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The Legislative Branch

CONGRESS

• The framers agreed on a bicameral legislature (House/Senate) to satisfy the big and small states.

• also forces the process to move at a slower pace and encourages compromise between the two .

Powers of Congress

• The powers of Congress include:• Lay and colect taxes• Borrow money• Regulate trade(foreign and domestic)• Coin money• Create courts to Supreme Court• Declare war/ army• Establish for becoming a citizen• Make all laws which shall be necessary and

proper to carry out their foregoing powers.

WHO IS IN CONGRESS?• Incumbents (Those who and are

running again for that same position) have a much higher reelection chance.

• Political scientists call that have close elections marginal districts and districts where incumbents win by wide margins safe districts

• Most districts are considered due to gerrymandering by the state legislatures

• Currently the Republicans control the House and the Democrats control the Seante giving us what is described as a government.

Why Incumbents win

• The census is taken every ten years.• Reapportionment- dividing up the 435

congressional districts based on population shifts.

• Redistricting- redrawing districts within a state that has been affected by population change (around +/- 725k change ).

• The state legislature is responsible for the new districts and often gerrymander, or favor a political party when drawing the new districts.

SENATE VERSUS THE HOUSE

•The House has been directly elected by the people. Senators were chosen by state legislators until the amendment passed in 1913. •The House has very powerful speakers but its increase in size has lead to less individual influence. The House has become less male and less white recently. • The Senate is not adopting change as easy, still compromised of predominately white, male members. There are 20 women, 4 Hispancis and 1 African American in the 2013 Senate.

PARTIES AND CAUCUSES• Democrats and Republicans in House organized by

party leaders, who are elected by the full party membership within Congress during the 1st days of the session (2 years).

• chooses one of its members (usually the most senior) to be pro tempore of Senate. This person is to take over for the absence of the vice president (VP of US); however, usually both members are absent from this tedious chore, so responsibility handed to some junior senator.

• Real power: majority and minority leader (chosen by senators of respecting parties)

• Majority leader: schedule business of Senate, recognized first on floor.

• Whip (also elected by senators): helps party leader stay informed of other party member views and rounds up important voters; has several assistants.

• Policy Committee helps party leader schedule Senate business and choose significant bills to review.

• Leaders tend to be more in House because of size.

• Speaker of House is most important member (decides who will speak and what bills will be discussed); usually influences legislation in party’s favor.

Caucuses:

• Caucus: an association of members of Congress created to advocate a political ideology or regional/economic interest; a growing rival to parties as source of policy leadership

TYPES• Intraparty: formed by groups who share

similar • Personalized: in an issue• Constituency: represent certain groups,

regions, or both

COMMITTEES• The real work of Congress occurs here- divides up the work on

bills.THREE KINDS• Standing: (most important) bodies with specified

legislative responsibilities• Select: appointed for limited purpose and lasting only a few

Congresses• Joint: both representatives and senators serve; created

conference committee for revision of different legislation or to attack specific national problems.

• Most power given to . They are ALWAYS from the majority party and usually have served the longest tenure on that committee.

• Their minority counterpart is called the ranking minority member.

TYPES OF RESOLUTIONS• Simple resolution- passed by one house and affects

that house, not signed by the president; does not have the force of law. Usually procedural in nature.

• resolution- passed by both houses and affects both, not signed by the president and does not have the force of law.

• Joint resolution- essentially a law. Passed by both houses and signed by the president.

• If used to propose a constitutional amendment, 2/3 vote required in both houses but the president’s signature is unnecessary.

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

HOUSE SENATEIntro Intro

Committee Action Committee ActionReferred to House Referred to Senate

Referred to subcommittee Referred to subcomm.

Reported by full comm. Reported by full comm.

Rules comm. Action

Floor Action Floor ActionDebate and vote Debate and vote

Conference Action

House of Reps. Senate

President

BILL LAW cont.• “Mark up” occurs in committees and/or subcommittees but these

changes are not final until they are approved by the House or the Senate.

