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1- Congress

I) Congress and the People


A) Representing the People
a) the job of any Congressperson is to represent constituents
(i) constituents are people who live within a certain area that the elected official
represents
b) as people have many different views, members of Congress tend to listen to the
loudest ones (and those most likely to vote for them in the next election)
(i) interest groups are particularly organized groups of like-minded people that often
come together to influence officials
1 the strongest today is the NRA (though no idea why)
(ii) also, members of Congress are most likely to pay the most attention to those who
donate the most money to reelection campaigns
B) Members of Congress
a) certain restrictions were placed in the Constitution to ensure the “right” people serve
in Congress
(i) for instance, you must be 30 to run for the Senate
b) generally, people in Congress tend to be wealthier than the average citizen
(i) wealthy people know other wealthy people, which means their friends are going
to be able to donate to election campaigns
1 this again means members of Congress will act in the interests of the wealthy,
because they themselves are most likely wealthy
c) most members of Congress are white males
(i) the number has become more diverse today, but the majority are still white males
II) The Structure of Congress
A) House of Representatives
a) based on state population
b) by law, there are 435 total members
(i) every census, if the percentage of state population changes, then the number of
seats in the House changes
(ii) there are also nonvoting members representing non-states; Washington DC,
Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Northern
Mariana Islands
c) all seats are up for reelection every 2 years
(i) this means one party can dominate and then be completely replaced just 2 years
into a presidency
B) Senate
a) every state gets 2 Senators
(i) this means all territories not states (see above) do not have any representation in
the Senate
b) originally chosen by state legislatures
(i) this meant senators were chosen by those already elected, meaning they could do
basically what they wanted and the people couldn’t do much about it
1 with the 17th Amendment, the people were able to elect the senators directly
c) Senate seats are up for election every 6 years
(i) 1/3 of Senate seats are up for reelection every 2 years, so big shakeups don’t
occur
III) Congress and Checks and Balances
A) Power of the Purse
a) Congress (specifically the House) has the power to determine the budget of the
government
(i) just because a presidential candidate promises to do something, most things have
a budget, and Congress doesn’t have to fund it
(ii) Congress can also withhold funds for the military if it doesn’t want the president
to do something
1 this doesn’t always work, since budgets are usually set on a yearly basis
B) The Power of Advice and Consent
a) the Senate must approve any ambassador, federal judge, Supreme Court Justice, etc,
and any treaty negotiated by the president
C) The Impeachment Power
a) the House can start impeachment proceedings against federal officials
(i) impeachment means to file formal charges of a crime, not to remove them
b) the Senate then hears the case and must vote with 2/3 to convict
(i) if convicted, the official is removed from office and put in prison
c) impeachment has only happened 17 times at the national level
(i) most were federal judges, but two were presidents
1 Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
 Nixon resigned before being impeached
D) Other Checks and Balances
a) the most significant (and difficult) check to the judiciary is to amend the Constitution
b) Congress can also override a presidential veto with a 2/3 vote in both houses
(i) has only happened about 100 times since 1789
2- The Powers of Congress

