Congressional Structure

• Founders gave Congress more power than any other branch

• Congress is bicameral

  • bicameral - two chambers

• Congressional term is two years - each one year long

Membership of the House

• House

  • 25 years old

  • citizen for at least 7 years

  • legal resident of state electing them

  • 2 year terms

• Representation based of off population

  • Reapportionment after every census

    • reapportionment - reapportioning the number of representative per state

    • census - official count of national population

  • Redistricting after reapportionment

    • redistricting - done by state; re-drawing of districts based off of population

  • Gerrymandering is fueled by competitive struggle of the two party system

    • gerrymandering - the drawing of district lines to favor one party over the other

Membership of the Senate

• Senate

  • two per state

  • 30 years old

  • citizen for 9 years

  • legal resident of state they represent

  • 6 year terms

Members of Congress

• 535 total members of congress

  • 100 senators

  • 435 representatives

• Membership changes slowly because of incumbents

  • incumbents - person holding a seat in congress that get re-elected

Rules in the House

• Rules help congress move quickly when bills reach the floor

• Party distinction and political parties are very important

• Committees perform most of legislative activity

  • committees - group of people working on a specific topic or function

House Leadership

• Speaker of the House

  • most powerful position in the House

  • chosen by majority party

  • presiding officer

  • assistants include, majority leader and the majority whip, as well as deputy whip

    • whip - assistant to the party floor leader

Minority

• Gets minority leader and minority whip

Lawmaking in the House

• After a bill is passed → Committee

• The Rules Committee

  • oldest committee in the House

  • controls major decisions, path, and progress of a bill

• Quorum needed for official legislative action

  • quorum - minimum number of people needed to vote on a bill; simple majority

    • 51 in Senate

    • 218 in House

Leadership in Senate

• Senate rules are more flexible

• Senate has no Speaker

• Vice President serves as the President of the Senate and breaks a tie

• When Vice President is gone President Pro Tempore presides

  • president pro tempore - from majority party; presided while VP is gone

Lawmaking in Senate

• Less formal in Senate

• Brings bill by unanimous consent

  • unanimous consent - emotion by all members to consider a bill

• Filibuster can kill a bill, but can be stopped by cloture resolution

  • filibuster - a method to kill a bill to prevent a vote

  • cloture resolution - a vote to end a filibuster

Purpose of Committees

• Crafting of bills takes place in committees

• Committees divide the work of Congress into smaller groups

• Committees select a few bills for further consideration and inform the public about the bills

Kinds of Committees

• Standing - stand from one legislative session to the next; nearly all have subcommittees

• Select - study one specific committee; not permanent

• Joint - have members from the House and the Senate

• Conference - set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of a bill

Choosing Committee Members

• Chairpersons are the most powerful people in committees

• Chairpersons are elected by a secret vote; usually based of off seniority

  • Chairs are always held by the majority party

Congressional Staff

• Staff help draw bills, stay informed on issues, and represent their constituents

• Until 1946 congress had no staff, however as lawmaking became more complex they became needed

• There are two types of staff; personal and congressional

Personal Staff