Copy of Unit 2: Legislative Branch

VII. Senate Leadership

VIII. Lawmaking in the Senate

A. Constitution requires a super majority (2/3)

for treaties, overturn presidential vetoes, &

remove federal officials

A. President of the Senate

1. VPOTUS of the US

2. chosen by electoral college

3. presides over Senate

4. recognizes members & vote

when there is a tie

5. VP Kamala Harris

South Carolina's House Delegation

South Carolina's United States Senators

B. Technically, the vote of a simple majority, 51 senators is

required to pass a bill.

IX. Congressional Committees

C. Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous

consent, a motion by all members present to set

aside formal rules & consider a bill from the

calendar.

A. Committee system:

1. purpose- committees were created to

divide the workload in Congress &

make the work more manageable

2. membership is in direct proportion to

that party's membership in that house.

B. President Pro Tempore (Patrick Leahy)

1. most senior member of the majority party

2. serves in the absence of VP (President of the Senate)

3. can speak & vote on all issues

C. Majority/ Minority Whips

1. chosen by their party caucuses

2. assist the leaders

3. determine how many votes the leader

can count on

**SC-1: Nancy Mace (R)

SC-2: Joe Wilson (R)

SC-3: Jeff Duncan (R)

SC-4: William Timmons (R)

SC-5: Ralph Norman (R)

**SC-6: James Clyburn (D)**

SC-7: Russell Fry (R)

D. Senators can place a "hold" on bills.

E. Holds & the ability to object to unanimous consent

agreements empower every senator, senior or junior,

majority or minority.

F. Senators can also filibuster a bill.

G. Filibusters can only be ended w/ a

cloture resolution (60 votes)

B. Majority leader

1. Steve Scalise (R)

2. assists the Speaker

3. chosen by party caucus

4. runs party's program

Senator Tim Scott

Senator Lindsey Graham

B. Kinds

1. standing- most important; work on bills

2. select- temporary; set up for a particular purpose and

for a limited period of time.

3. conference- "3rd House of Congress; iron out

differences in a bill

I. Organization of Congress

D. Majority/ Minority Leaders

C. Implied powers

1. found the elastic or “necessary &

proper clause”

2. McCullough v Maryland – brought about the

doctrine of IMPLIED POWERS.

3. Liberal constructionist – broadly interprets

the powers given to Congress.

4. Strict constructionist – narrowly interprets

these powers.

X. How a Bill Becomes Law

C. Minority Leader

1. chosen by their party caucuses

2. run party's program in Congress

3. Hakeem Jeffries (D)

A. Preliminary Facts

1. primary function- to make laws

2. 1st Article in the Constitution

3. most powers are given to

Congress

4. elected by the people

A. PUBLIC BILL – Applies to all people

B. PRIVATE BILL – Applies to certain persons or places

C. Resolutions- simple, joint, & concurrent

1. SIMPLE – Opinion or housekeeping matters of

one House; no force of law

D. Executive – Senate only.

1. Approves Pres. treaties by 2/3’s vote & appointments by

majority vote (Senatorial Courtesy)

E. Exclusive Powers of the House:

1. Elect the Pres

2. Impeach federal officials

3. Consider all $ bills first

B. Bicameral (2 houses) b/c of Great

Compromise

C. Elections are held the 1st Tuesday after the 1st

Monday in November of the even year.

D. Majority/ Minority Whip

1. Chosen by party caucus

2. counts the votes

3. assists the leader

4. Tom Emmer (R) (Majority Whip)

5. Katherine Clark (Minority Whip)

E. Party Caucus- closed meeting of that

party

II. Congressional Terms and Elections

A. Congressional Term: 2 years

1. 2 sessions per term (1st session on odd

yrs.)

2. current session and term:

Unit 2

a. 119th Congress

b. Jan. 23- Jan. 25

c. 2nd session

C. Privileges

B. Senators serve 6 year terms & represent the entire

state.

C. Representatives serve 2-year terms & represent districts

1. Franking privilege (free mailing)

2. free from arrest for misdemeanors

otw to/from Congress

D. House limits the debate, & emphasizes majority rule

E. Senate rules give more muscle to the minority.

3. may judge the qualifications of new

members & decide whether to seat them

F. Neither house can adjourn for more than 3 days w/o the

consent of the other branch.

4. may censure (vote of formal disapproval) of a

member's actions

D. over 90% of incumbents (current officeholders) are

re-elected

G. President can call special sessions of Congress.

H. Both houses must agree to adjourn (end) sessions.

VI. House Leadership

III. Membership of the House

2. CONCURRENT – Opinion or

housekeeping matters of both

Houses

A. Speaker of the House-

1. Mike Johnson (R)

2. most powerful member of the House

3. sets the calendar, decides how long to spend

debating bills, appoints some members of

committee, presides, speaks, etc.

