Congress

1
Chapter 11

• Congress

2
Purposes of Congress

• Rule initiation
• Interest representation
• Rule application
• Rule Interpretation
• Constituency Service

3
Bicameral Legislature

• Senate
• Senators serve 6 year terms
• Two per State for 100 total seats
• House
• Representatives serve 2 year terms
• 435 seats, seats apportioned by population

4

• Senate
• Must be 30 years old
• Represent statewide constituencies
• The Senate is less formal than the house. For
  example, the Senate can allow unlimited debate.

• House
• Must be 25 years old
• Represent districts in the state
• Debate is limited and takes place according to a
  rule

5

• House
• More specialization in the House b/c more members
• Generally, Reps. are not as well known nationally

• Senate
• Cover a greater variety of issues
• Media coverage tends to be more extensive

6
Apportionment

• Apportionment is based on the national census
• Districting drawing the lines for congressional
  districts
• Washinton State districts can be viewed on
  http//access.wa.gov

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Apportionment

• Beware of districting manipulation (ex.
  Gerrymandering)
• Result can be court cases

8
Informal Norms

• The culture of Congress and politics include
  unwritten understandings that define appropriate
  and inappropriate behavior.
• Informal norms can influence behavior as much as
  formal rules can.
• Individuals who fail to conform can find
  sanctions taken against them.

9
Informal Norms

• Examples
• Work Hard
• Specialize
• Honesty
• Reciprocity
• Apprenticeship periods

10
Party Leaders in the House

• Speaker of the House most powerful in House,
  member of majority party, can recognize members
  on floor, can set agenda, refers bills to
  committee, assigns members to committees.

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Party Leaders in the House

• Majority Floor Leader leader and spokesperson of
  party during floor debates, general

12
House Leadership

• Majority Whip serves as liaison between party
  leaders and rank-and-file members, responsible
  for rounding up votes on bills.

13
House Leadership

• Minority Floor Leader duties similar to that of
  the majority counterpart, top position of
  minority party though

14
House Leadership

• Minority Whip like majority counterpart, tries
  to get party to vote together
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri)

15
Senate Leadership

• Vice President of U.S. can break a tie vote,
  rarely attends the Senate

16
Senate Leadership

• President Pro Tempore Presiding officer of the
  Senate in VPs absence, primarily an honorary
  position that is usually given to the most senior
  member of the Senate.

17
Senate Leadership

• Other leaders Majority floor leader, Majority
  whip, Minority Floor leader Minority Whip
• These positions similar to those in House
• Can find specific names at www.senate.gov

18
Committee Structure

• There are four types in Congress
• Standing Committees permanent committees all
  bills are submitted to standing committees and
  must go through these committees before being
  approved by the full House or Senate (See how a
  bill becomes a law)
•  

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Committee Structure

• 2. Select Committees created for special
  reasons to investigate some current issue or
  problem covers issues not being handled by the
  regular standing committees.  

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Committee Structure

• Joint Committees consist of members from both
  the House and Senate created for a wide variety
  of reasons (examples Joint Committee on
  Intelligence and the Joint Committee on the
  Library of Congress) 

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Committee Structure

• 4. Conference Committees created each time a
  bill is passed with different versions by the
  House and Senate designed to work out the
  differences in legislative language between the
  two houses of Congress temporary in nature

22
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Introduction
• Committee assignment and action
• Floor Action (votes)
• Conference Action
• President (signature or veto)
• See www.projectvotesmart.com

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Summary

• Congress has three primary functions
  legislation, representation, oversight
• Congress is bicameral in nature with a House and
  a Senate
• See www.senate.gov and www.house.gov for details
  on members, committees and congress in general