Legislative Branch Structure and Requirements

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Legislative BranchStructure and Requirements

• Chapter 6 Objective 2.02

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The House of Representatives

• Number of Elected officials
• 435, based on states population

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53
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The House of Representatives

• Presiding Officer (Who is the leader?)
• Speaker of the House
• Member of the majority party

Nancy Pelosi (D)
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The House of Representatives

• Constituents and area represented
• Represent a specific district within a state

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The House of Representatives
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The House of Representatives

• Terms and limits
• 2 year terms
• No term limits

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The House of Representatives

• Requirements
• 1. must be at least 25 years old
• 2. Must be a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years
• 3. must live in the state they represent
• they should also live in the district

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The Senate

• Number of elected officials
• 100
• 2 per state
• Equal representation

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The Senate

• Presiding Officer (Who is the leader?)
• Constitution says the Vice President is the
  leader
• USUALLY the president pro tempore leads the Senate

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The Senate

• Constituents and area represented
• Both senators represent the entire state

Kay Hagan (D)
Richard Burr (R)
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The Senate

• Terms and limits
• 6 year terms
• 1/3 of the Senate goes up for reelection every 2
  years
• No term limits

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The Senate

• Requirements
• 1. Must be at least 30 years old
• 2. Must be a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years
• 3. Must live in the state they represent

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Congressional leadership

• Majority party- party to which more then half of
  member of Congress belong to
• (Democrats)
• Minority party- the other party
• (Republicans)

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Congressional leadership

• Majority/minority whips- ensure people from their
  party vote for key issues
• Majority floor leaders/minority floor leaders-
  speak on behalf of their parties, push bills
  through

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Types of committees

• Standing committee- permanent committees that
  remain from session to session
• Select committees- are created for a special
  purpose for a limited period of time

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Types of committees

• Joint committees- groups with members of both
  houses

HoR
Joint committee
Senate
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Types of committees

• Conference committee- members of both houses meet
  to discuss a change in a proposed bill
• Come to a compromise

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How do you get up on a committee?

• Preferences
• Expertise
• Party loyalty
• seniority

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Chapter 6 Congress

• Section 2 The Powers of Congress

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How Congress gets its power

• Article 1 discusses the legislative branch
• Section 8- lists the expressed powers of Congress
• Clause 18- elastic clause (necessary and
  proper)
• Allows Congress to stretch its powers to meet new
  needs

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The legislative powers of Congress

• 1. power to collect taxes
• All tax and spending bills begin in the House of
  Reps
• 2 step process
• 1. authorization bills- create projects and
  establish how much can be spent
• 2. appropriations bills- provide for each
  program
• NO GOVT AGENCY CAN SPEND WITHOUT CONGRESSS
  APPROVAL

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• 2. regulate commerce
• Congress regulates both foreign and interstate
  trade
• Commerce clause
• Controls air traffic, railroads, trucking,
  radio, television, air pollution, stock market

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• 3. foreign relations and treaties
• Congress declares war
• Have the power to create and maintain army/navy
  overseas
• Regulates commerce with foreign countries
• Senate approves any treaty the president creates

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Non legislative powersthings that have nothing
to do with making laws

• 1. Proposes Constitutional Amendments by 2/3 vote
  of both houses
• 2. Count Electoral votes in elections
• 3. If no candidate gets majority of electoral
  votes (270)- picks among the top 3

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Checks against other branches
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against other branches(executive branch)

• oversight and investigation
• Oversees govt action
• Controls the budget, reviews executives branches
  effectiveness
• Overrides presidents veto with 2/3 majority vote

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against other branches(judicial branch)

• Approval and removal
• Approves/rejects presidential nominees for
  Supreme Court, federal judges, ambassadors
  (approval)
• Impeachment
• House of Reps- accuses
• Senate acts as the jury and decides by 2/3 vote
  (removal)

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Limits of legislative power

• 1. Congress can not favor one state over another,
  tax interstate trade, and exports
• 2. cant interfere with the rights of individuals
• 3. cant suspend the writ of habeas corpus-
  requires police to notify someone why they are
  holding a prisoner

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Limits of legislative power

• 4. cant pass bills of attainder- punish a person
  w/out jury trial
• 5. cant pass ex post facto laws- make an act a
  crime after the act has been committed
• 6. cant interfere with the reserved powers of
  the state