3. Congress is the
legislative branch of
the National
Government
What is Congress’
most basic function?
Putting public will
into public policy in
the form of laws
5. The British Parliament had consisted of two
houses since the 1300s and most colonial
assemblies were also bicameral.
What is the only state with a unicameral
legislature today?
The state of Nebraska
6. The two chambered body settled the
conflict between the Virginia and the New
Jersey Plans at the Constitutional
Convention.
Bicameralism is a reflection of what?
– FEDERALISM
7. The Framers favored a bicameral Congress
in order that one house might act as a check
on the other.
What was the purpose of bicameralism for
the Framers?
– Prevent Congress from overwhelming the other
two branches of government by limiting its power
8. A session of Congress is that period of time
during which each year Congress assemblies
and conducts business.
Congress adjourns or suspends until the next
session; and also recesses for short periods
during a session.
9. Each term of Congress lasts for 2 years
and each term is numbered consecutively
– 113th Congress presently
Why did the start of a term switch from
March 4th to January 3rd with the passing
of the 20th Amendment in 1933?
– Communication and travel concerns were
no longer an issue
10. Only the President may call
Congress into a special
session; a meeting to deal
with some emergency
Has happened 26 times; last
time 1948
Why not recently?
– Congress now meets nearly
year-round which reduces
the need for special sessions
11.
12. 435 members; that number is set by
Congress and the Constitution states that
seats shall be apportioned (distributed)
based on populations.
Each state gets one seat (7 states)
13. 2 year terms with no
limits.
What is the purpose
of the 2 year term?
1. Must pay attention to
the “folks at home”
2. Next election is right
around the corner
14. The Constitution directs
Congress to reapportion
(redistribute) the seats in
the House after each
decennial (10 year)
census.
What was the size of the
first House of Reps?
– 65 before census
– 106 after census
15.
16. As the nation’s population grew, and as the
number of States increased, so did the size of
the House.
The size of the House eventually grew to 435
by 1910.
What was the problem after the 1920
census?
The House was getting to BIG and floor
action was more and more ineffective.
17. Set up an “automatic reapportionment”
1. Permanent size of the House at 435
and 650,000 persons per seat in the
House (roughly)
2. Census Bureau determines the number
of seats each State should have after a
census is taken.
18. On the same day in
every state and since
1872 .
It has been the
Tuesday following the
first Monday in
November of each
even-numbered year.
19. Off year elections
Years between Presidential elections
What usually happens to the party in
power during these elections?
Party in power loses seats in Congress
20. Single Member Districts
There are 435
Voters in each district elect one person to
represent them in Washington DC.
21. There are two kinds of qualifications
for the House:
1. Formal Qualifications (from Constitution)
2. Informal Qualifications (realities of
politics)
22. At least 25 years of
age.
Must be citizen of the
US for at least 7 years
Must be an
inhabitant of the
State from which
he/she is elected
23. Deal with the ability to
GET VOTES
IDENTIFY some of these
informal qualifications:
1. Name familiarity
2. Political experience
3. Gender
4. Party ID
5. character
24.
25. The Constitution says that the Senate “shall be
composed of two Senators from each State”.
Why did the Framers want the Senate smaller
than the House?
– More enlightened and responsible
– Can’t be swayed by events or passions of the
moment
Members of the Senate represent entire states
thus they represent a larger more diverse
population with a broad range of interests.
26. How were Senators originally chosen for
the office?
State Legislators
After the 17th Amendment (1913) senators
have been picked directly by the voters in each
state.
Only one senator is elected from a State in any
given election, except when the other seat has
been vacated by death, expulsion, resignation.
27. Senators serve for 6-
year terms and there is
no limit on how many
terms they can serve
Who has the record #
of terms?
Robert C. Byrd (D) WV
51 years, 5 months, 26 days!
28.
29. Senators terms are staggered
Only 1/3 of the Senate is up for
reelection every two years
Thus the Senate is a continuous body
DEFINE – all of the seats are never up for
election at the same time – thus the Senate
is always in session.
