Transcript Unit 4: The Legislative branch

Unit 4: The
Legislative branch
Congress: Overview
• Meets at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
• _________________ (2 Houses)
–Senate
• Upper House
• __________total senators (2 from each state)
–House of Representatives
• Lower House
• ________ total representatives (Based on state population)
When does congress meet?
•
1 _________________ of Congress = 2 years
– Begins on January 3 of every odd numbered year
– Example: The current Congress is the __________________ Congress. Its term began
January 3, 2011. After elections in November 2012, the 113th Congress will begin its
term on January 3, 2013.
•
Each term consists of 2 ________________(the period of time in which Congress meets
and actually conducts business).
– Each session = about a ___________
– Congress _________________(ends until the next session) whenever it seems
appropriate
– House and Senate must vote to agree on a time to adjourn
– _______________ = the time in which Congress is not in session (usually a few weeks
out of the year)
Qualifications
House of Representatives
Senate
• At least _______yrs old
• At least ______ yrs old
• US Citizen for at least _____yrs
• US citizen for at least ___yrs
• Live in the state you represent
• Live in the state you
• Live in the district you
represent
represent
See Chart on Next page for differences between House
and Senate
Political Parties in Congress
• In each house of Congress, there is a majority party and a
minority party.
– _____________ party: Party with the most members in office
during a term of Congress
– _____________ party: Party with less members in office during a
term of Congress
• After ________________elections (every 2 yrs), there is a
___________in the number of officeholders each party has in each
house of Congress.
• If enough officeholders in the ______________party in either house
of Congress _____________to opponents from the ______________
party, then the minority party becomes the ______________ party
and vice versa.
Shifting Political Power in Congress
- Examples
• __________ Election (111th Congress):
______________ control both the House and the Senate
– Senate: _____ Democrats, ______ Republicans
– House of Reps: _____ Democrats, _____ Republicans
• _________ Election (_______ Congress – Our current Congress):
Democrats control ___________, Republicans control ___________
– Senate:
are the majority party. Republicans are
the minority party.
• 51 Democrats
• 47 Republicans.
– House of Representatives:
party. Democrats are the minority party.
• 193 Democrats
• 242 Republicans
are the majority
Leadership in the Senate
• Official President of Senate = _____________
___________________
• The VP doesn’t usually attend sessions of
Congress, so the head of Senate in practice is the
____________________
• President pro tem. = the longest-serving member
of the ____________party
• Current president pro tem: _________
__________(D – Hawaii)
• Party Leaders
– Role: _________________for his political party in the
Senate
– Each political party has a party leader
– Current Majority Party Leader: ___________
__________ (D-Nevada)
– Current Minority Party Leader: __________
____________ (R-Kentucky)
• Whips
– Role: “Enforcers” of the party. Each party’s whip
assists the party leader by ensuring that the Senators
from their party all vote the same way.
– 1 for each party:
• 1 minority party whip: ___________________
• 1 majority party whip: _____________________
Leadership in the House
• Head of the House: ______________
• Chosen from the _____________ party by the
majority party
• Role:
– Steers ________________ by choosing which bills
get debated
– If the majority party in the House is NOT the
________________ political party, then the
Speaker also serves as the ___________ of his/her
political party
– Current Speaker: ___________________(R - OH)
• Other important roles:
– Party Leaders: Majority Party and Minority Party
• 1 ____________ party leader: Not as important because
the _________________________ serves as the head of
the party
• 1 minority party leader: next in line to become Speaker if
minority party becomes majority party after an election.
– Voice for the “loyal _________________”
– “__________________” of the majority party
– Whips: Same role in House as in Senate. Help the
party leader with…
– Ensuring that party members __________ the same way on issues.
– Coordinating responses to the other party’s legislation
– Making sure other representatives are ____________on the days
there are votes on very important issues
Who represents you?
House of Representatives:
• Georgia has ______
Congressional districts
Georgia’s Senators:
• Each district sends _____
• ________________(R)
representative to the
• ________________(R)
House
• We live in the _____
Congressional District
(which covers Gwinnett
Co., Walton Co., and
parts of Barrow Co.
• The representative for
GA’s 7th district is
________________ (R)
Apportionment/Reapportionment
• ___________________
– The _____________
(dividing up) of seats in
the House of
Representatives (or any
other legislative body)
– Each state is guaranteed
at least _________ seat,
no matter its population
– There is no _________
to the number of
___________Congress
members may serve
• __________________
– The process of deciding how
many ______________ to
Congress a State will receive
(based on _____________)
– Happens after every
___________ (every ____
yrs).
– Results in ____________:
the redrawing of the
boundary lines for each
Congressional
______________in a State
Reapportionment: How it works
• There are _______ total “__________” in the
House of Representatives.
