1. The Legislative Branch
How congress is organized

2. Terms & Sessions
Sessions (meetings) of Congress generally last from January to August/September
Sometimes serious issues come up after Congress has adjourned a session
President can ask Congress to meet in a special session to resolve the issue
House and Senate will sometimes meet together- called a joint session of Congress

3. Organization of Congress
According to the Constitution:
House of Representatives must select a presiding officer
Vice president is the leader of the Senate
A senator must serve as leader of the Senate in absence of vice president (who usually is never there)
Beginning of a new session- Republican and Democratic members hold private meetings called caucuses
Choose their leaders for each house in Congress
Political party that has most members in Congress called majority party (Republicans)
Party that has fewer members in Congress called minority party (Dems)

4. Leaders of the house Speaker of the House most powerful representative
Always a member of the majority party
Usually a political veteran who has been in Congress a long time
Paul Ryan

5. Leaders of the House
Floor Leader- guides their party’s proposed laws through Congress
Majority and minority leaders
 Kevin McCarthy (Rep.), Nancy Pelosi (Dem.)
Party Whip- assists the floor leader of their party
Job is to persuade members of Congress to vote for their party’s proposed law
Steve Scalice (Rep.), Steny Hoyer (Dem.)

6. Leaders of the Senate
Constitution states vice president as leader of Senate
Vice president has too many other responsibilities- rarely is in the Senate
President pro tempore- a Senator who is elected by members of the Senate
Longest-serving member of the majority party
Orrin Hatch

7. Congressional Committees
Congress has to decide on thousands of bills (proposed laws) each year
Members of Congress divide their work among committees
Most all of the work in Congress is done in committees

8. Standing Committees Standing committees are permanent committees
16 in the Senate, 19 in the House
Each committee focuses on a specific category of proposed bills
Taxes, foreign policy, etc. etc.
Each bill is studied by the appropriate committee before being proposed to the entire Congress
Study the positive and negative effects of the bill; may make changes to it
Make a recommendation for or against the bill- this will determine if all of Congress will approve the bill or not

9. Subcommittes
Each standing committee is divided into small subcommittees
Deal with specific issues that fall within the category handled by the larger standing committee
For example, Senate Foreign Relations Committee is broken down into subcommittees that deal with issues in Africa, East Asia/Pacific, and Europe

10. Select committees
Temporary committees that deal with issues not normally handled by the standing committees
Unusual issues like govt. scandals, terrorist attacks
After hearings are held, select committees are disbanded

11. Joint committees
Committees that include both members of the Senate and the House
Made up of equal number of representatives and senators
Helps the two houses of Congress work together better

12. Conference committees
Another type of joint committee between members of the House and Senate
Formed to work out compromises when the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill
Each conference committee is temporary and must decide on one version of the bill being debated

13. Committee Membership
Representatives and Senators serve on only 2 of the major standing committees
Allows them to specialize in those areas
Committee membership is divided proportionately between majority and minority parties
Majority party has more members in committees- gives them a great advantage over minority party
Controls much of the work done by that committee

14. Committee Chairpersons
Chairpersons are in charge of their committee
Very powerful- decide when to meet, create subcommittees, hire or fire committee staff
This job used to automatically go to the majority party member with the most years of service on that committee
Majority party now votes on who will be the heads of committees
Person with the longest service is still most always elected to be chairperson