CONGRESS 101 The Legislative Branch

1. CONGRESS 101The Legislative Branch CHAPTER 12 AP US Government and Politics

2. Congress-Conflict and Controversy • Congress is where our nation’s political squabbles are played out. The good, the bad and the ugly of our political debates echo throughout the capitol dome. • Those who criticize Congress say that the influence of lobbying leads to low ethical standards which makes it difficult to enact meaningful legislation. • Those who defend Congress say that because it is a representative body, it mirrors the desires and beliefs of the people. And, if it fails to enact meaningful change, it is simply because the people do not really want change to occur.

3. The Paradox of Congress • According to surveys, Congress as a whole, is not held in high esteem by the American people. We generally have very negative feelings towards them and the job that they do. • But, when polled about the job performance their own specific member of Congress, constituents generally give them high approval ratings. • In other words, we like “our guy” (or gal) and think they do a fine job. It is all the other Congress members that are corrupt and unethical!

4. The Varied Roles of Congress • Aside from its obvious ability to make laws, Congress has numerous non-legislative powers as well: • Proposing amendments to the US Constitution • Declare war • Impeach the president or other officials • Decide presidential disability (25th Amd.) • Determine whether a member has been properly elected and regulates their conduct • Plus other duties specific to just the House or Senate (will be discussed in a later slide)

5. The Varied Roles of Congress • Congress can also oversee actions of the Executive branch and the individual agencies. (Legislative oversight) • Congress has the power of the purse – they determine who gets how much money and how it can be spent. • Congress can resolve (or promote) conflict by the legislation it passes. They help to integrate various interests by acting as a referee.

6. House: 243 Republicans 192 Democrats Senate: 51 Democrats 47 Republicans 2 Independents 112th Congress (begins 1-3-11)

7. Leadership Positions in Congress • Speaker of the House – John Boehner (R-OH) • House Majority Leader – Eric Cantor (R-VA) • House Minority Leader – Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) • KY House District #4 – Geoff Davis (R-KY) • President of the Senate – Vice President Joe Biden (D-DE) • President Pro-tempore of the Senate – Daniel Inouye (D-HI) • Senate Majority Leader – Harry Reid (D-NV) • Senate Minority Leader - Mitch McConnell (R-KY) • Senior Senator from KY – Mitch McConnell (R-KY) • Junior Senator from KY – Rand Paul (R-KY)

8. The Life of a Legislator • Salary: $174K; Speaker $223K; other leaders $193K • Staff: Budgets determined by state population; HR Reps – 14-18 staffers; Senate – 25-35 staffers • Constituent services: http://geoffdavis.house.gov/ConstituentServices/ • Travel: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/14/nancy-pelosi-tightens-con_n_576269.html • Life in the DC area: http://dcist.com/2009/01/even_members_of_congress_think_dc_h.php • Life at home: http://geoffdavis.house.gov/District/map.htm

9. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES • Two year terms – no term limits • 435 members, fixed by law • Larger legislative body than the Senate – has more formal rules and procedures. • Name recognition among constituents not as strong as with Senators • Was not originally conceived to have a great deal of power – the Senate was to be more aristocratic to “keep down the turbulency of democracy.” • Are policy experts in one or two areas of policy – know a lot about a few things!

10. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES • House seats are considered “safer” for re-election than Senate seats. • Because they represent fewer constituents than their Senate counterparts, House members can and do deliver more national services to their constituents at the local level. (A more personal touch = rewards at the ballot box.)

11. Formal Powers Preside over the House Recognize or ignore those who wish to speak Appoint committee chairs Appoint Rules committee members Appoint members of special or select committees Refer all bills to one or more committee But he can’t do it alone… Majority Leaders and Whips are the chief legislative aides to the Speaker. They round up the party votes so it speaks with one voice. Rules Committee controls what is debated by placing time limits on debate and stating whether or not amendments can be made in or out of committee THE POWER OF THE SPEAKER

12. The 4 House Calendars • Union – directly or indirectly appropriates money (expenditure) or raises revenue (via taxes) • House – most go here; these are non-revenue bills • Private – bills affecting certain individuals, groups, and deal with private matters like land titles, immigration, claims against the government • Discharge – motions to force a bill out of committee and moved immediately to the House floor but only if 218 signatures can be rounded up – rarely successful, except of course, when Hollywood does it. (i.e. the film “Legally Blonde 2”,where it is the major plot point)

13. THE SENATE • Smaller than the House – 100 members – 6 year terms. • Originally chosen by each state’s legislature. The 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of Senators by the voters. • Are policy generalists – know a little bit about a lot of policy areas! • Has less formal rules and procedures and they are more non-partisan. (They tend to compromise with each other more than House members do.)

