Congressional Unit Wrap-up - Harding University
Congressional Unit Wrap-up
Review for Test Two
The Legislative Branch
Congressional Powers
Article I of the Constitution:
All legislative Powers vested in a Congress…Consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives
Big Word for the Day: Collegial
characterized by or having authority vested equally among colleagues
Varied Roles of Congress
Makes legislation
Appropriates funds to carry out laws
May declare war
Proposes amendments to Constitution
Impeaches the President
Regulates conduct of legislators
Approves Appointments
Ratifies treaties
Amendments:
XIV – (Due Process) Repeals 3/5ths clause - 1868
XVI – Income Tax - 1913
XVII – Direct Election of Senators – 1913
XX – (Lame Duck) Session starts 3rd of January - 1933
XXVII – Congressional Pay Raises – 1992
Who ARE These People?
House
Representative or Congressman or Congresswoman
25 years old
Citizen for 7 years
Resident of their state
2 year terms
Senate
Senator
30 years old
Citizen for 9 years
“Resident” of their state
6 year terms
Separated at Birth
House
Larger (435)
Shorter term of office (2 yrs)
More procedural restraints on members
Narrower constituency (they represent a smaller region) average district size: 646,952
Policy Specialists
Diffused media coverage
More powerful leader
Less Prestigious
Briefer floor debates
Less reliant on staff
More Partisan
Special Role: Taxing and Spending
Impeachment Charges
Senate
Smaller (100)
Longer term of office (6 yrs)
Fewer procedural restraints on members
Broader, more varied constituency
Policy generalists
More media coverage
Less powerful leaders
More Prestigious
Longer floor debates (filibuster)
More reliant on staff
Less Partisan
Special Role: Treaties and Appointments
Impeachment Trial
Leadership Organization
House
Speaker
Selected every two years
Often serves for many years
Nancy Pelosi (CA)
Majority Leader
Party Leader
2nd in command
Steny Hoyer (MD)
Senate
Majority Leader
The person in charge
Party Leader
Harry Reid (NV)
President Pro Tempore
Honorary, based on seniority
For the time being
Robert Byrd (WV)
Presiding Officer - Vice President
Presides – but not often
Breaks ties (6 months for Cheney)
Dick Cheney (WY)
How a Bill…
Work, work, work
How Many Bills?
How Many Filed?
20,000 annually!
How Many Pass?
Around a 1000.
That’s about 5%!
Committees
Where the work gets done
Subcommittee
Specialization
Types:
Joint (only 2)
Special or Select
Budget
Standing
The Workhorse of Congress
19 in the House, 17 in the Senate
88 Subcommittees in the House, 68 in the Senate
Quorum – enough members present to hold a vote
Conference (not the same as party conferences) works out the differences between House and Senate versions of a bill
House Committees
The Big Three
House Rules Committee
It is the “traffic cop” for whether or not a bill makes it
The House Rules Committee is MUCH more powerful than the Senate.
Ways and Means
Raises Revenue for the Government
First stop for ALL revenue bills
House Appropriations
Spends money to fund government
Appropriation: the legal authorization to expend governmental funds
Senate Committees
The Big Three
Senate Appropriations
Finance
The Tax Committee for the Senate
Senate Foreign Relations
Confirms ambassadors
Ratifies treaties
Is the “check and balance” for executive foreign policy powers.
The Floor
Calendar – list of bills scheduled for hearing or vote
The Well
Filibusters
Unlimited debate
Senate Only (too many members in the House…)
Rule 22 requires 3/5th of the Senate (60) to invoke…
Cloture, which is a vote to end the debate.
Staff
35,000 employees
Committee staff has declined in recent years under Republican control (House: 1,407 from 2,100; Senate: 950 from 1,185)
Minimum personal staff: 18 full time, 4 part time
Wasserman: they “organize hearings, negotiate… research… speak with voters, and promote legislation.” They initiate policies and “sell” them to their bosses.
Executive/Legislative Tension
Even if the House, the Senate and the President ALL come from the same party, and certainly if they do not,
Even if the President (or Vice President) was recently part of the Legislative Branch,
Even if the President has a substantial mandate of public support,
They trust each other
“as far as I can throw ‘em…”
Power
Party Leadership
The Twins and their Older Brother:
Specialization
Reciprocity
Seniority
Caucus
A gathering of all members of the same party serving in the House or Senate
Majority and Minority Leadership
Majority Leader – Political Leader
Hoyer and Reid
Minority Leader – I’d be the boss if WE were in charge
Boehner and McConnell
Whips – coordinate party positions
Name comes from English fox-hunting
“Whipper-in” keeps dogs from running away
Counts votes
Keeps votes in line
Party Loyalty
80%!
