Political Science- Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Legislative Branch

Structure of Congress:
1. Membership- how many people?
a. House of Representatives- 435 members.
b. Senate- 100 members.
2. Terms of office-
a. House of Representatives- elected every two years for two years. They can run for office as often as they please.
b. Senate- serves a six year term, but the terms are staggered so that every two years, one- third of Congress is elected. The question of limiting a senator’s number of terms has come up often, but so far the Supreme Court has ruled that it can only be imposed by a constitutional amendment.
3. Qualifications-
a. House of Representatives- must be twenty-five, a US citizen for seven years and live in the district that he was elected by.
b. Senate- must be thirty, a US citizen for nine years and live in the state that he was elected by.
4. Constituency- the area that you represent-
a. House of Representatives- specific district.
b. Senate- state.

Organization of Congress:
1. Congress is in session for two years. It begins January 3 of odd numbered years. Each term is divided into two one- year sessions.
2. The president can, if he so wishes, call a special session in case of emergency.
3. Each house chooses its own leadership and rules.

Election to Congress:

The constitution guarantees each state at least one member to the House of Representatives. Members are chosen from districts within each state.

Some practices related to Congressional representation-
1. Apportionment- states are divided into districts based on population. Initially, as the population grew, districts were added and so were members to the House of Representatives. But it was realized that the numbers were going to get out of hand, so in 1910, the number of House members was capped at 435. Now, they reapportion every ten years- shuffle districts according to the population.
2. ?????
3. Getting elected to Congress-
a. ????
b. Senate- the constitution guarantees every state equal representation in the Senate. Originally, senators were chosen by the state governments. But this changed in 1913 with the seventeenth amendment- direct election of senators by the people.
c. Incumbent effect- the idea that the incumbent usually wins re-election. Why?
i. Name recognition
ii. Credit claiming- you can say all of the positive things that you have accomplished.
iii. Casework- ????
iv. More visible- can use certain privileges, such as franking privileges, to communicate with you on a continuous basis.
v. Media coverage- they are being written up about in newspapers.
vi. Fundraising- people donate more money to the incumbent.
vii. Experience in campaigning.
viii. Records
4. Leadership in Congress- the majority party in each house controls the leadership positions.
a. Leadership in the House of Representatives-
i. Speaker of the House- most powerful member in the House and the whole Congress. He’s the presiding officer of the House. He:
1. Assigns bills to the committees.
2. Controls the floor debates.
3. Appoints party members to the committees.
ii. Majority party leader- he’s the Speaker of the House’s assistant. He plans the Speaker of the House’s legislative program with him- legislative actions, policies…
iii. Minority party leader- he is the voice for the minority party. He leads the opposition.
iv. Whips-
1. Help the floor leaders.
2. Direct the other members of the House as to how to vote.
3. Tell them when there is an upcoming vote.
4. Keep track of the votes.
5. Pressure members to vote along party lines.
b. Leadership in the Senate-
i. Vice president- presiding officer of the Senate according to the constitution, but he doesn’t do much- he serves as the tie breaker.
ii. President pro-tempure- the president of Senate. He’s the senior most member of the majority party, but this is mostly a ceremonial position. However, when the vice president can’t, he serves as president.
iii. The real leaders are the majority party floor leader.
5. The committee system- most of the work of Congress gets done in committees because when work is divided, it gets done more effectively. How is the leadership divided into committees? The committee chairpersons are from the majority party. They are chosen at special meetings. The heads set an agenda of what they are going to focus on this session of Congress. They also assign members to sub-committees.
Investigative committee- decides whether the committee will hold public hearings and which witnesses to call up by the hearings. They help manage floor debates when a bill is presented.
Members serve on committees that will help influence legislature for their district or state, for example: a representative from Iowa would join the Agriculture Committee.
Types of committees:
a. Standing committees- permanent committees which deal with issues that are always applicable.
b. Select committees- temporary committees which are set up for a specific purpose. They are usually set up for investigative purposes.
c. Joint committees- made up of House of Representative and Senate members. They could join for investigative purposes or to form standing committees.
d. Conference committees- temporary committees of both House and Senate members when they want to confer on bills and other issues.
Caucus- an informal group formed by different congressmen.

Congressional staff and support-

Congressmen have huge, fully staffed offices paid for by tax dollars. Committee members have staff working for them and there are sub committees working under them. There are also support agencies working for everyone.

Role of the Congressmen:
1. Policy makers- set public policy by making laws.
2. Representative roles- they represent the people and vote according to what the people tell them. But they also vote according to their own research and opinion.
3. Constituent’s servants- they must help the constituent with his problems.
4. Committee members- they all work on committees.
5. Politicians- they are out there, working to get reelected.

Privileges of the Congressmen:
1. Allowance for offices- at home and in Congress.
2. Travel allowances.
3. Free franking.
4. Immunity from arrest.
5. Immunity from libel or slander lawsuits- this is in Congressional debates.

Powers of the Congressmen:
1. Legislative powers-
a. Expressed powers- powers written straight out in the constitution.
b. Implied powers- powers that are implied by the elastic clause.
c. They have limitations to their powers- denied powers. These are written out in Article I, Section 8 of the constitution:
i. Ex post facto laws.
ii. Suspend the writ of habeas corpus.
2. Non- legislative powers-
a. Electoral powers- the House chooses the president if there is a tie and Senate chooses the vice president.
b. Amendment powers- can propose an amendment with a two- thirds vote.
c. Impeachment powers- the House brings to trial and Senate acts as the jury. They can impeach any civil officer.
d. Executive powers in the Senate- ratify treaties with a two- thirds vote and approve presidential appointments with a majority vote.
e. Investigative powers- can review any of the executive policies.

Lawmaking process:
1. A bill starts in the House of Representatives or Senate. All revenue bills begin in the House.
2. Bills get assigned to committees. They study it, research and work on it.
3. After many months of study, hearings and work, when it is ready to be voted on, the rules committee in the House of Representatives sets rules for the debate.
4. On the Senate and House floor, the bill is debated, corrected and voted on. If it passes, it goes to the House.
5. If the House and Senate bills are the same, it goes straight to the president. If not, it goes to the conference committee. By the conference committee, they can’t add on any new material, they can only revise.
6. Goes to the president. He either signs it or vetoes it.
7. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two- thirds vote.

Legislative tactics- attempts by Congressmen to get legislation either passed or not passed:
1. Caucuses- informal group which forms a voting block to stop or pass legislation.
2. Filibuster- talk so much that the legislation can’t be passed. This only takes place in the Senate. In the past ten years they have added a cloture that if sixty out of one hundred vote for the guy to shut his mouth, he must.
3. Pork- barrel legislation- laws that are passed to help your particular state or district.
4. Logrolling- if you vote to pass one man’s legislation, he’ll vote to pass yours.
5. Riders- additions to a law that have no connection to the law, but were just stuck on to get passed. Sometimes, bills have so many riders attached that they are called Christmas tree bills.
6. Amendments- add or change legislation.
7. Conference Committees- if the committee rejects a bill, then it is done.
8. Lobbying- special interest groups or the president or anyone tries to convince the Congressmen to pass a bill in their favor.
9. Legislative veto- Congress can veto an action of the president. This was declared unconstitutional in 1983.

Who influences the Congressmen?
1. Constituents- you will vote for them if they do what you want.
2. Other law makers and staff can convince congressmen to vote in a certain direction. Senior members also influence newer members.
3. Party influence- you go according to party lines, or else…
4. The president- he lobbies, speaks to the public and invites them for dinners at the White House.
5. Lobbyists and other interest groups- speak to the legislatures and convince them.