The Congress

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Chapter 12

• The Congress

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Why was Congress Created?

• founders feared tyrannical rulers
• founders also had experienced the weakness of the
  congress under the Articles of Confederation
• bicameralism attempts to balance the power among
  large and small states

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The Powers of Congress

• Enumerated powers
• come from Article I, section 8 of the
  Constitution
• control of money
• regulation of trade beyond state borders
• regulation of military
• defining the court structure

• Implied powers
• come from the necessary and proper clause and the
  Supreme Courts ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland
• allows Congress to enact laws that may assist the
  Congress in accomplishing goals directly related
  to the enumerated power

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The Functions of Congress

• lawmaking
• constituent service (casework)
• representing
• as a trustee
• as an instructed delegate
• as a combination of roles
• oversight
• public education
• conflict resolution

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Congressional Electionsoperated by individual
state governments

• House of Representatives
• elected every two years
• by popular ballot
• number of seats is determined by population
• each state has at least one representative
• each district has about a half million residents

• U.S. Senate
• elected every six years
• by popular ballot (since ratification of the
  Seventeenth Amendment)
• one third of the Senate is elected every two
  years
• each state has two Senators

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Congressional Reapportionment

• reapportionment the allocations of seats in the
  House of Representatives to each state after each
  census
• vs.
• redistricting the redrawing of the boundaries
  of the districts within each state
• gerrymandering
• minority-majority districts

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The Committee Structure of Congress

• standing committees
• select committees
• joint committees
• conference committees

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Leadership in the U.S. Congress

• House of Representatives
• Speaker of the House
• House Majority Leader
• House Minority Leader
• House Majority Whip
• House Minority Whip

• U.S. Senate
• President of Senate (Vice President of U.S.)
  (essentially ceremonial)
• President pro tem of the Senate
• Majority Floor Leader
• Minority Floor Leader
• Senate Majority Whip
• Senate Minority Whip

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FIGURE 123 How a Bill Becomes Law This
illustration shows the most typical way in which
proposed legislation is enacted into law. Most
legislation begins as similar bills introduced
into each chamber of Congress. The process is
illustrated here with two hypothetical bills,
House bill No. 100 (HR 100) and Senate bill No.
200 (S 200). The path of HR 100 is shown on the
left, and that of S 200, on the right.
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