1. Congress In Action

2. Organization of Congress
January 3rd Odd # years – Congress begins a new two year session.
House of Rep’s – Day 1
Speaker of the House – first to be voted on
General Membership sworn in
Clerk, parliamentarian, sergeant at arms, chief administrative officer, and chaplain.
Establish the rules for the new session
Senate – Day 1
Not as hectic as House
New members sworn in, vacancies on committees are filled.

3. Speaker of the House The most powerful individual in Congress.
Two duties
Preside over the legislative process
Keep order in the chamber
Follows the VP in Presidential succession.

4. President of the Senate
Vice President of the US serves as the President of the Senate.
Presides over the Senate session
Breaks tie votes
President pro tempore – fills in as presiding officer when the VP is not able to. (today that is Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) HI)

5. Other Important Officers
Majority and Minority Leaders – Picked from within the party they serve as legislative strategists.
Majority and Minority Whips – work for the Maj/Min leaders. Their job is to “whip” up votes.

6. Committees in Congress
Division of labor – Government business is so expansive that Congress divides labor through Committees that discuss bills to be brought to the floor for a vote
House has 20 Standing committees (ranging from members each)
Senate has 17 standing committees ( ranging from members) See page 330 in the text.

7. Role of Committees
1st Killing field of legislation – committee recommendations are more often than not reflected in a floor vote.
Standing committees – after a bill is read on the floor of either the House or Senate it is sent to the appropriate Standing Committee.
Special Committees – called together for a specific purpose (temporary)
Joint Committees – composed of members of both houses. Most are investigative in nature.

8. How a Bill becomes a Law Bill – proposed law.
Aritcle 1,Sec7, Clause 1 – all money bills must originate in the House of Representatives.
Rider – something dealing with a matter different to the proposed bill that gets attached with the hope of riding the legislation through signature (PORK)

9. Bill in Committee Most bills die in this step.
Committees sieve through all proposed bills and decide what should go through to the floor.
Committees can…
Pass
Refuse
Amend
Report unfavorable (goes to the floor anyway)
Introduce their own bill

10. Bill on the Floor
Quorum – majority of the full membership (218) must be present for the House to do business
Committee of the Whole – only 100 members need to be present to debate a bill.
Debate – members have no more that 1 hour to debate.
Voting – the bill and each amendment must be voted on separately.

11. Bill in the Senate
Senate proceedings are much less formal and its rules less strict than those of the much larger House.
Debate – in the Senate debate is almost unrestrained. Senators can speak on anything that they like (not just the measure before the chamber).
Two Speech Rule – no senator may speak more than twice on a given question on the same legislative day.

12. Bill in the Senate
Filibuster – the ability of a minority party to talk a bill to death.
Huey Long ( Louisiana) – hours
Strom Thurmond – (South Carolina) 1957 – 24 hours, Senate record.
Cloture – limits debate…it takes 60 votes.

13. President Acts Article 1,Sec 7, Clauses 2&3 President can…
Sign the bill (becomes law)
Veto – bill returns to place of origin. Congress can pass over a veto by a 2/3 vote.
10 Days – if the President does not sign within 10 days it becomes a law.
Pocket veto – if the President does not sign a bill before Congressional recess it dies.