Unit 5: Congress

If progress is the advancement of society, what is congress?

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Congress

US CAPITOL BUILDING

Legislative Branch – “makes laws”

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Founders’ Intentions

1. Strongest branch2. Separation of lawmaking power from

executive3. Bicameralism balances large/small states

• House – more connected to people (2 yr term)• Senate – allows for independent thinking (6 yr term)

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Important DifferencesHouse• 435 members• 2 year term• 7 year citizen

• Initiate impeachment• Revenue bills• Strict debate rules

• 234 Republicans• 201 Democrats

Senate• 100 members• 6 year term• 9 year citizen

• Tries impeachment• Approve presidential

appointments• Approve treaties’• Loose debate rules

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Constitutional Powers

Article I, Section 8• To lay and collect taxes, duties, imports• To borrow money• To regulate commerce (states and foreign)• To establish rules for naturalization• To coin money• To create courts (except Supreme Court)• To declare war• To raise and support an army and navy

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Evolution of Powers

Elastic clause has extended Congress powers• Oversight of budget – can restrict the fed.

budget prepared by executive branch• Appropriations – set amount of money made

available for various activity in a fiscal year• Investigation – Congress can launch

investigations (Watergate, Clinton-Lewinski hearings, Steroids in baseball)

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Review

• How many members in the House?• How many members in the Senate?• What are some Constitutional Powers that

have been given to Congress?• What is the Elastic Clause?

Leadership• Majority party controls the most significant

leadership positions• House - Speaker of the House

• Allows people to speak on floor• Assigns bills to committees• Influences which bills are brought to a vote• Appoints members of special and select committees

• Senate – Majority Leader• Schedules Senate business• Prioritizes bills

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Who are this people?

• Senate President:Joe Biden (D)• Senate Pres. pro tem:Patrick Leahy (D)• House Speaker:John Boehner (R)• Members: 100 Senators• 435 Representatives• Senate Majority:Democratic Party• House Majority: Republican Party

Joe Biden

Patrick Leahy

John Boehner

Who’s in Congress?110th Congress (2007-2008)• 85% Male• 85% White• 40% Lawyers109th Congress (2005-2006)• 29 accused of spousal abuse• 7 have been arrested for fraud• 19 arrested for writing bad checks• 117 have bankrupted at least 2 businesses• 8 have been arrested for shoplifting

• In 1998 alone, 84 were stopped for drunk driving• Right Now we are in the 113th Congress

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Elections• House members directly elected• Senators directly elected after 17th

Amendment• House Incumbent advantage – Why?

– Name recognition– Proven track record– Franking privileges – free mailing

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California Congressional Districts

California 38th DistrictRep. Linda Sanchez – (D-CA)

Representation

• Malapportionment – unequal population in districts– Wesberry v. Sanders (1963) – found unequal

district pop. unconstitutional – 14th amend• Gerrymandering – district boundaries are

redrawn in strange ways to make it easy for candidate of one party to win– Easley v. Cromartie (2001) – redistricting for

political ideology was constitutional, led to increase in minority representation

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How A Bill Becomes a Law

• Create legislation, make laws• Founders believed in a SLOW process• Founders believed efficiency was a trait of an oppressive government

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Step 1 – Introduce Bill

• Introduced in Senate or House (except tax)• Single or multiple reps can introduce bill

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Step 2 - Committee

1. Bill is assigned to a particular committee in its category (Ex. Tax bill – Ways and Means Committee, Farm bill – Agriculture Committee)

2. Bill is then placed in sub-committee3. Bills are debated and “marked up”4. Most bills die in committee, committee

can vote to “report out” a bill

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Step 3–Rules Committee

• Before bill can go to floor in House, it must first set time limits and amendment regulations.– Closed rule – sets time limits, restricts

amendments– Open rule – permits amendments– Restrictive rule – permits some amendments

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Step 4 – Floor Debate

Senate Debate• Less formal, no speaking limit• Filibuster – practice of stalling a bill w/

debate• Cloture – 3/5 of the Senate vote to stop

debateHouse Debate• More formal, no filibuster, strict rules

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Step 5 - Voting

• Majority passes• If the bill passes, it must go through the

same process in the opposite chamber with a sponsor

• If the bill passes one house and fails the other, it must start over

• If the Senate and House cannot come to agreement over two versions, it goes to Conference Committee to fix it and resubmit the bill

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Presidential Action

• Sign – bill becomes law• Veto – bill returns to origin• Override – 2/3 vote in both houses can

override veto• Pocket Veto – President has 10 days to

act on a piece of legislation. If he receives the bill within 10 days of the end of the Congressional session, and doesn’t sign, it dies

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Committees and Subcommittees

• Most real work happens here!!!!• Bills are passed, changed, ignored, or

killed

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Types of Committees

• Standing committee – handle bills in different policy areas – (ex. Appropriations, Agriculture, Armed Services,

Science, etc.) – most important and have been “standing”

(existing) for a long time• Select committee

– formed for specific purposes and usually temporary – run investigations (ex. Aging, Intelligence)

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Types of Committees

• Joint committee – consist of both House and Senate members– similar in purpose to Select committee – Meant to draw attention to issues

• Conference committee – consist of both House reps and Senators– formed to hammer out differences between

House and Senate versions of similar bills• Congressional Committees and Subcommi

ttees

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Committee Membership

• Controlled by majority party, committee membership divided proportionally

• Committee Chairman– Senior member of committee– Controls membership and debate

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Work of Committees

• 11,000 bills introduced yearly, most die• Committees can…

– Report out favorably/unfavorably– Pigeonholed/table (do not discuss)– Amend / “mark up” (change or rewrite)

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Congressional Caucuses

• Groupings of members pushing for similar interests

• Ex. – Sunbelt, Northeast-Midwest, Congressional Black, Women’s, Democratic Study Group, Boll Weevils, Steel

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Criticisms of Congress

• “Pork” – aka “pork-barrel legislation” – bills to benefit constituents in hope of gaining their votes

• Logrolling – Congress members exchange votes, bills might pass for frivolous reasons

• Christmas-tree bill –bill with many riders (pork)– in Senate, no limit exists on amendments, so

Senators try to attach riders that will benefit their home state

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Term-limits Debate

• No current limit on how many terms members of Congress can serve

1. Some argue this has weakened popular control of Congress, reps might be unresponsive to their constituents

2. Some argue most experienced reps have the expertise to bring home more benefits (pork, riders, etc.)

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