor • Minority Leader: chosen by minority leader • Minority Whip: assistant to minority leader & liaison to minority party members • House Republican Conference: guides GOP bills & agendas • House Democratic Caucus: guides Democratic bills & agendas

5. Senate: • President pro tempore: (pro tem); required by Constitution; serves when VP is unavailable • Generally ceremonial role given to majority party Senator w/ longest tenure • Majority Leader: elected by majority party to lead procedures, set agenda • Majority Assistant: (aka Senate whip); same duties as House majority whip • Committee Chairpersons: from majority party, usually assigned through seniority • Chairperson has power over when & how (& whether) bills are debated • Minority Leader: leads interests of minority party • Minority Assistant: (Senate whip); same duties as House whips • Conference Caucus: guides policies and agendas for the parties

6. The Committee System • Standing Committees • Permanent committees to work on annual items, proposed bills • 20 in the HoR, 17 in the Senate • Examples: Banking (S), Foreign Affairs (S), Energy (B), Gov’tal Affairs (S), Appropriations (B), Ways & Means (H), Judiciary (S) • Most representatives members of at least 1 standing committee or 2 subcommittees • Influence legislation by holding hearings & voting on amendments to legislation that has been referred to the committee • After 1994 elections: new rule limited terms of House committee chairs to no more than 6 years, reduced number of committees & their staffs

7. Joint Committees • Members of HoR & Senate gather basic information for Congress on variety of subjects • Select/Special Committees • Temporary & set up to investigate or research an issue • Are disbanded when issue or conflict is resolved • Conference Committees • Includes members of HoR & Senate • Has duty of reconciling differences between HoR & Senate versions of a bill • Presents both w/ a united bill

8. Key Committees of Congress Hor committees senate • Appropriations • Controls federal expenditures • Budget • Oversight of gov’t spending • Rules • Debates rules, bill sequence, sets rules of amendments • Ways & Means • Taxation legislation, Social Security • Appropriations • Sets federal discretionary spending programs • Budget • Oversight of gov’t agencies & spending • Finance • Similar to Ways & Means Committee in HoR • Foreign Relations • Policy debates & treaty votes • Judiciary • Questions, possibly confirms judges & justices

9. Who serves on which committee? • Majority party of each house holds all committee chairs • Majority party holds majority of seats on each committee • On important committees – majority holds 2/3 of seats • Generally, committee member of majority party w/ most seniority is chair; senior member from minority party becomes ranking member • Ranking member becomes chair if minority party becomes majority • Assignments in HoR & Senate determined by leadership & a caucus of the 2 political parties • Members attempt to get on committees that will do their constituents the most good, get them reelected

10. Committees serve as mini-legislatures • Investigate & debate bills that due to time constraints that couldn’t receive same consideration by whole house • Often assigns the bill to a subcommittee for initial consideration • Has been recent proliferation of subcommittees, which often determine how $ is spent, therefore are powerful! • Fate of a new bill depends on more than content • Membership of the committee that considers it is crucial • Bill sponsors attempt to draft bills in a way to steer them toward sympathetic committees • Must also decide which house of Congress should consider a bill 1st – have it introduced in the more sympathetic house • House has more committees than Senate • However, House members tend to be more specialized b/c they serve on fewer committees

11. Committee Functions • The way it works: • Most bills die almost immediately in subcommittee due to lack of interest • Unless committee member takes special interest • Investigations: • Calling interested parties & expert witnesses w/ info • Lobbyists often testify as expert witnesses • Can subpoena reluctant witnesses • Committees begin amending & rewriting sections of bills – markup sessions • Will sometimes refuse to vote a bill out, hoping to keep it from being considered by the house • Bill stuck in committee is called pigeonholed • Parliamentary mechanism to force a bill out of committee is called a discharge petition

12. Additional responsibilities to writing laws • Oversight of many bureaucratic agencies, depts • Heads of regulatory agencies (the ones that enforce the laws) often appear to give testimony before committees w/ oversight jurisdiction • If agency has not followed intent of the law, head will be questioned • Hear testimony from agency heads asking for $, personnel

13. Nonlegislative Responsibilities • Constitutional amendments • Election of president & VP if no electoral college majority • Impeachment • Approval of executive appointments • Public education • Increase public awareness of gov’t & societal problems • Representing constituents w/in the gov’t • Scholarships, federal contracts • Suggestions about how to improve gov’t • Act on complaints about federal services • Congressional oversight • Gather info useful for formation of legislation • Review operations and budgets of executive depts & independent regulatory agencies • Conduct investigations through committee hearings

14. Legislative Actions • Distributive legislation: distribution of goods/services to general population • Examples: highway construction, health research, defense appropriations • Redistributive legislation: taking $ from 1 segment through taxes & giving it back to another through entitlements • Example: Welfare, Social Security • Regulatory legislation: sets limits on groups & individuals • Examples: Clean Air & Water Acts, setting requirements for industry & states to protect the environment

15. Legislative Process • Framers intended it to be a slow, complicated process, to generate compromise • Sponsor of the bill: Whoever introduces a bill • Can only be proposed by a member of Congress • Same bill must pass both houses of Congress • But process is different • HoR has many rules on debate b/c is so big • Senate has fewer rules

16. HoR Rules Committee • Responsible for determining how long a bill will be debated & whether to allow an open or closed rule for amending the bill • Is considered most powerful committee in HoR • Controls crucial aspects of legislative process • Can kill a bill by delaying a vote or allowing opponents to add killer amendments • Can bring bills up for immediate floor vote

