Committees, Congress, and Law-Making – Wrap Up

Dr. East 12/2014

Law Making Via Committees• Bills (proposed laws) begin and end their lives in

COMMITTEES, whether they are passed into law or not. Hearings from interest groups and agency bureaucrats are held at the committee and subcommittee level, and committee members play key roles in floor debate about the bills that they support.

• Committees help to organize the most important work of Congress — considering, shaping, and passing laws to govern the nation. 8,000 or so bills go to committee annually.

• Fewer than 10% of those bills make it out for consideration on the floor.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeJ55o3El0

Committee System• All committees in each branch have both majority party and minority party

members, they all also have websites too. • Examine pg. 290 – 291 in the book• From bookwork what were:

– standing? • Always there, organized by topics, like “Armed Services” or “Budget”

– Joint? • Committee composed of members of both houses, can be temporary

– Conference? • Special joint committee that has members of both houses make 1 bill out of 2 versions of the

bill, this is the one that goes back to both branches for a final vote for approval before heading to president to sign

– Select/special?• A special group organized to conduct a study on a temporarily relevant topic, like the “Senate

Select Committee on Intelligence” – this group recently released the report detailing CIA an DOD torture of detainees from Iraq & Afghanistan

– Subcommittees?• Smaller groups within the larger committees that attempt to get all the details correct of

specific bills (this group works most on policy formulation)

– Committee chairman?• Leader of a committee, he or she gets his or her job not just because of seniority

Example: House Budget Committee• Problem with the book text: People DO NOT simply

get their jobs on committee’s via seniority or party connections, some have specific expertise in the topical areas of their committees

• Example: House Budget Committee, and Committee Chairman, Paul Ryan (R) from Wisconsin 1st District

• http://budget.house.gov/• http://budget.house.gov/about/• http://paulryan.house.gov/• http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/comm

ittee_list.cgi?site=ctc2011

Checks & Balances: Congressional Oversight & Hearings about Activities of Executive Branch

• Congressional Oversight = congressional review/examination of the activities of an executive agency, department, or office

• Congressional Review = during this process Congress can change, delete, nullify agency regulations if they make a joint resolution of legislative disapproval

• This oversight and review process focuses on abuses of power, problems with agency administration, and otherwise headline-making, bone-head decisions of gov. agencies– Ex. NSA security taps of our texts and cell phone conversations (leaked by

Edward Snowden); loss of weapons to cartel members during “Fast & Furious” scandal; Secret Services policies and operating climate that lead to security breaches of White House; IRS and audits of conservative special interest groups; operations of State Department and Benghazi bombing deaths

– Results in policy and operations changes in the agencies they review• Due to Sunshine Laws, most Senate and House subcommittee hearings are

viewable by us (think C-SPAN)… good for congressional oversight by public• And, don’t forget the “power of the purse” appropriations role of Congress,

War Powers Act, veto override, other enumerated powers just for Congress (like coin money, declare war, lay and collect taxes…)

How the House Organizes & Operates

• House has approx. 19 standing committees, each averaging about 30 members

• It also has 90 sub-committees• House Committee on Rules = super important committee

that Senate does not have– it reviews most bills after they come from committee and

before they go to full house for consideration,– Sets the “rule” for each bill, gives date for full house

consideration and time allotted for discussion– Majority party committee members chosen directly by Speaker– Committee decides if a bill maybe considered under “closed

rule”… this is a type of consideration that does not allow for amendments to the bill

• House members have average of 17 staff members each.

• Senate = 17 standing committees, size 15 – 29 members, with approximately 70 subcommittees, this allows majority party members to chair at least one

• Senate members are generalists that have many committee and sub-committee assignments, House assignments are usually worked by specialists on a topic

• Senate, more legislation crafted on Senate floor and with more input from all Senators as things are amended and changed

• Senators, have an average of 40 staff members each

How the Senate is Organized & Operates

(Skip if you have not already done this!!) Final Assignment Before Break

• Read Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 12, pgs. 294 – 305• Log all terms in yellow in both sections to one new

vocabulary log (some of you may have started this)• Answer two pages of questions and turn in for 1

grade. See below. • Answer questions 1-7 pg. 299 (to help answer

question 1 create the flow chart it suggests on pg. 294 and fill it in as you read)

• Answer questions 1-7 pg. 305 (to help answer question 1 create the Venn diagram it suggests on pg. 301 and fill it in as you read)

How do Leaders make Decisions?3 Styles of Decision Making: 1. Trustee style of decision making = role played by elected representatives

who listen to constituents’ opinions and then use their best judgment to make final decisions

2. Delegate style of decision making = role played by elected representatives who vote the way their constituents’ would want them too, regardless of their own opinion

3. Politico style of decision making = role played by elected representatives who act as trustees or as delegates, depending upon the issue.

• All Senators, Congressmen, and staff will also listen to lobbyists…– lobbyist = member of an interest group who seeks to influence legislation that will

benefit their interest group or organization• Their colleagues. They ask for advice, get their support for their own bills…

called Logrolling = voting trading just to get support for future votes

Specific actions that affect a Bill’s path to law or the content of Bills

• Discharge petition (only in house) = motion by members of house to get a bill out of committee and to the floor for general consideration in the case of committee inaction on it

• Markup = process where committee members offer changes to a bill before it goes to the floor in either house for a vote

• Hold (only in Senate) = a stalling tactic by a Senator that makes it hard to get a bill heard by the whole Senate, they require notice before it can be brought before the floor and discussed

• Filibuster(only in Senate) = a formal way of halting action on a bill, nomination, or appointment by means of long speeches or unlimited debate in the Senate (2013 changes to this long standing tradition limits this a bit, see homework reading)

• Cloture = vote to end debate on a topic, used to end filibusters too• Pork = language in legislation (bills) that allow representatives and Senators

to “bring home the bacon” (jobs, money, prestige, public works programs, military bases, etc.) to their own districts and states

• Earmarks = special line item funds in appropriations bills that provide dollars for particular purposed within a state or congressional district

FRQ for Exam (14 pt. question)Our Federal Government was designed by the Founders to have a system of Checks and Balances between the three main branches of our government.

A) Briefly, describe the main function of each of these three branches of Government. (3pts)

B) Briefly explain why the founders wanted powers to be “checked” and “balanced” between them. (1 pt)

C) For the one branch involved in making laws/government and the one branch involved in executing laws/government, describe several ways that each can limit or check each others powers. You should be able to describe at least 5 ways each branch can check the other’s power. (i.e., You should be able to come up with 5 power checks used by each branch, this would be 10 in total) (10 pts.)

For part C, If you answer more, we’ll give you extra credit!!