• These 435 seats are divided among the States
based on _______________, so that each
representative has about the same number of
_______________ (people they represent)
• The census is a ______________ measurement
that the US government takes every 10 years.
They count how many people there are in the
US, where they live, which areas have gained a
lot of people and which areas have lost a lot of
people, etc.
• Based on census results, States may ________
or ________ seats in the House of
Representatives
– Ex. Georgia gained _____seats after the 2000
census, and gained another seat after the
_______ census.
• States are required to redraw their district
lines AT LEAST every _______years (after each
census), although they can _________ them
more often if they want.
Who redraws the lines?
• Most States leave it up to their _____________ to
decide when and how to redraw lines
• A group of officials, usually chosen by the State
legislature, gets together and draws a boundary
_______
• Then, they usually submit it to the State legislature
for approval (everyone __________on it).
• Congressional district maps can be very
controversial. Politicians often try to draw districts to
help them or members of their ___________party
win elections.
Gerrymandering
• Drawing district lines to affect ____________
power (give one party an ______________
over the other in elections)
• Gerrymandering is not always __________, but
courts can force a State to redraw district lines
in extreme cases
– ____________-based districts are always illegal
– All parts of a single district must be _____________
in some way
• First, a quick review on types of powers…
• The US govt is a govt of ______________powers – each
branch only has those powers delegated (given) to it by
the Constitution.
• The Constitution delegates (gives) powers in 3 different
ways (i.e. there are 3 types of delegated powers):
–
powers: Powers that are specifically
_________________, in writing, in the Constitution
–
powers: Powers that are not specifically
______________in the Constitution, but it’s reasonable to
assume a branch has them based on its expressed powers
–
powers: Powers that are not specifically stated in
the Constitution, but are assumed just because the they are
powers that a national government should have
Expressed Powers of congress
• It is expressly written in the Constitution that
Congress has the power to…
1. Tax
2. Borrow money
3. Regulate ______________ and trade (between the US and
foreign countries, AND between states within the US)
4. Coin/print money
5. Establish laws on bankruptcy
6. Declare _________________
7. Make and sign ____________________
Expressed powers of congress
8. Make laws regarding naturalization
9. Create and maintain post offices and postal routes
10. Issue copyrights and patents
11.Establish uniform measures of distance, time, etc.
12. Acquire, manage, and dispose of federal lands
13.Create all federal _____________ below the
Supreme Court
14.Define federal crimes and decide their
punishments
Implied powers of congress
• The ______________________Clause gives Congress the power to pass any
law it needs to pass in order to carry out its ________________ powers (the
ones we just listed)
• Also known as the “_________________ Clause” because it’s been
stretched to mean so many different things over the years
• Example 1:
– Expressed power: Congress has the power to regulate ______________
– Implied power: Congress can pass a law establishing a ______________
______________
– Implied power: Congress can pass laws banning _______________in the
workplace
• Example 2:
– Expressed power: Congress has the power to collect _______________
– Implied power: Congress can pass laws punishing people who do not
pay taxes (tax ___________________)
The non-legislative powers of congress
• The primary function of Congress is to make ____________
• However, it also has some other “chores” not related to law-making…
1. Propose Constitutional ____________________(requires 2/3 votes
in each house)
2. ____________________Duties
– The House of Reps chooses the ________________if no candidate
gets a majority of electoral votes for office
– The Senate chooses the ____________________if no candidate
gets a majority of electoral votes for office
– 25th amendment: If the President must choose a replacement VP,
Congress must vote to ________________his choice
3. Approving Presidential ________________(__________only)
–
Recall that the President appoints (names/chooses) many federal
positions: Supreme Court judges, Cabinet positions, (i.e. Secretary of
State, Secretary of Homeland Security, etc.), etc.
–
Each person must be approved by a ______________ vote in the
Senate
–
The Senate ________________ turns down a Presidential
appointment
4. Approving _________________ (____________only)
–
Again, each treaty negotiated by the president must have a
_________________vote in the Senate to pass
Non-legislative duties of congress
(_______________ function)
The next two non-legislative powers of Congress are part of its
__________________ function
(oversight = the process by which Congress checks to make sure
the _______________ branch is doing its job and acting in line
with the Constitution and the law)
5. Investigations
– Congress uses its _________________ system (we’ll learn
about that later) to gather information for a number of
reasons
•
•
•
Ensure the executive branch agencies are operating efficiently
Focus _____________attention on a certain issues (ex. drugs,
violence on tv, etc)
Expose ___________________ activities of public officials
Non-legislative duties of congress
(Oversight function)
6. __________________: The Constitution provides that the
President, Vice President, and all ______________officers of
the US may “be removed from Office on Impeachment for
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.”
