1. Congressional Leadership and Committees
AP GOPO

2. Role of Congress Member Examples
1st: Lawmaking
Initiating Bills
Serving on Committees
Participating in Congressional Votes
2nd: Representative of District or State
Trustee or Delegate
Casework
Pork Barrel Spending
3rd: Oversight
Serving on Hearing committees
Making sure laws are being correctly instituted

3. Congressional Leadership What is job of each of these leaders?
Senate
House of Representative
Vice President (President of Senate)
President Pro Tem
Senate Majority Leader
Senate Majority Whips
Senate Minority Leader
Senate Minority Whips
Speaker of the House
Senate Majority Leader
Senate Majority Whips
Senate Minority Leader
Senate Minority Whips

4. Leadership for the 115th Senate
115th Leaders from Majority Party
President Pro Tem
Orrin Hatch (maybe)
Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell
Majority Whip
John Cornyn
115th Leaders from Minority Party
Charles Schumer
Dick Durbin

5. Leadership for the 115th HOR
Speaker of the House
Majority Leader
Majority Whip
Minority Leader
Minority Whip

6. What are the advantages of having the majority leadership positions in Congress?
You preside over the house and get to decide
what is discussed. 2. 3. 4.

7. 4 Types of Congressional Committees
Standing Committees –permanent committees of Congress. (Examples are Armed Services, Budget, Education and the Workforce, and Energy and Commerce)
Select Committees – created to perform a specific task (Example is Select Committee on the Events Surrounding 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi)

8. Congressional Committees Continued
Joint Committees – advisory committees made up of members from both houses of Congress (Examples are Economic, Library, Taxation, and Printing)
Conference Committees – joint committee formed temporarily to work out difference between HOR and Senate versions of a bill.

9. How Committees are Organized
Senate
HOR
113th Congress there are 17 standing committees which has 17 to 20 members.
Senators serve on 4 committees and 2 prominent committees
113th Congress there are 20 standing committees which has 35 to 40members.
Reps serve on 2 major committees

10. How to get on a Committee?
Vacancies become available after elections or retirement
Ratio of majority and minority members in a committee mirrors the composition of the house itself (Senate decides ratio differently)
New members of Congress request to be on a committee that can serve constituency or prominent committee
Factors of membership are also work habits, party loyalty, length of congressional service.