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Chapter 7
Congress
American Government: Continuity and Change
9th Edition
to accompany Comprehensive, Alternate, Texas, and Essentials Editions
O’Connor and Sabato
Pearson Education, Inc. © 2008
The Constitution and the Legislative
Branch of the Government
Article I describes structure of
Congress
Bicameral legislature
Divided into two houses
Each state sends two Senators regardless
of population
Number of representatives each state
sends to the House is determined by state
population
The Constitution and the Legislative
Branch of the Government
Constitution sets out requirements for
membership in the House and Senate
House – 25 years of age; reside in U.S.
at least 7 years; serve 2 year terms
Directly elected, thus more responsible to
the people
Senate – 30 years of age; reside in U.S.
at least 9 years; serve 6 year terms
Congressional members must be legal
residents of their states
Apportionment and Redistricting
Apportionment
Proportional process of allotting
congressional seats to each state following
the ten year census
Redistricting
Redrawing of congressional districts to
reflect increases or decreases in seats
allotted to the states, as well as population
shifts within a state
1929: House size fixed at 435
Constitutional Powers of Congress
The authority to make
laws is shared by both
chambers of Congress
Other shared powers
Bill
A proposed law
No bill can become a
law without the
consent of both houses
Each chamber also has
special, exclusive
powers as well.
Declare war
Raise an army and navy
Coin money
Regulate commerce
Establish the federal courts and their
jurisdiction
Establish rules of immigration and
naturalization
Make laws necessary and proper to
carrying out the powers previously listed
Special powers
House – origination of revenue bills
Mandate has blurred over time
Impeachment authority (but Senate
tries; 2/3 vote)
Senate – treaties, presidential
appointments
How Congress is Organized
New Congress is seated every two years
Elect new leaders
Each house has a hierarchical leadership structure
Political Parties
Organization of both houses of Congress closely tied
to political parties and their strength in each
chamber.
Majority Party
Minority Party
Role in the committee system
Controlled by the majority party
Party caucus or conference
Variety of roles and specialized committees
The House
Always the larger of the two chambers
Organized more tightly; increased role for party leadership
Speaker
Presides over House
Official spokesperson for the House
Second in line of presidential succession
House liaison with president
Great political influence within the chamber
Henry Clay, first powerful speaker (1810)
Joe Cannon (1903-1910), was so powerful, that a revolt
emerged to reduce powers of the speakership.
Newt Gingrich (1995)
Dennis Hastert – replaced Gingrich; wrestling coach and social
studies teacher; largely unknown Republican
With Democrats taking control of the House, Nancy Pelosi
(CA), became the first woman Speaker of the House.
Other House Leaders
Majority Leader
Elected leader of the party controlling the most seats
in the House or the Senate
Second in authority to the Speaker—in the Senate, is
the most powerful member
Minority Leader
Elected leader of the party with the second highest
number of elected representatives in the House of
Representatives or the Senate
Whips
Keep close contact with all members and take nose
counts on key votes, prepare summaries of bills, etc.
Party caucus or conference
A formal gathering of all party members
The Senate
The Constitution specifies the vice president
as the presiding officer of the Senate.
He votes only in case of a tie.
Official chair of the Senate is the president
pro tempore (pro tem).
Primarily honorific
Generally goes to the most senior senator of the
majority party
Actual presiding duties rotate among junior
members of the chamber
True leader is the majority leader, but not as
powerful as Speaker is in the House
The Senate
Senate rules give tremendous power
to individual senators
Offering any kind of amendment
filibuster
Because Senate is smaller in size
organization and formal rules have
not played the same role as in the
House
Committee System
Organization and specialization of committees
is very important in the House due to size
Subcommittees allow for even greater specialization
Institutionalized system created in 1816
More committees added over time
1995 Republican committee system reform
Result may have weakened the committee system
How chairs are appointed
Devaluation of seniority
Shift of power from chairs to party leaders
Reduction in resources to subcommittee chairs
Imposition of term limits on committee chairs
Committee System
Standing Committees
Continue from one Congress to the next—bills referred here
for consideration
Powerful
Discharge petitions
Joint Committees
Includes members from both houses of Congress, conducts
investigations or special studies
Conference Committees
Joint committee created to iron out differences between
Senate and House versions of a specific piece of legislation
Select (or special) Committees
Temporary committee appointed for specific purpose, such
as conducting a special investigation or study
Committee Membership
Members often seek assignments to
committees based on
Their own interests or expertise
A committee’s ability to help their prospects for
reelection
Pork/earmarks: legislation that allows
representatives to bring home the “bacon” to
their districts in the form of public works
programs, military bases, or other programs
designed to benefit their districts directly
Access to large campaign contributors
Committee Chairs
These individuals have tremendous power
and prestige.
