The Congress Study Guide

 

Ch. 10

Bicameralism – The Framers had to create a bicameral system to settle the conflict between Virginia and New Jersey plans.  This is fair so you are fair to both the small states and the large states.

 

Term – A term in Congress lasts for two years and the terms are numbered consecutively.  It is now on the noon of January third on the odd-numbered year, which was changed in 1933.

 

Session – Before WWII a session would last for four to five months.  Now the sessions are through most of the year.

 

Special session – this happens when a meeting is called by the President to deal with a pressing issue.  The President is only allowed to call a special session, but because the Congress meets almost year-round these special session are not as necessary.

 

Apportioned – The constitution provides a number of seats should be distributed among the states on the basis of their population.  Each state is guaranteed a seat in the House.

 

Reapportion – According to Article I of the Constitution the Congress redistributes the seats in the House after the tenth census.  There is a permanent size of the House now, but it is only permanent as long as the Congress decides not to change it.

 

Congressional Election Date – All the elections are held o the same day of every state.  Congress directs the elections to be written or printed on ballots. 

 

Off-Year Election – The elections that occur on non-presidential years are called off year elections.  The party that as in power of the presidency loses seats in the off-year elections.

 

Districts – The members of the House are chosen by the voters in that certain area of the states.  The constitution does not mention the congressional districts and for a while the Congress allowed each State to decide whether to elect the candidates as a whole state or just by a section.

 

Single-member district – the voter in each district elect one of the State’s representatives from a field of candidates.  Most States set up the districts quickly, but many states set up a general election.

 

At-large – Under the general election all the State’s seats are filled at-large.  This means the people represent the State as a whole.  These are grossly unfair, and this is no longer taking place.

 

Gerrymandering – This is when the districts are drawn so that a political party has an advantage on the certain area.  These happen for one of two reasons.  The first is to concentrate the opposing voters in one area; the second is to spread the opposing voting area as thinly as possible

 

Gerrymandered – This is when a state’s district is drawn in an odd shape so a political party has an advantage on the state.

 

Wesberry VS Sanders – This was when the congressional districts in Georgia were changed so much that it was termed unconstitutional.  The Supreme Court said that it was unfair to the largely populated areas.

 

Qualifications for House Members – A member of the house must be at least 25 years old and be a citizen for 7 years and must live in the state that he is representing.  Custom has it so that the person representing that area must actually live in that area, but the Constitution says nothing of the sort.

 

Continuous body – people are elected and reelected every two years but its only one-third of the Senate that is changed every election.  This is so that there are new people coming into the Senate and there are people to help.

 

Election and Terms – Each senator has a six-year term which is to make the senators less subject to the pressures of the public opinion.  Senators are more likely to have more power in their state organization than anywhere else.

 

Qualifications for Senators – A senator must be at least 30 years old, be a citizen for nine year, and live in the state elected.  This has to be a more important because there are less people in the Senate than in the House.

 

Interpreting Tables – The senate are more likely to affect the population that the people in the house because they serve a longer term.  There are generally younger members in the House than in the Senate.

 

Personal and Political Backgrounds – The average population is white male and in his mid-50s.  The chambers have changed over the years also.

 

Jeanette Rankin – She was elected in 1916 for the House of Representatives.  She was the only person to vote against going into World War I and was the only person to vote against WWII.  She was also the first women voted into Congress

 

Duties of the Job – the job of the Congress is to mainly make laws.  They are also in charge of legislators, and committee members.  They are the representatives of their constituents in their state.  They are also servants of the constitution and politicians.

 

Constituents – these are the people of the States or district.  The people of the Congress are in charge of representing these people.

 

Oversight function – the people in Congress check to see the carious agencies in the executive branch are working effectively and are actin in line with the policies that they set.  This is was is an oversight function.

 

Trustees – they call issues as they see them no matter of the views of the constituents.  These members believe that each question they face is based on merits.

 

Delegates – these are the members that see themselves as the agents of those who elected them.  They think that they should vote the way that the people they represent would vote.

 

Partisans – These are the lawmakers that owe their allegiance to their political party.  They would basically vote for what the political party would have to say about the topic.

 

Politicos – these are the people who attempt to combine all the trustee, delegates, and partisans together.  They try to balance out the opinions for certain problems. 

 

Other Roles – The congress also serves as servants of their constituents.  They try to solve whatever problems occur in their area.

 

Compensation – this is the pay that the Congress gets for being in the Congress.  The Constitution gives Congress the power for them to set their own pay and provide other compensations.

