Congress
Congress. Chapter 13. 1. I. An Institution with Two Chambers and Shared Powers. 2. Our Congress is bicameral (def) is has two chambers (houses). 435 reps, in the House & 100 Senators in the Senate. House members are elected to 2 -year terms & Senators served 6 -year terms.
Congress
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Congress Chapter 13 1
Our Congress is bicameral (def) is has two chambers (houses). 435 reps, in the House & 100 Senators in the Senate. House members are elected to 2-year terms & Senators served 6-year terms. • The avg. member represents 600,000 population & 2 senators from each state. • Congress’s powers are enumerated in Art. II of the Constitution. 3
Congress oversees… The bureaucracy Declares war Regulates interstate commerce Maintains the armed forces And rights laws The Senate… Approves foreign treaties Approves Presidential appointments to Fed. Courts & the executive branch. 4
Congress has power of impeachment (def) the House power to bring charges against government officials; the Senate then, can decide guilt/innocence. • Two Presidents have been impeached, neither removed from office. • The lower chamber is called, “ThePeople’s Chamber”. The Senate is more distant from the voting public. • 49 states have bicameral legislatures, & many nation’s. 5
A. Members share one objective: getting re-elected. • Lawmakers are always concerned about re-election & how to achieve this goal. • They have other goals which are desired by their constituency. • Others want to make names for themselves, or just a position of power. • But 1st, they must win a seat & hold it. 7
B. Members must serve their constituents. • Constituents (def) those who live in an elected official’s jurisdiction. • Successful members work hard for their constituents. • If a conservative represents a liberal population, & votes conservatively, he won’t be in office for long. 8
. • Incumbents (def)--those who currently hold office--have more freedom to do as they please (90% are re-elected!) • Those elected to Congress must also do casework (def) direct help to those in their district or state. • Members try to direct fed. benefits to their home districts & states. 9
C. Serving Constituents • Two Models: • The delegate model (def) representatives vote as the people who elected them would vote. • The trustee model (def) representatives vote as they think best for constituents • The Politico model (def) a combination of both styles. 10
D. Not all constituents are represented equally well. • Many are less important because they cannot vote. • Older Americans have more influence than the younger. • Those who organize, fund, & participate also gain attention. • Interest groups contributed >$25 million to each member’s campaign! 11
Members of the same party have more influence, than other party members. • As more minority members are elected, the same minority to which they belong increases their representation. • . 13
III. How Members Make Group Decisions To be successful, members of Congress must work together. 15
A. Members often disagree with one another. Reasons for disagreement: • Different regions of the country. • Political views • Values/ideologies • Concerns about re-election 16
B. Members confront basic challenges. Challenge 1 – Collecting information • Lawmakers must have access to a large amount of information to not only vote intelligently, but also to please all others involved. • After a lawmaker is convinced by the information he has, she must convince others, if a bill is to become law. 17
Challenge 2 – Acting collectively • Because of the amount of time & money that collecting information takes, some prefer to let others do this work & then take the credit. • Collective action problems arise when (def) people avoid taking action that is best for the whole group, because they don’t want to spend their own resources. • This situation often leads to Congressional inaction. 18
Congress divides its workload of making laws among various committees, which are further divided into sub-committees. Lawmakers in key positions of leadership/authority, who are well-versed in the legislative process, make a big difference in the advancing of legislation or allowing it to die. 20
A. The Committee System • Most of the work in Congress occurs in committees. • Standing Committees • Standing committees are permanent & continue from session to session. • The majority party controls most of the seats on each, & the leadership positions. • Party committees nominate members for seats on standing committees 21
Experienced members receive committee appointments more than new members. • Committees dealing with spending & taxes are considered most powerful. These include… 23
Those dealing with spending & taxes • Also, the Budget Committee. • These approve pork barrel projects (def) $$$ for pet projects of individual members. • “Pork” is inserted as earmarks (def) funding for such specific projects. 24
House Committee on Rules plays a key role in setting the terms of debate & amendment of bills. 25