Authorized to select all subcommittee chairs
Call meetings
Recommend majority members to sit on
conference committees
Can kill a bill by not scheduling hearings on it
Have staff at their disposal
Seniority still important in the Senate
The Members of Congress
Find the job exciting
Relish the work
Recent impact of partisanship
Makes work more stressful, intense
Can make more money in private sector
Must work to appease two constituencies
Home
Washington
Running for Office and
Staying in Office
Incumbency
The fact that being in office helps a person stay
in office because of a variety of benefits that go
with the position
Name recognition
Access to free media
Inside track on fund-raising
District drawn to favor incumbent
1980 to 1990, an average of 95 percent of
incumbents who sought reelection won their
primary and general election races.
Congressional Demographics
Members tend to be:
Better educated than the population in general
Richer
All but three are college graduates; over 2/3’s have advanced
degrees.
Nearly 200 are millionaires; 21 Senators are worth at least 3.1
million. 29 House members worth that much as well.
Male
White
Average age is 60 for Senators; 54 for House members.
Adam Putnam (R-FL) elected in 2000 at age of 25. Still the
youngest member of Congress.
John Sununu (R-NH) is the youngest Senator (41)
Minorities in the House and Senate
Occupations
No longer overwhelmingly lawyers
Theories of Representation
Trustee
Role played by elected representatives who
listen to constituent’s opinions and then use
their best judgment to make final decisions
Delegate
Role played by elected representatives who vote
the way their constituents would want them to,
regardless of their own opinions
Politico
Role played by elected representatives who act
as trustees or as delegates, depending on the
issue
How Members Make Decisions
Party
Divided government
Constituents
Colleagues and Caucuses
Logrolling (vote trading)
Interest Groups, Lobbyists, and PACS
Staff and Support Agencies
How a Bill Becomes A Law
Only members of the House or
Senate can submit a bill.
Once a bill is introduced: usually a
dead end
Of about 9,000 or so bills introduced
during a session of Congress, fewer than
10 percent make it into law.
System of multiple vetoes; power is
dispersed as the Framers intended.
How a Bill Becomes a Law: The
Textbook Version
Introduction (sponsorship)
Sent to clerk of chamber
Bill printed, distributed, and sent to appropriate
committee or committees (referred by Speaker in
House)
Committee refers bill to one of its subcommittees
Subcommittee researches bill and decides on hearings
Hearings provide opportunity for both sides of issue to
voice their opinions
Bill then revised in subcommittee and vote is taken
If vote is positive, the bill is returned to full committee
Markup
Full committee either rejects bill or sends it to House
or Senate floor with a recommendation
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Textbook Version
Next stage of action takes place on the floor
In House, goes to Rules Committee, given a rule,
placed on calendar (but not budget bills)
Rules limit debate and determine what kind, if any,
amendments are allowed
House may choose to form a Committee of the Whole
Allows for deliberation with only 100 members
present
On the floor, bill debated, amendments offered, and a
vote taken
If bill survives, it is sent to the Senate for
consideration—if it was not considered there
simultaneously.
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Textbook Version
In the Senate, bill may be held up by:
A hold – a tactic by which a senator asks
to be informed before a particular bill is
brought to the floor
A filibuster – a formal way of halting
action on a bill by means of long
speeches or unlimited debate on the
Senate
Cloture: Mechanism requiring sixty senators
to vote to cut off debate
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Textbook Version
Third state of action takes place when the
two chambers of Congress approve
different versions of the SAME bill
Conference committee
Returns to each chamber for final vote. If it
does not pass in each chamber it dies
If the bill passes, it is sent to the president.
How a Bill Becomes a Law:
Textbook Version
President can either sign it or veto it.
The president has 10 days to consider a bill.
Four options:
Can sign the bill, at which point it becomes law
Can veto the bill; congress can override the veto with
a 2/3 vote in each chamber
Can wait the full ten days, at the end of which time
the bill becomes law without his signature IF
Congress is still in session
If Congress adjourns before the ten days are up, the
president can choose not to sign the bill. The bill is
then pocket-vetoed.
Bill would have to be reintroduced and go through the
entire process again in order to become a law
Congress and the President
Constitution envisioned that Congress and
the president would have:
Discrete powers
One branch would be able to hold the other in
check
Since the 1930s, the president has had the
upper hand
But Congress still has ultimate legislative
authority to question executive actions and
Congress can impeach and even remove him
from office
Shifting Balance of Power
Congressional Oversight
Congressional review of the activities of an
agency, department, or office
Foreign Policy and National Security
War Powers Act
Passed by Congress in 1973: Limits the
president in the deployment of troops overseas
to a sixty day period in peacetime unless
Congress explicitly gives its approval for a
longer period
Confirmation of Presidential Appointments
The Impeachment Process
Congress and the Judiciary
Congress exercises its control over the
judiciary in several ways.
Can establish the size of the Supreme Court, its
appellate jurisdiction, and the structure of the
federal court system
Senate also has the authority to accept or reject
presidential nominees for the federal courts
Senatorial courtesy: process by which
presidents, when selecting district court judges,
defer to the senator in whose state the vacancy
occurs