14. THE SENATE • Prior to the advent of television, the seniority system prevailed in the Senate – senior senators were “show horses” and junior senators were “work horses”. • Now, it is an incubator for presidential hopefuls. • For example, in recent history, Bob Dole, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Rick Santorum all used their senate years to gain the experience they needed on those “generalist” issues to be able to mount a serious presidential candidacy.

15. THE SENATE IN ACTION • All bills are placed on one calendar via a unanimous consent vote. But since a single senator can object and derail the process, the majority and minority leader discuss the vote beforehand to avoid any derailments. • Most of the time, the Senate allows unlimited debate. Thefilibusteris used as a tactic to stall voting. One can speak nonstop for as long as one wishes. The longest filibuster came from Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC, later R-SC) in 1957. He spoke for 24 hours and 17 minutes to hold up a Civil Rights bill. Only a cloture vote can stop a filibuster (60 votes needed to be filibuster proof). (Known as Rule XXII) • Now, a “gentleman’s filibuster” has been agreed upon – 9am to 5pm, and the speaker can resume speaking the next day.

16. COMMITTEES IN CONGRESS • Committee meetings is where the bulk of the real work is done. Both the House and Senate have committees and some are more powerful than others. • In the House, the most powerful are: Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means. • In the Senate, the most powerful are: Appropriations, Finance, Foreign Relations, and Armed Services • Both the Senate and House Judiciary committees are fairly powerful and often get much media coverage. • All committees are divided into subcommittees and all committee chairs and subcommittee chairs are based on the seniority system.

17. TYPES OF COMMITTEES • Standing committee – permanent • Special or select committees – can be permanent or temporary • Joint committees – can be temporary or permanent – usually deal with economic or tax issues • Conference committee – temporary – used when the House and Senate have different versions of essentially the same bill and a compromise needs to be reached

18. A FEW MORE THINGS ABOUT CONGRESS • A legislative vetois when Congress asserts their authority to strike down anything done by the executive branch. The power to do this is written into the law itself. • Example: the War Powers Act of 1973 said that Congress could limit the presidents power to conduct military engagements. More on that in the Presidency chapter.

19. So here we go!Hold on to your seats! How a Bill Becomes a Law!

20. INTRODUCING A BILL IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Most bills can be introduced in EITHER the House or the Senate. The only exception are revenue bills, which MUST begin in the House of Representatives.

21. A BILL IS INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE BY DROPPING IT INTO THE “HOPPER”.

22. TYPES OF BILLS Public Bills--apply to the entire nation Private Bills--apply to specific areas or a specific group of people Joint Resolution- carries the force of law, used to propose Constitutional amendments

23. After the bill is placed in the hopper, it is numbered, read & referred to committee by the Speaker of the House. Like our own “Judy the Traffic Cop” here in the Fort, nothing and I mean NOTHING happens in the House without the Speaker’s say-so! “Judy the Traffic Cop goes to D.C”…..or “Just How Powerful is the Speaker Anyway?”

24. HOW THE SPEAKER CAN “MESS” WITH A BILL Multiple Referrals--sending a bill to multiple committees Simultaneous referral--several committees get the bill at the same time Sequential referral--sending the bill to one committee, then another, then another, etc. Good way to kill a bill!!!!!

25. COMMITTEES Where the ACTION is!!! This is where bills are really studied & worked on. Committees hold hearings to gather information about a bill.

26. COMMITTEES All committees are chaired by a member of the majority party. The majority party has more members on each committee. The chairperson decides when the committee will meet & sets the agenda for the committee--decides which bills will be discussed.

27. COMMITTEE ACTION Pass the bill as is. Amend the bill--it must go through “mark up” if this happens. Kill the bill. Rewrite the bill--it goes to the floor as a “committee” bill. Recommend the bill unfavorably. Pigeonhole the bill--this means that it sits in a pile & the committee never gets to it.