I) Defining the Powers of Congress


A) Expressed Powers
B) Implied Powers
C) Inherent Powers
D) Powers Denied Congress
II) Expressed Powers
A) Financing Powers
a) Congress can levy (raise or lower) taxes and borrow money
(i) types of taxes
1 tariff- a tax on imported goods into the country
2 indirect tax- taxes on things like the sale of goods (gas, airline tickets, etc)
3 direct tax- a tax directly on people: the income tax
 today, this is the largest source of income
(ii) Congress can borrow money from global markets to cover expenses if taxes won’t
cover them
1 once used only in times of emergency or war
2 today, it is rare to have a balanced budget
 Bill Clinton was the most successful in the last 100 years (1998-2001 were
balanced)
 technically 2001 was Bush, but fiscal changes usually take up to 6
months before new presidents’ policies take effect
B) Commerce Power
a) any trade across state lines is regulated by Congress
(i) applies to interstates, so the national government funds their repair
(ii) also applies to crime
1 any crime that occurs in more than one state becomes the jurisdiction of the
FBI
C) Defense-Related Powers
a) Congress has the power to declare war
(i) the president sends the troops, so a declaration of war means nothing if he doesn’t
send the troops
(ii) before the Vietnam War, the president could send troops into battle without any
declaration of war
1 this happened over 200 times
(iii)after Vietnam went on for 9 years without declaring war, Congress limited the
president’s ability to send in troops without their consent
1 he can still engage for months, but not years
b) Congress has the power over funding for the military (specifically the army and navy)
c) Congress can also call on state militias
(i) in times of emergency, Congress shares the power with the states to call on the
National Guard
D) Other Expressed Powers
a) coin money (print money today)
b) run the post office
c) copyrights and patents to protect inventors
d) standardize weights and measures
e) establish rules of naturalization- set laws on becoming a citizen
f) create federal courts and approve of judge nominations
g) pg. 129-131 show the rest in full
III) Implied Powers
A) Loose and Strict Constructionists
a) strict interpreters of the Constitution wanted to hold Congress to only the expressed
powers granted
(i) these were the Anti-Federalists
(ii) today, this would mean things like the Air Force couldn’t exist, since that power
wasn’t specifically given to Congress
b) loose interpreters thought Congress should have all the powers granted plus any
powers they needed to have in order to properly do their jobs
(i) these were the Federalists
(ii) they argued Clause 18 gave Congress all the power they needed to act on things
as the need came up
1 this is known as the Necessary and Proper Clause, because it gives Congress
the power to do anything “necessary and proper to the execution of any of the
other expressed powers”
c) one of the primary arguments was over the establishment of the National Bank
(proposed by Hamilton, a Federalist, and strongly opposed by Jefferson, an Anti-
Federalist)
(i) eventually the National Bank was established, and was part of the reason the US
was able to survive early on financially
1 the Supreme Court agreed that the National Bank was ok due to the Necessary
and Proper Clause in the case McCulloch v. Maryland
B) The Necessary and Proper Clause Today
a) Congress has used this clause to do many of the things that has made the national
government more powerful over the years
(i) for instance, establishing Medicare and Social Security
b) many people believe Congress has overstepped their authority, and often things they
do under implied powers are argued before the Supreme Court
IV) Nonlegislative Powers
A) Powers Common to Both Houses
a) both House and Senate must agree by 2/3 vote to change the Constitution
b) both also conduct investigations of various government or private industries if they
feel a violation is occurring
c) the 25th Amendment allows the president to nominate a replacement for himself if the
vice presidency is vacant, and both houses must approve of the nomination
B) Powers of the House
a) if no candidate for president wins a majority, the House chooses
(i) has only happened in 1800 (Jefferson over Burr) and 1824 (John Quincy Adams
over Andrew Jackson)
C) Powers of the Senate
a) approves or rejects treaties
b) approves or rejects presidential nominations for the executive and judicial branches
V) Limits on the Powers of Congress
A) with Checks and Balances, Congress is limited in certain areas (though still the most
powerful branch of government)
a) the Supreme Court can reject laws by judicial review
b) the president can veto bills passed by Congress
(i) presidents can also simply ignore laws and not enforce them
1 W. Bush enforced national marijuana laws, but Obama didn’t
B) Congress is also expressly denied certain powers by the Constitution
a) not allowed to discuss the slave trade until 1808
b) can’t put taxes on one state but not on another
c) can’t suspend writ of habeas corpus unless in time of rebellion or war
(i) this means if a person is arrested, they must be charged with a crime and be able
to face the charges in court
d) can’t make something illegal and punish someone for something that used to be legal
but isn’t any longer (ex post facto laws)
3- House of Representatives

