Chapter 11:4: Non Legislative Powers:

Transcription

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2 Chapter 11:4: Non Legislative Powers: o Students will examine why the Constitution gives non-legislative powers to congress. o Students will examine the ways in which Congress exercises its nonlegislative powers.

3 Mat_23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

4 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS: o Congress may propose an amendment to the Constitution by a two-thirds vote in each house and it has done so 33 times to this point. o Congress may also call a national convention to propose an amendment but it may do so only if that step has been requested by at least two-thirds of the state legislatures. o To this point, no such convention has been called.

5 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS: o Issues proposed for amendments include balanced Federal budget. o Permit prayers in Public Schools. o Outlaw abortion. o Term limits for Congress.

6 List four Constitutional amendments you d like to see proposed and why.

7 ELECTORAL DUTIES: o The Constitution gives certain electoral duties to Congress, but they are to be exercised only in very unusual circumstances. o The House of Representatives may be called on to elect a President. o If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes for President, the House of Representatives, voting by states, must decide the issue.

8 ELECTORAL DUTIES: o In that situation, it must choose from among the three highest contenders in the electoral college balloting. o Each state has but one vote to cast, and a majority of the states is necessary for election.

9 ELECTORAL DUTIES: o Similarly, the Senate must choose a Vice President when no candidate wins a majority of the electoral votes for that office. o In that situation, the vote is not by States but by individual senators, with a majority of the full Senate necessary for election.

10 ELECTORAL DUTIES: o House of Representatives chose President twice: o Thomas Jefferson in o John Quincy Adams in o Vice President in o Richard M. Johnson.

11 ELECTORAL DUTIES: o 25th Amendment provides for the filling of a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. o When one occurs, the President nominates a successor, subject to majority vote in both houses of Congress.

12 IMPEACHMENT: o The Constitution provides that the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States may be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

13 IMPEACHMENT: o The house has a sole power to impeach, bring charges, and the senate has the sole power to judge in impeachment cases.

14 IMPEACHMENT: o The House may impeach by a majority vote. o A two-thirds vote of the senators present is needed for conviction. o The chief justice must preside over the senate when a president is tried. o The penalty of conviction

15 IMPEACHMENT: o Senate may add a prohibition against the person ever holding federal office again. o In addition to a person who has been impeached and convicted, could be indicted, tried, and convicted and punished in regular courts.

16 IMPEACHMENT: o There has been but 17 impeachments and only seven convictions. o House impeached Andrew Johnson in 1868 but senate failed to do so by a single vote. o Bill Clinton was impeached but acquitted. o Richard Nixon resigned before being impeached.

17 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o The Constitution gives two executive powers to the Senate. o One of those powers has to do with appointments and the other with treaties made by the President.

18 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o All major appointments made by the President must be confirmed by the Senate by majority vote. o Each nomination is referred to the appropriate standing committee in the Senate.

19 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o That committee may then hold hearings to decide whether or not to make a favorable recommendation to the full senate for that appointment. o When that committee s recommendation is brought to the floor of the senate, it may be, but seldom is considered in executive (secret) session.

20 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o The appointment of a cabinet officer or of some other top member of the President s official family is rarely turned down by the Senate.

21 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o The President makes treaties by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,. Provided two-thirds of the senators present concur. o For a time after the adoption of the Constitution, the President asked the advice of the Senate when a treaty was being prepared.

22 EXECUTIVE POWERS: o Now the President most often consult with the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and other influential senators of both parties. o The senate may accept or reject a treaty as it stands or it may offer amendments, reservations, or understandings to it. o Treaties are sometimes considered executive session.

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24 INVESTIGATORY POWER: o Congress has the power to investigate any matter that falls within the scope of its legislative powers.

25 INVESTIGATORY POWER: o These involve: 1) Gather information useful to Congress in the making of some legislation. 2) Oversee the operations of various executive branch agencies. 3) Focus public attention on a particular subject. 4) Expose the questionable activities of public officials or private persons. 5) Promote the particular interests of some members of Congress.

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27 Read article on Congressional subcommittees and baseball and answer the questions.