28. So What are my Chances? • Approximately what percentage of proposed bills become law? • A. 12% • B. 9% • C. 5% • D. 2% • E. Less than 2% • Answer is: C. 5%

29. DISCHARGE PETITION You use a “discharge petition” to get your bill out of committee if it’s been pigeonholed. This forces the committee to take action on the bill & move it on to the next stage. You must have a majority of members’ signatures to get a discharge petition. Discharge petitions can be used in the House ONLY!!!

30. RULES COMMITTEE This is the next step in the House of Representatives. This is a VERY powerful committee because ALL bills go through this committee and it decides which bills go on to the floor for debate. The majority party has a 2 to 1 majority on this committee.

31. RULES COMMITTEE OPTIONS Open Rule--this means that the bill can be amended on the floor during debate. Closed Rule- no amendments will be allowed during floor debate--it must be passed or killed as is. No Rule- the bill is dead without a rule of debate.

32. FLOOR DEBATE IF a bill is given a Rule of Debate by the Rules Committee, it is placed on one of the aforementioned Calendars. The Calendar is the order that bills will come up on the floor for debate. -Bills are placed on the Calendar, it’s not first-come, first-served.

33. FLOOR DEBATE This gives all of the members of the House a chance to debate the bill. There must be at least 218 members present. This is a quorum.

34. FLOOR DEBATE A bill gets its 2nd reading, then the floor is open for debate. When debate is concluded, the bill is read for a 3rd time. Each member may speak for up to 1 hour.

35. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES If it isn’t a controversial bill, they will use a “voice vote”. If it could be a close vote, the House will use a “roll- call vote”. This is computerized.

37. THE NEXT STEP If the bill passes, it goes to the Senate. If the bill does not receive a majority of votes--at least 218--it’s dead!! The bill must be reintroduced & start the process all over

38. THE SENATE The bill is referred to committee so that members of the Senate can now study the bill.

39. COMMITTEE ACTION The committee in the Senate has the same options as the committee in the House. They can kill it, pass it, rewrite it, amend it or recommend it unfavorably.

40. FLOOR DEBATE If the bill passes the committee with a majority vote, it goes directly to the floor of the Senate. The Senate does not have the Rules Committee like the House.

41. FLOOR DEBATE Floor debate in the Senate is similar to floor debate in the House. The bill gets its 2nd reading, is debated, gets its 3rd reading and is voted on.

42. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOUSE & SENATE FLOOR DEBATE Amendments do not have to be related to the bill. (“Germane”) In the Senate, there is no time limit, so Senators can filibuster. This means that you can “talk a bill to death”. Once you have been given permission to speak, you can talk about anything The filibuster is popularized by Hollywood in the 1940 classic film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”.

43. THE FILIBUSTER As long as someone is talking, no business can take place. The filibuster is used by the minority party to get the majority party to compromise. The Republicans filibustered the Health Care bill before it was ultimately passed. A filibuster can be ended by invoking cloture. It takes 60 votes to invoke cloture, so it is VERY difficult to end a filibuster.

44. THE VOTE IN THE SENATE Senators also vote with a voice vote or a roll call vote. The difference between the Senate & the House is the Senate’s roll call vote is not computerized. The Secretary of the Senate calls each Senator’s name--twice.

45. OPTIONS If the bill is passed, in the exact same form as passed by the House,the bill goes to the President.

46. OPTIONS If the Senate makes a small change in the bill, it goes back to the floor of the House. If the House approves the change, THEN it goes to the President. If the House doesn’t approve the bill, it is dead

47. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE If the Senate makes significant changes in the bill, it is sent to a Conference Committee. This committee has members of the House & Senate on it. They meet & come up with a compromise bill.

48. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE The compromise bill is then sent to the floor of the House & the floor of the Senate. If BOTH chambers approve, the bill goes to the President. If one or both vote the bill down, it’s dead!!

49. TO THE PRESIDENT!!!! (which, according to Joe Biden, is a big ‘effin deal!) Once the President receives the bill, he has 10 days to take action on the bill.

50. PRESIDENT’S OPTIONS He can sign the bill into law. He can veto the bill & it goes back to Congress. They can override his veto with a 2/3 vote. He can allow it to become a law without his signature OR…