American Government Semester 1, Chapter 4 STRUCTURE, POWERS, AND ROLES OF CONGRESS STRUCTURE In our government, Congress has two parts, or houses. This type of legislature is known as bicameral. One half is the House of Representatives, also just called the House, and the other is the Senate. The House has 435 members, called Representatives, a number which has been permanently fixed by the Reapportionment Act of 1929. The Senate has 100 members called Senators. As the legislative branch, most of the work Congress does focuses on making laws. 1
The Framers of the Constitution settled on a two-house structure of Congress, even though Thomas Jefferson objected, for a few reasons: (1) A two-house legislature settled the conflict between the Virginia and the New Jersey Plans. (2) The British Parliament and most of the colonial assemblies consisted of two houses, so it was easy for them to copy the idea (3) One house would act as a check on the other. What are Congressional Terms A term of Congress lasts for two years and consists of two sessions, one session per year. A shorter term served by the House makes them more responsive to popular pressure than members of the Senate. The seats in the House of Representatives are reapportioned among the states every ten years. Another thing that must happen every two years is that, House rules must be re-adopted. One-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. The term for a Senator is three times as long as that of a Representative. A Senator may only serve on two committees. It seems like two is the magic number for a lot of the terms and conditions placed on Congress, huh? Districts Congressional districts within a state are drawn by the state legislature. Each of the 435 districts chooses one member of the House. Longstanding patterns of wide population variation among congressional districts came to an end as a result of the Supreme Court decision in Wesberry v. Sanders. This case declared that gerrymandering districts, districts that have been drawn by the state to the advantage of the dominant party or faction, was unconstitutional. The Court decision was very important because it greatly affected the make up of the House by giving the cities and the suburbs more representation than before. However, gerrymandering still manages to find its way into to the congressional districts without violating the Constitution. 2
POWERS When we talked before about the powers of National and State Government, we broke the powers down into three categories. The same categories of expressed, implied, and inherent powers can be applied to the powers of the two houses of Congress. Here s a little refresher of the three categories that governmental powers fall into: 1) Expressed powers are those directly written out in the Constitution. Examples are the power to make rules for naturalization, establish post offices, and declare war. 2) Implied powers are those that can be logically inferred from the expressed powers. Probably one of the most important challenges to this type of power happened in the 1800s with Thomas Jefferson attacking the government for assuming powers not directly given to it in the Constitution. Clause 18 of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, the Necessary and Proper Clause is used as support in the argument against Jefferson. The Constitution provides for implied powers by giving Congress the authority to make laws that are necessary and proper for executing its expressed powers. This first major dispute over the implied powers of Congress involved the establishment of a national bank. Jefferson and other strict constructionists argued against the national bank on the grounds that the new government didn t have any powers beyond those expressly stated in the Constitution. The strict constructionists favored giving as much power as possible to the state. Leading the opposition against Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and the liberal constructionists, argued that the Necessary and Proper Clause did give Congress the power to do anything that might be reasonably implied from any of the expressly delegated powers. Liberal constructionists favored a loose interpretation of the Constitution. So, they argued that the bank was necessary to handle taxing, borrowing, and matters of commerce and currency. In 1816, the Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of implied 3
power in McCulloch v. Maryland, by creating the Second Bank of the United States. 3) Inherent powers are those that reside within the nature of a national government. Remember how some powers, like the power to tax, belong to both the National and State Governments? The same thing is true in Congress. A concurrent power is a power possessed by both houses. An example of this is the power to deal with the subject of bankruptcy. Congress also has the power of investigation, exercised through its committees, and it can be used for the following: 1) To gather information that may be of use in the making of laws. 2) To review current effectiveness of laws. 3) To find out if programs are being administered as intended. Other Powers of Congress include: the power to patent, which is the exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell a new and useful item. AND the power to regulate interstate commerce. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) the Supreme Court gave a sweeping definition of this power. The Houses of Congress also have the power to check each other, similarly to the way in which branches of the government can manage each other through checks and balances. Also like the formal checks and balances of the national government, a member of Congress can formally condemn his or her colleagues by a process known as censure. 4
The President, House, and Senate The President The President and Congress have to work together all the time. Like when Congress writes a bill, the President has to approve it in order for it to become a law. The same thing is true the other way around. Before a treaty made by the President can become effective, it must be approved by a twothirds vote of the Senate. The House The House has the power to choose the President when no candidate has received a majority of the electoral votes. Also, the Constitution gives the power to impeach the President, and other civil officers, to the House. The House Rules Committee is sometimes called the traffic cop in the legislature process. The Senate The Senate has the sole power to try (judge) impeachment cases. The Senate also must approve all of the President s major appointments by a majority vote, although they rarely ever deny approval for a top member of the President s administration. BUT it can be a little less easy for the President to appoint federal officers at the state level due to senatorial courtesy. As it works in both the Senate and the House today, the seniority rule almost certainly guarantees that the member of the majority party who has served on a committee for the longest period of time is that committee s chairman. That means that some Senators can determine certain presidential appointments. Therefore, the Presidential power of appointment is sometimes affected by senatorial courtesy. Following are arguments for and against the seniority rule: FOR the seniority rule 1) It ensures experienced leadership. 2) It is easy to apply. 3) It cuts down on intra-party fights. 5
