Lesson #11 Section #2 Legislative Branch

TCI Lesson #11 The Legislative Branch
Section #2 The Organizations of Congress

Mr. Wiery
American Government

The Organization of Congress

The framers of the Constitution viewed Congress as "the first branch of government." In The Federalist No. 51, James Madison wrote, "In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates." For that reason, the Constitution addresses the structure and powers of Congress first. The other two branches are addressed after Congress.

A Bicameral Legislator

The Constitution creates a bicameral legislature, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. While both chambers make laws, they differ in important ways. The House was designed to be the "people's body," with more members and frequent elections, reflecting the democratic nature of American society. The Senate, on the other hand, was meant to be more elite and steady, with longer terms and members originally chosen by state legislatures.

George Washington described the Senate's role in an interesting way. He did this while dining with Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wondered why there was a second house in the legislative branch.

Washington asked him, "Why did you pour that coffee into your saucer?"

"To cool it," Jefferson replied.

"Even so," Washington said, "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it."

In 1913 the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified. This let the Senate become elected directly by voters instead of by state legislatures. Today, the two houses of Congress are equal in power. This is different than the bicameral legislatures in most countries. Even so, the houses are clearly different. And, the Senate still serves to "cool" legislation coming from the House.

Leadership Roles in the House

Since the mid-1800s, Congress has based its organization on the two major political parties. In each house, the majority party—the one with the most seats—controls the agenda. Its members take the top leadership positions. The minority party, however, can have a significant impact in Congress. They can do this by choosing able leaders. There are three leadership roles in the House. These are the speaker, the majority and minority leaders, and the whips.

Speaker of the House

The House speaker has more power and prestige than any other leader in Congress. The speaker is nominated by the majority party. However, the speaker wins the position through a vote of the entire House. The speaker presides over the House and assigns bills to committees. The speaker also appoints members to special committees and commissions. Those are generally not the speaker's most important function. The most important may be deciding what bills will be debated by the full House and when.

As former speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill said, "The power of the speaker of the House is the power of scheduling."

Majority and Minority Leaders

Majority and minority leaders. In the House, the majority and minority leaders are elected by their parties. Their duty is to manage legislation on the House floor. This is the large chamber in the Capitol where House members vote on bills. The majority leader is the majority party's second in command. The minority leader is the minority party's overall leader. Both the majority leader and the minority leader play important roles.

Majority and Minority Whips

The job of these assistant floor leaders is to keep the leadership informed. They also persuade party members to vote along party lines. The term whip was first used in the British Parliament. It comes from a job during a fox hunt. A whip is the person who keeps the dogs under control during a hunt.

Leadership Roles in the Senate/President of Senate

Leaders in the Senate have similar roles.They are responsible for the functioning of their camber. They also work to build support for legislation that advances their party's policies. The leadership positions in the Senate are the president, majority and minority leaders, and whips. President of the Senate. The president of the Senate is the official presiding officer. The Constitution gives this job to the vice president of the United States. In general, however, the vice president does not appear on the Senate floor. They only appear for ceremonies or to break a tie vote.

President of the Senate Pro Tempore/ Majority Leader

President of the Senate pro tempore. The president of the Senate pro tempore is the senior senator of the majority party. This person may preside over Senate sessions when the vice president is not there. The term pro tempore means "for the time being." Normally, however, neither head presides. Most often, other members of the majority party take turns presiding. This is how the Senate conducts its day-to-day business. Majority leader. The majority leader serves as the spokesperson for the Senate's majority party. This leader, however, lacks the speaker of the House's ability. They cannot single-handedly make things happen on the floor. The Senate majority leader must work with party members to move legislation to a vote. They must also work with the minority leader.

Minority Leader/ Minority & Majority Whips

This leader helps shape minority party policy. They also find ways to stop majority-sponsored bills opposed by the minority party. The minority leader works with the Senate majority leader. Together they schedule business on the Senate floor. The main duty of these assistant floor leaders is to stand in for the majority and minority leaders. Their other duties vary, depending on the needs of their party leaders.

Joint Committee

Congress has a small number of permanent joint committees. [joint committee: a permanent committee of legislators from both the House and Senate that deals with matters of common interest, such as economic policy] These have members from both the House and the Senate. Joint committees deal with issues of interest to both chambers. The Joint Committee on the Library oversees the operations of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is the research arm of Congress. It is home to one of the world's largest libraries. Its collections include millions of books, photographs, documents, recordings, maps, and manuscripts.

Conference Committee

A conference committee [conference committee: a temporary committee of legislators from both the House and Senate created to work out differences in bills passed by both chambers] is a temporary joint committee. The House and Senate each pass their own version of a bill. The conference committee has to iron out differences between the bills. Both chambers must pass identical versions for a bill to become law.

Committee System- Standing Committee

House and Senate standing committees [standing committee: a permanent committee of legislators from either the House or Senate responsible for specific policy areas, such as foreign affairs or agriculture] are permanent committees. These handle most legislative business. Each standing committee has its own broad area of responsibility. Areas include homeland security or foreign affairs. In addition to studying legislation, standing committees have another key duty. They gather information through hearings and investigations. Committee hearings are one way for Congress to monitor the policies of government agencies.

Subcommittees

Most standing committees also have several smaller subcommittees. [subcommittee: a small legislative committee within a larger, standing committee; subcommittees do much of the work of reviewing legislation] The subcommittees reviewed proposed legislation. The subcommittees review proposed legislation. The vast majority of bills introduced each year "die" in committee.

Select or Special Committee

Both the House and the Senate sometimes form a select committee [select committee: a temporary committee formed by either the House or Senate to investigate a specific problem; also called a special committee] or special committee to investigate specific problems. These committees are usually temporary. They do not review legislation. However, special and select committees may make recommendations to Congress based on their investigations.