How Congress Is Organized

Name ______Date ______

How Congress is Organized

House
1. Speaker of the House (is to preside and keep order)
Party Officers
2. Majority Floor Leader (picked by their party to steer legislative action toward their party goals) 3. Minority Floor Leader
4. Majority Whip (assistants to the floor leaders, responsible for monitoring and
marshaling votes)
5. Minority Whip
Senate
1. President of the Senate (Vice President of the US, not a member of the Senate, cannot debate or take the floor to speak and only votes when there is a tie)
2. President Pro Tempore (serves when the Vice President is absent, is elected by the Senate and is usually a member of the majority party)
Party Officers
3. Majority Floor Leader 4. Minority Floor Leader
5. Majority Whip 6. Minority Whip
Standing Committees
1.  A permanent group of either the House or Senate to consider bills in specific subjects
2.  They investigate, evaluate, and sift through proposed bills
3.  Examples: House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, House National Security.
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Select Committees
1.  A temporary panel set up for a specific purpose.
2.  They investigate some current matter for possible new laws or for specific issues.
3.  Examples: In 1987 A committee was set up to investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran; Senate Select committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition.

Types of Congressional Committees

Tell what each one is, does, and give an example.

Joint Committees
1.  A committee composed of members from both houses.
2.  Investigates issues reports; deals with issues common to both houses; some have routine duties.
3.  Examples: Joint Economic Committee, Joint Committee on Printing, Joint Committee on the Library of Congress.
Conference Committees
1.  Is temporary and composed of members of both houses.
2.  Irons out differences between similar bills in the House and Senate and produces compromise bills