• A bill only moves forward if a majority of the committee votes to report it out to the House or Senate. Attached to the bill are the committee’s opinions of the bill (including dissenting opinions, if any)

• Most bills usually in committees and/or subcommittees (OVER 90%)

• In the House, a can be filed to remove a bill from committee and put it directly out onto the floor, but it is rarely used

• In the Senate, a bill can be discharged from committee session when a member moves to have the bill come directly before the Senate. However, discharge is rarely used because almost any proposal can get to the floor as an amendment to another bill.

• Both houses set calendars to hear and vote on bills

• In the House, the Rules Committee reviews most bills and decides how they will be heard

• Closed rule means that a bill has a strict time limit on debate and that no amendments can be offered unless they come from the sponsoring committee.

• Open rule permits any amendments to a bill from the floor• A is a provision added to a piece of legislation that

does not pertain to the bill’s purpose. It has the ability to strongly persuade the president to vote one way or the other based on the extent of the rider. It also allows legislators to attach to the bill any pet project that they wish to get passed.

• A is a bill that has a lot of riders attached. (Riders only permitted in Senate).

• Bills in the Senate may be considered in any order at any time that the majority of the Senate chooses while the House sticks to a very tight hearing schedule that does not allow any individual complaints to be heard.

FLOOR DEBATE IN SENATE• In the Senate, there are no time limits for debating a bill,

an amendment can be offered at any time, and senators need not address anything relevant to the bill if they wish.

• Riders can be used and amendments do not need to pertain to the bill

• A motion can end a Senate filibuster if 16 Senators sign a petition for cloture and 3/5 (60) of the Senate vote yes on the petition. If it passes, each Senator is limited to one hour of debate on a bill

• Filibusters and cloture votes has become more popular recently.

• Double-tracking has allowed to Senate to continue with normal business during a filibuster by temporarily shelving the bill. This also allows the Senators filibustering a bill to rest and take a break, which makes it easier to filibuster.

• If the differences are major, a committee between the two houses is held. Members of the committee are picked up the chairmen of the committees that handled the bill in the House and the Senate. There are usually between 3-15 members. Debate in conference committees is very arduous and can either be open or closed to the public. Often the legislation is changed substantially.

• Most conference committees usually favor the Senate version of the bill. After a decision is reached, the houses can either accept or reject the report. In most cases, it is accepted and sent to the president for signature. If the president vetoes, the bill returns to the house of origin. Both houses can override the veto is 2/3 of each house approve.

REDUCING POWER AND PERKS• Many congressional would-be reformers claim that legislators

overuse “pork-barrel legislation”, which are bills that give tangible benefits to a group of constituents in order to win votes, but that legislators are very slow to pass meaningful legislation regarding national policy.

• The franking privilege, or , is the most treasured perk of congressional incumbents because they can send out campaign literature for free.

• Many reformers do not agree with the franking privilege or wish to prohibit it because it comes directly from taxpayers.

• Reformers claim that pork-barrel legislation (“bring home the bacon”) is a misallocation of tax dollars because it supports trivial social projects for reelection prospects.

• Truthfully, not all pork is bad because many congressional districts get benefits that are long overdue to them. Additionally, spending on pork legislation is only a small fraction of what is spent on entitlement programs.

• A Congress= a pork-barrel oriented Congress.

HOUSE• 435 members that serve year terms• Can serve on multiple committees, can only chair one

committee.• Scheduling and rules are controlled by the majority

party• Rules Committee is ; controls time of

debate, admissibility of amendments• Debate is usually limited to one hour• Nongermane amendments may not be introduced

from the floor• must start here. Decide prez if

no winner in electoral college.• Initiates impeachment charges and passes articles of

impeachment.

SENATE• 100 members that serve year terms (staggered

terms)• Can sit on mulitple committees (policy generalists)• Scheduling and rules are generally agreed to by

majority and minority leaders• Rules Committee is ; few limits on debate or

amendments• Debate is unless shortened by unanimous

consent or by invoking cloture• Nongermane amendments may be introduced.

(Riders)• Choose VP if no winner in electoral college.• Ratifies treates, approves presidential appointment• Holds impeachment trial

Do members represent their voters?

• Representational view ( )- members vote to please their constituents in order to secure re-election.

• Organizational view- where members take cues from their party on how to vote.

• Attitudinal view ( )- the member’s ideology determines his/her vote.

• They tend to act as delegates when an election looms or the ir constituents are paying attention due to media coverage.