1. The Legislative Branch
Chapter 6
The Legislative Branch

3. House of Representatives
Size:
435 members based on population
Each state guaranteed at least 1 member
Term:
All members serve a 2 year term
All members are up for reelection in every even numbered year

4. House of Representatives
Qualifications:
Must be at least 25 years old
Must be a citizen of the United States for at least 7 years
Must live in the district you represent

5. House of Representatives
Leader:
Speaker of the House
Always chosen from the majority party
Steers legislation through the House, leads floor debates
Third in line for the Presidency
John Boehner
Speaker of the House

6. House of Representatives
Majority leader of the House:
Controls all the members of the majority party (party with the most seats)
Tries to keep the party together on all issues
Minority Leader of the House:
Controls all the members of the minority party (party with the least seats)

7. House of Representatives
Privileges and benefits:
$174,000 a year salary
free office space/parking
free health care
free trips home
discounted video production
franking privilege
immunity in certain cases
free haircuts/restaurants/gym

8. Senate Size: 100 members 2 from each state Term
1/3 of its members are elected every 2 years
Term = 6 years

9. Senate Qualifications: Must be at least 30
Must be a U.S. citizen for 9 years
Must live in the state they represent

10. Senate Official leader as per the Constitution is the Vice President
only votes if there is a tie vote
is almost never there

11. Senate Unofficial leader is the President Pro Tempore
Serves as the leader when the Vice President is not present
Usually the most senior member of the majority party
Daniel Inouye
President Pro Tempore

12. Senate Majority leader of the Senate:
Controls all the members of the majority party (party with the most seats)
Tries to keep the party together on all issues
Minority Leader of the Senate:
Controls all the members of the minority party (party with the least seats)

13. Senate Privileges and benefits: $174,000 a year salary
free office space/parking
free health care
free trips home
discounted video production
franking privilege
immunity in certain cases
free haircuts/restaurants/gym

14. Congressional Sessions
Starts on January 3rd of odd numbered years
2 sessions in each Congress that meet from January until November
Each new Congress gets a number (currently the 112th Congress)
May meet in times of crisis if not already in session

15. Congressional Districts
Each state is divided into one or more House congressional districts based on the census taken every ten years
State legislatures are required to divide their state into districts that contain roughly equal numbers of constituents (Reynolds v. Simms)
This is to prevent gerrymandering-creating oddly shaped districts to ensure a particular parties control of the area

16. Congressional Committees
Standing Committee
Permanent committees in Congress
19 in the House, 17 in the Senate
Cover areas that will always be needed (education, foreign affairs, agriculture)
May be divided into sub-committees to divide work even more

17. Congressional Committees
Select Committee
Created to do a specific job that does not fit the other committees
Only meet for a specific time period
Disbanded when done with their work

18. Congressional Committees
Joint Committee
Any committee that has members from both the House and the Senate
Economic, Printing, Taxation, and Library committees are examples
Conference Committee
A special form of a joint committee
Used to help members from both the House and the Senate to agree on all issues on a proposed law

19. Congressional Committees
Seniority system:
Party leaders make committee assignments
They consider members’ preferences, expertise, and loyalty to the party
Biggest factor is the members seniority, how long have they been in Congress
Those who have served the longest get the best assignments

20. Legislative Powers of Congress
1) Taxing and Spending
All bills that concern money must start in the House
Authorization Bills -creates projects and caps the spending on them
Appropriation Bills -provides the money for government projects

21. Legislative Powers of Congress
Regulate foreign and interstate commerce
Declare War
Maintain Army and Navy
Approve Treaties (Senate)
Borrow money
Coin, print, and regulate money
Establish Courts
Create Postal Service

22. Non-Legislative Powers of Congress
1) Propose amendments
2) Count Electoral votes
If no one wins a majority, the House picks the President and The Senate picks a Vice President
3) Settle Presidential succession issues

23. Non-Legislative Powers of Congress
4) Approve or reject Presidential appointments (Senate)
5) Impeach government officials
House-brings charges
Senate-serves as Jury and decides guilt or innocence
6) Oversees all government actions (special investigations)

24. Limits to Congressional Power
Can’t suspend writ of habeas corpus (can’t hold a person in jail without issuing formal charges)
Can’t favor one state over another
Can’t pass bills of attainder (laws that punish a person without a trial)

25. Limits to Congressional Power
President can veto bills
Laws can be declared unconstitutional
Can’t pass ex post facto laws (laws that punish a person for an action that was not illegal at the time it was committed)

