1. Legislative Branch Mr. Rineberg

2. Term Limit Today there are no term limits for congress members Incumbent members have a good chance for reelection No term limits have led to debates on the negative effects of career politicians

3. Congressional Leadership The large size of the House requires stronger leadership and more organization Presiding officers and committee chairs come from the majority party

4. House Leadership The highest position in the House is the Speaker The speaker controls action that is occurring on the floor The Speaker gains more influence when the House is the opposite of the President

5. House Leadership cont. Floor leaders are selected by both parties The floor leader of the majority party is second in power to the Speaker The floor leader of the minority party is that party’s main spokesperson

6. Senate Leadership The presiding officer in the Senate is the Vice President The only role of the VP in Senate is to break ties The next highest officer is the president pro tempore The president pro tempore is the Senator in the majority party who has the longest tenure

7. Rules Both Houses are in charge of discipline of their members Expulsion requires a ⅔ vote Only 15 Senators and 4 Reps have been expelled

8. Committees Committees divide Congress into smaller groups to focus on particular areas of public need Authorizing committees establish government policies Appropriation committees set aside funds for public policy

9. Types of Committees Standing Committees Subcommittees Select Committees Joint Committees Conference Committees

10. Standing Committees Standing Committees are permanent committees in both the House and Senate Standing committees deal with broad areas of legislation See Page 119

11. Subcommittees Standing committees are divided further into subcommittees There are around 215 subcommittees New reforms have allowed less experienced congress members to head subcommittees

12. Select Committees Select committees are created to deal with issues not covered by standing or subcommittees Select committees normally head up Congressional investigations

13. Joint Committees Joint committees are made up of both members of the House and Senate They deal with issues that affect both the House and Senate It is more efficient to have one group advising both houses

14. Conference Committees Conference Committees are made up of both House and Senate members to resolve differences in Bills passed by both Houses

15. Committee Chairs Committee chairs are elected by the majority party This gives less tenured Congress members a chance to become chairs For the most part senior members of a committee will be elected chair

16. Committee Membership Committee membership is mostly based on the wishes of the congress member They select and apply for committees they wish to serve on If there are more applications than seats members are selected by majority leaders Once put on a committee, congress members serve for however long they wish except the House Budget Committee which is limited to 6 years

17. Congressional Staff Personal staff help in multiple ways o From getting coffee to suggesting policy Committee staff helps directly with the specific committees they are hired to assist

18. Becoming a Law For legislation to become law it is complicated and takes a long time Bills go through a 6 step process before becoming law o Referral to a Committee o Hearings o Markup o Floor Consideration o Conference Committee o Presidential action

19. Referral to Committee Most bills are easy to refer to committee Bills that enter a grey area however are referred by the majority party The committee referral can have drastic effects on legislation

20. Hearings Hearings are open to the public Bill supporters and opponents often testify at these hearings Using media coverage, congress members try to add public support/opposition to Bills

21. Markup After hearings bills are put into the form they will be presented to the full committee This is crucial because a bill that does not pass committee is dropped and will not be addressed further

22. Floor Consideration in the House Rules for debate change from bill to bill There are normally 3 types of debate These rules can be bypassed for small bills, non controversial bills, or non expensive legislature o Open means that amendments can be made to any part of the bill o Closed means that there is no debate allowed o Modified means that only certain parts of the bill may be amended

23. Floor Consideration in the Senate Senate floor rules are less strict than the House Standard rules can be modified if all senators unanimously agree to do so Filibusters are tactics to delay the final vote on a bill o If you don't stop talking they can't take the floor o Filibusters can be overruled by a ⅗ to stop them

24. The Filibuster Hall of Fame Huey Long (1935) spoke for over 15 hours. Read from the Washington, D.C. phone book and discussed some of his favorites recipes. Glen Taylor (1947) spent more than 8 hours discussing his children, fishing and other topics. Strom Thurmond (1957) spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

25. Conference Committee After a bill is passed in one house it is sent to the other Often times there is a similar or identical bill going through the lawmaking process in the other house Because of this conference committees are made to make compromises and small changes to bills so that both houses will pass the bill

26. Presidential Action W hen a bill is passed by both houses it is sent to the president The President can do 1 of 4 things o Sign the bill into law o Veto the bill o Keep the bill for 10 days without signing it. Once 10 days pass if Congress is in session the bill becomes law o Pocket veto the bill which means if the 10 day time limit reaches into the adjournment of Congress

27. Interest Groups Interest groups can affect votes by giving money and other support to congress members Often times however interest groups select congress members who already share their specific views

28. Home Districts and States Some worry that congress members are too worried about home districts and states pork-barrel spending occurs when congress members are able to pass spending or building projects that benefit their district or state but not necessarily the country as a whole