Chapter 6 Congress
Chapter 6-1 How Congress Is Organized
Terms of Congress
- 535 members of Congress
- 435 representatives
- 100 senators
- known as the legislative branch
- described in Article 1 of the Constitution
- “The First Branch of Government”
o James Madison
Terms of Congress
- starts on January 3 in odd numbered years
- each new Congress is given a number
o 1st Congress – 1789
o 108th – 2003
o 109th – 2005
o ??? - 2007
- each term of Congress is divided into 2 sessions
o a session begins in January and goes until November or December
- Congress can meet in times of crisis
o Special sessions
o The Senate and House can meet together – Joint session
§ Done at least once a year
§ President’s State of the Union Address (Speech)
Bicameral Legislature
- Established by the “Great Compromise”
o 2 houses
§ House of Representatives
· Apportioned by population
§ Senate – Each state gets 2
The House of Representatives
- larger body of Congress
o 435 members
o allotted according to population
o changed after the census South Dakota QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
§ count of people held every 10 years
§ done by the Census Bureau
- Representatives represent districts within their state
o Known as Congressional districts
o Each district should have roughly the same number of constituents
§ People represented by a Congressman
§ SD has 1 congressional district
§ South Dakota Congressional Districts
§ CA has 53 congressional districts
§ California
§ each district should have approximately the same number of constituents
· people represented by the congressman.
o Sometimes states/counties abuse this process by gerrymandering
o Understanding Fair Districts
§ Unfairly dividing up congressional districts to increase/decrease the voting strength of a particular group.
- Members of the House serve a 2-year term
- Usually focus on concerns on their district rather than the entire state
o Stephanie Herseth U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth
§ SD only representative
§ Must represent the entire state
- Must be at least 25 years old to run for the office
- Must be a resident of the state you are running in
- Must be a US citizen for at least 7 years
Senate
- 100 members
- 2 from each state
o John Thune Senator John Thune
o Tim Johnson Senator Tim Johnson
- Represent their entire state
- Must be at least 30 years old
- Must be a resident of the state they are running for election in
- Must be a US citizen for at least 9 years.
- Elected to a term of 6 years
o 1/3 elected every 2 years
o 2/3 members have some experience to ensure stability and continuity
o
Congressional Leaders
- Majority party
o Political party with the most members
§ 2007
· Democrats control both the house and Senate
- Minority party
o Political party with the fewer members
§ 2007
· Republicans are the minority party in both the House and the Sentate
Donkey – Democrat
Elephant – Republican
- Thomas Nast
- Nast’s first use of an animal symbol for the Republican Party came in 1871. Like the featured cartoon, he employed an Aesop’s allusion to warn Republicans, depicted as a bloodied lion and bear, that their continued intra-party fighting might allow the Democrat Party (as a fox) to capture the presidency the next year. During the rest of the 1870s, Nast associated various animals with the Republican Party—bull, eagle, fish, fox, horse, lamb, rooster, and sheep (beleaguered Southern Republicans). Beginning with “The Third-Term Panic” of November 7, 1874, Nast used the elephant seven times over the following 18 months to represent the “Republican Vote.”
- Donkey vs Elephant
- Each political party selects their leaders at the end of each election New Democrat Coalition (NDC)
o Democrats select leader of the House of Representatives
§ Known as the Speaker of the House – Nancy Pelosi Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, California, 8th District
· Most powerful person in the House of Reps
o Helps get laws passed in Congress that their party feels are important
§ Uses power of persuasion to get bills passed
· “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”.
o In charge of floor debates
§ Decides who gets to talk and for how long
· Next in line after the VP to be President of the US
· presidential succession
- The Senate has no comparable leader to the Speaker of the House
o Technically by rules of the Constitution the VP is the leader of the Senate Vice President of the United States - Richard B. Cheney
§ The VP is usually not present at the senate
· Only shows up if needed to break a tie in a vote
o Day to day leader of the Senate is the “President pro tempore”
§ President for the time being
§ Usually a member of the majority party
· More ceremonial than influential
- The real leaders in the House and the Senate are the “floor leaders” of each party
o Try to make sure that the laws passed by Congress are in the best interest of their political party
§ Speak for their party on issues
§ Push bills along
§ Try to sway votes
- Party leaders have assistants known as “Party whips”
o They keep track of where party members stand on proposed legislation and round up their colleagues for key votes.
Committees: Little Legislatures
- where the detailed work of lawmaking takes place
- so many bills are introduced each year that they must be sent to a specific committee first to be divided up or many bills would not get any attention.
Types of Committees
- some are long term committees
- some are short term committees
- some are permanent committees
- some are only temporary committees
Standing Committee
- long term
- permanent
o 19 in the House
o 16 in the Senate
- Most standing committees are divided into smaller sub-committees
o Deal with more specialized issues
Select Committees
- In both the House and the Senate.
- Created to do a special job for a limited amount of time.
o 1976
§ special committee looked into the assassination of JFK and MLK
· known as the House Assassination Committee
o disbanded after it finished its work
o 2006
§ special committee looked into the Presidents handling of the war in Iraq
· suggestions ignored by the President
o 2008
§ Special committee is looking into the use of steroids by major league baseball players.
Joint Committees
- includes members of both Houses
- 4 have been created
o Joint Economic Committee
§ Review important issues - economic conditions of the country and makes suggestions for improvements
o Tax Policy
o Library of Congress
o Government Printing Office
Conference Committee
- Temporary Committee
- Helps the House and Senate agree on the details of a proposed law.
Leaders of both political parties make committee assignments.
- Member of committees are selected by
o Preferences
o Expertise
o Loyalty to the party
o Seniority
§ Years of service
§ Those who have served the longest get to pick which committees they will be on.
§ They are usually the head of a committee – Chairperson
· Very powerful people
o They decided which bills will be studied
o They decide who will be on the subcommittees
§ Some say the system is good while others say that it is out-dated
· Claim that some talented people never get to be the leader of a committee.
· Both political parties have moved away from this process a little but not completely.