Structure of Congress

1. Structure of Congress

2. Congressional Membership • The Founders gave more power to Congress than to any other branch. • Congress is a bicameral legislature. • A congressional term is made up of two sessions (organized meetings), each one year long. • Breaks for holidays, vacations, ect.

3. Membership of the House • Representatives must be at least 25 years old, U.S. citizens for at least seven years, and legal residents of the state electing them. • Representatives serve two-year terms. • Representation is based on population and is reapportioned(process of reassigning representation based on population) after each national census. • Population count that takes place every 10 years • State legislatures redistrict after reapportionment. • Gerrymandering is fueled by the competitive struggle of the two-party system (redrawing of boundaries for electoral advantages)

4. Membership of the Senate • Each state is represented by two senators. • Senators must be at least 30 years old, U.S. citizens for at least nine years, and legal residents of the state they represent. • Senators are elected to six-year terms. • Both the Senate and the House set their own salaries. • The Constitution provides members of Congress with certain protections and privileges.

5. Congressional Privileges • Salary and Benefits - $174,000 • Allowances to pay for staff, trips home, telephones • Allowed tax deductions to help keep up two residences • Pension for up to 80% of their max salary • Generous 401k plan

6. The Members of Congress • There are 535 voting members of Congress: 100 senators and 435 representatives. • Congressional membership has recently began to reflect more racial, ethnic, and gender diversity. • Membership in Congress tends to change slowly because incumbents (elected official who is already in office)are generally reelected. • Candidates, parties, and political action committees have added the Internet to traditional methods of advertising.

7. Rules in the House • Congressional rules provide fairness and protection of the minority in the midst of intense political discussions. • The complex rules in the House are geared toward moving legislation quickly once it reaches the floor. • The committees of Congress perform most of the legislative activity aimed at serving their constituents (people whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent). • Political parties and party distinctions are important in Congress

8. House Leadership • The Speaker of the House is its presiding officer and most powerful leader, and is chosen in a meeting of the majority party. • Appoints committee members, schedules bills, follows vice president in line of succession to the presidency • The Speaker’s assistants include the majority leader(Speaker’s top assistant, plans the majority party’s legislative program),the majority whip (assistant to party floor leader;makes sure party members are there to vote), and deputy whips. • The minority party elects a minority leader and a minority whip.

9. Lawmaking in the House • After it has been introduced, a bill is sent to the appropriate committee. • The House Rules Committee is one of the oldest and most powerful House committees. • “Traffic officer” helping to direct the flow of major legislation • The Rules Committee controls major decisions in the progress of a bill. • A quorum(minimum number of members who must be present to permit a legislative body to take official action) is needed for official legislative action.

10. The Senate at Work • Because each state gets equal representation, a majority of senators represent a small minority of the population. • The Senate deliberates, or formally discusses, public policies. • The Senate is different from the House of Representatives because all states are represented equally in the Senate, has unlimited debate, and its rules are more flexible, allowing all senators maximum freedom to express their ideas.

11. Leadership in the Senate • Leadership in the Senate closely parallels leadership in the House, but the Senate has no Speaker. • The vice president serves as the Senate’s president, but only votes to break a tie. • In the absence of the vice president, the president pro tempore (member elected to stand in as president of the Senate in the absence of the vice president), elected from the majority party, presides. • The Senate’s most important officers are the majority and minority leaders.

12. Lawmaking in the Senate • Procedures for moving a bill through the Senate are less formal than in the House. • The Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous consent. • Through a filibuster(method of defeating a bill in the Senate by stalling the legislative process and preventing the vote, a single senator or a group of senators can prevent a bill from coming to final vote. • Senators can end a filibuster by voting for a cloture resolution

13. Purpose of Committees • The real work of crafting bills takes place in the committee rooms. • Committees help ease the workload and are the key power centers in Congress. • Committees allow members of Congress to divide their work among many smaller groups. • Committees select the few bills that are to receive further consideration. • Committees educate the public about key problems and issues

14. Kinds of Committees • Standing committees (permanent committee in Congress that oversees bills that deal with certain kinds of issues)continue from one legislative session to the next. • Nearly all standing committees have several subcommittees. • Select committees study one specific issue. • Joint committees (members from the House and Senate who serve as study group to report back to the House and Senate on a topic or bill) have members from the House and Senate. • A conference committee (temporary joint committee set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill)is set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of a bill.

15. Choosing Committee Members • The career of a member of Congress can be greatly influenced by committee assignments. • Chairpersons of standing committees are among the most powerful people in Congress. • The selection of chairpersons has been guided by the unwritten rule of seniority (system that gives the member of the majority party with the longest uninterrupted service on a particular committee the leadership of that committee)in the past, but chairpersons are elected though a secret ballot.

16. Congressional Staff Role • The key resource of Congress is trained staff. • Congressional staff help legislators draw up bills, stay informed on issues, and represent their constituents.

17. Congressional Staff Growth • Until 1946, senators and representatives generally had no personal aides. • Congressional staffs grew as lawmaking became more complex. • Congressional staff are divided into two basic types: personal staff and committee staff

18. Personal Staff • The administrative assistant serves as the chief of staff. • The legislative director typically establishes the legislative agenda and briefs the lawmaker on all legislative matters. • Legislative assistants make sure the lawmaker is well informed on key bills. • Press secretaries help shape the lawmaker’s public image. • A large part of a congressional staff consists of caseworkers, who handle requests from constituents.

19. Committee Staff • Every committee and subcommittee in Congress has a staff. • Committee staffers are largely responsible for the work involved in making laws. • Some senior committee staff members are very experienced and are experts in the area their committee covers.

20. Support Agencies • The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, and it contains the Congressional Research Service. • The Congressional Budget Office coordinates the budget work of Congress. • The Government Accountability Office is the nation’s watchdog over how funds appropriated by Congress are spent. • The Government Printing Office publishes the Congressional Record and other material, both in print and digital formats.