 

Nonsalary Compensation – the members also get certain benefits that are quite substantial.  One example is that they get a tax deduction to keep up to two residences, and they have travel allowances.  Another example is that they only pay a small amount for health insurance, and they have an office in the state they represent and in Washington. 

 

The Politics of Pay – There are two basic limits on the level of congressional pay.  One is the Presidents veto power and the other is the fear that voters will backlash. 

 

Membership Privileges – They also get certain privileges that the Constitution commands.  The courts cannot question anything that the Congress is saying. 

 

 

 

Ch. 11

Congressional Power – There are many things that Congress cannot do which are setup a national public school system, require that all persons attend church, set a minimum age for a drivers license, or do many other things.  They do also have a lot of power like the expressed powers, the implied powers, and the inherent powers.

 

Strict Versus Liberal Construction – the strict constructionists were the Anti-Federalists and the liberal constructionists were the Federalists. 

 

Strict constructionist – They said the Congress should be able to exercise the expressed powers and the implied powers when absolutely necessary.  They wanted the States to have as much power as possible.

 

Liberal constructionists – They favored the interpretation of the Constitution.  They won the conflict and the Federal Government has grown to a point that the Framers didn’t imagine.

 

The Power to Tax – Without this power to tax, the Government is basically unable to function with power.  Most of the time the taxes are levied to meet public needs, and sometimes for healthcare and safety.

 

Direct tax – this is a tax that must be paid by the person to the person taxing.  An example would be income tax.

 

Indirect tax – this is a tax that is paid by one person and then passed on to another.  One example of an indirect tax the tax on cigarettes.

 

The Power to Borrow – The Congress has the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States.  The government spends more money than it takes in every year, so it is important to borrow this money from somewhere else.

 

Commerce Power – this is the power that lets Congress control interstate and foreign trade.  This is important to the welfare of the nations because there are taxes on these trades which bring in money for the economy.

 

The Currency Power – this gives congress the power to make and regulate the value of the money.  It’s very important for the Federal Government to provide a uniform stable monetary system for the nation.

 

Legal Tender – any kind of money that a creditor must by law accept in payment for debts.  In the legal tender cases was when the Court changed the Constitution that did not allow paper money, and backed the money with gold.

 

Bankruptcy – Congress has the power to establish uniform laws on bankruptcies.  Both the States government and the National government have to ability to regulate bankruptcy.

 

Foreign Relations and War Powers – The constitution gives Congress several important responsibilities in the country’s dealings with foreign states. 

 

Foreign Relations Powers – The national government has a greater power in the field of foreign affairs than in its own.  The foreign authority comes from the expressed powers and the fact that the US is a sovereign state.

 

War Powers – 8 f the expressed powers in the constitution deal with war and the national defense.  Only the Congress is allowed to declare way and raise money to support the war, and provide a navy, and make rules pertaining to governing the land and naval forces.

 

Additional Powers of Congress – There are many other specific powers given to the congress. These are naturalization, postal power, copyrights and patens, weights and measures, power over territories and other areas and judicial powers.

 

Naturalization – this is the process that citizens of one country become citizens of another. 

 

The Postal Power – Congress has the power to establish post offices and pot roads.  The Congress has had to deal with a lot of mail fraud and this helps them with fining the problem and fixing it.

 

Copyrights and Patents – Congress has the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.   

 

Copyright – the exclusive rights of an author to reproduce, publish, and sell his or her work.  This right may be transferred to another person by contract for any reason.

 

Patent – grants a person the sole right to manufacture, use, or sell any creation.  This is a good for a certain number of years, and after that year the Congress can renew that patent.

 

Weights and Measures – The constitution gives congress the power it fix he standard of weights and measures throughout the United States.  1838 the Congress set the English system as the stands of weights and measurements in the United States.

 

Power Over Territories and Other Areas – the Congress as the power to acquire, manage and dispose of federal areas. 

 

Eminent domain – the inherent power to take private property for public use.  A sovereign state may acquire unclaimed territory by discovery.

 

Judicial Powers – Congress has several expressed powers to create all of the federal courts in the federal judiciary below the Supreme Court.  Congress has the power to deal with federal crime and provide for the punishment of those who violet federal law.

 

Necessary and Proper Clause – is an important part of the Constitution because is from that provision that the implied powers that flow.  The Necessary and Proper clause is the elastic clause for it has been stretched far to make it cover so much over the years.

 

The Battle of Implied Powers – the strict constructionists believed that the powers expressly granted are by the constitution and those powers are necessary to carrying out the expressed powers.  Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to set up a national bank.

