Organization of Congress

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Meghan Welch
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1 Organization of Congress The Caucus and Committee Systems: Structure and functions of the Caucus and the integral role it plays in the work of Committees

2 A. Party Caucus A. (Informal Organization) Caucuses are informal groups; share common purpose/goals (ex: Congressional Black Caucus, Women s Caucus, Democratic or Republican Caucus). fancy word for meeting. In politics you don t meet, you caucus! 1. Leadership: Majority and Minority Leaders a. Both House/Senate have same general organization patterns: party caucus and standing committees b. Party Caucus - how two major parties operate within their chamber i. Majority Caucus - Republicans (both chambers) ii. Minority Caucus - Democrats (both chambers) c. Both make own rules; made by party caucus d. No democracy in either house; MAJORITY PARTY RULES! i. Controls chamber leadership, chair of every committee (those chairs have power to determine what bills are heard in committee

3 2. Leadership: Majority and Minority Whips a. Majority Whips keep party members in line, round up votes ultimately in charge of party discipline. b. When bill comes before the House, Majority Whip ensures Majority Party passes bill c. How? Weekly Caucus meeting on Monday or Tuesday beginning of meeting. i. Debate party position on major legislation coming up for a vote; this is when the whips go to work saying, look, we need your vote on this. ii. Members expected to vote along party lines d. Minority Caucus does same... elect Minority Leader, voice for Minority Party on floor leading debate; also an assistant Minority Leader which is Minority Whip who ensures party discipline. i. Minority Whip tries to lure dissident Majority Party members, get them to cross the line, vote w/ Minority.

4 3. Leadership: House - Speaker Selected by Majority Party a. House: Majority Caucus chooses speaker b. Every House member votes, but Majority Caucus lines up votes to make sure they don t split vote for the Speaker, allowing someone from minority party to win c. Speaker of the House is Leader of House of Representatives d. Speaker appoints people to appropriate committees, directing floor debate, assigning bills to appropriate committee e. Difference between Speaker, Majority Leader: Speaker holds gavel, runs debate; Majority Leader floor leader for his party; helps steer important bills through process; makes sure chairs finish work important to party (more a Party official than a House official f. Speaker is power broker: ultimately he decides what gets calendared, what gets scheduled, rules for debate while Majority Leader just party spokesman

5 4. Leadership: Senate - President Pro-Tempore a. Senate similar; Majority Party elects Majority leader, is power broker. Based on seniority. b. Majority Leader not presiding officer in the Senate presiding officer is Vice President, but VP only votes in case of tie c. VP NOT power broker, VP only controls gavel, runs debate, not have power Speaker has in terms of agenda, calendar, setting the rules. d. Majority Leader has power - sets agenda, calendar, what bills get voted on.

6 Party Leadership Senate: President Pro Tempore = majority party chooses; based on seniority; presides over Senate when VP not present; honor title Majority leader has real power; schedules business (usually consults Minority party leader) Whip chosen by each party (majority/minority); rounds up votes, what party members are thinking on issues Party organizations that assigns membership to Standing Committees: Republicans = Committee on Committees Democrats = Steering Committee House: Leadership more powerful in House b/c restrictive rules that determine debate/ schedule of business (size) Speaker = elected by majority party, also majority party leader; very powerful; even tho presides, still expected to use powers to favor party legislation Decides who speaks; rules on whether a motion is relevant to business at hand; decides where new bills will be assigned (to which committee) Appoints members of special/select committees Selects majority party membership for Rules Committee Majority party leader - floor leader, works w/speaker to set agenda, advance party goals - Party official Whips = elected by party; marshal support for party legislation

7 5. Function: Determine Committee Assignments a. Caucus chooses party members for committees b. Majority Caucus in both House/Senate choose chairs. i. Seniority rules! c. Hierarchy of committees: i. Most powerful House committee = Rules. Only most senior members serve. ii. Rules Committee controlled by Speaker; often called traffic cop or Speaker s right arm d. Rules Committee sets floor debate guidelines. i. each bill has rule that places bill on legislative calendar; limits time for debate, determines type of amendments allowed 1. closed rule = strict debate time limits, forbids floor amendments open rule = less strict debate time limits, permits floor amendments

