Leadership and committees
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Transcript of Leadership and committees
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Section 2House Leadership
• Leaders of the House coordinate the work of 435 individual members by meeting six goals:
– organizing and unifying party members,
– scheduling work,
– making certain that lawmakers are present for key floor votes,
– distributing and collecting information,
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Section 2– keeping the House in touch with the president,
and
– influencing lawmakers to support their party’s positions.
• The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and its most powerful leader.
• A caucus, or closed meeting, of the majority party chooses the House Speaker at the start of each session of Congress.
House Leadership (cont.)
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Section 2• The Speaker has several powers, including:
– influencing proceedings by deciding which members to recognize first,
– appointing the members of some committees,
– scheduling bills for action and referring bills to the proper House committee, and
– following the vice president in the line of succession to the presidency.
House Leadership (cont.)
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Section 2• The majority leader, the Speaker’s top assistant,
is responsible for:
– helping plan the party’s legislative program,
– steering important bills through the House, and
House Leadership (cont.)
– making sure the chairpersons of the many committees finish work on bills that are important to the party.
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Section 2• The majority leader is the floor leader of his or her
political party in the House and is elected by the majority party.
• Majority whips and deputy whips are assistant floor leaders in the House.
House Leadership (cont.)
• The majority whip’s job is to monitor how majority-party members vote on bills.
• The minority party in the House elects its own leader and whip with responsibilities that parallel the duties of the majority party.
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Section 3• The Senate majority leader steers the party’s bills
through the Senate and makes sure that party members attend important sessions and gets support for key bills.
• The Senate minority leader critiques the majority party’s bills and keeps his or her own party united.
The Senate at Work (cont.)
• The Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous consent.
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Section 3The Senate at Work
• The Senate deliberates, or formally discusses, public policies.
• The vice president presides over the Senate but cannot vote except to break a tie.
• In the absence of the vice president, the president pro tempore—elected by the Senate from the majority party—presides.
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Section 4Kinds of Committees
• Congress has four kinds of committees:
– Standing committees are permanent groups that oversee bills that deal with certain kinds of issues.
• Subcommittees specialize in a subcategory of its standing committee’s responsibilities.
Standing Committees of Congress
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– Select committees are temporary committees that study one specific issue and report their findings to the Senate or the House.
Section 4Kinds of Committees (cont.)
– Joint committees are committees that are made up of members from both the House and the Senate.
– Conference committees are temporary committees that are set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of a bill.
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Figure 6
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Section 2Lawmaking in the House
• A proposed law is called a bill until both houses of Congress pass it and the president signs it.
• The Speaker of the House sends bills to the appropriate committee for review.
• Only 10 to 20 percent of bills ever get to the full House for a vote.
• Bills that survive the committee process are put on one of the House calendars, which list bills that are up for consideration.
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Section 2• After a committee has considered and approved a
major bill, it usually goes to the House Rules Committee.
• Major bills that reach the floor of the House do so by a special order from the Rules Committee.
Lawmaking in the House (cont.)
• The Rules Committee has the power to delay or block bills that representatives and House leaders do not want to come to a vote on the floor.
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Section 2• A quorum is the minimum number of members
needed for official legislative action.
• For a regular session, a quorum requires a majority of 218 members.
Lawmaking in the House (cont.)
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Section 3• To filibuster means to extend debate to prevent a
bill from coming to a vote.
• A vote for cloture limits the debate by allowing each senator only one hour for speaking on a bill.
The Senate at Work (cont.)
• The majority party controls the flow of bills in the Senate.
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Section 4Purposes of Committees
• The committee system serves three important purposes:
– It allows members of Congress to divide their work among many smaller groups.
– Committees select which of the bills introduced into Congress are to receive further consideration.
– By holding public hearings and investigations, committees help the public learn about key problems facing the nation.
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Section 4Choosing Committee Members
• In the House and Senate the parties must assign members to the standing committees.
• Each member can serve on only limited number of standing committees and subcommittees.
• The chairpersons of the standing committees make key decisions about the work of committees and manage floor debates that take place on bills that come from their committees.
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Section 4Choosing Committee Members (cont.)
• The seniority system is the unwritten rule that implies that the majority party member with the longest uninterrupted service on a committee is the appointed leader of the committee.