Legislative Branch

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Legislative Branch Chapter 5-7

Transcript of Legislative Branch

Page 1: Legislative Branch

Legislative Branch

Chapter 5-7

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Congress

• A bicameral body

• Meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C

• May goal is to introduce legislation

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Congress

• Each term lasts two years

• The first term began March 4, 1789

• Each session convenes on January 3rd following the November election

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Congress

• The President is the only one who can call special sessions

• The last one was called by President Truman

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House of Representatives

• 435 members– Set in 1929

• Each state must have at least one member

• Membership is based on population – Is controlled by the census which is taken

every ten years according to the 9th amendment

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House of Representatives

• 1959/1960- went to 436 and 437 members because of Alaska and Hawaii.

• In 1961, it went back to 435 members

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House of Representatives

• States with only one representative– Delaware– Montana– North Dakota– South Dakota– Vermont– Wyoming– Alaska

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Gerrymandering

• Introduced by Elbridge Gerry

• The party in power draws up the districts and it usually works in the favor of the party in power

• This is also done at the local and state levels

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Qualifications for Representative

• Must be at least 25 years old

• U.S. citizen for at least seven years

• Live in the stated elected from

• They serve a 2 year term

• Salary: $161,000 (probably more now)

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Senate

• 100 members (2 from each state)

• Elected to a six year term

• Qualifications– Must be 30 years old– Be a U.S. citizen for 9 years– Live in the state elected

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Congress in Action

• Opening Day

– Begins at noon on January 3rd; there are no sworn members

– Clerk of preceding house presides and calls roll

• The clerk is a non-member

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Congress in Action

• Members answer roll call and choose the speaker of the house– Must be from the majority party

• The speaker is sworn in by the “Dean of the House” (the one who has been there the longest)

• The speaker then swears in the other members

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Congress in Action

• Open Day (cont.)– Republicans sit on the right– Democrats sit on the right– Independents may sit on either side– Members than adopt the house rules

• They usually remain the same

– Standing committees are then appointed

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Congress in Action

• Opening Day in the Senate– Only 1/3 of the senate is new, so it takes less

time to swear people in– Standing committees are then appointed

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State of the Union Address

• When congress notifies the President they are organized the President responds with what he hopes to accomplish while in office

• Members of Congress with the exception of one member from each house will not attend, along with a cabinet member so that if there is a catastrophe, government may go on.

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State of the Union Address

• The President appears in person

• There are many dignitaries invited by the president

• The address includes issues on the economy, domestic issues, and foreign affairs

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Officers of House and Senate

• Speaker of the House– Usually has been in the house for a long

period of time and highly respected– Nancy Pelosi (D)-CA currently holds the office– Sam Rayburn held the position for 17 years, 2

months, and 2 days– Last Republican to hold the position was

Dennis Hastert (R)-IL

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Speaker of the House

• Duties of Speaker of the House– Maintain order in the House of Reps.– No person may speak unless recognized by

the speaker

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Officers of the House and Senate

• Majority Leader- Steny Hoyer (D)

• Minority Leader- John Boehner (R)

• Majority Whip- James Clayburn (D)

• Minority Whip- Roy Blunt (R)

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Officers of the House and Senate

• President of the Senate- Dick Cheney– May only vote to break ties

• President Pro-Tempore- Robert Byrd– He replaced Ted Stevens, who replaced 100

year old Strom Thurmond (retired in 2003

• Majority Leader Harry Reid– Previous to Reid, was Bill Frist, who replaced

Trent Lott because of a racist statement given at a birthday party

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Committees

• Majority party controls all committees• Standing Committee

– Permanent committees– 19 in the House has 10-62 members– 17 in the Senate has 9-28 members

• Special Committee– Usually put into effect for investigations like

Watergate, Un-American activities, Whitewater

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Committees

• Joint Committee– Members from both houses serve on

committee– Many believe this is the best kind of

committee

• Conference Committee– Used to push bills through respective houses

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Punishment in Congress

• People from Congress who have been punished– 15 have been expelled from the Senate

• 14 after the Civil War

– The last person was David Durenberger who was denounced and not re-elected

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Punishment in Congress

• House personnel punished– Reprimanded Adam Clayton Powell, Jim

Wright, Barney Frank, and Newt Gingrich – Michael Myers from Pennsylvania was

expelled from the House in 1980– James Trafficant recently was convicted of

fraud and tampering, but was not re-elected

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Seniority Rule

• Senior members get the best committees to serve on as well as a preference on seating and offices

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Bills becoming Laws

• Over 20,000 introduced each session

• Only 10% become law

• Anyone may write a bill, but only a congressperson may introduce one to the floor

• Process for introducing a bill is by dropping it in the “hopper”– A box at the end of the clerk’s desk

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Types of Bills

• Public Bills– General applications like taxes, patents, etc

• Private Bills– Apply to certain places or persons (MLK day)

• Resolution– Either house for specific item (new money)

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Types of Bills

• Joint Resolution– Temporary measures

• Concurrent Resolution– Usually deals with foreign policy– Present directive to allow President Bush to

attack Iraq

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Committee Status on Bills

• Groups of Congress people go through the bills to decide which are important– They may “pigeon-hole”- kill the bill– Committee may take a junket (fact-finding trip)

used to be used for vacations– Committee may discharge (blast bill out of

committee)

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Rules and Calendars

• Calendar- is a schedule of when a bill will appear on the floor for consideration

• All bill pending action are read by the committee and then read a second time if they reach the floor

• Debating a bill is limited to one hour in the House

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Voting on a Bill

• Most common way (Yea or Nay) called a voice vote

• Teller vote where each person walks between two people giving their vote to leader

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Voting on a Bill

• Roll call all people in Congress are polled one by one

• When a bill has been approved it is then engrossed and sent to the printers in final form

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Bill in the Senate

• Basically, the same as in the House

• Filibuster- talking a bill to death by trying to delay a vote

• Strom Thurmond holds the current record for filibustering 24 hours +

• The Senate may invoke the cloture rule which limits debate before it starts

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Final Stage of the Bill

• Voted on, engrossed, and finally approved

• Bill then goes to the opposite house for their approval

• Bill may be derailed in either house

• Bill then goes to the President

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Final Stage of Bill

• President’s options– Sign– Veto– Pocket veto- when the Congress goes out of

session and bill dies– Leave it lie on the President’s desk and after

10 days it becomes law