How Congress Works Part I

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How Congress WorksPart I
Structure, Organization, Legislative Process
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Congress
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House-Senate Differences

• House
• 435 members 2 yr terms
• Low turnover
• Speaker bill referral hard to challenge
• Scheduling/rules controlled by majority party
  with powerful Rules Committee (controls time of
  debate, amends., etc)

• Senate
• 100 members 6 yr terms
• Moderate turnover
• Referral decisions easily challenged
• Scheduling/rules agreed to by majority minority
  leaders

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House-Senate Differences

• House
• Debate limited to 1 hour
• Members policy specialists
• Emphasizes tax revenue policy
• More formal impersonal

• Senate
• Unlimited debate unless cloture invoked
• Members policy generalists
• Emphasizes foreign policy
• More informal personal

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Party Leadership
House Republican Leadership 113th Congress
Senate Democratic Leadership 110th Congress
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HOUSE LEADERSHIP

• Speaker (majority party)
• Republicans
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)
Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy(R-CA)
Majority Leader Eric Cantor(R-VA)
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HOUSE LEADERSHIP
Minority Leader Steny Hoyer(R-OH)

• Democratss
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer(D-MD)
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SENATE LEADERSHIP

• President of the Senate (Vice
  President)
• President Pro Tempore (majority party)
• Democrats
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip

President Pro Tem Patrick Leahy(D-VT)
President of the Senate Joe Biden (D-DE)
Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
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SENATE LEADERSHIP

• Republicans
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
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Strength of Party Structure?

• Measure of party strength
• Ability of leaders to control party rules and
  organization
• Extent to which party members vote together in
  the House and Senate
• Senate less party-centered and leader oriented

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Party Unity

• Ideology is an important variable explaining
  party voting (members vote with their party 90
  of the time)
• Party polarization - vote in which majority of
  democrats oppose majority of republicans
• Polarization trends
• 1976 HR 36 S 37
• 1995 HR 73 S 69
• 2000 HR 43 S 49

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CAUCUSES

• Groups (may be bipartisan) meeting to pursue
  common legislative objectives
• Sometimes Rivals to parties in policy formulation
• Examples Democratic Study Group, Congressional
  Black Caucus, Tuesday Lunch Bunch, Human Rights,
  Congressional Caucus for Womens Issues, Out of
  Iraq Caucus,
• Rural Caucus, Travel Tourism Caucus, House
  Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children

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Congress Convenes

• Congress convenes every two yearson January 3 of
  every odd-numbered year.
• The House has formal organizational meetings at
  the beginning of each term to determine committee
  membership and standing officers.
• The Senate, because it is a continuous body, has
  fewer organizational issues to address at the
  start of each term.
• When Congress is organized, the President
  presents a State of the Union message to a joint
  session of Congress. This message, in which the
  President reports on the state of the nation as
  he sees it, is given annually.

Chapter 12, Section 1
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The Presiding Officers

• The Speaker of the House
• The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer
  of the House of Representatives and the
  acknowledged leader of the majority party.
• The Speakers main duties revolve around
  presiding over and keeping order in the House.
• The Speaker names the members of all select and
  conference committees, and signs all bills and
  resolutions passed by the House.

• The President of the Senate
• The job of president of the Senate is assigned by
  the Constitution to the Vice President.
• The president of the Senate has many of the same
  duties as the Speaker of the House, but cannot
  cast votes on legislation.
• The president pro tempore, the leader of the
  majority party, is elected from the Senate and
  serves in the Vice Presidents absence.

Chapter 12, Section 1
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Committee Chairmen and Seniority Rule

• Committee Chairmen
• The committee chairmen are the members who head
  the standing committees in each chamber of
  Congress.
• The chairman of each of these permanent
  committees is chosen from the majority party by
  the majority party caucus.

• Seniority Rule
• The seniority rule, an unwritten custom, holds
  that the most important posts will be held by
  those party members with the longest records of
  service in Congress.
• The head of each committee is often the
  longest-serving member of the committee from the
  majority party.

Chapter 12, Section 1
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Composition of Congress
Senate party standings (as of October 31, 2013)
   53 Democrats 2 Independents, both caucusing
with Democrats 45 Republicans
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Chapter 12, Section 1
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Composition of Congress
House party standings (as of February 18, 2014)
   232 Republicans 199 Democrats  4 vacancies
Chapter 12, Section 1
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113th United States Congress Senators
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113th US House
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House/Senate differences
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House Senate Reason(s) Examples Below
435 members 2 yr terms 100 members 6 yr terms House closer to the people with representation based on population and 2 yr terms Senate smaller, more deliberative
Low turnover Moderate turnover Incumbents win re-election over 90 of the time in the House Senate races are state-wide and more competitive
Speaker bill referral hard to challenge Referral decisions easily challenged Difficult for individual members to challenge the Speaker of the House members limited by strict rules Members of the Senate more independent operators
Scheduling/rules controlled by majority party powerful Rules Committee Scheduling/rules agreed to by majority minority leaders   House - majority party tightly controls Leadership and Rules with little minority party Senate much more cooperation between parties
Debate limited to 1 hour Unlimited debate unless cloture invoked Impractical with 435 members to have unlimited debate in the House nothing would get done Senate has only 100 members more time
Members policy specialists Members policy generalists House in order to get re-elected, members most become experts in policies that directly effect their districts must serve on those committees Senators represent diverse interest of an entire state
Emphasizes tax revenue policy Emphasizes foreign policy All tax and revenue bills must originate in the House much of public policy decisions in HR involve the budget Senate advice and consent of ambassadors, cabinet ratify treaties
More formal impersonal More informal personal House much bigger, need strict rules to be efficient members 1 of 435 Senate smaller, more collegial members 1 of only 100
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"Congress in session is Congress on public
exhibition, whilst Congress in its
committee-rooms is Congress at work.
- Woodrow Wilson
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Legislative Committees
Function and Purpose
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Legislative CommitteesFunction Purpose

• 1. Consider bills (a.k.a. mark-up bills)

A bill with a members mark-up notes
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Legislative CommitteesFunction Purpose

• 2. Maintain oversight of executive agencies

Oversight Hearing on Bengahzi
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Legislative CommitteesFunction Purpose

• 3. Conduct investigations

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified before the
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee on Hurricane Katrina (Feb., 2006
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Types of Committees

• Standing Committees - permanent panel with full
  legislative functions and oversight
  responsibilities
• Subcommittees formed to tackle very specific
  tasks within the jurisdiction of the full
  committees
• Select or Special Committees - groups appointed
  for a limited purpose and limited duration
• Joint Committees - includes members of both
  chambers to conduct studies or perform
  housekeeping tasks
• Conference Committee - includes members of House
  Senate to work out differences between similar
  bills

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Standing Committees
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House Standing Committees

• Agriculture
• Appropriations
• Armed Services
• Budget
• Education Workforce
• Energy Commerce
• Financial Services
• Government Reform
• House Admin.
• International Relations

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

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Senate Standing Committees

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

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

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Special, Select Committees

• House Select Committee on Energy Independence
  Global Warming
• Senate Select Committee on Ethics
• House Senate Select Committees on Intelligence

Gen. Michael Hayden is sworn in during a full
committee hearing of the Senate Select
Intelligence Committee on his nomination to be
director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
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Joint Committees

• Joint Economic Committee
• Joint Committee on Printing
• Joint Committee on Taxation

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Title Resolution Artist Bob Gorrell Date
12/28/06 Source http//www.gorrellart.com/
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Artist R.J. Matson, New York Observer Roll
Call Date 1/18/07 Source http//www.cagle.com