30. What is the reason for
the 6-year terms in the
Senate?
1. Insulation from the
rough + tumble of day
to day politics
2. Less subject to
pressures of public
opinion and pleas of
special interests.
31. Constituencies Media Attention
Are larger for a Senators get more
senator and thus media attention than
must keep an eye House members and
on “big picture” often use this as a
rather than local platform to run for
issues President.
Makes them more
of a national
political leader.
32. A Senator must meet a higher level of
qualifications than those the Constitution
sets for members of the House.
The Senate, like the House, judges the
qualifications of it members and it many
exclude a member by a majority vote.
35. Whatever else they may be, the 535 members
of Congress are NOT a representative cross
section of the American people.
DECRIBE the average member of Congress
White, male, in his early 50s
36.
37.
38.
39.
40. Members of Congress play (5) major roles:
1. Legislators
2. Representatives of the People
3. Committee Members
4. Servants to their constituents
5. Politicians
42. Voting on proposed bills is a very
important task.
Senators and Representatives are elected
to represent the people and there are (4)
options they have when casting votes:
43. TRUSTEES
• Each question should be decided on its merits.
• Independent judgment and own conscience.
DELEGATES
• Agents of those who elected them; you vote the ways
the folks at home would want you to.
PARTISANS
• Vote the way the party leader wants them to.
• LEADING FACTOR
POLITICOS
• Combine basic elements
• Balance the conflicting factors.
44. Proposed laws (bills) are referred to
committees in each chamber and Senators and
members of the House screen these proposals.
What is the oversight function?
– Checks to see that various agencies in the
executive branch are doing what Congress
wants them to do
45. They (or staff aides)
try to help people
who various
problems with the
federal bureaucracy:
Social Security,
passport application,
etc…
47. The Constitution says
that members of
Congress “shall receive
a Compensation for their
Services to be
ascertained by Law...”
1. Salary
2. Non-salary
compensation
49. Each member receives a number of
“fringe benefits”, some of which are
quite substantial – Examples are:
Travel and Office Allowances
• Travel between home and office
• Office in Washington and home district
Medical and Pension
• Military hospitals
• GOOD pension
Franking Privilege
• Mail letters and other materials for FREE
50. There are only (2)
real limits on the
level of
congressional pay:
1. President’s Veto
2. Voter backlash at
the ballot box
51. Members of Congress
enjoy several
Constitutional privileges:
– Cannot be arrested
going to, from, or in
Congressional session
(not really an issue)
52. The more relevant
privilege is ….” For any
speech or debate in either
house, they shall not be
questioned in any other
Place.”
EXPLAIN the meaning
and relevance of this
statement
Other places means
COURTS
53.
54. There is much that Congress
cannot do:
– create a national public
school system, require to
people to vote or attend
church or confiscate
handguns.
Still Congress does have the
power to do many things…
55. The Expressed
Powers of Money
and Commerce
Power to Tax
Borrowing Power
Commerce Power
Currency Power
Bankruptcy Power
56. Define TAX:
Charge levied by
government on persons or
property to raise money
to meet public needs.
The Federal Government
takes in over 2 trillion
dollars - well over 90%
comes from various taxes
levied by Congress.
57. Protective tariffs (tax
on foreign goods
coming into US) also
raise $$
How is “licensing” a
form of taxation?
– Must pay for a license
to do certain things in
a country
58. There are limits on
taxation:
– Cannot lay a tax on a
church service
(1st Amendment)
– Lay a poll tax on voting
(24th Amendment)
There are (4) explicit
Constitutional limitations
on the taxing power:
59. Congress may not tax for private benefit.
Congress may not tax exports.
Taxes must be apportioned/assigned to all
states in the country.
Taxes must be same rate in every part of
the country.
60. Congress can borrow money on the credit of
the United States.
For decades the Federal government has
practiced deficit financing = regularly
spending more than you take in each year.
What is the public debt?
– All of the money borrowed by the government
over the years plus the interest.
61.