4. chosen by party caucus

3. JOINT – Must be passed by both Houses and

signed by the President. Has the force of law.

Ex. Constitutional amendment

A. Qualifications

1. 25+ years of age

2. 7+ yrs. a citizen

3. live in the state (not necessarily the district)

B. Term: 2 yrs.

C. Size

1. 435 members

2. Determined by population (at least

one per state)

4. RIDER – an attachment to a bill

2. borrow $ (deficit financing-

need to pay for wars and social

programs)

3. commerce power – regulate trade

D. Steps involved

1. Introduced by A MEMBER OF CONGRESS

2. Given a number and referred to the proper committee

3.Committee can discuss, refer to a subcommittee, or

PIGEONHOLE the bill.

a. Pigeonhole is when the committee refuses to discuss the

bill.

b. Discharge Petition- means of bringing a bill out of

committee and to the floor for consideration w/o

a report from the committee and usually without

cooperation of the leadership by "discharging"

4. currency power (legal tender),

a. bankruptcy power (legal proceeding

for those unable to pay debts)

5. foreign relations power, declare war

6. naturalization power

7. postal power

the committee from further consideration of a bill or resolution.

4. If the committee approves it, it goes to the

House or Senate. They discuss it and VOTE. Voice,

standing, or roll call. Roll call is the most important

because a record is kept. Quorum - Yes – No - Present

8. Pocket veto – leave it on his/her

desk for 10 days and Congress

adjourns. It’s dead. Let it become a

law without his signature – leave it

on his/her desk for 10 days and

Congress does not adjourn. It is

still law.

8. copyrights (exclusive right to

one’s work) & patents (exclusive

right to one’s inventions), weights

and measures, territories

governor to appoint a person to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term.

D. Vacancy

1. If a representative dies in

1st session, the state

must hold a special

election to fill vacancy

2. procedures for filling vacancies

that occur during the 2nd

session vary from state to state

XI. Congress at Work

2. the governor can choose to call a special

election

The Legislative Branch

E. Expulsion: by 2/3 vote of the Senate

5. If approved the bill goes through steps 1-4 in the other

house.

6. If it passes the 2nd house in a different form than the 1st

it goes to a CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. They iron out

the differences and it goes back to both houses for a yes

or no roll call vote.

7. The President can:

a. sign it

b. veto it

c. does not sign it, lists his/her reasons why and

send it back to the 1st house. It can still become law

by a 2/3’s roll call vote of both houses

F. Filibuster: Senate's attempt to talk a bill to death

A. Preliminary Information

1. Powers found in Article I, Section 8.

2. Called DELEGATED powers.

3. 2 types:

a. expressed – written down in the Cons

b. implied – found in the elastic or “necessary and

proper” clause

H. 17th amendment: direct election of US senators;

before then, state leg. would elect them

V. The Members of Congress

E. Expulsion: by 2/3's vote of the House

F. Territories : given nonvoting delegate in the House.

G. Apportionment: process of assigning seats in a legislature

        1. Reapportionment Act of 1929 - limits the House

            to 435 members

        2.  Reapportionment

             a. Population counted every 10 yrs on “0” year 

                 by the U.S. Census Bureau

B. Expressed Powers:

1. tax (direct – paid by one person and

indirect – passed from one person

to another)

A. Roles/Duties

1. legislator

2. committee member

3. serves his/her constituents (people whom s/he

represents)

4. partisan (votes according to the party leaders)

B. Compensation:

1. Congress sets its own salary

2. $174,000+ per year

b. Census tell Pres. the

# of people in US            

IV. Membership of the Senate

c. Pres. tells Congress           d. Congress determines the # reps in

each state

e. Each state leg. draws the lines 

A. Qualifications

1. 30+ yrs. old

2. 9+ yrs. a citizen

3. Resident of the state

H.  Gerrymandering – drawing congressional

lines to favor one political party over

another (Done by state legislatures)

I.  Wesberry v Sanders – “one [wo]man, one

vote” (every district must contain approx.

same # people)

B. Term

1. 6 yrs.

2. continuous body: 1/3 elected every 2 yrs

3. elected at-large (entire state elects both

senators)

C. size:

1. 100 members

2. fixed

3. 2 per state

J. Shaw vs. Reno (1993)- states could

draw congressional lines to benefit

minority groups.

D. Vacancy

1. state leg. can authorize

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/politics/us-redistricting/south-carolina-redistricting-map/