Mavericks: members who show less loyalty to their party and do not abide by informal rules
Now, not a single chairman in either side believes they are there because of the leadership. (Dick Army)
Show Me the Money
Revenue and Appropriations
Appropriations
Appropriation: the legal authorization to expend governmental funds
How we fund government
To spend money you need:
Authorization (an appropriation)
Funds (revenue)
You must have BOTH
You gotta start somewhere…
And for money, you start in the House of Representatives
Article I, Section 7 (1) All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
The 1974 Budget Act
An attempt to address the lack of a consistent economic policy
Set up Budget Committees in each house to review President’s Budget in light of all taxing and spending measures
Budget Committees set total spending, tax and debt levels
Staff for the Budget Committees is the Congressional Budget Office
Non-partisan, but not impartial
Legislative/Executive Tension
Line Item Veto
Declared Unconstitutional in 1998
No line item veto means the President cannot separate out objectionable items from important, helpful items.
Throw out the “baby with the bathwater”
Riders – a piece of legislation attached as an amendment to another, possible totally unrelated bill
Pork
Oink, oink, oink…
Pork Barrel Spending
Bringing home the bacon
Appropriations for items of interest to your constituents
(and in a worst case scenario, of service to no one else!)
Two Key Terms
Deficit
The Federal Government does not require a balanced budget!
The difference between revenue (receipts) and expenditures (outlays)
An annual measurement of the shortfall
The opposite of surplus
Too much spending, not enough money!
Too much spending, not enough money!
Estimated FFY 2007 deficit: $172 billion (CBO)
Down from $337 in 06!
Debt
What we borrow to cover accumulated deficits
The interest will eat you alive!
We borrow from ourselves and others.
You can have debt without deficits!
We had balanced budgets (no deficit) in 1998-2001, but we still had debt
Other Powers
Advise and Consent:
Confirming and Ratifying
The Senate Confirms the President’s Appointments
Judicial
Executive
Diplomatic
The Senate Must Ratify all Treaties
Foreign Relations Committee
Congressional Big Brother
Oversight
General Accounting Office (The GAO)
Investigation
Impeachment
The House impeaches; the Senate holds the trail
Johnson 1868
Clinton 1998
Impeached but not convicted
Nixon 1974
Resigned instead of facing impeachment
Federal Judges can be (and have been) impeached (and convicted)
The War Powers Act
Criticism of the President’s role in Vietnam led to the War Powers Act of 1973
The President may only commit troops abroad for a period of 60 days, (90 if including withdrawal)
Congress must approve a longer period
Nixon vetoed it; they over-rode the veto
Presidents don’t like it, but tend to go for some sort of authorizing resolution from Congress
Remember, no matter what, Congress still funds things!
You Gotta Draw the Line Somewhere…
Apportionment, Incumbency and Reform
Apportionment
Apportionment - the distribution of voters into districts; the dividing of representation by population
Mal-apportionment - large differences in the population of Congressional districts
Re-Apportionment – the process of re-distributing the populations amongst districts
Districting – the process of drawing the lines on the maps. Sounds simple, right?
States draw Federal House Lines
(Why not Senate?)
Their processes vary dramatically!
Bad Boys, Bad Boys…
Gerrymander – Governor Eldridge Gerry’s Salamander shaped district
Drawing district lines for partisan purposes
Packing and Cracking
Packing – putting lots of your people in one district
Cracking – separating out the opposition so they can’t win
Incumbency
Incumbency:
Being the current officeholder
Advantages:
Staff
Franking (mail)
Publicity
Disadvantages
We hate the IDEA of incumbency
Apathy pays off for incumbents!
