Unit 3 Lesson 4 Congress in Action

1. Unit 3 Lesson 4Congress in Action

2. Terms • Opening day • Speaker of the House • President of the Senate • Pro tempore • Majority leader • Minority leader • Whip • Seniority rule • Standing committee • Filibuster • Voice vote • Standing vote • One-fifth of a quorum • Roll Call • Veto • Pocket veto

3. **** ARTICLE I **** • Article I of the U.S. Constitution creates the legislative branch • Creates a bicameral legislature • Establishes qualifications for membership • Est. powers of the legislature • Est. Specific powers of the Senate and House

4. Opening Day • opening day in Congress is in every other _____. • All the elected members of the House come together in the capitol • still have NOT been sworn in. • just members-elect of the House. • elect the ____ as their permanent presiding officer. • the ___ _ _ ___ is a long-standing member of the _____ party.

5. The Presiding Officers • The ________presides over the House of Representatives • is • Once ___ • The House is then _____. • The Democrats the___of the center aisle • Republicans the ___ of the center aisle. • Lesser officers are then chosen, • rule of the House are adopted. • These _____have been developed over the last 200 years

6. John Boehner – Ohio (R) Speaker of the House

7. More About the Speaker of the House Speaker of House : • Keeps order • No one speaks until the speaker recognizes them • refers bills to committee • keeps points of order • Roberts rule of order • names members to select and conference committees • sign all bills and resolutions

8. Nancy Pelosi (D) CA FIRST WOMAN SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE Speaker of the House 2008-2012 Fired in 2012

9. The Presiding Officers • Since the Senate is a ___ ___, it does not face the _______ issues of the House. • 1ST day of the Senate ___, shortened day. • ________________________. • the Senate does NOT choose its own presiding officer. • not _____ of the Senate. • less powerful than the Speaker of the House. • _____speak on the Senate floor. • ______in the event of a split vote.

10. Vice President is also the president of the Senate – Joe Biden (D)

11. President Pro Tempore • In the Senate, it is really the president ___ _____who is the most powerful person. • He/She takes the place of the V.P. and is a member of the Senate and is considered another presiding officer. • elected by the Senate and is always a member of the _____ party. • behind the Speaker of the House in line for the presidency.

12. Pro Tempore: Patrick Leahy (D) Vermont

13. Other Officers • Majority and Minority Floor Leaders: • not official positions but are elected by the party to which they are affiliated. • try to carry out the decisions of their parties. • The majority leaders are the leaders in each house of the party with the most people in that house. The minority leader is the leader of the party that is not in the majority. • Whip: Each house and party has a whip. • These individuals check on the number of votes on a particular matter. • They make sure members are present for important votes.

14. Senate Leaders Majority Leader Harry Reid (D ) NV Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY)

15. Senate Whips Majority Whip Richard Durbin (IL) Minority Whip John Cornyn (TX)

16. Committees • Most of the work of Congress is accomplished in committees. • different congressional committees for different areas of interest. • Ex: Senate Armed Services Committee deals with legislation having to do with the armed services of the United States. • The head of each committee is very influential. • The SENIORITY RULE: an unwritten custom that the most important committee chairs will be given to the members with the most seniority. • members with more seniority tend to sit on more important committees. • When a new Congress begins, the majority party in each house assigns ALL members to several committees.

17. Committees • Each House committee has from 10 to 75 members • Each Senate committee has 14 to 28 members. • impossible to overstate how important committees are in the running of Congress and the passing of legislation.

18. Standing Committees A standing committee is one that is permanent. A new bill is sent to the appropriate committee. committees hold hearing in order to decide whether a bill should be recommended for passage or not. Bills can “die” in committee It is all of this that makes committees so powerful.

19. Select Committees and Joint Committees • Select committees, sometimes called special committees, are usually temporary and are created to deal with a specific issue. • These issues are usually an important current matter. • Senate Select Committee on Aging. • These select committees can become unbelievably important. • This has tended to occur when Congress has decided to investigate possible corruption, particularly in the executive branch.

20. Select Committees. • The Senate Watergate Committee • Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition and the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. (arms for hostages deal)

21. Joint and Conference Committees • Joint Committees are ones composed of members of both houses of Congress. • They may be investigative and temporary. • Conference Committees are joint committees whose purpose is to iron-out differences between House and Senate bills. • Bills must be identical!

22. How A Bill Becomes a Law

23. Sponsorship • A Bill can be sponsored by a member of either house of Congress

24. House Introduction • A Bill is introduced to the house of Representatives

25. How a Bill Becomes Law A. 1st Reading B. Speaker sends to the appropriate committee. • committees sifts through bills to find those that they believe are worthwhile. • MOST BILLS DIE IN COMMITTEE! • if a committee pigeonholes a bill that the majority of the House or Senate wants to vote on, they blast a bill out of committee using a discharge petition. • this is rarely tried and rarely successful. • Many will call for a straight “up or down vote” on the floor. • Note: most committees have sub-committees. • sub-committees do most of the work for committees.