I) Membership
A) Formal Qualifications
a) must be at least 25
b) US citizen for 7 years
c) resident of the state they intend to represent
(i) usually they live in the same district they represent, but that’s a custom, not a
requirement
d) with a 2/3 vote, the House can expel one of its members for any reason
(i) has only happened 5 times (for crimes)
B) Informal Qualifications
a) must be able to appeal to voters of the district to win votes
(i) in the past, athletes, celebrities, and people with military experience have all been
popular
(ii) today, Representatives must be able to raise money to win
1 on average, House elections spent 1.5 million per person to win
II) Reapportionment and Redistricting
A) Changes in Population
a) the Constitution requires the government to take a census every 10 years to determine
our population across the states and in individual districts
(i) the seats in the House are determined by population
1 if the percentage of people living in a district changes enough, that district
might be absorbed into another or get broken up into new districts
B) Gerrymandering
a) state governments get to decide where district boundaries are
(i) whoever is in power tends to draw the boundaries to ensure their party has
advantage
1 redrawing district lines for political advantage is called gerrymandering
C) One Person, One Vote
a) early on, the Supreme Court ignored gerrymandering
b) in the last 50 years, gerrymandering has become such a problem that they have had to
set some limits
(i) these limits don’t keep districts safe from gerrymandering, they only keep them
from getting too out of hand
III) Leadership in the House
A) The Speaker of the House
a) this person is the most powerful in the House
b) elected by the Representatives and comes from the political party with the highest
majority of seats
(i) when the majority changes (which can happen every two years), the Speaker
changes with it
1 currently, the Speaker of the House is Paul Ryan
c) the primary job of the Speaker is to preside over debates and recognize speakers
(people who want to speak on the House floor on public record)
(i) also assigns bills to committees for review and changes
1 also decides who is in temporary committees
d) the Speaker is also the third in line for the presidency (if both the president and vice
president die suddenly)
B) Other Leadership Posts
a) each party elects floor leaders to act as assistants to the Speaker
(i) the majority party has the majority leader, the minority party has the minority
leader
1 minority leaders in particular try to keep their party together and unite around
common positions to increase the power of the party overall
b) each party also elects whips (majority and minority whips)
(i) the whips collect information on what members are thinking about a bill or
position and report to the floor leaders
1 they also sometimes try to convince people to vote a certain way
C) House Rules
a) Representatives can be voted out of office with a 2/3 majority in the House
b) Reps can also be issued a reprimand for breaking a rule
(i) Reps who break bigger rules, but not big enough to be removed, are censured
c) the House has a separate Rules Committee
(i) this group decides how a bill will be debated, for how long, and how it will be
amended
1 they can speed up or delay the passage of a bill, and are often close with the
Speaker
 this is how if the House is one party but the Senate is another, they can
hold up almost all legislation
IV) The Role of Committees
A) Standing Committees
a) there are 20 permanent committees
(i) these are over areas where most laws fall, like agriculture, budget, military, etc
b) these typically have at least 4 subcommittees that focus on particular things and
report back to the main committee
B) Other Committees
a) when issues come up that need a new committee (like investigations), the House
creates select committees
(i) these have a limited duration and are fully appointed by the Speaker
b) joint committees combine people from the House and Senate to discuss issues that
affect both groups
C) Committee Chairs
a) every committee has a leader called a chair or chairperson
(i) because so much happens in committees, the chair is a powerful person
1 the chair is the most senior person on the committee (who has been there the
longest)
 in the 1970s, they changed the rules from just being the most senior person
to the person being elected- they are still the most senior person, but it
could be different
D) Committee Membership
a) most people request to be on certain committees
(i) standing committee members are chosen by vote in the House
1 this means people often must campaign with their colleagues
b) House members can serve on up to 2 standing committees and 4 subcommittees
(i) each committee also has a number of paid staff to do the grunt work
4- The Senate