 

McCulloch vs. Maryland 1819 – The Congress made a second bank and Maryland did not like it so they taxed the bank.  McCulloch did not like this because he thought it was unfair, in the end Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional for Maryland to tax anything but their own bank.

 

The Doctrine in Practice – there’s an uncountable number of examples of the application of the doctrine of the implied powers.  There is a limit to how far the doctrine f implied powers can be pushed.

 

Constitutional Amendments – Congress ahs the ability to call a national convention to propose a new amendment. There have been amendments that have tried to balance the federal budget, permit prayer in schools, and outlaw abortion. 

 

Electoral Duties – The Constitution gives electoral duties to the Congress but is exercised in unusual circumstances.  The House may call on to elect a president if no candidate receives the majority of electoral votes.  The Senate can choose a Vice President when no candidate wins majority. 

 

Impeachment – The Constitution provides that the president and VP and all the civil officers of the US may be removed from office for conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.  The house may impeach by majority vote and the Senate with 2/3s the votes.  This has only happened twice with Clinton and Nixon and Watergate.

 

Impeach – The house has the ability to impeach.  The senate has the power to judge in impeachment cases.

 

Executive Powers – Two executive powers in the Senate are appointments by the president must be confirmed by the senate and the president must make treaties with the help of the Senate. 

 

Investigatory Power – Congress has the power to investigate any matter that falls within the legislative power.  Some of these reasons would be to gather information useful to Congress to make legislations, oversee operations of various executive branch agencies, focus public attention on the subject, expose questionable activities of the public or private office, and or promote particular interest of the members of Congress.

 

 

Ch. 12

Congress Convenes – these convenes begin a new term every two years on January 3^rd of every odd-numbered year.  These are followed by the general elections in November.

 

Opening Day in the House – On the first day every person (435) has their own seat and there is no real sworn membership, rules, or organizations until the opening day.  The Speaker takes the oath of office.  The House elects its clerk, sergeant at arms, chief administrative officer, and chaplain.

 

Opening Day in the Senate – They have different elections so that not everyone leaves, it is ongoing.  Their first day is normally short and routine in that the newly elected and reelected members are sworn in and the vacancies are filled and there are a few other things to attend to.

 

The Presidents State of the Union Message – The Senate is notified the House is organized, and then the joint committee is instructed to wait for the president to give them communication.  The annual State of the Union message is addressed to Congress and the members all listen.

 

The Presiding Officers – The Constitution tells who is supposed to be who for all the jobs in the Congress.  The Speaker of the House is the most important in the House of Reps and for the Senate is the most important but he is not part of the Senate.

 

Speaker of the House – he is both elected presiding officer and the acknowledged leader of the majority party.  He is supposed to preside and to keep the order in the meetings.

 

President of the senate – He is not a member of the Senate, but he is the Vie President of the United States.  He does not become the presiding leader but he does have to power to recognize, put questions to vote, and so on. 

 

President pro tempore – he serves in the VP’s absence.  He is elected by the Senate itself and is always the leading member of the majority party.

 

Floor Leaders and Other Party Officers – The congress is a political body because the Congress is the nations central policy making body and because of its partisan design.  They do not hold official positions but have party officers.

 

The Floor Leaders – these are the legislative strategists that try to carry out decisions of their parties caucuses and steer the floor action to their parties benefit.  The leaders post is more powerful in each housed because the majority party has seats.

 

Floor leaders – The floor leaders in each house are assisted by the whips.  They also carry out decisions that normally favor their own party.

 

Whip – their job is to check with the party members and advise the floor leader of the number of votes that can be counted on.  He makes sure that the people who are not there are paired up with the other party that does not vote or is not there also.

 

The Party Caucus – this is a closed meeting of the members of each part in each house.  It meets before Congress meets in January.  Lately Republicans have called their caucuses in each house the party conference and the Democrats use it too in the Senate.

 

Party caucus – The caucus normally deals with the matter of the organization like selecting the floor leaders and questions of the committee membership.  It sometimes speaks of bill that they want to pass to try to get it passed

 

Committee chairman – these embers head the standing committees in each chamber.  The chairman of easy permanent committees is chosen from the majority party by the majority caucus. 

 

Seniority Rule – this provides than the most important posts in both formal and party organization in each chamber will be held by ranking members.  The rule is strictly applied to the choice of committee’s chairmen.

 

Criticism of Seniority Rule – Some people discourage the ability of the younger members.  Defender of the seniority rule say that it ensure a powerful and experienced member that will head each committees

 

Standing Committees – each house has set up a permanent group which is the standing committee.  The number of committee’s caries every year.

