CHAPTER 5: Legislative Branch
Congressional Membership
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The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature meaning that it is made up of two houses.
The Senate and the House of Representatives.
Each term of Congress starts on Jan. 3 of odd-numbered years and lasts for two years.
Each term is divided into two sessions, or meetings with breaks for vacation and
holidays.
In the House of Representatives the number isn’t set rather it is based on the population
of the different states.
(Currently set at 435.)
Representatives must be at least 25 yrs. old, a citizen of the U.S. for at least 7yrs and a
resident of the state elected in.
Members of the House of Rep. are elected to two-year terms.
The House
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More Formal (B/C of size)
435 members
More Specialized (districts)
Power-Leadership options based on Seniority
95% of incumbents win reelection
Average age is 54, must be 25 to be elected
Elected every 2 years
Congressional Redistricting
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Following the population number est. by the Census Bureau every 10yrs, each
state sets up congressional districts.
• http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/
• Each congressional district contains about 709,760 people.
Gerrymandering, or the creation of districts by the controlling party.
Leadership in the House of Rep.
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The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the House and its most powerful
leader.
A caucus, or closed meeting, of the majority party chooses the House Speaker at the
start of each session of Congress.
The entire House membership approves the choice of Speaker.
The Speaker decides which members to recognize and appoints committee members.
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Follows the Vice President in the line of succession.
The second in command of the House is the majority leader.
The whips for both majority and minority help guide representatives of their parties to
vote in certain ways.
Current House Leadership
Majority Leader:
Eric Cantor from Virginia
Speaker of the House:
John Boehner from Ohio
Minority Leader:
Nancy Pelosi from California
Lawmaking in the House
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Most of the important work done in the house takes place between Tuesday-Thursday.
(Members go to their home states on the weekends.)
All laws start as Bills, or proposed laws.
It remains a bill until both Houses of Congress and the President agree to pass it creating
a law.
1st the proposed bills is placed into the hopper. (Box at the front of the chamber.)
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2nd the Speaker sends it to the appropriate committee for study, discussion, & review.
Only about 10-20% of the thousands of proposed bills actually make it to the voting
stage.
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3rd Bills that survive the committee process are then placed on Calendars based on their
topic. (money, public issues, individual places or people, hot topics, call to remove
altogether.)
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The House Rules committee directs the flow of major legislation.
Oldest and most powerful committee.
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4th once a bill has made it through committee it goes to the House Rules for further
inspection.
(go ahead, hold back, or remove)
The House Rules also serves as the referee between disputes among other House
committees.
Membership of the Senate
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The Senate is composed of two senators from each state.
Senators must be 30yrs. old, citizens of the U.S. for 9yrs and a legal resident of the state
they represent.
Senators a elected by the entire populations of a state.
Senators serve 6yr. terms.
Salary and Benefits
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The Senate and House set their own salaries.
In 1789 salaries for both houses were $6 a day.
In 2009 salaries for senators was $174,000.
40 millionaires.
Member of Congress are free from arrest while they carry out their legislative duties in
all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace.
The Senate
Less Formal
100 members elected every 6 years
Much more diverse (represent your whole state)
Equally distributed power
Seniority not as important
1/3 elected every 2 years (staggered)
Not as easy to get reelected
Average age is 61
Must be 35 to be elected
Leadership in the Senate
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The Senate has no Speaker.
The vice president presides in the Senate, but may not vote except to break a tie.
In the absence of the vice president, the president pro tempore presides.
Elected by the Senate, from the majority party and is usually its most senior member.
Vice President:
Joe Biden from Pennsylvania
Senate Floor Leaders
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The majority & minority leaders are the most important officers in the Senate.
Elected by their parties.
Both make sure their parties are working together and attend votes.
Lawmaking in the Senate
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Any member may introduce a bill.
Bills go to committee then back to the floor for debate. (No House Rules Committee)
The Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous consent.
The Filibuster
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Done because there is no limit on debate on any bill under consideration in the Senate.
To filibuster means to stall the legislative process and prevent a vote.
Tactics include talking continuously, delaying issues in committee, and other procedural
roadblocks.
Longest filibuster was by Strom Thurmond of
South Carolina: 24 hours 18 min. in 1957.
Can be stopped by a 3/5’s vote to cloture which limits speech to an hour.
Congressional Committees
Both the House & the Senate depend upon committees to effectively consider the
thousands of bills that are proposed each session.
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Allows work to be divided and for lawmakers to become specialists on the issues their
committees consider.
Committees gather information, work out compromises and decide which bills will or
will not have a chance to become a law.
Types of Committees
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Congress has 4 basic kinds of committees
1. Standing Committees – continue from one Congress to the next.
2. Select Committees – temporary, look at a single issue & reports findings.
3. Joint Committees – made up of members from both the House & Senate.
4. Conference Committees – Resolves differences between multiple versions of bills.
Each committee has standing subcommittees which specializes in a subcategory of its
standing committees responsibility.
Choosing Committee Members
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In both the House & Senate, the political parties assign members to the standing
committees. (Often by request.)
The Committee Chairpersons led the committees and are the most powerful members
of Congress.
The Chairperson also manages the floor debates that take place on the bills that come
from their committees.
The Seniority System
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The seniority system is a unwritten rule which gives the member of the majority party
with the longest uninterrupted service on a particular committee the chairmenship.
Staff & Support Agencies
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The work of Congress is so massive & complicated that lawmakers need trained staffs to
help them do their work effectively.
Duties include: communication with voters, running committee hearings, writing
committee reports, drafting new bills and attending committee meetings.
In the year 2000, there were approximately 11,692 personal staff.
Personal Staff
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Usually fall into three categories.
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1. Administrative Assistant – (AA) runs the law makers office, supervises their schedule,
& gives political advice.
2. Legislative Assistants – (LA) makes certain the lawmaker is well informed about the
many bills with which they must deal. Also assists in committee meetings.
3. Caseworkers – handle the many requests for help from people in a lawmaker’s state
or district.
Support Agencies
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The Library of Congress – created in 1800, it is one of the largest libraries in the world.
Answers thousands of requests for information from lawmakers each year.
Contains more than 100 million items, including books, journals, music, films,
photographs and maps.
Support Agencies Cont.
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The Congressional Budget Office – (CBO)
Created in 1974 to coordinate the budget-making work of Congress, analyze the
Presidential budget yearly, make cost projections.
The General Accounting Office – (GAO)
Created in 1921 to be the watchdog over the spending of funds Congress appropriates.
The Government Printing Office – (GPO)
The largest printing plant in the world. Does all printing for the federal government.