Ch. 10 - Congress

1
Ch. 12
Action!
Congress in
2
Congress Gets Organized!

• The First Day in the House
• All members are sworn in
• House elects the Speaker
• Always a member of the majority party they pick
  the person in private meetings before the session
  starts.

3
John Boehner Elected Speaker

• http//www.reuters.com/news/video?videoChannel100
  3videoId174161251

4
Congress Gets Organized!

• Members are put into committees
• Also prearranged
• Majority party gets a majority in every committee
• Seniority Rule longest serving members get the
  first pick, become chairperson

5
Congress Gets Organized!

• First Day in the Senate
• 1/3 of the members are sworn in (only 1/3 coming
  off of election)
• Vacant committee seats are filled

6
House Leadership

• Speaker of the House
• John Boehner (R-OH)
• Presides over House session

7
House Leadership

• Speaker of the House
• Refers bills to relevant committee
• Appoints members of the Rules committee

8
House Leadership

• House Majority Leader
• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
• Helps Speaker to plan party strategy

9
House Leadership

• House Majority Whip
• Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)
• Right hand of Majority Leader

10
House Leadership

• Link between leadership and rank and file
• Check who plans to vote and how
• Persuade defectors to vote with the party

11
House Leadership

• House Minority Leader
• Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• Plans minority party strategy to take power back
• Expected to become Speaker if they win

12
House Leadership

• House Minority Whip
• Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

13
Senate Leadership

• President of the Senate
• Vice President of the U.S.
• Joe Biden

14
Senate Leadership

• Presides over the Senate
• Powerless and thankless job
• V.P. has better things to do
• Can only vote to break a tie

15
Senate Leadership

• President Pro-Tempore of the Senate
• Patrick Leahy
• (D-VT)
• Presides in place of the VP

16
Senate Leadership

• President Pro-Tempore of the Senate
• Longest serving member of the majority party
• Also doesnt want to do it, passes the job off on
  junior members

17
Senator Byrd and Ted Stevens

• http//www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-january-5-20
  06/headlines---braked-alaska

18
Senate Leadership

• Senate Majority Leader
• Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Plans party strategy

19
Senate Leadership

• Places bills on the calendar for voting
• May speak first on any bill
• Refers bill to relevant committee

20
Senate Leadership

• Senate Majority Whip
• Richard Dick Durbin (D-IL)

21
Senate Leadership

• Senate Minority Leader
• Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

22
Senate Leadership

• Senate Minority Whip
• John Cornyn III (R-TX)

23
Committees

• Committee expert groups of Congressmen who
  decide what bills will go to the whole house for
  a vote
• Most work in Congress is done in committees

24
Types of Committees

• Standing Committee permanent committees that
  remain from session to session

25
Current Standing Committees in the House of
Representatives

• Agriculture
• Appropriations
• Armed Services
• Budget
• Education and the Workforce
• Energy and Commerce
• Financial Services
• Government Reform
• House Administration
• International Relations

• Judiciary
• Resources
• Rules
• Science
• Small Business
• Standards of Official Conduct
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Veterans Affairs
• Ways and Means

26
Current Standing Committees in the Senate

• Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
• Appropriations
• Armed Services
• Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Budget
• Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Energy and Natural Resources
• Environment and Public Works

• Finance
• Foreign Relations
• Governmental Affairs
• Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
• Indian Affairs
• Judiciary
• Rules and Administration
• Small Business
• Veterans Affairs

27
Types of Committees

• Select or Special Committees Temporary
  committee to investigate wrongdoing or research a
  special matter
• Examples Senate Watergate Committee, Select
  Committee on Aging

28
Types of Committees

• Joint Committees have members of both the House
  and Senate
• Conference Committees compromise different
  versions of bills between House and Senate

29
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• For a brief overview, lets watch a short
  documentary on the process

30
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 1 The House
• Bill is introduced
• Can only be introduced by a member of the House
• Bill is read to the entire chamber

31
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 2 The House
• Referred to a standing committee
• Speaker of the House chooses the committee
• Full committee decides whether to consider it, or
  pidgeonhole it

32
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 3 The House
• Referred to subcommittee
• Chairman of the committee decides which
  subcommittee
• Subcommittee does the vast majority of research
  and work on the bill
• 90 of bills die in steps 2 and 3

33
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 4 The House
• Committee/Subcommittee Hearings
• Government officials, experts invited to speak in
  favor or against bills
• Congressmen may take junkets, or trips to
  locations for further research
• Meanwhile, they markup, or make changes to the
  bill

34
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 5 The House
• Sent back to full committee
• Committee can either
• Send the bill to step 6 with a do pass
  recommendation
• Or refuse to report the bill, thus killing it

35
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• If the rest of Congress disagrees with a
  committees decision to kill a bill, there is one
  option
• Discharge Petition majority of the House votes
  to pull a dead bill out of committee

36
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 6 The House
• Referred to Rules Committee
• Places bill on the calendar
• Sets the rules for time limits and number of
  amendments allowed

37
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 7 The House
• Whole House Debates
• During debate, members can propose amendments to
  add onto the bill
• In the House, amendments must be relevant to the
  subject of the bill

38
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 8 The House
• Whole House Votes
• Majority vote passes, sends bill to the Senate

39
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 9 The Senate
• Introduced in the Senate
• Step 10 The Senate
• Referred to a standing committee
• Senate Majority Leader chooses which committee

40
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 11-12 The Senate
• Same as House referred to subcommittee, back to
  committee, then out to floor for debate

41
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 13 The Senate
• Whole Senate Debates
• No Rules Committee, so no limits on time or
  amendments
• Filibuster talking at length to stall action on
  a bill, can only be ended by cloture (60 votes)

42
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Riders - amendments that have nothing to do with
  a bill

This leads to
Pork Barrel Spending
43
Pork Barrel Spending

• Generally occurs through a process called
  Earmarking
• Setting aside money within an appropriations bill
  and earmarking it for a specific purpose
• For some reason, doesnt go through typical
  spending authorization procedures that other
  spending proposals go through
• Cost taxpayers approximately 17.1 billion in 2008

44
In 2008 Taxpayers Paid For

• 148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute
• 211,508 for olive fruit fly research in Paris,
  France
• 1,117,125 to suppress Mormon crickets
• 1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for
  Public Service (Rangel is the Congressman who got
  this money spent)
• 98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton,
  Virginia

45
Pork Barrel Spending

• How congressmen bring home the bacon
• Shows constituents that their congressman gets
  stuff for their district or state
• Helps congressman win reelection!

46
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 14 The Senate
• Senate votes
• Step 15 Conference Committee
• Members of both houses subcommittees that worked
  on the bill compromise
• Both houses then vote again on the compromise bill

47
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 16 The President
• President has 3 options (maybe 4)
• 1. Sign the bill, make it law

48
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Step 16 The President
• President has 4 options
• 2. Veto the bill, explain why
• Goes back to Congress, who can override with 2/3
  vote in both houses

49
How a Bill Becomes a Law

• 3. Wait 10 days and let it become law without his
  signature
• 4. (Maybe) Pocket Veto - If Congress ends its
  session before 10 days are up, bill dies without
  a veto