Bell Ringer

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Bell Ringer

• What is a Christmas-tree bill?
• What is pigeon-holing?

Unrelated riders that are attached to a bill.
When the committee ignores a bill and it dies
(just goes away).
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Congress at Work

• Chapter 7

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How a Bill Becomes a Law

• Section 1

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• Fewer than 10 of all proposed bills actually
  become law.
• Why?
• Process is long and arduous more than 100 step.
• Willingness to bargain and compromise.
• Congressmen will sometimes introduce bills that
  have no chance at becoming law simply to be on
  record about an idea or policy

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• The 111th Congress considered
• 6,156 pieces of legislation in the House.
• 3,791 pieces of legislation in the Senate.
• 237 pieces of that legislation were signed into
  Public Law.

As of 9-20-10
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Types of Bills
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Bills and Resolutions

• Private
• Public
• Simple Resolution
• Joint Resolution
• Concurrent Resolution

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Public

• Deal with general matters and apply to the entire
  nation.
• Examples tax bills, education laws.

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Private

• Deal with individual people or places.
• Example Renaming a post office or other public
  building.

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Resolutions
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• Resolutions differ from bills in that they deal
  with matters that affect only one house or the
  other, and they do not relate directly to the
  public will.
• Resolutions may change rules or procedures, or
  they may wish a member a happy birthday or a
  prosperous retirement.
• They do not require the signature of the
  President.

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Types of Resolutions
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Simple

• Deal with matters affecting only one house of
  Congress. Does not require signature of
  president and does not become law.

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Joint

• Passed by both houses and requires presidential
  signature to become public law.
• Used to correct errors in previous bills or
  appropriate money for a special purpose.
• When used to propose constitutional amendments
  the presidential signature is not required.

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Concurrent

• Cover matters requiring action of both houses,
  but does not need a law.

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Introduction of a Bill

• http//www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfm
• Our Federal Government The Legislative Branch

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Bill Numbers

• House bills begin with "H.R." (H.R.112-100)
• Simple Resolutions begin with "H. Res." (H.Res.
  112-100)
• Concurrent Resolutions begin with "H. Con. Res."
  (H. Con. Res. 112-100)
• Joint Resolutions begin with "H. J. Res
• (H.J. Res. 112-100).
• Senate bills begin with "S." (S. 112-100).

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Public Law

• Become PL 112-100

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Source http//clerkkids.house.gov/laws/
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Bell Ringer

• On what committee does all important work on tax
  bills and other bills involving money begin?

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Taxing and Spending Bills

• Section 2

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What does it cost to run the government?

• http//www.uwsa.com/us-national-debt.html

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How Does the Government Pay for it All?
TAXES!!!
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Article I, Section 8

• The Congress shall have the power to lay and
  collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to
  pay the debts and provide for the common defense
  and general welfare of the United States

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• "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.
• Oliver Wendell Holmes
• There are only two sure things in life death
  and taxes.
• Benjamin Franklin

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Where do bills that deal with money begin?
House of Representatives
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House Ways and Means Committee

• Accepts or rejects presidential requests for tax
  increases and cuts.
• Makes rules to determine who pays what taxes and
  who receives tax benefits.

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Closed Rule

• Until 1973 no amendments could be added to a tax
  bill on the floor.
• Only Ways and Means Committee members could have
  a hand in writing a bill.

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Senates Role

• Article I, Section 7 allows the Senate to propose
  amendments.
• Can also eliminate provisions senators object to.

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How the House and Senate Appropriate Money

• Article I, Section 9
• No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but
  in consequence of appropriations made by law.
• Appropriation is a must before money can be
  spent.
• Once appropriation has taken place, authorization
  of spending must take place.
• Authorization sets up federal programs and
  specifies how much money may be appropriated for
  that program.

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Appropriation Committees

• Use your textbook to find out the following
• What They Do
• What They Cannot Do

Receive, review, and amend appropriations
requests from executive agency budgets. Report
out all bills to the executive branch.
Kill bills. Affect uncontrollable expenditures
and entitlements.
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What are Uncontrollables and Entitlements?

• Accounts for about 70 of annual appropriations
  and authorizations.
• Uncontrollables expenditures that the
  government is legally committed to finance.
• Social Security, Interest on national debt,
  federal contract already signed.
• Entitlements social programs that continue on a
  yearly basis.

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Bell Ringer

• What is pork-barrel legislation?

A government project that benefits a legislators
home state and/or district (extra left over).
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Major Influences on Lawmakers
The President
Voters in home states and districts
Lawmakers Political Party
Senator Or Representative
Staff or Committee Members
Speaker of the House
Each Other
Senate Majority Leader
Lobbyists for special interest groups and PACS
Campaign Fund Contributors and Campaign Workers
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Helping Constituents

• Section 4

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Two Hat Act

• Problem solvers for their constituents back home.
• Must make sure state and/or district gets its
  share of federal money, projects, and contracts.

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How do they juggle???

• CASEWORKERS!!!!

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Caseworker Responsibility in Representative Artur
Davis Office

• Housing
• Military
• Postal
• Veterans
• Social Security
• Medicare
• Immigration
• IRS

• Pension benefits
• Passports/ visas
• Education
• Labor
• Service academy nominations
• Flag requests
• Requests for White House tours

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Three Purposes of Casework

• Helps lawmakers get re-elected.
• A way in which Congress can oversee the executive
  branch.
• How are they handling federal programs (Ex
  Social Security, Veterans Benefits, Workers
  Compensation).
• Provides a way for average citizens to cope with
  the largeness of the national government.
• Red Tape

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Bring Home the Bacon

• Through pork-barrel legislation.
• Through winning federal grants and contracts.
• Through keeping federal projects.

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Public Works BillsPork-Barrel Legislation

• Accounts for billions of dollars each year and
  thousands of jobs.
• Examples Post Offices, Dams, Military Bases,
  Waterway improvements, Federally-funded highways
  (Interstates), Veterans hospitals, Transit
  systems.

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Pork-Barrel

• Came into use as a political term in the
  post-Civil War era. It comes from the plantation
  practice of distributing rations of salt port to
  slaves from wooden barrels. When used to
  describe a bill, it implies the legislation is
  loaded with special project for members of
  Congress to distribute to their constituents back
  home as an act of generosity to the federal
  taxpayers.

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You Scratch My Back, Ill Scratch Yours

• When two or more congressman agree to help each
  other it is called logrolling.

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Grants and Contracts

• Controlled by agencies of the executive branch
  (i.e. Departments).
• Harder for the lawmakers to control flow of
  funds.

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Activity

• Look through several of the local newspapers to
  find examples of federal money spent in Alabama,
  Tuscaloosa or the West Alabama area. Present
  your findings in the form of a radio news
  broadcast. Explain how the pork-barrel
  legislation benefited the state or community.
  (Page 203).