Congress in Action

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Congress in Action
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It is very easy to defeat a bill in Congress.
It is much more difficult to pass one. John F.
Kennedy 1962
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Convenes

• To convene begin a new term
• Happens every 2 years
• Usually January 3 of odd numbered years.
• 2009 was January 6 because the 3rd was a
  Saturday.
• Follows the general election in the previous
  November

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Opening Day

• House of Representatives
• Clerk of the House presides
• calls to order
• takes roll
• Members choose Speaker
• permanent presiding officer
• usually long-standing member of majority party

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More Formalities

• Speaker takes oath of office
• administered by Dean of the House
• longest serving member
• Speaker swears in everyone else
• Dem sit on right of center aisle, Reps on left
  (facing Speaker)

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More Formalities 2

• Adopts rules
• evolving over 200 years
• about 400 pages
• readopted each term, with little or no changes
• Members of 19 permanent committees appointed
• Finished!

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Opening Day

• Senate
• continuous body
• newly elected or reelected members sworn in
• Organizational vacancies
• Committee
• Usually pretty minor

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State of the Union

• House notifies Senate that House is organized
• Joint committee appointed
• Waits upon the President of the US and informs
  him that a quorum of each House is
  assembledready to receive any communication...

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State of the Union

• Annual address to Congress
• Attended by Supreme Court, Cabinet, diplomats,
  etc.
• Reports State of the Union
• domestic and foreign
• legislative recommendations

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Presiding Officers House

• Speaker
• powerful position
• preside and keep order
• no one can speak without Speakers recognition
• interprets and applies rules
• signs bills resolutions passed by House

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Speaker

• Debates and votes on bills
• temporary presiding officer
• only votes to break a tie (House Rules)
• Follows Vice President in line of succession to
  the presidency

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President of Senate

• Vice President
• Recognizes members, put questions to vote, etc.
• Cannot take the floor to debate
• Votes only to break tie

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President pro tempore

• Serves when VP is absent
• Elected by Senate
• A leading member of majority party
• Follows Speaker in line of presidential succession

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Party Officers-House

• Speaker
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

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Party Officers - Senate

• President of the Senate
• President Pro Tempore
• Majority Leader
• Majority Whip
• Minority Leader
• Minority Whip

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Seniority Rule

• Unwritten custom going back to late 1800s
• Important posts (formal and in the political
  parties) will be held by party members with the
  longest records of service in House and Senate

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Pros Cons

• Cons
• Ignores ability
• Discourages younger members
• Usually from safe district
• Pros
• Experienced leadership
• Easy to implement/follow

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Committees

• Where most of the work in Congress takes place
• Standing permanent
• Select special
• Joint Conference members of both Houses

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Standing Committees

• New bills considered here
• Fate of most bills decided here not on floor
• House has 19
• members serve on 1 - 2
• Senate has 16
• members serve on 3 - 4

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House Committees

• Most significant
• Rules
• Ways and Means
• Appropriations
• Armed Services
• Judiciary
• International Relations
• Agriculture

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Senate Committees

• Most significant
• Foreign Relations
• Appropriations
• Finance
• Judiciary
• Armed Services
• Banking
• Housing Urban Affairs

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Im just a bill, yes Im only...

• Up to 10,000 bills are introduced each TERM
• Less than 10 become laws
• Bills must be introduced (sponsored) by member of
  House or Senate

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Where do the ideas come from?

• Anybody can have an idea
• Most originate in executive branch
• Special interest groups
• Private citizens
• Congressional committees
• Revenue bills must start in the House

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Bills Resolutions

• Bills public and private
• Public bills apply to nation as a whole
• tax laws, immigration, medicare
• Private bills apply to certain people or places
• compensate a farmer for damage done by wildlife
  in an adjoining national park

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Joint Resolutions

• Have force of law when passed
• Deal with unusual or temporary issues
• appropriate money for inaugural ceremonies
• correct mistakes in laws
• propose Constitutional amends

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Concurrent Resolutions

• House and Senate must act jointly
• Do not
• have force of law
• require presidential approval
• Used to state a position
• like in foreign affairs

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Resolutions

• Concern only one house
• Adopting new rule of procedure
• Does not have force of law
• Is not sent to president

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(No Transcript)
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Nature of Bills

• Usually deal with one issue
• Riders sometimes attached
• Provision not likely to pass on its own but added
  to an important bill certain to pass
• Usually tacked on to appropriations bills
• Christmas Trees

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Process

• Clerk gives number short title as each bill
  introduced
• HR introduced in House
• S introduced in Senate
• H.R. 3420 3,420th bill introduced in the House
  during the current TERM

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Process 2

• Bill entered in House/Senate Journal and
  Congressional Record
• Journal official record (minutes) of what
  happened in House or Senate that day.
• Congressional Record account of daily
  proceedings
• stuff often inserted afterwards

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In Committee

• Pigeonholed Bills bills that die in committee
  from lack of attention
• Discharge Petition member can force bill in
  committee for over 30 days out with motion signed
  by majority

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Subcommittees

• Committee work subdivided into specialty areas
• Often holds public hearings
• May take junkets
• Field trip to area affected by bill being studied
• Paid for with tax money

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Subcommittees 2

• Report bill with do pass
• then debated on Floor
• Pigeonhole
• Report in amended form
• changed or combined with other bills
• Report unfavorably
• Report a committee bill

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Calendars

• Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on
  the State of the Union
• Union Calendar
• revenues, appropriations, or government property

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Calendars 2

• The House Calendar
• For all other public bills
• Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House
• Private Calendar

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Calendars 3

• The Corrections Calendar
• Bills taken out of order by unanimous consent of
  House
• Usually routine and unopposed
• Discharge
• for bills being discharged from committee

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Schedules

• Corrections Calendar
• First Third Mondays
• District of Columbia measures
• Second Fourth Mondays
• Private Bills
• Fridays
• Calendar Wednesdays
• House or Union Calendars

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Rules are rules!