I) The Senate and its Membership


A) Formal Qualifications
a) at least 30 years old
b) US citizen for 9 years
c) resident of the state they want to represent
B) Election of Senators
a) at first, Senators were chosen by state legislatures because they didn’t trust that the
people could make a reasonable decision
(i) over time, people accused state legislatures of corruption in their choices
1 by the 1900s, the 17th Amendment was passed to give the people the direct
power to elect their Senators
 this was meant to make all of Congress subject to the people
b) Senators are chosen every 6 years, making them less subject to scandals and anger
from the people
(i) since their elections are staggered every 2 years, there is no major shift in Senate
membership like there can be in the House
C) Informal Qualifications
a) like the House, the cost of running for Senate is high
(i) in just 33 Senate elections a few years ago, the candidates spent over $400 million
1 since running for Senate is so expensive, typically their membership tends to
be very wealthy, because they are more likely to know other wealthy people
who can donate to their campaigns
II) Senate Leadership
A) Constitutional Positions
a) the Vice President serves as “president of the Senate”
(i) he does little except vote in the case of a 50/50 tie and make sure Senators follow
the rules in the chamber during debate
b) the Senate also has a president pro tempore (temporary president of the Senate) in
case the Vice President is absent during debate or vote
(i) this person is usually the most senior member of the majority party
(ii) they are next in line behind Speaker of the House for president
B) Party Leaders
a) most powerful position is the Senate majority leader
(i) helps to get members of their party the best positions in committees and to carry
out their party’s agenda within the Senate
1 currently is Mitch McConnell
b) minority leader is next most powerful
(i) has the same job, but less power since their party is the minority
1 currently is Harry Reid
c) both leaders have party whips, just like the House leaders
III) Committees in the Senate
A) Types of Senate Committees
a) 16 standing committees (like the House) that deal with the majority of bills
(i) each of these has multiple subcommittees
b) also has select committees (temporary) that act as advisors, but don’t make laws
c) can have joint committees with the House
B) Membership in Committees
a) Senators are not allowed to serve on more than 3 committees and 5 subcommittees
(i) they try to get assigned to areas of their interest
1 for example, Elizabeth Warren is on the economic committee, and used to be
an economics professor at Harvard
b) generally, committee party members are proportional to the overall party numbers
within the Senate
(i) if there are 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats, each committee will try to have
60% Republican and 40% Democrat members
C) Committee Chairs
a) committee chairs have lots of power since they can decide what bills will be
discussed and when
(i) no Senator is the chair of more than one committee
(ii) always a member of the majority party
b) usually the chairs are the most senior members of the Senate
(i) in 1995, they began electing the chairs instead of just naming the most senior
member
D) Senate Committee Power
a) nominees for various positions in government (federal judges, Cabinet positions, etc)
are usually first examined by committees before moving on to the Senate floor
b) committees also decide on treaties before they move on to the entire Senate
IV) Rules and Traditions
A) Filibuster
a) there are few limits on debate in the Senate
(i) because of this, once a Senator begins talking about an issue, they don’t have to
stop until they decide to
1 if they keep speaking and prevent the issue from being voted on, this is called
a filibuster
 used by the minority party to prevent the majority from forcing through a
bill they don’t want
 they have certain restrictions, like no bathroom breaks, no sitting, etc
2 a filibuster can be stopped by a vote by 60 Senators to close debate
 if a party has 60 Senators, this is called a supermajority because it can
prevent the minority party from doing pretty much anything
B) Discipline in the Senate
a) the Senate can expel a member with a 2/3 vote (like the House)
(i) it has done this 15 times
1 most (14) were done after Senators supported the Confederacy in the Civil
War
b) also has the power of censure (used 10 times)
C) Filling Vacancies
a) if a Senator dies, retires, or is appointed by the president to do a new job, that seat is
filled by vote of the state legislature until a special election can be called to elect a
new senator
5- The Legislative Process