In 2002 85% of House members and 98% of Senators won re-elections
In 2004, 401 of 435 House members ran for re-election. 396 won. (98.7%) Of the 26 Senators running, all but one won. (96%)
In 2006 Re-election rates were down… 94.3% in the House, 79% in the Senate
Term Limits
21 States have passed term limits for their officials; 15 still have them
Federal Officials remain unlimited
Arkansas’s little role in all this:
US TERM LIMITS vs Thornton
Generally, the trend is fading
Congress In a Nutshell
A House and a Senate makes a Congress
LOTS of Bills
Few pass
Incumbent rich, Heavy on the Lawyers
LOTS of staff
But less than there once was
At the Moment: Democratic Party Controlled
Committees are where the work gets done
They legislate, appropriate, confirm and ratify, oversee and investigate
Inefficient by design
Bicameral, with Checks and Balances
Home of Debaters, Bosses and Managers
Where we all have a voice
Where OUR laws are made
OUR congress: they work for US!
The following items are NOT part of your test 3 material:
Question Time!
I won’t always know the answer, but I know how to find it!
Who originally appointed Alan Greenspan?
Ronald Regan
Greenspan served from 1987 to 2006 for four presidents.
Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W. Bush
Our debt in perspective:
International Perspective:
Historical Perspective:
Interest on the Debt
FISCAL Year 2005 Total $352,350,252,507.90
FY 2006:
$385,017,969,088.24
“Square State” Populations
Wyoming 506,529
South Dakota 770,883
North Dakota 634,366
Montana 926,865
Average US Congress district: 646,952
Veto Examples
Johnson Impeachment
Johnson was Lincoln’s VP on a Bi-partisan, compromise ticket.
When Lincoln was assassinated, the worst fears of the Radical Reconstructionist Republicans appeared true – A state’s rights southern Democrat in the White House.
They passed the Tenure in Office Act to keep him from firing Lincoln’s Cabinet.
He fired Stanton anyway and was impeached with 11 counts.
The Senate failed to convict by 1 vote. None of the 6 Republicans who crossed the aisle to “acquit” were ever re-elected. To anything.
He was tipsy at his inauguration: he was recovering from typhoid and someone had made him a hot toddy: 6 shots and an egg. GROSS!!!!
Old questions:
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Constitutional Amendments The Didn’t Make It
There are 6:
1) The first of the 12 Bill of Rights amendments relating to apportionment – 1789
Ratified by 1 states
2) The Tittles of Nobility Amendment – You renounce your citizenship if you accept a title from a foreign power – 1810
Ratified by 12 states
3) The Corwin Amendment about Slavery and State’s Rights – 1861
Ratified by 3 states
4) The Child Labor amendment – 1924
Ratified by 28 states
5) The Equal Rights Amendment - 1972
Ratified by 35 states
Closest to being ratified before time ran out… and ran out again!
DC Voting Rights – 1978
Ratified by 16 states
Senatorial Replacement
Appointed Senators
The 17th Amendment to the Constitution (1913) established direct election of senators, as well as a means of filling vacant Senate seats. If a vacancy occurs due to a senator's death, resignation, or expulsion, the 17th Amendment allows state legislatures to empower the governor to appoint a replacement to complete the term or to hold office until a special election can take place. There are a few exceptions to this rule. The states of Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Alaska do not allow the governor to appoint, but rather require special elections to fill a vacancy. Oklahoma allows the governor to appoint under certain circumstances. Typically, a replacement holds office until the next scheduled statewide election. For more information on how vacancies are filled, see this Report from the Congressional Research Service (pdf).
The Massachusetts change was made in July of 04 over the veto of Republican Governor Mitt Romney
Longest filibuster
Filibusters were particularly useful to Southern senators who sought to block civil rights legislation, including anti-lynching legislation, until cloture was invoked after a fifty-seven day filibuster against the Civil Right Act of 1964. In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds to three-fifths, or sixty of the current one hundred senators.
The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Cabinet Salaries
$175,000
(The Pres. makes about $400,000)
They could all make more money in the private sector.
State of the Union Protest Update
WASHINGTON - Faced with a bipartisan furor, the chief of the Capitol Police on Wednesday apologized for ejecting anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and the wife of an influential Republican congressman from the State of the Union address and blamed vague policies for the actions of his officers.
"The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol. The policy and procedures were too vague," Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said. "The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine.“
In 1916 Woodrow Wilson’s Address was interrupted by women demanding the right to vote
Pendleton Act
PENDLETON, George Hunt, (1825 - 1889)
Senate Years of Service: 1879-1885
Party: Democrat
Leading Oil Exporter to US:
Non OPEC countries produce 60% of the World’s oil
Our number one friend:
Oh, Canada!
Then Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria
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