62. The power of Congress to regulate interstate
and foreign trade.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): the Supreme
Court decision that affirmed this power
How did this power play a role in the civil
rights movement in the 1960’s?
– Access to or service in hotels, theaters and
other public accommodations is commerce
63. Congress has the power to coin
money and regulate the value of it.
64. Congress has the power to establish uniform
laws on the subject of Bankruptcies
throughout the United States.
DEFINE bankruptcy : legal proceeding in
which the bankrupt’s assets are distributed to
whom a debt is owed.
65. The National
Government has
greater powers in the
field of foreign affairs
and Congress shares
this power with the
President (states have
no part in foreign
affairs)
66. Congress has the power to deal with war and
national defense; and these powers are
shared with the president.
Power to declare war, raise and support an
army + navy, and the power to provide for
“calling forth the militia”.
67. Congress claimed
the power to
restrict the use of
American forces
with what?
War Powers
Resolution of 1973
68. The Constitution
sets out a number
of other expressed
powers that have a
direct influence on
the daily lives of
Americans:
69. Naturalization
• The process by which citizens of one country
become citizens of another.
Postal Power
• Congress has the power to establish Post
Offices and post Roads
Copyrights and Patents
• Copyright = exclusive right to reproduce, publish, sell creative
work.
• Patent = grants sole right to sell, manufacture art, machine, etc.
Weights and Measures
• Fix the Standard of Weights and measures
throughout the United States
Eminent Domain
• The inherent power to take private property for
public use.
70. What does the Constitution say about
education? NOTHING – yet Congress
appropriates (assigns to a particular use) more
than $60 billion a year.
How can this be? This is an example of an
implied power stated in the Necessary and
Proper Clause (Article I Section 8) – What
does this mean?
– Make laws that are necessary and proper
71. The Necessary and
Proper Clause was
immediately called
into question in
1790 over the issue
of a National bank:
2 sides to the
debate….
72. Strict Construction Loose/Liberal Construction
Those powers Power to do anything
expressly stated in that was reasonably
the Constitution. related to the expressed
Thomas Jefferson powers.
Alexander Hamilton
Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland 1819
reaffirmed Necessary and Proper clause as being
Constitutional. RESULT = National bank was legal
73. Congress has the power to propose a
Constitutional Amendment by 2/3 vote in
both houses – It has done so 33 times.
Congress can also call a national convention
of delegates from each of the States to propose
Amendment – this has never happened.
75. House of Representatives may be called on
to elect a President.
How does this happen?
– No candidate gets a majority of electoral votes
This has happened 2x – Thomas Jefferson
in 1801 and John Quincy Adams in 1824.
76. 25th Amendment provides for
the filling of a vacancy in the
vice-presidency.
President nominates a successor
(replacement) and the nominee
is subject to a majority vote in
both houses of Congress.
Has this process ever happened?
– 2X : Gerald Ford and Nelson
Rockefeller
77. President, Vice President and other high officials
may “be removed from Office on Impeachment
for Conviction of, Treason, Bribery or other high
Crimes and Misdemeanors”
DEFINE IMPEACH – to accuse or bring
charges against.
78. 1. House has the power
to bring the charges
(majority vote)
2. Senate has the power
to try the case. (2/3
vote for a conviction)
Who presides over a
case of impeachment?
– Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court
79. Andrew Johnson
Violated Tenure of Office Act and was working
against Reconstruction (NOT guilty)
Bill Clinton
Perjury, Obstruction of Justice – Monica
Lewinsky affair (NOT guilty)
Richard Nixon
Watergate Scandal - RESIGNED as the
process started
80. All major appointments (cabinet, federal
judges) made by the President must be
confirmed by the Senate by majority vote
What is senatorial courtesy?
– If Senator from state that is involved opposes
the appointment, the Senate will vote against.
81. The Senate may
accept or reject a
treaty as it stands, or
it may decide to offer
amendments.
Treaty of Versailles
(WW I) was rejected
by Senate.
82. Congress has the
power to investigate
any matter that falls
within the scope of
its legislative powers.
Organized crime
9-11 investigation
Steroids in Sports
