Bibliography:
Current Speaker of the House: Paul Ryan
He is the leader for the Majority Political Party and serves as the administraiton head.
- Google Images
- http://senate.gov
- Summer homeowork
- Wikipedia
- Expressed Powers: are powers directly mentioned in the constitution
- Necessary & Proper Clause: It allows Congress to expand their powers because they could make any law they see is "necessary & proper".
- Formal Powers: veto power, make treaties, command armed forces
- Informal Powers: power to go public, make legislative proposals, and executive agreements.
- Bill --> Law: First either an interest group, congressional committee, or constituents persuade an introduction. Then it goes to the committee which it falls under, then rules of committee and finally both houses must decide if it should be sent to the president.
President of the Senate: Joe Biden
- Wilson, James, and John Dilulio. "Congress." American Governmnet. 10th ed. Print.
Biden serves as presiding officer of the Senate and as ceromonial assistant to the President.
Qualifications
President Pro Tempore: Patrick Leahy
- Senate: must be 30+, 9 year Citizen, and can't be an inhabitant of the state it is chosen for. (6 yr. terms)
- House: must be 25+, 7 year Citizen, and be an inhabitant of the stat it is representing. (2 yr. terms)
He gets elected by seniority in majority party and his job is to look over Senate sessions when the VP can't.
Chief Spokesperson for the party.
Checks and Balances
Majority Leader: Mitch MCConnell
- The Legislative Branch has a check on the Executive Branch because it can override the Presidents veto, although it rarely happens.
- The Legislative Branch has a check on the Judicial Branch because it can remove judges through Impeachments.
Loretta Sanchez 46th District Congresswoman
Bicameral Structure:
Junior Senator: Barbara Boxer
Twitter: @LorettaSanchez
http://www.boxer.senate.gov/
- Representation in the house is based upon Congressional Districts. Therefore states with more population have more representation.
- 435 Representatives are in each House
- California has 53 Representatives
Senior Senator: Dianne Feinstein
http://feinstein.senate.gov/
Minority Whip for Democrats: Richard Durbin
Make sure that Congressman vote accordingly to party.
Minority Whip for Republicans: John Cornyn
In this picture we can see that the Republicans dominate the House but not the Senate. In the 114th Congress it is likely that Republicans win Senate as well.