Chapter 9 CONGRESS: Local Representation and National Lawmaking © 2011 Taylor & Francis Institutional Focus.

© 2011 Taylor & Francis

Chapter 9CONGRESS: Local Representation and National Lawmaking

Institutional Focus

© 2011 Taylor & Francis

Requirement to Become a Member of Congress• House of Representatives:

• Must be twenty-five years old.• Must be a U.S. citizen for seven years.• Must be a resident of the state in which the district lies.

• It is interesting that a representative does not have to live within the district he or she represents.

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Requirement to Become a Member of Congress• Senate

• A member must be thirty years old.• A member must be a U.S. citizen for nine years.• A member must be a resident of the state he or she represents.

• Per Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, Senator and Representative are “bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support the Constitution but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.”

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The Institutional Design of Congress

• The Constitution created a bicameral Congress meaning the legislature is divided into two chambers:

• Senate• House of Representatives

House and Senate Differences

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Senate (Upper chamber of Congress)• Structure

• 100 members• Serve 6-year terms• Senators were removed from the immediate influence of

constituents because they were elected by state legislatures (this was changed via ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913 allowing for the direct election of Senators).

• 20 Standing Committees• Senators serve on multiple sub-committees and committees• No senator may chair more than one committee• Committee chairman are selected by secret ballot in party

caucus

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Senate Character: Deliberative• Few rules exist to limit debate

• Loosely organized:• Debate and amendments do not have to be germane

to proposed legislation• Amendments may be presented at any time during

debate

• Egalitarian: operates under unanimous consent• Filibuster: unlimited debate to stall, impede, or kill legislation

• May stop debate by invoking cloture: 16 Senators must petition for and 60 votes needed to stop or limit debate.

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Senate Character: Deliberative

• In the Senate, a rider or an amended portion of the legislation may be attached to a bill that is used as a strategy to:

• Attract support from other Senators and/or the President• Assure the President (who opposes the measure) will

veto the bill• Get money for a state project or pet project that

normally would not receive any support

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Senate Leadership

• Majority Party:• President Pro-Tempore: Traditionally the most senior Senator

• Majority Leader: Leader of the majority party• Assistant Majority Leader (Majority Whip)

• Assists the majority leader• Rounds up votes• Manages assistant/deputy whips

• Conference Chairman: Runs the meeting of the majority party (caucus)

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Senate Leadership

• Minority Party• Minority Leader: Leader of the minority party• Assistant Minority Leader (Minority Whip)

• Assists Minority Leader• Manages votes and deputy whips

• Conference Chairman: Runs meeting and party caucuses

• Vice-President• Presides over the Senate• Breaks ties in chamber voting

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Senate Enumerated Powers

• To try impeachments: two-thirds of Senators needed to convict

• Approve treaties made by the President by a two-thirds majority vote

• Confirm presidential appointees by a simple majority

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House of Representatives (lower chamber of Congress)• Structure

• 435 members• Serve 2-year terms• Designed to represent the will of the people who directly elect representatives

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House of Representatives (lower chamber of Congress) cont.

• 20 Standing committees• No member may serve as chair of more than one committee

• Committee chairs are selected via secret ballot in party caucus

• Committees consist of at least 20 members and have 4 subcommittees

• All committee deliberations in full public view (Rules committee can determine if testimony should be conducted in private).

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House Character: Purposive and Structured

• Self-government is a reflection of human nature: Government is to be administered by “men [ruling] over men” (Federalist #51, Rossiter, p. 290)

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House Character: Purposive and Structured cont.• Debate is dictated through formal rules and

procedures• Closed rules

• Establishes strict time limit on debate• Limits or forbids amendments

• Open rule: Permits a bill to be amended during floor debate

• Amendments must be germane to the bill• Bills may be referred to several committees. This is

called multiple referral.

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House Character: Purposive and Structured• Centralized power in the Speaker of the

House is used to:• Determine where bills originate• Assign committee chairs and membership• Committees cannot be bypassed in the lawmaking procedure and are vital to the success of legislation

• Schedule voting and determining length of debate (usually limited to 1 hour unless Rules Committee decides differently)

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House Leadership

• Majority Party• Speaker of the House who is selected by majority party• Majority Leader: Leader of the majority party• Majority Whip

• Assists the majority leader• Rounds up votes• Manages assistant/deputy whips

• Caucus Chairman: Runs the meeting of the majority party (caucus)

• Committee Chairs of House Ways and Mean (appropriations) and Rules (decides length and terms of floor debate) are very powerful.

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House Leadership

• Minority Party• Minority Leader: Leader of the minority party• Minority Whip

• Assists Minority Leader• Manages votes• Heads the group of deputy whips

• Conference Chairman: Runs meetings and party caucuses

Leadership in House and Senate

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Powers of the House

• Originate Revenue Bills: The power to tax (also, based upon income per Amendment XVI, ratified in 1913).

• Impeachment: The formal power to charge “civil officers” of the national government with “Treason, Bribery or Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors

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Committee System

• The committee system in both chambers of Congress, while not mentioned in the Constitution, is vital to the function of Congress as a legislative body.

• The division of labor allows members of Congress to specialize in particular policy areas and defer to the expertise of other members to design and enact legislation.

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Types of committees• Standing committees are committees with fixed and

permanent jurisdictions. These are most important and vital given the workload:

• Senate: 20• House: 20

• Select committees are temporary committees that are formed to deal with a specific subject or problem.

• Conference committees are composed of members of both chambers. They resolve differences in bills between the two houses.

• Joint committees are composed of members of both houses. They are designed to oversee a particular area of importance.

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Standing committees

• Consist of authorizing and appropriations committees.

• Exist in both houses. • The subcommittee system, established in the

early 1970s, allows for increased policy specialization.

Committee System in Congress

Comm. System in Congress. cont

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Tenets of the Congressional Committees System• Specialization—each member is expected to

specialize in a subject area and serve on the appropriate committee.

• Reciprocity—members of one committee defer to other committees and the specialization of its members.

• Seniority—usually determines committee chair assignments.

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Sharing of Powers

• Both chambers of Congress share powers per Article I, section 8, of the U.S. Constitution:

• Legislative oversight of the Executive Branch• May overturn a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote in both Houses

• Sole power to proved for a militia and declare war

• Establish federal courts (“constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court”)

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Sharing of Powers

• Article I, section 8:• The power to collect taxes, to coin and borrow money• To regulate interstate commerce• To establish a post office and provide for infrastructure• To define and punish felonies and crimes

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Sharing of Powers• Article I, section 8:

• To exercise legislative powers over military establishments, territories and the sea of government (the District of Columbia)

• To “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States”

• The “necessary and proper clause” and “elastic clause”• According to many legal scholars, this is one of the

most contentious portions of the U.S. Constitution.