1. How did Henry Ford’s “assembly line” improve the productivity and efficiency of making automobiles?

2. Senate Standing Committees Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Appropriations Armed Services Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Budget Commerce, Science, and Transportation Energy and Natural Resources Environment and Public Works Finance Foreign Relations Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Judiciary Rules and Administration Small Business and Entrepreneurship Veterans' Affairs House Standing Committees Agriculture Appropriations Armed Services Budget Education and Labor Energy and Commerce Financial Services Foreign Affairs Homeland Security House Administration Judiciary Natural Resources Oversight and Government Reform Rules Science and Technology Small Business Standards of Official Conduct Transportation and Infrastructure Veterans' Affairs Ways and Means Specialization in Congress

3. Congressional Committees Essential Question: How and why is each chamber of Congress organized into a series of committees and subcommittees?

4. Congressional Committees Standing Committees – Permanent committees (exist from one congressional term to the next) that oversee bills that deal with specific kinds of issues. Most have several, smaller subcommittees that further-specialize in a particular aspect of the standing committee’s responsibility. Select Committees – Temporary committees that have been created to study one specific issue and report their findings to the Senate or House (or both) Joint Committees – Committees (can be permanent or temporary) made up of members from both the Senate and the House Conference Committees – A temporary committee set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill. Before a bill can be sent to the president, it must pass the House and Senate in the exact same language. U.S. Senate Committees U.S. House of Representatives Committees http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm

5. What do standing committees do? Hold hearings (this usually occurs at a subcommittee) to gain information on bills being considered by the committee Debate, amend, and rewrite bills that have been sent to their committee (this is known as a “markup” session) Vote on bills (a majority vote is required for the bill to be “reported favorably” by the committee). Most bills die in committee.

6. Stephen Colbert testifies before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, & Border Security (Sept. 24, 2010) Video Clip

7. Congressional Committees Summarizer: 1.Explain how the congressional committee system offers the advantage of specialization. 2.Explain how the congressional committee system saves time and makes the lawmaking process more efficient.