8 5. Determine Committee Assignments, continued e. House: Ways and Means Committee: tax revenue bills start! jurisdiction on all taxation, tariffs, other revenue-raising measures Members cannot serve on other committees f. Appropriations Committee: jurisdiction over discretionary spending 2 types seniority - in chamber itself - (terms served) seniority on committee (longer you serve, better committee choice, prospect of becoming chair of that committee someday) Typically serve on committees related to district needs g. Senate: the power brokerage committees are Appropriations Judiciary Committee (they oversee the Judicial Branch (House has Judiciary Committee, oversee some parts of lower federal courts, not as important)

9 On committee membership... Question: Why sit on those committees if I am a senior member? Every bill goes through committees! Bill can pass out of agriculture, but it needs to go through Ways and Means, Appropriations, and Rules in order to be funded. Two votes on every bill: One to adopt the bill, other to fund the bill. Many bills get adopted, but if they don t get funded, nothing is going to happen. If I am sitting on one of those three committees I can attach riders to those bill or I can attach little amendments that would be pork barrel for my district and this is how you get things done. Question: What kind of a committee would a Freshman Congressman from Iowa be on? Agriculture, other committees that pertain to district

10 6. Generally Adhere to Seniority for Assignments and Chair Appointments 1. Committee Chairs exercise great power; enjoy considerable prestige 2. Call meetings, schedule hearings, hire staff, recommend majority members to sit on conference committees, select subcommittee chairs 3. Often receive favors from lobbyists, contributions from PACS

11 7. Determine Party Position on Bills

12 8. Employs Staff to Research Issues 1. Gets overlooked by average American - Congress not just 100 senators, 435 representatives! 2. Staffers - working for caucus, committees, personal staffers working directly for elected official 3. Most very young men, women in 20 s, just out of school, or doing graduate work 4. Have tremendous power that the American public does not see - have expertise on whatever issue is coming up. a. House /Senate may have expertise on one/two areas but cast votes on a wide range of things that they know nothing about b. Relying heavily on staffers so they don t look like idiots c. Reality: person writes the bill is 25 year old staffers! d. Committee hearing on CSPAN - old guys, they are the elected officials, but standing behind them are these young people that often times will come over and whisper in their ear to make them sound like they know what they are talking about e. interested in politics as a career? This entry level into politics because many of these staffers become very important to these representatives; when representatives move on, this is the group of people that run for election to replace the people they are working for----networking at its finest!

13 9. Campaign Committees Reelection of Incumbents a. Both parties want reelection of incumbents. Hard to beat b/c lot of money, name recognition b. Technically, party caucuses are private. Not governmental because they are a party. c. Generally caucuses meet outside of government buildings: determine agenda, vote on public issues but they are private, so will set up campaign committees i. Ex: Congressional Republicans will employ staffers to ensure the reelection of their caucus. d. Majority s goal: be majority again after election e. Minority party s goal: become majority after next election f. Technically not using government office to get reelected, using Caucus (which is a private organization) this is what a lot of people see as corrupt!

14 B. Special Interest Caucus - Increase over years! 1. Personal Interest If you have a personal interest in a particular issue that is not being addressed by a standing committee for example global warming belong to Personal Interest Caucus; Senators/Representatives of both parties get together, decide if it is something they need to address, real issue of merit 2. Industry For example, cotton growing states or the mining states that have a special interest invested in these particular industries 3. Regional Concerns Ex: the Great Lake States, the Pacific States Caucus. Regional interests. Senators and Representatives of both parties will get together and say, what can we do for our regions?

15 B. Special Interest Caucus, continued 4. State Concerns Individual states where the 11 Senators and Representatives from Arizona will get together periodically saying, can we get together on a bipartisan basis to bring some federal dollars into Arizona for x, y, or z? 5. Women and Minority Women s Caucus, so all women members of the House and Senate unite Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Importance of these Caucuses (everyone we just mentioned) is that they also have an impact on all bills that go through the House and the Senate These Caucuses here will endorse whether or not a bill should be passed or not Another factor coming into tapestry of committees, the caucus, and the passing of legislation

16 C. Committee System 1. Standing Committees Standing Committees are permanent committees that essentially address persistent issues Ex: Agriculture there s an Agriculture Committee in House and Senate b/c agriculture always going to be an issue that needs addressing Another example is Military Affairs. There s going to be one in the House and one in the Senate because that is always going to be an issue All bills referred to standing committees - amended, passed, or killed 90% of the work is done in these committees Members become experts b/c focused on one particular area

