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Congress and the Constitution
n Connecticut Compromise
n House System
n Bicameral – two houses
n Unicameral – one house
Differences between Houses
n Senate
n 2 Senators from every state
n House of
Representatives
n State representation based on population.
Powers of Congress (Article
1, Section 8)
n Senate
n Advise and Consent
- Ratify treaties
- Approves Supreme Court nominees
- Approve Ambassadors
n House
n All bills raising revenue (taxes) must start in the House n All spending bills originate in the House
Eligibility
n House
n U.S. citizen for at least 7 years n 25 years of age n Resident of the state elected from
n Senate
n U.S. citizen for at least 9 years n 30 years of age n Resident of the state elected from
Congressional Districts
n History
n Number of Representatives
n Based on censes numbers every 10
years
n Drawing District Lines
(reapportionment)
n Redistricting and Race
- Cannot redraw lines to discriminate against one race
Congressional Districts,
continued
n Drawing District Lines
(reapportionment)
n Redistricting and Parties
- Gerrymandering – redrawing district lines to favor one party over the other - Packing - creating a district in which the opposition party has total control. - Cracking – Breaking opposition party votes up into different districts.
Senate
n Every state 2 senators
n Elected at large
n 6 year terms
n Elected by state legislatures prior to
House Leadership
n Speaker of the House – most
important individual
n Majority Leader
n Minority Leader
Senate Leadership
n President – presiding officer
n (Vice President of United States)
n President Pro Tempore
n Majority Leader – most important
person
n Minority Leader
n Majority/Minority Whip
Committee System
n Types of committees
n Standing Committees
n Select Committees
- Temporary special issue committees
n Joint Committees
- Permanent operational committees
n Conference Committees
- Temporary committees to resolve difference in house and senate bills
How a Bill Becomes Law
n Introduction of Legislation
n Assignment to Committee
n Hearings
n Reporting a Bill
How a Bill Becomes Law
(continued)
n Debates and Amendments
n Senate
- Amendments
- Riders – amendments that have nothing to do with the legislation
- Filibuster - Where a senator makes a long speech to prevent a bill from coming up for vote.
- Cloture Rule – When 3/5th^ or 60 senators vote to end a filibuster.
How a Bill Becomes Law
(continued)
n The Vote
n House
- Voice Vote – member yells “yes” or “no”
- Division Vote – members stand and are counted
- Teller Vote – vote by signed ballot
- Roll Call Vote – member’s name is called
n Senate
- Voice Vote
- Roll Call Vote
How a Bill Becomes Law
(continued)
n In Conference
n Iron out differences between House version & Senate version of the bill
n The President
n Sign the bill n Ignore the bill n Veto the bill
- Can be overturned by 2/3 vote in each house n Pocket Veto - If the president does not sign a bill within 10 days of his receiving it and Congress has adjourned within that time, the bill does not become law.
Make-up of Congress
n Unrepresentative of the US
n Primarily upper-class white males
n Demographics
n Senate
- Women – 9
- Native American – 1
n House
- Women – 58
- African Americans – 39
- Hispanic - 19
Congressional Elections –
Types of
n Party-Centered Campaigns
n Campaign is run and organized by the
party and all candidates follow the
party platform
n Candidate Centered Campaigns
n Candidates run their own campaign
n Campaigns often run counter to
national platform
Why Incumbents Get
Reelected
n Competitors
n Few strong challengers
n Money
n Most donations go to incumbents
n Case-work
n Can do special favors for constituents
n Political Resources
n Free media, travel, etc.
n Franking Privileges
n Free mailing privileges