– The House has the sole power to impeach
(___________________)
•
•
Requires a __________________ vote of approval
If the majority vote for impeachment, the official then goes to
______________
– The Senate has the sole power to try (to judge) and
__________________(find guilty) in impeachment cases
•
•
Requires a ___________________vote of approval (harder to do)
If the official is found guilty after the trial, they are removed from
office
Impeachment
• To date, _____ Federal officials have been impeached
– 15 federal ________________
– 1 cabinet secretary (1876 - the US Secretary of War)
– 1 US Senator (1st impeachment ever. William Blount, 1797)
– 2 US ____________– Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton
• Of those 19, ___________ have actually been
______________ from office
• All 8 of the removed officials were federal
_____________
A Tale of Two Impeachments…
1. Andrew ______________ (1868)
• “____________ Republicans” wanted him out of office
• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act
• Johnson violated it by replacing the Secretary of War
• House __________ him
• Senate failed to get the ________ vote to remove him
2. Bill Clinton (1998)
• Clinton was accused of sexual harassment
by Paula Jones, a former employee
• During the trial, Clinton lied about having
an affair with intern Monica Lewinski
• House impeached him on charges of
___________ and obstruction of justice
• Senate __________ ______obtain the ____
vote to remove him
Congressional oversight
• Congress also monitors its own members (not just
members of the executive branch)
• 2 levels of ________________ for a Congressperson’s
“misbehavior”
– _________________: Congress officially
_________________ (expresses disapproval of) the
Congresspersons’ actions, but does not ___________ them
from office
• Requires a __________________ vote
• Basically, it’s a form of public humiliation as punishment
– _________________: Congress actually ___________ the
Congressperson from office
• Requires a _________ vote to pass
Congress In Action
• Remember that Congress is very large (100 Senators, 435 Reps)
– Approximately _________bills are proposed to Congress each session (1
year)
– That would be about __________ bills per work day (M-F) to read (some
are hundreds of pages long), research, debate, re-read, vote on, and send
to the President to consider
– That would be impossible!!
• So, most of the work done in Congress is done in ____________.
– That is, Congresspeople divide into smaller groups, and each group only
handles certain types of bills
– Committees are like “_______________ ________________”
– Allows for a “_____________ of ____________________”
Congressional Committees
• ____________ Committees: __________committees
that handle all bills on a particular subject
• ____________Committees: (aka “special
committees”) committees created for a limited time
for a very ______________purpose
• _____________Committees: committees made up of
people from both the Senate and the House of Reps
• _____________Committee: temporary joint
committee formed to discuss and edit bills before
they go to final vote in both houses
Standing Committees
• Most of the work in Congress is done in _____________
(permanent) committees
• Currently, there are ______standing committees in the House
– Examples: Ways and Means (taxes), Armed Services, Homeland
Security, Energy
– Most representatives are on 1-2 different committees
• Currently, there are _____ standing committees in the Senate
– Examples: Finance, Veteran’s Affairs, Armed Services, Appropriations
– Most Senators are on 3-4 different committees
Select Committees
• Select Committees are formed to handle issues that are
too _______________to be sent to one of the larger,
standing committees
• Usually ________________, rather than legislative (i.e.
they are less concerned with making __________ as
they are concerned with ____________ an issue)
• 2 basic functions
– _________________: Investigate ethics issues
• Example: Senate’s select committee on Presidential Campaign
Activities (aka Senate Watergate Committee)
• Formed to investigate ethics violations in the 1972 election. Led to
information that incriminated Nixon and led to his resignation
– _________: to bring attention to specific issues of interest
• Example: Senate’s Special Committee on Aging – does ongoing
research on issues affecting the elderly
• Research benefits the elderly in that it may lead to better laws, or it
may help private companies to serve the elderly better
Joint committees
• Made up of members from both houses of
Congress
• 4 joint committees:
– Joint Committee on ______________
– Joint Committee on ______________
– Joint Committee on the _____________ (focuses on
managing the Library of Congress)
– Joint ________________Committee
Who is in charge?
• Every committee is led by a ____________ ________________
• Powers/Responsibilities of the committee chairman:
– Gets to choose which bills are considered, and which get
______________
• Pigeonholed = set aside to be dealt with at a later date
• Most bills “___________” in committees. That is, they are pigeonholed and
never brought back up
– Assigns committee members to _____________ (smaller, even more
specific groups within the larger committees)
– Sets deadlines and dates for each bill to be researched and discussed
• The committee chairman is selected based on ____________
___________:
– The ______________-_______________ member of the majority party
gets to be the committee chairman for each committee
– So, right now, all committee chairmen in the House are Republicans, and
all committee chairmen in the Senate are Democrats
Seniority rule
Pros
• Easy rule to follow
• Ensures that the chairman is
always someone with
________________
• Prevents ____________
______________among
committee members
Cons
• Ignores the
________________of
individual people
• Discourages
_____________members
• Long-serving
representatives often come
from “___________
districts” that will vote for
that person regardless of
issues, so they may be out
of touch with the opinions
of most Americans
How a Bill
Becomes a Law
Step 1: ____________
• Ideas for bills come from all kinds of sources:
_______________, lobby groups, the
President, etc.
