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How Congress Works Part 1:

How Congress Works Part 1:. Structure, Organization, & Legislative Process. Who’s in Congress?. Age Groups. Party. Gender. Ethnicity. Demographic Profile of Congress. Source: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tt. House 435 members; 2 yr terms Low turnover

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How Congress Works Part 1:

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  1. How Congress WorksPart 1: Structure, Organization, & Legislative Process

  2. Who’s in Congress?

  3. Age Groups Party Gender Ethnicity Demographic Profile of Congress Source: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/demographics.tt

  4. House 435 members; 2 yr terms Low turnover Speaker bill referral hard to challenge Scheduling/rules controlled by majority party with powerful Rules Committee (controls time of debate, amends., etc) Senate 100 members; 6 yr terms Moderate turnover Referral decisions easily challenged Scheduling/rules agreed to by majority & minority leaders House-Senate Differences

  5. House Debate limited to 1 hour Members policy specialists Emphasizes tax & revenue policy More formal & impersonal Senate Unlimited debate unless cloture invoked Members policy generalists Emphasizes foreign policy More informal & personal House-Senate Differences

  6. Party Leadership Bicameral Democratic Leadership 112th Congress Senate Republican Leadership 112th Congress

  7. HOUSE LEADERSHIP Speaker (majority party) Republicans: • Majority Leader • Majority Whip • Chairman of the Caucus • Steering & Policy Committee • Republican Congressional Campaign Committee Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) Eric Cantor Majority Leader (R) Kevin McCarthy Majority Whip (R)

  8. HOUSE LEADERSHIP Democrats: • Minority Leader • Minority Whip • Chairman of Conference • Policy Committee • Committee on Committees • National Democratic Congressional Committee Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn (D-SC) Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

  9. House Party standings (at the beginning of this Congress)    193 Democrats 242 Republicans

  10. SENATE LEADERSHIP President of the Senate (Vice President) President Pro Tempore (majority party) Democrats: • Majority Leader • Majority Whip • Chairman of Conference • Policy Committee • Steering Committee • Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee President of the Senate Joe Biden (D-DE) Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) Assistant Majority Leader/Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

  11. SENATE LEADERSHIP Republicans: • Minority Leader • Minority Whip • Chairman of Conference • Policy Committee • Committee on Committees • Republican Senatorial Committee Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Minority Whip John Kyl (R-AZ)

  12. Senate Party standings (at the beginning of this Congress)    51 Democrats   2 Independents, both caucusing with Democrats  47 Republicans

  13. Strength of Party Structure? • Measure of party strength: • Ability of leaders to control party rules and organization • Extent to which party members vote together in the House and Senate • Senate: less party-centered and leader oriented

  14. Party Unity • Lower today than 100 years ago, but….. • Ideology important variable explaining party voting (members vote with their party 80% of the time) • Party polarization - vote in which majority of Democrats oppose majority of Republicans • Polarization trends: • 1976 HR = 36%; S = 37% • 1995 HR = 73%; S = 69% • 2000 HR = 43%; S = 49%

  15. CAUCUSES • Groups (may be bipartisan) meeting to pursue common legislative objectives • Rivals to parties in policy formulation • Examples: Democratic Study Group, Women’s Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Tuesday Lunch Bunch, Human Rights, Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, Out of Iraq Caucus, Rural Caucus, Travel & Tourism Caucus, House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children

  16. Legislative Committees: Function and Purpose

  17. 1. Consider bills(a.k.a. “mark-up” bills) Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose A bill with a member’s mark-up notes

  18. 2. Maintain oversight of executive agencies Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing re: the Department of Defense Budget (May, 2006)

  19. 3. Conduct investigations Legislative Committees:Function & Purpose New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Hurricane Katrina (Feb., 2006)

  20. Types of Committees • Standing Committees- permanent panel with full legislative functions and oversight responsibilities • Subcommittees – formed to tackle very specific tasks within the jurisdiction of the full committees • Select or Special Committees- groups appointed for a limited purpose and limited duration • Joint Committees - includes members of both chambers to conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks • Conference Committee - includes members of House & Senate to work out differences between similar bills

  21. Standing Committees

  22. Agriculture Appropriations Armed Services Budget Education & Workforce Energy & Commerce Financial Services Government Reform House Admin. International Relations Judiciary Resources Rules Science Small Business Standards of Official Conduct Transportation & Infrastructure Veterans Affairs Ways & Means House Standing Committees

  23. Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry Appropriations Armed Services Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Budget Commerce, Science, Transportation Energy & Natural Resources Environment and Public Works Finance Foreign Relations Governmental Affairs Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Judiciary Rules and Administration Small Business and Entrepreneurship Veterans Affairs Senate Standing Committees

  24. House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming Senate Select Committee on Ethics House & Senate Select Committees on Intelligence Special, Select Committees Gen. Michael Hayden is sworn in during a full committee hearing of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on his nomination to bedirector of the Central Intelligence Agency.

  25. Joint Committees • Joint Economic Committee • Joint Committee on Printing • Joint Committee on Taxation Joint Committee on Taxation hearing

  26. The Legislative Obstacle Course

  27. How A Bill Becomes Law About 5,000 bills are introduced in Congress every year, but only about 150 are signed into law. Explain why so few bills become law. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should the legislative process in Congress be reformed? If yes, what changes would you recommend? If not, why not? Source: http://acswebcontent.acs.org/olga/legissummbilltolaw.pdf

  28. Title: Resolution Artist: Bob Gorrell Date: 12/28/06 Source: http://www.gorrellart.com/

  29. Artist: R.J. Matson, New York Observer & Roll Call Date: 1/18/07 Source: http://www.cagle.com

  30. Title: Imagine there’s no Congress Artist: Joe Heller, Green Bay Press-Gazette Date: 6/06/07 Source: http://www.politicalcartoons.com/

  31. Title: Senator Reid Can Handle the Truth Artist: RJ Matson Date: 6/18/07 Source: http://www.politicalcartoons.com

  32. Source: http://bigpicture.typepad.com/Date: 5/6/06

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