17. Senate regulations • No time restraints on debate • Filibuster – tactic used to delay vote on a bill & tie up work of the Senate • Usually by a senator making a speech that continues for hours • Can also happen w/o actual continuous speeches, but Majority Leader may require an actual traditional filibuster • No closed rules for amending legislation • Amendments = riders; do not have to be relevant to a bill • Allows senators to add amendments to prohibit actions of executive agencies or “pet projects” (pork barrel) for their home state • Earmarks: provisions w/in legislation that appropriate $ to a specific project • Appear in appropriation bills & authorization bills

18. After debates… bill passes HoR & Senate in different forms • Both versions then sent to Conference Committee • Members come from respective committees of 2 houses that wrote the bill • Tries to negotiate compromise bill, acceptable to both houses of Congress • Failure to pass a bill from conference committee kills a bill • Compromise version goes back to both houses for another vote • If it passes both houses, is sent to president

19. President’s options • Signs the bill into law • Does nothing for 10 days: • Bill becomes law w/o signature • If congressional session ends in those 10 days – bill is pocket vetoed • Requires entire legislative process again • Veto the entire bill • Must give his reasons in writing & return the bill to house of origination • If he vetoes… Congress can… • Make the required changes • Attempt to override the president’s veto by a 2/3 vote • If house of origination does nothing, the bill dies

20. Modern Additions & Revisions to Procedures • Traditional committee procedures for debates, amendments, and votes have been modified by Congress to allow for more efficiency • Fast tracking: no amendments allowed; take the bill as is, or not; b/c amendments are often lengthy & difficult to debate • Slow tracking: sequential committee hearings are required; usually a sign a bill being delayed through lengthier processing • Multiple referrals: many bills need to be seen by different committees, so can be sent to these committees simultaneously

21. Outside amendments: revisions may be made by congressional leaders outside of committee meetings • Unanimous consent rules: allow for usual voting procedures to be suspended, as long as no single member objects (avoids long vote counts) • King of the Hill votes: several amendment versions voted on in order; as long as amendments pass, voting continues; when an amendment fails, the last one to win becomes version selected for the bill • Queen of the Hill votes: gives amendment w/ biggest margin of approval the victory over all other amendments

22. Where Legislation can be Blocked Leaders can assign bills to openly hostile committees or committee chairpersons Chairpersons can delay the bill’s consideration (pigeonhole) Subcommittee & committee members can vote no (done often) Subcommittee and committee amendments can change the bill so much that the original sponsors w/draw their support Lobby groups can create opposition & pressure to kill the bill Debate rules can case changes in votes or amendments Members of the Senate can filibuster or threaten filibuster; can force compromises when the minority cannot stop a vote in any other manner Individual senators can place a “hold” on any bill & keep it from being debated on the floor Floor votes in either chamber can be against a bill Conference committee can change the bill enough to change support in the 2 chambers President can veto/pocket veto & Congress is unable to override

23. Reform • Congress has lowest approval ratings of the 3 branches • But every election – keep sending in the incumbents • Suggestions to improve & reform organization & productivity of Congress… poll points out following beliefs: • Gridlock is a problem • Is seen as inefficient, b/c of legislative process, most bills never see light of day • Want reforms to streamline committees, coordination of information between houses, require some kind of action on all bills

24. Congress does not reflect views of constituents • Majority believe they should do what is in the national interest rather than what constituents want • Suggested that w/ Internet – representatives should interactively get info from constituents before voting on crucial issues • Representatives take advantage of their perks • After abuse of House franking & checking services, many felt House members unethical • Representatives taking $ from PACs & double standard of application of laws between Congressmen & the public • Ethics bills have been passed, public disclosure required for income & property holdings

25. Representatives running for office beholden to special interest groups & PACs • Some state voted to establish term limits, ruled unconstitutional by S Court • Congress delegates too much power to president OR tried to take control becoming an imperial Congress • Should Congress let the president & executive agencies make important decisions? • Should Congress take an adversarial approach by suing threats of legislative vetoes, demanding balanced budget, rejecting presidential appointments & treaties, overriding vetoes, challenging president’s authority in the area of foreign policy?

26. Contract with America • Republican majority of HoR elected 1994 campaigned on platform “Contract with America” • Blueprint for legislative action in first 100 days • Balanced budget amendment & line item veto • Crime bill that funds police & prisons over social programs • Real welfare reform • Family reinforcement measures that strengthen parental rights in education & child support enforcement • Family tax cuts • Stronger national defense • Rise in Social Security earnings limit to stop penalizing working seniors • Job creation and regulatory reform policies • Common sense legal reforms to stop frivolous lawsuits • First vote on term limits for members of Congress

27. Republican majority succeeded in passing a number of pieces of legislation to reform HoR by cutting number of committees, setting term limits for committee chairs, changing rules of the HoR • Senate stymied HoR’s attempt w/ a number of provisions modified or defeated • One significant success: mandate representatives to follow same civil rights legislation & minimum wage laws as the public • Struck chord w/ public – increase in approval ratings

28. By 1996: Republican agenda was less extreme • Dems & Clinton reached compromise on welfare reform, healthcare, minimum wage, balancing federal budget • Impeachment trial in 1998 • Relations between Congress & public deteriorated again • Public relationship w/ Congress on a see-saw • Especially when it comes to approval for Congress as a whole versus their particular representatives