I) Bills in Congress
A) Introducing Bills
a) both Senators and Representatives can introduce bills
(i) the one exception is tax bills, which must start in the House
b) bills proposed in the House are assigned H.R. and a bill number
c) bills proposed in the Senate are assigned S. and a bill number
d) bills can be public or private
(i) private bills usually only affect a small number of people, like granting residency
to an illegal alien
(ii) most bills are public (affect everyone)
e) in the 111th Congress, 6400 bills were introduced by the House, and 4000 by the
Senate (we’re currently in the 115th Congress)
f) during the process, people may add riders to the bill
(i) riders add something that isn’t related
1 usually this is to get something unpopular added to a bill likely to pass so it
“rides” into becoming law
2 sometimes these are added to specifically kill a bill
B) Other Types of Action
a) joint resolution
(i) passed much like a law, but typically faster and only used for out of the ordinary
things
b) concurrent resolutions
(i) deal with operations within Congress or to express Congressional opinions, but
does not have the power of law and are not signed by the president
II) Bills in Committee
A) Referral
a) the Speaker decides which committee of the House studies a bill, while the majority
leader does the same for the Senate
(i) sometimes bills go to multiple committees if dealing with multiple subjects
b) once in a committee, the bill can be assigned to a subcommittee if needed
B) Committee and Subcommittee Hearings
a) committees hear testimony from people who might be affected by the bill, special
interest groups, or other members of government
(i) usually this is voluntary, but the committee can require that people show up by
issuing a subpoena
b) committee chairs can decide who testifies, so minority party members have little
control over the process
C) Subcommittee’s Report
a) after the hearings, the subcommittee makes an official report to the full committee
(i) if they vote against it, the bill dies here
(ii) also the subcommittee can add or subtract things
D) The Markup Process
a) the full committee hears the report and begins to make changes
(i) if they’re happy, they can submit the bill to the House or Senate (depending on
where it came from)
b) if the committee wants, they can decide to take no further action on the bill, which
shelves the issue until they decide to reopen it (there is no expiration date)
E) House Rules
a) if the bill goes to the House, it first goes through the Rules Committee
(i) they determine how long the bill can be debated and if it can be changed
1 if they want, the Rules Committee can prevent a bill from being debated at all
III) The Bill on the Floor
A) The Bill in the House
a) once the Rules Committee allows, the bill then goes to the House floor
(i) few bills are considered by the entire House- most are only heard by about 100 of
the 435 members
b) time is divided evenly between the two parties
(i) both debate the bill and any amendments made
c) if the group of around 100 vote to pass the bill, it will then be heard by the entire
House next time they are in session
(i) the entire House then can vote on the bill and any amendments
1 if it passes, it goes on to the Senate to go back through committees
B) The Bill in the Senate
a) after the committee and subcommittee hearings, the bill then goes directly to the
Senate floor (no Rules Committee) and debate starts
(i) just like the House, amendments can be added or subtracted and both parties can
debate
1 if able, sometimes the minority party might choose to filibuster the bill and
kill it
b) if the majority of the Senate agrees, the bill moves on
(i) if the bill has already been through the House, it goes to the president, otherwise it
goes through the House
IV) The Conference Committee
A) bills must be passed identically by both the House and Senate
a) if either makes any changes, it must then go back through the other chamber
B) for major bills, any differences of opinion means both chambers will come together in a
conference committee
a) this committee has members of both chambers who meet and hash out the details
(i) once they agree, they file a report and send it back to the Senate and House floors
1 if an identical bill is passed in both chambers, the bill goes to the president
V) Presidential Action on a Bill
A) sign the bill into law
B) pocket veto- don’t sign the bill or veto
a) if Congress remains in session for 10 days, the bill becomes law
b) if they adjourn, the bill is vetoed
C) veto the bill- send it back to the chamber in which it started
a) at this point Congress can override the veto with a 2/3 vote, but that has only
happened a little more than 100 times out of over 2500 vetoes
BE ABLE TO TRACE A BILL FROM THE HOUSE TO BECOMING LAW

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