The Legislative Branch of Government
 

  1. Congress  
  2. Congressional Sessions:
     
    1. Each term of Congress has two sessions.
    2. Sessions last until Congress votes to adjourn.
     
  3. Membership of the House:
     
    1. Members must be at least 25 year old, citizens for at least 7 years, and residents of their states.
    2. Members serve for 2-year terms.
    3. The number of representatives for each state is determined by the census population count every 10 years.
    4. State legislatures set up congressional districts after the census count - one representative for each district.
     
  4. Membership of the Senate:
     
    1. Senators must be at least 30 years old, citizens for at least 9 years, and residents of their states.
    2. Senators serve for 6-year terms; one-third are elected every two years.
    3. Each state elects two senators.
    4. The Senate and the House set members' salaries, and receive numberous benefits, allowances for office staffs and business trips, tax breaks for maintaining two residences, and pensions when they retire.
    5. Both House and Senate members enjoy immunity from arrest, in cases not involving a felony or treason, or being sued for libel when Congress is in session.
    6. Both the Senate and House may refuse to seat a member and may censure or even expel members
     
  5. The Members of Congress:
     
    1. Nearly half the members of Congress are lawyers.
    2. White, middle-aged male members are being joined by members reflecting the ethnic, racial, and gender makeup of the general population.
    3. Most incumbent members of Congress win reelection to office because they are well known, find it easier to raise campaign money, and often represent districts gerrymandered in favor of their parties.
    4. In the 1990s, incumbants came under heavy criticism from the public, resulting in the greatest turnabout in the membership in 50 years.
     
  6. Rules for Lawmaking:
     
    1. Each house of Congress has complex rules to help members conduct business.
    2. Congress carries out most of its work by committees. Because of its large membership, committee work is even more important in the House than in the Senate.
    3. Party membership guides Congress in its work, since the majority party in each house organizes the committees, appoints committee heads, and can change the rules by which the House operates.
     
  7. House Leadership:
     
    1. The Speaker of the House (official website) is leader of the majority party and has great power and influence over its members.
    2. Floor leaders of both the majority (official website) and minority (official website) parties are party leaders who schedule the work of the House and help steer bills through committees.
    3. Party whips assist the floor leaders in persuading party members to support laws the party favors.
     
  8. Lawmaking in the House:
     
    1. Members attend House floor sessions to vote on legislation.
    2. All laws begin as bills introduced in the House, then go to committee. If approved there, they are put on the proper calendar, listing the order in which they will be considered on the House floor.
    3. The House Rules Committee (official website) receives all bills approved by the various committees of the House.
    4. The Rules Committee determines which bills will be considered by the full House and places them on the House Calendar.
    5. The Rules Committee also settles disputes among other House committees and delays or blocks bills that representatives and House leaders do not want to come to a vote.
    6. When the Rules Committee sends bills to the floor, the House may sit as a Committee of the Whole, in which 100 members constitutes a quorum, in order to speed up consideration of an important bill, so that the full House can then vote on it.
     
  9. The Senate at Work:
     
    1. The Senate has fewer rules than the House. Senators have more freedom to express their views and are less subject to party discipline than representatives.
    2. The atmosphere in the Senate is more informal than in the House.
    3. The vice president (official website) presides over the Senate but has much less power and influence there than does the Speaker of the House; the president pro tempore often presides in the Senate.
    4. The Senate majority floor leader is the party's leader responsible for guiding bills through the Senate; the minority floor leader develops criticisms of majority party bills and tries to keep the opposition party members working together.
    5. Majority and minority floor whips (official website) assist their floor leaders in making sure members are present for key Senate votes.
     
  10. How Senate Bills Are Scheduled:
     
    1. Senate leaders control the flow of bills to committees and to the floor for debate; there is no Senate committee comparable to the House Rules Committee.
    2. The Senate has only two calendars, the Legislative Calendar (Calendar of General Orders), which schedules bills to be considered in the Senate - and the Executive Calendar, which schedules treaties and nomination.
    3. A filibuster - unlimited debate on a bill to defeat it - can be ended only by a three-fifths vote; in recent years a two-track procedural system has weakened the filibuster as a legislative weapon.
    4. The majority party controls the flow of legislative work in the Senate.
     
  11. Congressional Committees:
     
    1. Purpose of Committees
      • Committees ease Congressional workload by dividing work among smaller groups, allowing members to specialize on key issues.
      • Committees allow members to discuss and select the most important bills Congress will consider.
      • Committees hold investigative public hearings on key problems and issues to inform the public.
    2. Kinds of Committees
      • Standing committees deal with certain issues continuing from one Congress to the next.
        • The majority party in each house controls standing committees and bases their membership on each party's strength.
        • Subcommittees handle special subcategories of standing committees' work, and continue from one Congress to the next.
      • Select committees are special committees created in both houses of Congress, usually for one term only, to study a specific isssue and report their findings.
      • Joint committees are made up of members of both houses to act as study groups.
      • Conference committees are temporary committees set up to resolve the differences in the House and Senate versions of a bill by working out a compromise bill that each house then can accept or reject.
    3. Choosing Committee Members
      • Assigning members to various committees is a key decision in the organization of Congress.
      • Membership on certain committees:
        • helps members build reputations and increase their chances for reelection.
        • gives members a chance to influence importatn national legislation.
        • enables members to influence other members since those committees deal with issues that are importatn to all memebers.
      • In both houses, both parties assign members to the standing committees.
      • The party leaders and chairpersons of the standing committees are the most important members of Congress.
      • Standing committee chairpersons make key decisions about the work of their committees, though their power hs been reduced since 1970.
      • Seniority traditionally guided the election of chairpersons until the 1970s.
     
  12. Congressional Staff:
    • Role of the Congressional Staff
      • Lawmakers rely on their staffs to help with many congressional duties.
      • As congressional workloads have increased, staff duties have become increasingly important as well.
    • Growth of Congressional Staff
      • Prior to 1946, Congress had no staff aides. In recent decades, increased complexity has resulted in much larger congressional staffs.
      • Congressional staffs provide expert help on key issues and help members of Congress serve constituents' growing demands.
    • Personal Staff
      • Members' personal staffs are divided so that some staffers work in Washington and others work in members' home states.
      • Administrative assistants run lawmakers' offices, supervise schedules, and advise on political matters.
      • Legislative assistants keep lawmakers well informed about bills, assist in committee work, write speeches, and keep track of the workflow.
      • Caseworkers are congressional personal staff members who handle requests from sonstituents, and usually staff members' offices in their home states.
    • Committee Staff
      • Committee staffs work for congressional committees, assisting chairpersons as bills proceed through various committees to the floor.
      • Committee staff members often become experts in the areas their committees handle; critics argue staff members are unelected, yet they have a large role in shaping legislation.
    • Support Agencies
 
 

Chapter 4 Executive Branch