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Chapter 12. Congress in action. Congress convenes, begins a new term, every two years on January 3rd of every odd-numbered year, following the general elections in November. The House first must choose a Speaker (Majority Party)
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Chapter 12 Congress in action
Congress convenes, begins a new term, every two years on January 3rd of every odd-numbered year, following the general elections in November. • The House first must choose a Speaker (Majority Party) • The Senate is a continuous body and thus changes leadership only if there is a change in the majority party. Their leader is known as the “president pro tempore” Congress Convenes
The Speaker of the House is both the elected presiding officer of the House and the acknowledged leader of its majority party. • The “Speaker” has two main duties – preside and keep order. • The speaker interprets and applies the rules, refers bills to the standing committees, rules on points of order (questions and procedure). • Names the members of all select and conference committees and signs all bills passed by the House The presiding officers
The president of the Senate is not a member of the Senate but rather the Vice-President of the United States. The Vice President only votes to break a tie and cannot speak or debate legislation. He or she can recognize members and put questions (bills) to vote. The other presiding officer is the president pro tempore.(majority party) The Senate is a little different
The floor leaders both majority and minority are picked for their posts by their party colleagues. The floor leaders are legislative strategists and steer floor action(s) to their parties’ benefit. The majority leader is the more powerful, together with the presiding officer, and the minority leader plan the order of business on the floor. The two floor leaders are assisted by whips which check on votes and advise the leadership on how certain members may vote. Floor leaders have a number of whips and both have a paid staff. Floor leaders & whips
The party caucuses are closed meetings of each party in the house. They normally occur (meet) before congress goes into session. Caucuses deal with party organization, selection of floor leaders and committee membership. Party caucuses
The bulk of the work done in Congress is done in committee. The Chairman of each committee (majority party) becomes a powerful force to deal with. He/she controls when they will meet, which bills will be discussed, should the bill be taken to the floor and guides the debate, steering the bill toward passage. Senority always determines committee chairman. The head of each committee is longest serving member. Committee Chairman
There are 20 standing committees in the House and 17 in the Senate. These committees handle similar bills. Examples of some of these committees: • Agriculture • Appropriations • Banking • National Security • Transportation • Veterans Affairs Committees in congress
Joint committees have members from both houses. May be responsible for investigatory, economic, other issues from time to time. Conference committees also have members from both houses. Since bills passed by both houses must be identical they have to reconciled before they are sent to the President for signature. Joint & Conference Committees
Bills are proposed laws that are national in scope (public) or deal with a person or small area (private) and must be introduced in the House by a member of the House. A rider is a provision that is attached to the bill. Since bills usually deal with a single subject riders are provisions that likely would not pass in their own merit and tag along with the bill. How a Bill becomes law: The house
Joint resolutions are little different from bills and deal with temporary or unusual matters. Used for constitutional amendments, correct errors In previous legislation and signed by the President Concurrent resolutions deal with matters in which the House and Senate must act together. They do not have the force of law but usually state a congressional opinion. Resolutions deal with matters concerning either house and are usually used for adoption of rules and are housekeeping in nature. Resolutions and Concurrent resolutions are not signed by the President and are not laws. Resolutions
The clerk of the house numbers each bill as it is introduced and gives it a short title. HR 3410 would be the 3,410th measure introduced during the current term. Having received its number and title the bill is entered in the House Journal and in the Congressional Record for the day. These actions are considered the First Reading. After the First Reading the Speaker refers the bill to the appropriate standing committee. In the House, the Second Reading comes during floor consideration (if it gets that far). The Third Reading takes place just before the House votes. These readings are usually the number and the short title. The steps to passage
Finish Cornell Notes for chap.12 Project – Rough drafts coming back today! Peer editing (10min) Final Letter is due on Wednesday, ready to send! *Quiz for Chapters 11-12 will be this Thursday!!! Early Christmas gift today! Get excited! Task List: 12/2/13-----11*
Report the bill favorably with a “do-pass” recommendation. The chairman steers the bill through debate. Refuse to report the bill or “pigeonhole” the bill dies in committee. Most bills suffer this fate. Report the bill in amended form. The bill is changed or combined with similar bills into a single measure. The committee & subcommittees
Report the bill with an unfavorable recommendation. This happens rarely but is intended to let the full House vote on the bill. Report a committee bill. This is an entirely new bill that the committee has substituted for one or several bills referred to it. The committee & subcommittees
Before a bill goes to the floor for consideration, a bill reported by a standing committee is placed on one of several calendars. • Calendar of Committee (appropriations) • House Calendar (public bills) • Private Calendar (private bills) • Consent Calendar (minor bills with no opposition) • Discharge Calendar (discharge from committee) Rules & Calendars
The Committee of the Whole is the (whole) House sitting as a committee. For the House to do business it needs a quorum, or 218 members present. If a bill reaches the floor it is given its second reading, section by section. As each section is read and amendments may be added. When the bill has been read the committee adjourns. The Bill on the floor
Debate is limited to one hour per member without unanimous consent. At any time a member may “move the previous question” (demand a vote on this issue) If amendments are offered on the bill, a vote must be taken on each one. Debate & Voting
The House uses 3 different methods for taking floor votes: • Voice votes are the most common – simply “ayes” and then “nayes” – the speaker announces the results. • If a member thinks the speaker has erred he/she may demand a standing vote – they simply stand when in favor or opposed. • A roll-call vote, also known as a record vote, may be demanded by one fifth of the members present. Voting Continued
Once a bill has been approved, it is printed and signed by the Speaker. A page (legislative aide) then carries it to the Senate and places it on the Senate president’s desk. The final steps
The Bill in the Senate • Bills are introduced, given a number, read twice, and referred to committee. • The Senate has only one calendar and the bills are called to the floor by the majority floor leader. • Floor debate is severely limited in the House but almost unrestrained in the Senate.
The Senate Rules for Debate • Senators may speak as long as they want on a bill and they are not required to speak about the bill under consideration. • A filibuster is an attempt to “talk a bill to death” here a senator can talk forever not giving the Senate a chance to vote on the measure. • To break a filibuster the Senate must evoke the “cloture rule” (rule 17). If 16 members call for cloture, and 60 members vote in favor, debate can only proceed for 30 more hours and the a vote must be cast.
More on Conference Committees • More often a bill is amended in the second chamber. When this occurs the bill must be reconciled. The first house usually concurs with the amendments and action is complete. However, when this does not happen the bill is turned over to conference. • In conference only the differences must be addressed – No new material can be added, however they may make changes that were not considered in either chamber.
Final Passage • Once the conference agree, their report – the compromise bill – is submitted to both houses. It must be accepted or rejected without amendments. Only rarely does a bill get rejected out of conference. Many feel that conference is the “third house of Congress”
The President Acts • The Constitution presents the President with four options at this point: • Sign the bill, and it becomes law • Veto the bill, Congress can pass it anyway with a two-thirds vote. However it seldom does. • The President may allow the bill to become law by not acting on it within 10 days (not counting Sundays) • If Congress adjourns its session within 10 days of submitting a bill, and the president doesn't sign it, the bill dies (pocket veto).
