CONGRESS. Unit Three- AA

Transcription

1 CONGRESS Unit Three- AA

2 * The National Legislature Congress s meetings are held in periods known as terms, and each term lasts for two years. Each of these two year terms is numbered consecutively with the First Congress beginning on March 4, Today a new Congress convenes, or begins every January 3 rd of odd numbered years. We are currently in the 112 th Congress, but beginning January 3 rd, 2013 we will be in the 113 th Congress. A session of Congress is that period of time during which each year Congress assembles and conducts business. There are two sessions to each term, or one session per year. The 20 th Amendment states that, The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3 rd day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. In fact, Congress often does appoint a different day. The second session, in even numbered years, usually begins a few days or even a few weeks after the third of January. Congress adjourns or suspends until its next session whenever it sees fit. They also take short breaks, such as right now during their campaign season, where they return home to campaign, called recess, and they take several short recesses throughout each session.

3 * The National Legislature Compensation: The pay of members of Congress The Constitution says that members of Congress shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, or in other words, it fixes its own pay. The 27 th Amendment makes it so that when members of Congress decide to give themselves a pay raise, it cannot go into effect until after the next term of Congress. Currently, a Congress member s base salary is $174, per year. The Speaker of the House makes $223, The Vice President makes $227,300 per year The Senate President Pro Tempore, and the floor leaders of both chambers make $193, per year

4 * The National Legislature In Article One, Section 8 of the Constitution, 27 powers are expressly spelled out for Congress. These are short statements and not clearly defined, and so their meaning is found more in the ways Congress has exercised those powers throughout history, and how the Supreme Court has defined those powers. These include; Make and collect taxes Borrow money Regulate commerce between the United States and foreign nations, and amongst the states Make immigration and bankruptcy laws To print money, regulate its value, and establish common weights and measures To punish counterfeiting Establish post offices and roads To create patent and trademark laws To create courts under the Supreme Court To define and punish piracy To declare war To raise and support armies and navies for up to two years at a time To make rules for the government and military To call out the reserves and National Guard To provide for the organizing, arming and training of the reserves and National Guard To set up and exclusively govern a district where the nation s capitol is located (Washington, District of Columbia) To make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out these functions (the elastic clause )

5 The House of Representatives After each census, every ten years, each state decides how to draw the districts given to them based on the census population records. A state may gain, or lose representatives in this process, known as reapportionment. For example, Illinois had 19 districts in 2011, but due to the 2010 census they now have 18. In history there have been several times that the party in power in each state has tried to draw the districts so as to favor their party, this is called gerrymandering. The Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that districts must have roughly the same number of people so that one person's vote in an election is worth the same as another's. This is known as the "one person, one vote" principle. Still, the majority party often tries to draw the boundaries to maximize the chances for its candidates to win elections. Currently the number of representatives in the House is set by law at 435, who are divided out amongst the states based on population.

6 The elected head of the U.S. House of Representatives is Rep. Paul Ryan (R- Wisconsin) The Speaker is also an elected Congressional Representative from his home district, in his home state. Paul Ryan was elected by the people of the 1 st Congressional District of Wisconsin. The Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Representatives once the newly elected House meets in January every two years. The Speaker has a lot of power in Congress as it is he who decides the agenda, makes parliamentary rulings, and determines who will chair what committees. The Speaker is also the chair of the Rules Committee which determines the rules of how debates are done on proposed bills, and the voting procedures on them.

7 The Speaker of the House The Speaker of the House is the second in line to the Presidency, right behind the Vice President The Speaker is also responsible for supervising the elected and unelected offices of the House, including the: Sergeant At Arms (in charge of the security of the House) Parliamentarian (the legal expert on parliamentary procedure) Chief Administrative Officer (in charge of paid staffs and clerks) Clerk of the House (in charge of the paperwork of the House) Historian (in charge of compiling the history of the House) Chaplain of the House (religious leader and counselor of the House) Legal Counselors (the lawyers and legal advisers of the House)

8 The Minority Leader The Minority Leader in the House is the ranking, and elected leader, of the minority party, or the party with less members in the House. Each party has its own club of its members that meet and vote on priorities, and leadership of their party in the House. These clubs are called caucuses (though the Republicans call theirs a conference). Each party caucus votes for their leader, in the majority party that leader most often becomes the Speaker of the House, the leader of the minority party is the Minority Leader Party is very important in Congress, as it is the party leadership that assigns office space, committee assignment, what legislation they propose that is put on the agenda, what campaign money and support they receive from the party, and what leadership positions they receive. Unless you are a team player within the party, then you have little to no power in Congress. The current Minority Leader was the former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi

9 The Majority Leader Although the title is Majority Leader, he is actually the second in charge of the majority party, and the Speaker s top assistant. The responsibilities of the Majority Leader include: Scheduling the House Floor s legislative calendar Assisting the Speaker when need be The current Majority Leader is Kevin McCarthy

10 The Whips The Majority Whip is the third in charge of the majority party in the House His or her duties include keeping track of all legislation and ensuring that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon. Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise Democrat Minority Whip Steny Hoyer

11 The Committees Committees are like smaller versions of each chamber of Congress, and they deal with more specific subject matter in order to filter bills to the chamber floor. Committees are led by Chairmen, who have a lot of power in the House of Representatives as they control what is introduced, and what happens within their committees. Committee membership is determined by the Speaker and the Minority Leader, who when they meet decide how many members of each party should be on each committee. If they were to disagree, then the issue would go before the entire House to determine. Then, each party caucus meets to determine who will serve on each committee The party caucus also determines who will be the Chairman of each committee, in most cases that is determined by who the senior member from the majority party on that committee is. Seniority is determined by how long you have served on that committee, not how long you have been in the House, or how old you are.

12 The Rules House members engage in two main activities in their role as our representatives; Debate, and Submitting laws Each of these activities is controlled by a complex set of rules established by the House itself, known as their Parliamentary Procedure, which is a series of motions, voting procedures and customs that allows for the following: Maintain orderly meetings Enable majority rule Protect the rights of the minority Expedite business An in-depth knowledge of parliamentary procedure allows a lawmaker to navigate through the debate and lawmaking process with relative ease, and get more accomplished.