• Rules Committee
• Must approve taking measure from a calendar--set
  time for Floor consideration
• Kills bill if doesnt rule
• Special Rule
• time limit on Floor debate
• prohibit amendments

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More on Rules

• Privileged Bills
• called up almost any time ahead of other business
• most privileged are major appropriations, general
  revenue, conference committee reports, Special
  Rules
• Expedited or Suspended Rules
• Usually Mondays Tuesdays

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Committee of the Whole

• Old parliamentary technique
• Meet as a whole committee not as the House
• procedural rules not as strict
• quorum is only 100 members not 218 for the full
  House
• things move along much faster

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Committee of the Whole 2

• Speaker steps down another member presides
• Bill is read section by section
• amendments may be offered
• Five Minute Rule each speaker only has 5
  minutes to make his/her case

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Committee of the Whole 3

• Votes taken at each section
• When finished, Committee dissolves itself
• Full House back in session
• Speaker resumes the chair
• House formally adopts the committees work

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Rules for Debate

• 1841 rule limits holding Floor to 1 hour
• 1880 rule allows Speaker to end members time if
  strays off subject
• If a member asks to move the previous question
• only 40 minutes of debate left

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Voting

• Each amendment voted on
• Procedural votes--ie, table the issue means put
  aside
• Voice Votes
• most common
• Ayes and Nays (based on loudness of voices)
• Speaker announces result

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More on Voting

• Standing Vote usually asked for if member thinks
  Speaker made a mistake
• Ayes/Nays stand up
• called Dividing the House
• counted by the Clerk

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More on Voting 2

• 1/5 Quorum
• Committee of the Whole - 20
• Whole House - 44
• Speaker names 1 teller from each party
• members walk between tellers to be counted
• fairly rare today

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More on Voting 3

• Roll-call vote
• aka record vote
• may be demanded by 1/5 membership present
• Electronic Voting
• installed in 1973
• replaced Clerks roll call votes
• usually 15 minutes allowed

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Engrossed

• Bill printed in final form
• Read a third time (by title)
• Final vote taken
• If approved
• Speaker sends to Senate
• via a House page
• placed on Senate presidents desk

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A Day in the life of a Senate Bill
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General Differences from the House

• Proceedings less formal
• Rules of procedure less strict
• Only 1 calendar for bills reported out by
  committees
• Bills called to the floor at the discretion of
  the majority leader

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Rules for Debate

• Worlds greatest deliberative body
• Floor debate almost unrestrained in Senate
• Senators can speak as long as they want
• not limited by time
• not limited by topic

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Debate, cont.

• Unanimous consent
• Discussion ends and Senate votes at a previously
  agreed to time.
• If anyone objects, procedure fails

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Two Speech Rule

• Can only speak twice in same legislative day on
  same topic
• day can be prolonged through recess
• temporary interruption
• instead of adjourning
• thus limiting time Senate spends on that issue

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The Filibuster

• Attempt to talk a bill to death
• Stalling tactic
• minority of senators seeks to delay or prevent
  Senate action on some measure
• monopolize Senate floor
• Goal drop the bill or change it

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Other Time-killers

• Quorum calls, other procedural tactics
• Used to delay or obstruct
• Used by minority to block a bill which would
  probably pass if brought to a vote

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Strom Thurmond

• Current filibuster record holder
• Held floor 24 hours/18 mins
• Unsuccessful, 1-person anti-Civil Rights Act of
  1957

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Cloture

• Rule XXII Standing Rules of the Senate
• Adopted 1917
• Result of famous 3 week filibuster killing bill
  to arm US merchant marine ships
• 12 senators held up measure until end of
  term--3/4/1917

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Cloture 2

• Limits debate in Senate
• Special Procedure
• Must vote to use the rule
• Vote must take place 2 days after petition
  submitted
• submitted by at least 16 senators
• approved by 3/5 senators (60)

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Cloture 3

• Limits debate on bill to 30 hours from that point
  on
• then must be put to final vote
• Not easy to accomplish
• over 400 attempts at cloture
• 33 successful
• Concerned overuse will lessen effect

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Conference Committees

• Temporary joint committee
• Work out differences between House/Senate bills
• Compromise not new material
• Submitted to both houses
• Usually accepted by both

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4 Presidential Options

• Approves-becomes law
• Veto
• veto message
• back to house were originated
• needs 2/3 vote of both houses to approve after
  veto
• Do nothing becomes law after 10 days of receipt

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4 Presidential Options2

• Pocket Veto
• If Congress adjourns its session within 10 days
  of submitting bill to president
• If president does not act
• Measure dies

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Line Item Veto Act of 1996

• Available to governors of many states
• President could veto specific items in
  appropriations bill but pass the rest
• Found unconstitutional in 1998
• Clinton v. New York City