The Senate: 114 th Congress
Jan 18, 2016
The Senate: 114th Congress
The Senate• 17th Amendment – senators elected by popular vote of people
• Each state has 2 Senators
• Senate has 100 voting members (no non-voting delegates)
• Senate elections are staggered – 1/3 elected every 2 years – each Senator term is 6 years
• No limit on number of times a Senator can serve
• Senators chosen by the entire state, NOT districts
• Has special treaty ratification powers and confirmation powers of presidential appointees
The Senate: Colorado’s Senators
Senior Senator, Michael Bennet (D)
Junior Senator, Cory Gardner (R)
The Senate: Leadership
Vice President
Majority Party Leader(Floor Leader)
Majority Party Whip(Assistant Floor Leader)
Minority Party Leader(Floor Leader)
President Pro Tempore
Committee Chairs
Minority Party Whip(Assistant Floor Leader)
The Senate: Leadership
• President of the Senate• VP, Joe Biden
Presides over Senate, but does not debate
Also does not vote, unless to break a tie
Ceremonial position with little power
The Senate: Leadership
• President Pro Tempore
• Orin Hatch (R-UT) Stands in as President
when VP is not present By tradition, usually the
most senior Senator of
the majority party Unlike the VP, is a
voting member
The Senate: Leadership
• Majority Floor Leader
• Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Most influential
member of the Senate and majority party spokesman
The Senate: Leadership
• Majority Whip
• John Cornyn (R-Texas) Role is same as
House Majority Whip
The Senate: Leadership
• Minority Floor Leader
• Harry Reid (D-NV) Same role as
House Floor Leader
The Senate: Leadership
• Minority Whip
• Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) Role is same as
House Majority Whip
Congressional Committees• Why a Committee
System? High volume of legislation
(bills) – sending bills to corresponding committee helps speed up process
Allows study of legislation by specialists
• How the Committee System Works? Congress divides its tasks
among approximately 250 committees and sub committees.
The House and Senate each have their own committees, but they are similar
Senate CommitteesStanding• Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry • Appropriations • Armed Services • Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs • Budget • Commerce, Science, and Transportation • Energy and Natural Resources • Environment and Public Works • Finance • Foreign Relations • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions • Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs • Judiciary • Rules and Administration • Small Business and Entrepreneurship • Veterans Affairs
• Special, Select, and Other • Indian Affairs • Select Committee on Ethics • Select Committee on Intelligence • Special Committee on Aging
• Joint • Joint Committee on Printing • Joint Committee on Taxation • Joint Committee on the Library • Joint Economic Committee
Congressional Committees:4 Types
1.) Standing : permanent committee that deals with specific policy matters (agriculture, energy and natural resources, veterans affairs, etc…) ; divided into subcommittees that handle more specialized problems
2.) Select : temporary committee appointed for a specific purpose; most are formed to investigate a particular issue (Watergate Committee, Hurricane Katrina Committee, Y2K Committee, etc)
3.) Joint : made up of members of both houses of Congress; can be a select committee or perform routine duties
4.) Conference: temporary committee of members from both houses created to resolve differences in House and Senate versions of a bill; is a compromise committee
Congressional Committees:Membership and Leadership
Membership• Percentage of each committee’s membership reflects the overall percentage of
Democrats and Republicans in each house Ex. – 53% of house is Republican, so 53% of all committee members
will be Republican
• Members try to serve on committees where they can influence public policy relating to their district or state, or influence national public policy issues Ex – Kansas senator on the agriculture committee Ex – Iowa representative on the foreign relations committee
Leadership• Committees are led by a chairperson who belongs to the majority party and is
chosen by majority party members of committee