Chapter 7 Study Notes – Part 1
CONGRESS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING LAWS (power given to them by the Constitution) – its major responsibility is to help constituents (people in their district) with the people’s needs and the needs of the community.
The president enforces laws and the judicial branch interprets the law.
President of the Senate – Joe Biden, Vice President. The VP is not a member of the senate, but he presides over the meetings, as President of the Senate.
Majority Leader of the Senate – Mitch McConnell
Leader in the House of Representatives – Paul Ryan– ‘Speaker of the House’
Florida Senators: Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R)
Our district’s Representative in the House of Representatives – FCMS is in district 6, and Ron de Santis is the representative.
1. Describe how representation is chosen in the House and Senate –
Senate – the people of each state elects 2 members in the Senate.
House of Representatives – the people of each state elect people to represent them in the House. There are 27 districts in FL – each one has one representative. The number of representatives for each state is based on population that is determined by the census. Since the representatives are elected by a smaller district than the 2 state senators, it is the representative of your district that you would contact is you have a governmental problem.
2. Compare the organization of Congress in the House and the Senate – There are 2 houses – meaning ‘BICAMERAL’ in Congress.
The Senate has 100 members (2 per state). Upper House
6 year term.
The President of the Senate is the VP, Joe Biden. He is not a member of the Senate, but he is the presiding officer of the sessions. He only votes in case of a tie.
There is also a President Pro Tempore who works in place of the VP if he is absent.
There is a Senate Majority Leader, ______
Senate Minority Leader, ______
Both are elected by their party’s senators and are spokesmen for their party.
The Senate Majority leader handles the Senate sessions (meetings). S/he decides what bill will get discussed and voted on and who gets to speak during the sessions. S/he keeps the sessions/meetings moving.
3. The president appoints and makes treaties with other nations, but THE SENATE APPROVES PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS AND TREATIES. Without the senate approval, the appointment or treaty does not happen.
The House has 435 members - Lower House - is based on population – the more people in a state, the more representatives they have. 2 year term.
The Speaker of the House (Paul Ryan) presides over the sessions.
There are ‘whips’ for both houses. These are members that help assist the leaders, and make sure legislators are present for key votes.
4. Explain who representatives and senators serve (be specific). They both represent their constituents (people in their district who vote for them). There are districts in each state and there is one Representative in each district who represents the people in that district. There are 2 senators that serve the people in their entire state.
5. The Constitution:
Article I – The Congress or Legislative Branch
Article II – The Executive Branch (President)
Article III – The Judicial Branch (Supreme Court)
Article IV – Relations among the states
Article V – the amendment process
Article VI – National Supremacy (Constitution is the law of the land – Supremacy Clause)
Article VII - Ratification – or how the Constitution is added to
6. Explain why Congress is considered bicameral. There are 2 houses – bi=2
Congress is set up as determined by the Great Compromise. When the Framers of the Constitution were creating our government there was a big argument. The smaller states wanted each state to have equal representation called the New Jersey plan. The larger states wanted the Virginia Plan which had representatives based on population – the more people in the state, the more votes it would have in Congress. The Great Compromise was a plan to use both the NJ plan and the VA plan. So, we have two houses (called bicameral) in Congress. The NJ plan for the Senate (2 reps per state) and the VA plan for the House based on population.
7. Explain how the census impacts Congress. The census is taken every 10 years to determine the population of the country. This count determines how many representatives each state gets to have in the House of Representatives, as well as it determines the number of electoral college votes each state gets.
8. Know where Congress gets its lawmaking powers from - the Constitution.
9. Compare non-legislative and legislative powers of Congress. Non-legislative powers are duties that
Congress has other than making laws. This gives Congress the ability to suggest amendments to the Constitution. The most important of these is that it allows the Congress to ‘check’ the other branches.
Legislative powers allow Congress to make laws. Many lawmaking powers fall into 3 major categories:
money, commerce, and military.
10. Explain what a committee is and why does the legislative branch have them. Committees in Congress divide up the new bills in question. This was, more bills can be addressed.
Three types of committees:
1. Standing committee – is a permanent committee. They focus on areas of government work.
Ex: agriculture, commerce, veterans’ affairs. Both houses have these types of committees.
2. Select committees – temporary – Focus of special issues. They meet until the issue is solved.
3. Joint committees – includes members of both houses. They meet to consider specificl issues.
11. Explain how the elastic/necessary and proper clause works in Congress - This allows Congress to take the expressed powers (those listed in the Constitution) and stretch those powers because it is ‘necessary and proper’ in order to meet new needs. The powers are then called ‘implied powers.’
12. Compare the House and Senate’s roles in the impeachment process. The House gathers evidence and decides if impeachment is necessary. Impeachment means brought to trial. If impeached, the trial is handled by the Senate. The Senate serves as jury and judge.
13. Remember the ‘necessary and proper’ clause – gives Congress the power to ‘make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper’ to carry out its duties.
