1. The Legislative Branch Chapter 4 Section 5 Congress at Work – Organization and Committees

2. The Legislative Branch Objectives: * Describe how and when Congress convenes. * Compare the roles of the presiding officers in the Senate and the House. * Identify the duties of the party officers in each house. * Describe how committee chairman are chosen and explain their role in the legislative process. * Explain the standing committees function. * Describe the responsibilities and duties of the House Rules Committee. * Describe the role of select committees.

3. The Legislative Branch Congress Convenes Congress convenes – begins anew term – every two years on January 03 rd of every odd-numbered year. Each new term follows the general elections in November.

4. The Legislative Branch House of Representatives – 435 men and women who have been elected to the House come together at the Capital to begin a new term. – Clerk of the House in the preceding term presides over the beginning of the first day’s session. – Calls the chamber to order. – Checks the roll of representatives elected. – The Speaker of the House is chosen by the party that has a majority in the House. – The Speakers takes the Oath of Office and then that person presides over the House’s first day.

5. The Legislative Branch – The rest of the Body of the House of Representatives are sworn in. – The Clerk, the Parliamentarian, Sergeant at Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chaplain are chosen. – None of these people are members of the House and their election is a formality. – The House adopts the rules that will govern its proceedings through the session. – Then the members of the 20 permanent committees of the House are appointed by a floor vote.

6. The Legislative Branch Senate – The Senate is a continuous body. – It has not been organized without interruption since its first session in 1789. – Only 1/3 of the seats are up for election every two years. – Two thirds of the membership is carried over from one term to another. – There are no large organization changes or procedures to go over with the beginning of each new term. – New members are sworn in and committees are filled along with a few other details.

7. The Legislative Branch State of the Union Message – When the Senate is notified that the House of Representatives is organized, a joint committee of the two chambers is appointed and instructed “to wait upon the President of the United States and inform him that a quorum of each House is assembled and that the Congress is ready to receive any communication he may be please to make”. – Within a few weeks, the President delivers his State of the Union message to Congress. – This is the president’s idea of how the country is doing and what things need to be attended to. – After the speech, the joint session is adjourned. – Each house they goes back into their session to work for the country.

8. The Legislative Branch The Presiding Officers The Constitution provides for the presiding officers of each house of Congress – The Speaker of the House and the president of the Senate. The Speaker of the House is by far the more important and more powerful within the halls of Congress. John Boehner (R-Ohio) is the Speaker of the House in the 112 th and 113 th Congress. The Speaker’s main duties are… To preside and keep order Sometimes a temporary officer is allowed to chair the House of Representatives when the Speaker is absent.

9. The Legislative Branch No member may speak on the floor of the House until recognized by the Speaker. The Speaker also interprets and applies the rules, refers bills to committee, rules on points of order (questions of procedure raised by members), puts motions to a vote, and decides the outcome of most votes taken on the floor. The Speaker names members of the committees and must sign all bills and resolutions passed by the House. The Speaker can only debate and vote on the floor of the House if he or she appoints another member as the temporary presiding officer. The Speaker follows the Vice-President in line for President. He is number 2 on the list after the V.P.

10. The Legislative Branch The Senate’s presiding officer is the Vice-President of the United States. – The Senate does not choose its own presiding officer. – The Senate’s presiding officer is not a member of the Senate. – The V.P. plays a much less role in Congress. – Vice-President is Joe Biden. – The V.P. recognizes members, put questions to vote, and etc. – V.P. cannot take the floor to speak or debate and may only vote to break a tie. – The other presiding officer in the Senate is the president pro-tempore who serves in the ` V.P. absence. – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) is the president pro-tempore (113 th Congress).

11. The Legislative Branch Party Officers Congress is a political body. This is so for two leading reasons: (1) Congress is the Nation’s central policymaking body and (2) Congress is partisan (a committed member of a political party).political party Congress is organized along party lines. The Party Caucus is a closed meeting of the members of each party in each house. – These meetings are held right before Congress convenes in January. – This meeting deals with party matters related to the organization such as party floor leaders and etc.

12. The Legislative Branch Party Floor Leaders – In the Senate and House, these leaders are the most important officers in Congress. – They do not hold official positions in either chamber. – They are picked party officers to assist the paid staff as they carry out the decisions of their party. – The floor leader whose party holds the most seats, in each house, holds the most power is the majority leader. – The floor leader of the party that holds the minority of seats in each house is called the minority leader. – The assistants who help the majority and minority leaders are called whips.

13. The Legislative Branch Committee Chairs The bulk of the work in Congress is done in committee. The Committee Chairmen is the leader of that committee and is usually from the majority party. This person decides which bills that committee will decide on and send back to Congress to be voted on. The Seniority Rule – puts the most senior members of Congress in the most important posts on committees. Critics say this system rewards mere length of service than ability and it works to discourage younger members.

14. The Legislative Branch Standing Committee Work in Congress is divided up among the different committees so that the work gets done faster. Standing Committees are the permanent panels in which similar bills are sent to. There are some 20 of these committees in the House and 16 in the Senate. The most thorough consideration for a bill come from the standing committee.

15. The Legislative Branch Senate: Aging Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Appropriations Armed ServicesBanking, Housing, & Urban Affairs BudgetCommerce, Science, & Transportation Energy & Natural Resources Environment & Public WorksEthicsFinance Foreign RelationsHealth, Education, Labor, & Pensions Homeland SecurityIndian AffairsIntelligence JudiciaryNarcotics Rules and Administration Small Business & EntrepreneurshipVeteran’s Affairs

16. The Legislative Branch House of Representatives: AgricultureAppropriationsArmed Services BenghaziBudgetEducation & Workforce Energy & CommerceEthicsFinancial Services Foreign AffairsHomeland Security House AdministrationIntelligenceJudiciary Natural Resources Oversight & Government Reform Rules Science, Space, & Tech Small BusinessTransportation and Infrastructure Veteran’s Affairs Ways & Means

17. The Legislative Branch Select Committees At different times, each house finds a need for a select committee to handle a situation for a brief period of time. Sometimes it may investigate an issue. They may investigate a member of Congress accused of wrongdoing.

18. The Legislative Branch Joint and Conference Committees A joint committee is one composed of members of both houses. A conference committee is one that is temporary and is created to iron out difference in a bill that did not pass exactly the same out of Congress. They try to produce a compromise bill that both houses will accept. The Joint Economic Committee – holds hearings, performs research, and makes recommendations on matters related to the U.S. economy.

19. The Legislative Branch The Joint Committee on the Library – oversees the operations of the Library of Congress and manages the congressional art collection, and the U.S. Botanic Garden. The Joint Committee on Printing – one of the oldest joint committees of Congress, oversees the general printing procedures of the federal government to keep the costs down. The Joint Committee on Taxation – is involved in legislation about taxes. The chair position rotates between the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.

20. The Legislative Branch