2. Select Committees • Select committees form for a limited period, to handle matters that do not fit into areas of standing committees. • Example: the House or Senate might create a committees to investigate official misconduct or other unique problems/events. 26
3. Joint Committees • Joint committees include members from both houses; to report on activities of government agencies. • Example: The Joint Committee on Taxation reviews tax policy & operation of the IRS. 27
4. Conference Committees • Conference committees are called to resolve differences in bills. • Only after the House & Senate approve the conf. reports, can legislation be sent to the President. 28
B. Party • Partisanship in Congress has increased in recent years. • More members vote along party lines. • Fewer members vote for centrist or moderate positions. • It is more difficult to forge bipartisanconsensus. • (See Fig. 13-3 & 13-4) 29
C. Position • Parties control leadership positions in both houses, and the majority party always controls the most important offices. 32
1. House Leadership • The most powerful leader in the lower changer is the (def) Speaker of the House. • He/she refers bills to committees & appoints comm. Members for the majority party. • He/she schedules legislation • She/he determines the flow of debate. 33
The majority leader helps set the agenda. • Works to generate support for party positions • Responsible for enforcing party discipline • The minority leader (def) marshals support for the party’s agenda. • Party whips (def) build support for the party’s agenda & makes sure members vote. • Logrolling is helped by whips (def) agreements among members by trading votes so that each benefits from the actions of the other. 34
2. Senate Leadership • The Vice President serves as President of the Senate and can vote, in case of a tie. • Because his role is limited the president pro tempore often serves in his place. (Def) 2nd highest ranking official in the Senate. 35
c. The Senate Majority Leader • Works with a minority leader to schedule bills for floor action and sets limits on debate. • Senators are more independent than representatives; this makes the majority leaders job more difficult. 36
3. Committee Leadership • Committee chairs enjoy substantial powers to facilitate action on bills & resolutions. • Usually, the senior member of the majority party serves as chair. • In the Senate, members of the majority party select committee chairs by secret ballot. • Chairs have come under pressure by party leaders to tow the party line. 37
D. Procedures • Knowing the rules of procedure are necessary in advancing legislation. • House leaders can keep a bill in committee unless opponents obtain a discharge petition. (Def) freeing legislation from a House committee requiring 218 member signatures. 38
House Committee On Rules (def) determines procedures for floor debate on a bill & its amendment rules. • Senate rules are more flexible than House rules. • In a filibuster (def), senators opposed to a bill can hold the floor for an unlimited time, to force supporters to change or withdraw it. 39
Members can end a filibuster thru a procedure known as cloture (def) requires 60 votes to end. • A Senator can place a hold of an issue. (Def) this prevents action until his/her concerns with a bill are addressed. 40
V. Lawmaking The single most important function that Congress serves is to write the nation’slaws.
A. The process is long. • It is a long road that can be followed with Fig. 15-4, “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” • First, a sponsor introduces a bill. (Def) member of Congress who introduces a proposed law. • 2nd, the bill is assigned to the appropriate committee by the Speaker or Pres. of the Senate.
. • Most often, bills are assigned to committees, which oversee the relevant policydomain. • The bill is usually studied by a sub-committee. • The bill receives a markup. (Def) changes and additions to the bill. • In the Senate, the bill moves straight to the floor for debate; in the House, bills go first to the Rules Committee. • It decides how the bill will be debated, how long it will be debated, & if amendments are allowed.
. • Open rule (def) members can make a wide range of amendments to the bill. • Closed rule (def) no amendments may be added.
. • The lawmakers will debate the bill; offer amendments if allowed, & finally vote on the bill. • Only in the Senate may the filibuster or cloture be used to prevent passage.
. • Markups, amendments, and/or changes mean the the tow bills may not be exactly the same. • The Conference Committee (def) iron out the differences between the 2 versions of the bill. • The bill now goes to the President, who may sign it into law, or veto it. (Def) reject the bill.
Congress may respond in 3 ways. • Refuse to reconsider the bill. • Make concessions and revise the bill. • Try to pass the bill with a 2/3 majority vote in both houses
B. Most bills are not enacted into law. • Committees have Gate-KeepingAuthority (def) the power to decide if a particular bill is considered. • About 80% of bills don’t leave committee! • A bill can be defeated by 40 votes in the Senate, after all 435 House members vote for the bill. • The President’s veto is also a powerful weapon. • Fig. 16-6 shows that about 10% of all bills become law.
