Post on 15-Jan-2016
transcript
CongressI. Intro
II. Qualifications/Power• House & Senate
Differences
III. Organization & Leadership
A. Leaders
IV. Conc.
Key Terms• Speaker of…?• Majority Leader• Whips• President Pro-Tempore• “Rookie” Senators
House & Senate DifferencesHouse Senate
Minimum Age: 25 Years 30 Years
US Citizenship: 7 year minimum
9 year minimum
Term Length:(No term limit)
2 years 6 years
Residency: Live in-state; usually in district
Live in-state
House & Senate Differences
House Senate
Number per state:
Based on population- (today
about one per 650,000)
2 per state
Total Number: 435 100
House & Senate Differences
• Initiates all tax bills
• Initiates all spending bills (Tradition)
• Initiates Impeachment/ Removal
• Approves or rejects Presidential nominations
• Ratifies or rejects treaties
• Acts as jury in removal trial
House Senate
Constitutional Powers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw
Key Concept:
The Majority Party has tremendous influence over all legislation passed—they choose Congressional Leaders
Majority Party
House of Representatives
Senate
Democratic (for now)
Democratic
White House/Presidency Democratic
Leadership in the House of Representatives
Speaker of the House
Majority Leader
Minority Leader
Whips
The Speaker of the House
• Chosen by vote of all House members (member of Majority party)
• Controls debate & the Calendar: determines which bills come up for discussion
• Tradition encourages the Speaker to be non-partisan & very often does not vote
Speaker Of The House
• The Speaker’s office is located right off the Capital Rotunda
House Majority Leader
• Leader of the majority party and in charge of their agenda.
House Minority Leader
• Leader of the minority party and in charge of their agenda.
The Party Whips
• Whips: Build groups of support for bills to ensure party members vote “properly”
The current Whip
James Clyburn D-SC
Leadership in the Senate
President of the Senate (VP)
President Pro-Tem
Majority Leader
•Symbolic
•Symbolic
Minority Leader
Whips
“Rookie Senators”
•Most powerful
President Pro-Tempore
President of the Senate
The Vice President of the United States
The VP only votes in the Senate to break a tie
Joe Biden (D)
President Pro-Tempore of SenateQualifications: Member of Majority party who has been in
the Senate the longest.
“Rookie” Senators
First-term Senators usually serve as “Chair” for debates because there are only 100 members of the US Senate.
Our US Senators
Debbie Stabenow (D)Previous Occupation: Training Consultant/Social Worker
Education: B.A. MSU-1975; M.S.W. MSU-1975
Religion: Methodist
First Elected: 2000
Our US Senators
Carl Levin (D)Previous Occupation: AttorneyEducation: JD Harvard Univ., 1959Religion: Jewish
First Elected: 1978
CongressI. Intro
II. Qualifications/Power• House & Senate
Differences
III. Organization & Leadership
A. Leaders
IV. Conc.
Key Terms• Speaker of House• Whips• Majority Leader• President Pro-
Tempore• “Rookie” Senators