26. Congressional Staffs Personal Staff Help gather info on new bills
Arrange meetings and calendars
Write speeches
Deal with media and lobbyists
Interns volunteer time
Pages run errands

27. Congressional Staffs Committee Staff
People with expert knowledge in that field
Work for the committee, not an individual
Draft bills, organize meetings, and negotiate with lobbyists

28. Congressional Staffs Support Services
Library of Congress-largest library in country, has 1 copy of all books published in this country
Congressional Research Service (CRS)-Looks up facts for Congress
General Accounting Office (GAO)-reviews the spending of all government agencies
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)-Analyzes and predicts budget costs for the federal budget

29. Congress At Work Lawmaking Most important role
All Congressmen try to provide for the needs of their home district
Try to carry out the needs of their constituents

30. Congress At Work Casework
Help constituents deal with the federal government
They get over 80,000 s a day
They get 10,000 formal requests for help each year (per office)
Usually this work is handled by their staffs

31. Congress At Work Helping The Home District
Try to get as much government $ into home district as possible
Includes things like post offices, dams, military bases, veteran’s hospitals, and mass transit systems
Try to build and protect local industries (ex: tobacco in NC or the automotive industry in Michigan)
Also try to get government contracts to local state businesses (ex: a contract to make army uniforms at a plant in Burlington)
These programs are called pork-barrel projects

32. Bill to Law
Bill starts in the House of Representatives (as long as it is not a bill involving $, it may also start in the Senate)
Bill is given to the clerk or put in the hopper
Clerk numbers the bill (HB001)
Bill is then sent to the appropriate standing committee

33. Bill to Law 5) Committee then makes 1 of 3 choices:
-may vote on the bill as is
-may kill bill right here
-may send it to subcommittee for more debate and research
6) Subcommittee then may do the one of the following:
-vote on bill and send it back to full committee
-vote to kill the bill
-will research more into the bill and hold public hearings on it
-may pigeonhole the bill (set it aside and forget about it)

34. Bill to Law
7) Subcommittee votes to send the bill back to the standing committee
8) Standing committee votes on the bill
-if a yes vote, bill goes to full House
-if no, the bill is killed
9) Bill is then sent to full House for debate
-set rules on who can speak at debate
-time limits are put in place to hold debate to a set time frame

35. Bill to Law
10) Full House then votes on the bill using 1 of 3 methods:
-a voice vote (simple yea or nay), used for bills that are clearly popular or unpopular
-a standing vote, members simply stand if they are either for or against the bill
-a roll-call vote, each member is called on personally to give vote which then becomes a matter of public record

36. Bill to Law
11) If the vote is yea, Speaker then signs the bill and sends it to the Senate, if nay, the bill is killed
12) Bill is then formally read in the Senate
13) Bill is given a new number(SB001)
14) Bill is sent to the appropriate committee

37. Bill to Law 15) Committee then makes 1 of 3 choices:
-may vote on the bill as is
-may kill bill right here
-may send it to subcommittee for more debate and research

38. Bill to Law 16) Subcommittee then may do the one of the following:
-vote on bill and send it back to full committee
-vote to kill the bill
-will research more into the bill and hold public hearings on it
-may pigeonhole the bill (set it aside and forget about it)

39. Bill to Law
17) Subcommittee votes to send the bill back to the standing committee
18) Standing committee votes on the bill
-if a yes vote, bill goes to full House
-if no, the bill is killed

40. Bill to Law 19) Bill is then sent to the full senate for debate
-no formal rules of debate as in the House
-Senators opposed to the bill may lead a filibuster to kill the bill (talking until the Senator who proposed the bill pulls it from debate)
-A filibuster can be ended when 3/5ths of the Senators vote for cloture

41. Bill to Law
20) Full Senate votes on the bill, if nay the bill is killed
21) If Senate approves of the bill and it differs even by one word it is sent to a conference committee to work out a compromise version
22) New version is then sent each house for one more vote
-if nay in either house, the bill is killed
-if yea in both houses, bill goes to the President

42. Bill to Law 23) President has several options:
-may sign bill into law ending process
-may veto bill
-may pocket veto the bill-if the President does nothing to the bill for 10 days and congress is not in session, the bill is killed
-if President does nothing for 10 days and congress is in session, bill becomes a law

43. Bill to Law
24) If the President vetoes the bill, it goes back to Congress for a new vote
-if 2/3rds of both houses vote yea, bill is a law
-if less than 2/3rds, the bill is killed

44. From a Visual Perspective
How a Bill Becomes a LAW
From a Visual Perspective