17 C. Committee System 2. Select Committees special panels w/ specific purpose; limited time; conducts investigation into current matter of great public concern Ex: Senate Select Committee of Watergate. Also Senate Select Committee on Iran-Contra Sometimes set up as emergency, then becomes permanent issue - develops into Standing Committees---E x: Energy committees in the Senate, House set up in the 1970 s dealing with the oil crises. Eenergy persistent issue, now permanent standing committees 3. Joint Committee = standing committee contains both members of the House and the Senate. Budget committee most important. While revenue bills start in House, still passes through Senate. Most senior members on it - budget most important thing that Congress does every year! 4. Conference Committee = resolve differences between House and Senate Versions of a bill The rules state the same exact bill has to pass both houses in order to become law Bill ping-ponging back and forth between House, Senate each amends the other, but general agreement bill should pass, Conference Committee of Speaker of House, Senate Majority Leader, legislation sponsors in both chambers meet in conference to agree what bill should contain; produce bill acceptable to both chambers, bill is sent to both chambers for vote, then to President. When that issue goes away, that Conference Committee goes away

18 3. Appointment of Chairs 3 Methods a. Seniority generally used to appoint chairs So therefore, if I have served 24 years in the House, and 24 years on a committee, and I m in the Majority Party, more than likely I will become chair because I will have more seniority on the committee But if I have 24 years in the House, only 12 years in committee, someone w/18 years in House, but 18 years on committee, that person if in majority party, would be senior to me b/c more tenure, consecutive years on committee b. Election by Caucus c. Party Leaders Appointment also be done by election of caucus and also appointment by party leaders, but the preference is seniority because these two create dissension (disagreement) within the majority party where as with seniority it is a given

19 4. Majority Party Controls the Chair, Has a Majority Membership on Each Committee a. Simply put, this means they run the show!

20 5. Purpose of Committees a. Develop Legislation When a bill is referred to Standing Committee, chair of that committee from majority party will determine which bills will be heard; generally bills introduced by members of majority party Then hold hearings, determine whether bill should be recommended to entire house for a vote In the House, the committees are so big that they will be referred to subcommittees. The subcommittee process is the same as the committee process in that the person who has the longest tenure service in the majority party will be the chair of the subcommittee, hold hearings to determine whether or not to let the bill out of subcommittee to go to the committee This is why only 2% of bills introduce ever pass because most will die in committees even the majority party s bill will die in committee because of the lengthy process!

21 5. Purpose of Committees, continued b. Oversee Executive and Judicial Branches ( Congressional oversight). Every committee has a job to do; oversee some function of the Executive or Judicial Branch most is Executive Branch b/c Congress creates agencies in the Executive Branch Congress creates, funds them, they have a supervisory role to make sure they are operating properly, spending the money according to the way Congress wants them to These committees can call for investigations c. Casework Casework is when individual constituents will call them. You can do casework for a constituent that votes for you or based upon the issue at hand Casework is what gets people reelected! d. Employ Staff committees employ young graduate students out of Georgetown, other places that come in and give their expert advice on various different bills these staffers usually in 20 s, up and comers that form network soon get in line to run for election and reelection themselves

22 D. Staff Agencies - These are agencies that Congress has created only staffers belong; give them a place to do work 1. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) biggest one, most important: Congressional Budget Office - develops budget every year It s the budget majority party wants to see 2. General Accounting Office (GAO) accounts for spending of this year s budget CBO is developing next year s budget, GAO is accounting for monies allocated already, how Executive Branch is spending that 3. Congressional Research Service (CRS) Essentially all staffers that work for committees do research for committees; experts 4. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) computer geeks keep our Federal Government, Congress one step ahead of everyone else in terms of latest technology Ex: Twitter. Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address in 2009, big news was that all of the Congressman were out there with cell phones while he was delivering his address Tweeting. No one had ever heard what that was before They were tweeting to their constituents and to their family and friends saying look I m here at this huge event No one had ever heard of Twitter and this is because this group is one step ahead of the world in the technology game a month or so later everyone else got Twitter but they had it first!

Congress Outline Notes

Congress Outline Notes I. INTRODUCTION A. Congress as the center of policymaking in America. 1. Although the prominence of Congress has fluctuated over time. 2. Some critics charge Congress with being