14. Only the House of Representatives can allocate monies. They hold the ‘purse strings.’
15. Riders – bill added to another bill –called Pork Barrel spending or earmarks. Every year billions of dollars are set aside for special local projects. These are public works bills. The projects bring revenue ($) to the local economy. Examples are roads, dams, military bases, etc.
16. Rules for bill discussion are set up by the House Rules Committee.
17. A standing committee is a permanent committee.
18. Constitution gives expressed (enumerated) powers. From these powers, implied powers are derived from the expressed powers. In other words the Founders didn’t know to cover laws about the internet or airlines, so through expressed powers, laws were implied to cover these. The elastic clause (or necessary and proper) clause allows this action.
19. Explain how the President’s veto powers work when deciding if a bill should become a law.
The President can veto the bill, can do a pocket veto (he doesn’t sign or veto within 10 days), or he can line item veto (taking out parts he doesn’t like). The congress has the right to over-ride the veto by getting a 2/3 majority vote in both houses.
20. Is the law making process easy? No, and intentionally so. There are many steps that take a lot of time. This gives Congress time to debate the bill, gather information about the bill and make sure a majority of Congress wants to make a law from the bill.
21. Types of bills:
a. Public works bills – set aside billions of dollars for local projects, ie. Dams, military bases, veterans’ hospitals, highways.
b. Public bills – applies to the entire nation and involve general matters ie. Bill on taxation, farm policy, highway building, etc.
c. Private bills – concern individual people or places ie. People’s claims against the government.
Standing Committee(permanent committees)
Decides if the bill gets a vote.
They can:
Kill it
Pigeonhole it
Change/replace original bill
Pass it
They don’t send it back to the sponsor. / Conference Committee
Works out the differences in bills at the house and senate level.
Pros/Cons of issues.
This is where the riders, pork, or earmarks are added.
The House can only add earmarks that relate to the bill.
However, riders (unrelated earmarks) can be added by the senate.
The Senate adds anything they want (riders). / Joint Committee
Temporary committee.
Some Senators and Representatives meet to expedite business between the houses and to help focus public attention on major matters, such as the economy, taxes, scandals, etc.
Also called:
Select Committee:
Formed to handle special issues and meets until the issue is solved.
Types of Committees:
Congressional committee research, draft, and debate bills before they are voted on by the entire legislature.
Committees provide a more efficient system for reviewing thousands of bills proposed each year.
Idea to/ Congress
person / Floor to
Determine
interest / Standing
committee –
can kill or
go with it / Rules committee sets rules for debate / Floor vote
(all members
of the house)
If passes / To other
House.
If passes
both
President to sign or veto
How a bill becomes a law:
The president reviews all the bills and either passes them or vetoes them.
If there is a 2/3 majority in both houses, they can over-ride the veto. From 1793-2010, there was
2, 560 vetoes, but only 109 have been over-turned.
If there are disagreements about a bill, a joint committee meets to get an agreement.
It is difficult to get a law passed, which is the way the founders intended it to be in order to keep bill from being added at someone’s whim.
Congress - Ways to vote:
House – voice vote (aye or no in group), standing vote (stand if in favor), electronic vote (recorded vote)
Senate – voice vote, standing vote (stand if in favor), roll call vote (aye or no as the senator’s name is called)
Census – survey taken every 10 years to determine the population of a state. When a state loses people or gains people, the districts are reapportioned (re-divided fairly). This allows for more or less representation in Congress according to the state’s population.
Powers of Congress
Legislative Powers:
Enumerated (also called delegated or expressed) – these are powers listed in the Constitution that are the powers (duties) of Congress.
Implied Powers: (from the ‘necessary and proper’ or ‘elastic clause’- allows Congress to stretch its powers.)
These are powers that Congress has ACQUIRED because they connect to the enumerated powers that are written in the Constitution.
Example: enumerated power – Raise, support, regulate an Army and Navy
IMPLIES – Congress has the right to build bases for the army, navy, air force. It also implies that Congress can draft people into the army.
Non-legislative Powers:
Suggest amendments
Checks other branches (checks and balances)
Senate has power to approve or reject presidential nominees for offices and Supreme Court judges as well as treaties.
Impeach officials for misconduct (House gathers evidence and accuses/Senate acts as judge and jury).
Limits on Congressional Powers: (what Congress cannot do!)
Limit your rights as given in the Bill of Rights
Can’t favor one state over the other
Can’t block the writ of habeas corpus (requires police to bring a suspect to court to explain the charges against him/her)
Can’t pass bills of attainders (laws that punish a person without a trial)
Can’t pass ex post facto laws (declaring an act is a crime after the act has been committed)
Can’t take the powers given to the states in the Constitution.
Congressional Staff:
Interns/ pages· Helps with research
· Office duties
· Run errands
· Delivers messages / Personal Staffers
· Manage offices
· Gather information on new bills
· Handle voter requests (case load)
· Works with reporters and lobbyists
· Work on reelection / Committee Support Staff
· Draft bills
· Gather information
· Organize committee hearings
· Negotiate with lobbyists