26. House Committee Assignment • The Speaker of the House assigns the bill to a committee for study. There are 20 such standing, or permanent, committees in the House. • In committee, the bill may be: • tabled(laid Aside) • reported out to the house unchanged • revised and released for consideration.

27. How a Bill Becomes Law • If a bill is recommended by a committee, it is put on one of several calendars. • Specific days of the month are reserved for considering certain calendars. • ex: bills from the consent calendar are considered on the first and third Mondays of each month. • However, it is not quite so simple. • Before a bill can be voted on, the Rules Committee must create a rule by which the bill will be voted on. • If it does not create a rule, the bill will effectively be killed. • Occasionally, the House will vote to suspend its rules for a day. • a bill may pass in a single day, but this is rare.

28. Committees Then Vote to Do One of Five Things: 1. Report the bill favorably with a “do pass” recommendation. now the Speaker’s job to get it passed. 2. Refuse to report the bill…pigeonhole it. 3. Report the bill in amended form. This means the committee has changed the bill, but is now recommending passage. 4. Report the bill with an unfavorable recommendation. This is rare. In this case the committee is saying that it does not like the bill, but it believes that the entire House or Senate should be able to vote on the matter. They may also be afraid to kill the bill for political reasons. 5. Report a committee bill: committee recommends passage of a whole new bill that it has substituted for the original bill.

29. House debate and vote • The Bill is debated, amended if necessary, and voted on by the members of the House of Rep. • The bill must receive a majority of votes in order to pass. • If it passes, it goes to the Senate for consideration.

30. Debate • Debates are then held in the House or Senate. • In the House, there is a time limit on how longer a member may speak and members (in the House) may not stray from the topic at hand. • The Senate has no such time limit

31. Senate Introduction • The Bill goes to the senate. • The procedure followed by the Senate is similar to the procedure followed by the HofR.

32. How a Bill Becomes Law • If a bill is lucky enough to finally reach the floor of the House or Senate, it receives a second reading, • Minor bills are read and easily passed. • Major bills go through another complex process. The House or Senate will no longer be sitting as itself but as a committee called the COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. • Each section is read, debated, and possibly amended. • Once all the pages have been read and dealt with the House or Senate dissolves itself as the Committee of the Whole and become the House or Senate again.

33. Senate Committee Assignment • The President of the Senate assigns the bill to a senate committee for study. • There are 15 standing committees in the senate. • In committee, the bill may be • Tabled • revised • Released • be reported out of the Senate unchanged

34. Filibuster • Filibuster: An attempt to talk a bill to death. • In the Senate debate is not limited. Occasionally a member will try to talk a bill to death. • In one case, a Senator spoke for fifteen continuous hours. • The Senate tries to end filibusters through all-night sessions, or enforcing obscure rules, such as members must stand.

35. Longest filibuster in history He conducted the longest filibuster ever by a lone senator, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, nonstop.

36. Senate debate and Vote • Senate debates the Bill, makes necessary amendments, and puts it to a vote. • The Bill may pass, fail to get a majority of the votes, or it may be amended. • An unchanged bill will go to the President for his signature

37. House and Senate Committee Meeting • The amended bill goes to a conference committee made up of members from both houses, so the house and senate versions can be reconciled.

38. The Vote Finally the House or Senate is ready to vote. In a large bill, each amendment is voted on separately. Four Types of Votes: 1. Voice votes…ayes and noes (most common) 2. Standing vote…members stand 3. One-fifth of a quorum…individual members are counted by their party 4. Roll Call… all members are counted by the House (also called a record vote). Note: Roll calls and quorum votes are done by computer

39. Final Congressional Approval • The newly amended version goes back to the House and the Senate for final approval.

40. A Bill Becomes Law • For a bill to become law it must pass both houses in identical form. • If it is different, one house may simply give an okay. • However, if no okay is given the bill goes to conference committee, which is made up of members of both houses. • The committee agrees to a compromise and sends its report to both houses, which almost always approves the compromise.

41. A Bill Becomes Law Finally the bill goes to the President. He may take one of several actions: 1. Sign it and the bill becomes law 2. Veto it. This veto may be overridden by a 2/3 vote of Congress (rare) 3. The President may do nothing. In this case, the bill becomes law within ten days (not counting Sundays) of the President receiving it. 4. Pocket Veto. If Congress adjourns its session within 10 days of submitting a bill to the President, and the President does not sign the act, the measure dies.

42. Bill becomes a law • The Bill becomes a law and is given a number the identifies which congress passed it. • For example, a law enacted by the 113th Congress might be named public law 113-125

43. Homework • Read Page 341>>> then answer questions 1-3 at the bottom of the page.