 

The House Rules Committee – Most of the bills die in these committees which they are referred and sever hundred bills are reported out every year.  A bill gets to the floor when the committee grants its permission.

 

Select Committees – these are special groups that set up for some specific purpose and for only a limited time.  The Speaker of the House of the president of the Senate appoints the members to these special committees with the advice of the majority and minority leaders. 

 

Joint and Conference Committees – Joint committees are set up to create or help vote on a bill.  The conference Committee is set up so you can deal with the problems with the bill from both parties.

 

Joint committee – is a committee composed of members from both of the houses.  Some of these are select committees that ser up to serve a certain purpose.

 

Conference committee – this is a temporary joint boy that helps iron out the differences in the bill.

 

Creating and Introducing Bills – Most bills are introduced in the house don’t originate from either houses themselves by the executive branch.  Business, labor agriculture, ad other groups try to draft bills to help get them passed.

 

Types of Bills and Resolutions – There are many different bills and resolutions that have to start writing up.  Eventually they are passed through lots of different process or rejected.

 

Bills – they are proposed laws or drafts of laws that go through many different steps to try to become a law.

 

Joint Resolutions – these are different from bills and when they are passed they are like a law but these deal with unusual happenings.

 

Concurrent resolutions – these delay with matters the house and senate act jointly. These happen with problems with foreign affairs.

 

Resolutions – these deal with matters concerning either the house or the Senate.  They are used for things like adopting a new rule for things like an amendment.

 

The First Reading – A bill receives its first reading when it receives its number and short title and then it is put into the House Journal and the Congressional Record.  The bill is given three readings along the legislative route.

 

The Bill in Committee – the bills that are put into Congress have to pass through many different standing committees.  Most of the bills are put away like they did not really exist.

 

Discharge petition – the bill is blasted out of the committee.  This enables members to force a bill that has been in committee for 30 days onto the floor for consideration. 

 

Subcommittees – these are divisions of existing committees formed to address specific issues.  This happens when there is a controversial bill is involved and may people have to really focus on the sub issues.

 

Rules and Calendars – a calendar is a schedule of the order in which the bills will be taken up on the floor.  There are five of these in the house.

 

The Bill on the Floor – If a bill reaches the floor and it receives the second reading in the House.  Many bills pass the house are minor bills.

 

Committee of the whole this is the house sitting not as itself but as one large committee of itself.  The rules are much less strict than the rules of the House. 

 

Quorum – this is the full majority membership of the house.  The quorum must be present in order for the House to do any business.

 

Debate – No one person has the floor for more than an hour unless it’s a unanimous agreement to keep them up there.  The majority and minority floor leaders generally decide how they want to plat the time up for a bill.

 

Voting – There are four different methods for taking the floor voters.  One is that the ayes or nays kind of thing.  The other is standing votes and people stand for the thing they oppose.  Another is 1/5 demand a teller vote.  Four is the roll-call vote. 

 

Final Steps – Once a bill is approved at second reading and is engrossed, then the bill is read a third time.  After this is done the bill is sent of the Senate and places it on the Senate president’s desk.

 

Introducing the Bill in the Senate – Bills are introduced by senators for a measure is then given a number and short title, read twice, and referred to committee, where bill are dealt with much as they are in the House. 

 

The Senate's Rules for Debate – The differences from the house to the senate is that procedures involve debate.  The floor debate is strictly limited in the house but almost unrestrained in the Senate.

 

The Filibuster – this is an attempt to talk a bill to death in a sense.  It’s a stalling tactic in which the minority senators seek to delay or prevent a bill from passing. 

 

The Cloture Rule – Many senators hesitate to support cloture motions for two reasons.  One is their dedication to the senate’s tradition of freed debate and their practical worry that the frequent use of cloture.

 

Cloture – this is a limited debate.  This is not in regular, continuing fore it can be brought into play only by a special procedure. 

 

The Conference Committees – There are two reasons for the conferees agreement.  One is because the powerful tee and the fact that its report usually comes in the midst of the rush to adjournment at the end of a congressional session.

 

The President Acts – The constitution requires that every bill which shall have pass the hour and senate and every order resolution or vote to which the concurrences of the senate and house may be necessary shall be presented to the president.

 

Veto – this is the refusal to sign a bill.  The president has the right to veto a bill, but after it is vetoed the Congress is able to overpower it.

 

Pocket veto – the fourth option is a variation of the third which is a pocket veto.  If the Congress adjourns its session within ten days of submitting a bill to the President ad the president does not act the measure dies.