AGAINST the seniority rule 1) It ignores ability. 2) It discourages younger members. 3) It insulates leadership from current public opinion. Tricks of the Trade A long speech or series of speeches delivered in an attempt to delay the work of a legislative body is known as a filibuster. But a filibuster can be choked off by a vote, which invokes cloture. Sometimes, Congress will attach something to a bill that it s actually unrelated to that bill in an attempt to get the unrelated thing approved accidentally along with the bill. A provision tacked on to an unrelated bill is a rider. The Power to Tax This is a big enough power to get its own section The Constitution originally placed several specific limits on the power of Congress to tax. Such as: 1) Taxation only for public purposes 2) No tax on exports 3) Taxes apportioned according to population 4) Indirect taxes levied at same rate in all parts of the country. There were also early limits placed on the use of commerce power: 1) No tax on exports 2) No favoring ports of one state 3) No duties on vessels involved in interstate trade 4) No prohibition on slave trade until 1808 Notice any repetition here? Take note: the Constitution provides that Congress cannot tax exports. 6
Types of taxes: 1) Indirect- An indirect tax is a tax paid by one person but in fact passed on to another. It s then indirectly paid by that second person. Tobacco companies, for example, are taxed on each pack of cigarettes, called an excise tax. But the tax is passed on to the retail chain (the store that sells the cigarettes), and then they pass it on to the individual who buys the cigarettes. 2) Direct- The one who the tax is imposed on must pay the tax, like the ownership of land. 3) Protective- This type of tax is the oldest example of a non-revenue raising tax. This kind of tax would be imposed in order to protect something, like domestic industry against foreign competition. All tax measures must originate in the House, and then go through the normal chain of approvals to pass as a new tax law. The government does not have an unlimited right to tax. (Although it may feel like they do sometimes!) For instance, they cannot tax church services or publications of news because that would violate the 1 st Amendment. Freedom: Another Form of Power for Congress While it s not technically a power, the freedoms that Congress is allowed can be considered a type of power because it places them above certain laws. The Speech and Debate Clause protects members of Congress from suits for libel or slander arising out of their official conduct. Legislative immunity applies to any work that Congress does in the course of business, not just in speeches made on the floor of Congress. They were given this leeway so that no one could tie them up in a court of law, keeping them from running their duty to run the country. 7
ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CONGRESS Each member of Congress has five roles: 1) Legislator 2) Constituent Representative 3) Constituent Servant 4) Committee Member 5) Politician You may be asking yourself what the people are like who make up Congress? You know who the President is for the most part, but do you know who your Senators and Representatives are? Do you know their names? While there are a lot of members of Congress, we can say a few things about their common characteristics. Both Representatives and Senators have a great deal of political experience before they re elected into Congress. Other similarities of both members of the House and the Senate is most of them are lawyers and married. They also, unfortunately, are not an accurate cross section of the nation s population. The average member is a white male in his 40s who has attended college and has had a professional career. Women and minorities are greatly under-represented in Congress. So, how are Representatives and Senators different from each other? One way that they are different is that Representatives are closer to the people than Senators. While most Senators and Representatives are born in the states they represent, a Representative is more likely to feel pressure from special interest groups because he or she represents a smaller constituency and must be immediately responsible to its needs. Since elections are held every two years, they can sometimes feel more stressed about reelection. A constituent representative is responsible for translating into action the interests and concerns of the people in their districts. Constituents often ask for help from members of Congress. 8
If you re interested in finding out more about your Representatives, there are things you can do. The best way to learn about the voting record of a member of Congress is to find out how he or she voted on issues that are most important to you. It s always a good idea to know who these people are since they make decisions for you in our government. You might want to see if your Representative votes for or against the things that are important to you. One person that we ve kind of left out is the Vice President. We haven t done much talking, if any at all, about this role. Here s some information about the role of the V.P.: The President of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States. The majority party Senator who presides in the absence of the Vice President is called the President pro tem. Compensation Members of Congress are compensated in a number of ways in addition to their salaries and health benefits. Each member is allowed a tax deduction to keep two residences, one in their home state and the other in Washington, D.C. They also receive liberal travel allowances and free medical care at the Capitol. It s important to note that Senators and Representatives do no give themselves yearly pay increases. Congress does set salaries and other forms of compensation for its members, but they have to be careful they don t give themselves too much in the public s eyes. The fear of voter backlash is what makes Congress only give themselves what is considered reasonable. Not all salaries in Congress are equal. For instance, the Speaker of the House is the highest paid member of Congress. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Did you know that it now costs more than $1 billion to operate Congress each year? Where does all that money go? 9
Bills The topic of conversation and debate in Congress is usually over a bill. (Before a law is passed it s called a bill.) Approximately 20,000 bills are introduced in the two houses during a term of Congress. They become laws once they ve gone through the necessary process of approvals. To gain approval in both houses, Congress must take votes on bills. Most votes on the floor of the House are taken by method of voice. In the legislative process, most of the measures introduced in either house die at the committee step. This is, in part, because much of the real work of Congress is actually done in its committees. Once Congress approves a bill, it goes to the President. There the President has three options with measures presented by Congress: Option #1: Sign it into law Option #2: Veto it and send it back to Congress Option #3: Allow the bill to become law without signature. Ten days after the bill has been given to the President (not including Sundays), it automatically becomes law if the President has taken no action. Option #4: If Congress adjourns (delays) its session within the ten days since the bill was given to the President and the President does not act, then the bill dies. This is known as a pocket veto. A bill that has been passed by each house, but in differing versions, must sometimes be sent to a conference committee, which attempts to produce a compromise bill acceptable to both chambers. 10
Types of measures: 1) Measures applying to certain persons or places are private bills. 2) Measures applying to the nation as a while are public bills. 3) Joint measures dealing with unusual or temporary matters and carrying the force of law are joint resolutions. 4) Measures passed when both houses must act jointly but for which a law is not needed are concurrent resolutions. 11