Lawmakers and Legislatures

Do You Have What is Takes to be a Successful Legislature?

•Do you have a burning desire to serve the people and a willingness to work long hours doing the public’s business?

•Are you prepared to apply common sense and sound moral judgment to the issues of the day?

•Do you value compromise?•Are you brave enough to vote your

conscience, even if it means going against the wishes of your party or the voters who elected you?

Must continuously be re-elected.

•Must be charming, at ease speaking to crowds, willing to tailor you views to match the results of the public opinion polls

Must be able to raise money to finance your election campaign

You must become skilled at playing political games

When seeking reelection, you must show that you were able to bring taxpayer-

funded projects back to your home district or state.

Formal Qualifications

•Resident in the state which elected•US citizen for at least 7 years (House), 9

years (Senate)•25 yrs old (House), 30 yrs. Old (Senate)

Informal Qualifications

• College Degree

•Background in business or law

IncumbentsCongress member seeking reelection

•Since 1945 incumbents have been reelected by 90% in House and 80% in the Senate

•Higher name recognition•More resources to keep them in touch

with the public•Usually have more campaign contributions•Can give specific examples of their work

What’s up with the Pork?•Pork is a term used to describe the money

or projects a member of congress secures for their home districts. (money for roads, bridges, defense contracts)

•The money comes from the federal “pork barrel” or treasury

•Legislatures who secure large amounts of money for their home districts are said to be “bringing home the bacon”

Pork-barrel spending•"pork-barrel" - a container for unwanted

extras from slaughtered pigs. •Pork-barrel - a political candidate would climb

on an inverted pork barrel on the street corner by the local general store to address the crowd. He would shout and wave his hands and make extravagant promises about all the benefits he would send back home if he were elected.

•The term "pork-barrel spending" came to mean unnecessary government expenditures that were allocated for political reasons.

Earmarks

•The term "earmarks" originally referred to tags put on the ears of cattle so they could be readily identified.

•Once elected, a politician would tag special spending provisions in national legislation so that they were designed to benefit his constituents back home.

Logrolling•Logrolling is a sport that originated in the

lumberjack tradition of the northeastern United States and Canada. It involves standing on a log that is floating in a river and spinning it with ones feet, either to cooperate with, or to try to throw off another competitor.

Legislative Logrolling• In legislative circles, logrolling is

exchanging of favors such as trading votes to gain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member.

•A politician would be obligated to vote for other legislators' earmarked legislation if they voted for his--and, more importantly, to agree to greater spending measures than he would otherwise approve of.

•In other words, if everybody cooperated and "rolled the log" together, then nobody fell off

Leadership Roles in the House•Speaker of the House

▫Nominated by the majority party and voted on by the entire House

▫Presides over the house▫Assigns bills to committees▫Appoints members to special committees

and commissions▫Decides what bills will be debated by

the full House and when.

Majority and Minority Leaders•Elected by the party•Manage legislation on the floor•Majority leader is the second in command•Minority leader is the minority party’s

overall leader and main strategist

Majority and Minority Whips

•Responsible for ▫keeping the leadership informed▫Persuading party members to vote along

party lines

•Term Whip – first used in British Parliament, a whip is the person who keeps the dogs under control during a fox hunt

President of the Senate•Vice President of U.S •Only appears on the Senate floor for

ceremonies and to break a tie vote

President of the Senate Pro Tempore

• Senior Senator of the Majority Party• Presides over the Senate when the Vice President is not there• “Pro Tempore” means “for the time being”

Majority Leader•Serves as the spokesperson for the party

that holds the most seats in the Senate•Must work with members to move

legislation forward

Minority Leader•Helps shape minority party policy•Devises strategies for stopping majority-

sponsored bills.

Majority and Minority Whips

•To stand in for the leaders and act as assistants to the party leaders.

Congressional Committee System( 5 types of committees)

•Standing Committees•Subcommittees•Select or special committees•Joint Committee•Conference Committee

Standing Committees•Permanent committees that handle most

legislative business.•Study legislation of a particular area

(homeland security or foreign affairs)•Gather information through hearings and

investigations.•Subcommittees – Do all of the work for

standing committees▫Review proposed legislation▫Most bills die in this committee

Select or Special Committees• Temporary• Assigned to investigate specific problems• Make recommendations to Congress based on their

investigations.

Joint Committees• Made up of members of the House and Senate.• Deals with issues of interest to both chambers

Conference Committees• Temporary• Formed to iron out differences between two

versions of a bill passed by the House and Senate. • Both chambers must pass identical versions of a bill

for it to become a law

How Congress Checks the Other Branches• Oversight – they oversee executive agencies to

make sure they carry out the laws as passed.• Confirmation – must confirm key officials

appointed by the President• Impeachment – House can impeach a federal

official, Senate conducts a trial• Ratification – must approve all treaties

negotiated by the president.• Override – Can vote to override a veto• Amendment –can propose an amendment to the

constitution, even if it means reversing a ruling of the Supreme Court