• Any member of Congress can _______ (write)
a bill and introduce it to his/her house of
Congress
Step 2: Bill is ___________
House of Reps
• Bill is placed in a
“____________” on the
clerk’s desk
• _________ = record keeper
– Numbers and names
each bill
• Example: The 3,410th bill
to come through a session
of Congress is numbered
________________
– Then, passes the bill on
to the Speaker of the
House
Senate
• Senators can introduce bills
2 ways:
– _____________ them to
the clerk
– ______________ them
directly on the floor of
the Senate
• Bills in the Senate are
numbered the same way as
in the House, but begin with
an S (ex. ___________)
Step 3: Referred to
_____________/________________
• The __________________(House of Reps) or
the ___________________(Senate) assigns
the bill to the appropriate committee
• Most bills “______________” at this stage.
• But, If the committee chairman chooses to
consider the bill, he/she may refer it to a
________________
• Then, the committee will act based on the
research done in subcommittee
Step 4: _____________ the bill
• After researching and discussing the bill, the committee
may do one of the following:
– _______________ the bill to the full House/Senate with a
“_______ __________” recommendation
– ________________ the bill
– Report the bill to the full House/Senate with
______________made to it
– Report the bill to the full House/Senate with an unfavorable
recommendation
Step 5: ______________
• IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES…..
– The bill must go through a ____________Committee
before making it to the floor for debate
– The Rules Committee establishes
• ___________ the bill will be debated
• Length of _____________ for the debate
• Other _____________rules (i.e. it may prevent any
amendments/changes to the bill once it is on the floor for
debate)
– Rules Committee can _____________a bill by never
setting rules for it
• IN THE SENATE…
– The bill goes directly to the floor for debate
– Debate is much less ________________than in the House: Any
senator, when given permission to speak, can speak as long as
he/she wants, and does not have to stay on
________________
–
: a stalling tactic used to delay or prevent a
vote on a bill
• Usually involves “_______________the bill to death” – a senator will
talk for hours on end until the rest of the Senate votes to drop the bill or
make changes to it to please the party that is attempting to block it
• Only way to stop a filibuster: 60/100 Senators vote to a
– an end or limit to the debate. The filibuster must stop at that point,
and strict rules for debate from that point on are enforced.
Step 6: The Bill is ____________ on
• There are 3 methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of
Representatives:
– Viva Voce (
vote): The Speaker of the House asks the
Representatives who support the bill to say “_______” and those that
oppose it say “no.”
–
: The Speaker of the House asks those Representatives
who support the bill to stand up and be counted, and then those who
oppose the bill to stand up and be counted.
–
: Representatives record their vote using the electronic
voting system. Representatives can vote yes, no, or ____________(if
they want to show that they were there, but don’t want to vote on the
bill).
• There is only one method of voting in the Senate:
– Viva Voce (voice vote): The __________________asks the senators in
favor to say “aye,” and those opposed to say “no”
Step 7: The Bill is____________to the
Other House of Congress
• Bills must be approved by BOTH the __________and the
__________ before going before the President for approval
• So, if the bill starts in the House, it must go to the
___________for approval
• And, if it starts in the Senate, it goes to the ________ for
approval
• Then, it goes through all of the steps all over again….
• If it passes the 2nd time around, then it moves on to the
President
• If it is changed in ANY way, then it is referred to a
_____________ committee (temporary committee made
up of people from both houses that ____________ the bill
before it goes to a final __________in both houses)
Step 8: Bill is sent to the ___________
• The President has 3 choices:
1. _____________ the bill, making it a law.
2. _____________ the bill by refusing to sign it. The
bill is sent back to Congress with the President’s
reasons for veto
• Congress can override this with a
support of the bill
in
3. ____________veto: President does nothing with
the bill
• If Congress is in ____________, the bill passes anyway
after ___________
• If Congress is not in session, the bill __________and
does not become a law
Major differences between the House
and Senate
House of Representatives
Senate
Larger (435 members)
Smaller (100 members)
Shorter terms (2 yrs)
Longer terms (6 yrs)
All members up for re-election every 2 yrs
1/3 of members are up for re-election
every 2 yrs.
_____________members (on average)
__________ members (on average)
Less ___________
More _____________
Strict rules, limited debate
Flexible rules, nearly unlimited debate
Less coverage by ________ ____________
More coverage by __________ _________