Overview of the organization, powers, and work of Congress (updated 09/15) See newest update https://www.slideshare.net/mcaggia/how-congress-is-organized-200149905

1. How Congress
Is Organized
For use with section 6.1&3

2. I. BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE
 “bicameral” = two houses, Congress is made up of 2 parts
(the Senate and the House of Representatives – HOR)
 “legislature” = law-making part of government
 In the US Constitution, we call our legislature “Congress”
 Congress is the most powerful branch of government
 each meeting of Congress is a “term” and lasts two years
 each year of the term is called a “session”
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3.  Age:
 25
 Residence:
 state you plan to represent
 Citizenship:
 current US Citizen for at least 7
years
 Age:
 30
 Residence:
 state you plan to represent
 Citizenship:
 current US Citizen for at least 9
years
QUALIFICATIONS
2. Senator1. Representative
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4. A. House of Representatives
(HOR)
 “the lower house”
 represents the people
1. Representation
 total number of representatives: 435
 # of reps from each state: based on the state population
 North Carolina has 13 representatives to the HOR
 term of office = 2 years (every 2 years there is a whole-sale
reelection of ALL 435 seats)
 Congressional Apportionment Map
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5. A. House of Representatives
(HOR)
1. Representation
a) census
 the population of each state is determined every 10 years by a
census (official count of the people)
 every 10 years, Congress adjusts the number of representative
given to each state based on the number of people moving in or out
 Census Homepage
 2010 Census Form
 Census History Maps
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6. A. House of Representatives
(HOR)
1. Representation
b) districts
 each state is broken up into districts, areas of roughly the same
number of constituents
 each district is representative by one person
 on election day, people in different districts will have different
ballots because the will vote on different Representatives
 sometimes political parties or try to adjust the shape of a district to
give their party an advantage, this is called gerrymandering
 NC Congressional Districts
 The Redistricting Game
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7. A. House of Representatives
(HOR)
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8. A. House of Representatives
(HOR)
2. Speaker of the House
 leading member of the HOR
 runs the meetings of the HOR
 is a member of the majority party
 directs which bills will be discussed (and not
discussed)
 is 3rd in line of presidential succession (that
is if the Pres andVP should die, the Speaker
of the House becomes president)
 the Speaker of the House today is Paul
Ryan (R-WI)
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9. B.The Senate
 the “upper house”
 represents the states
1. Representation
 total number of Senators = 100
 # of Senators is two per state
 North Carolina has …
 term of office: 6 years (with rotating elections)
 1/3 of the Senators’ are up for reelection every 2 years
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10. B.The Senate
2. Vice President and President ProTempore
a) Vice President
 the only Constitutional duty of theVice
President is to preside over the meetings
of the Senate
 theVP runs the meeting and decides who
can speak
 helps direct which bills get discussed (or
not discussed)
 does NOT get to vote unless there is a tie
 The President of the Senate today is Joe
Biden
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11. B.The Senate
2. Vice President and President ProTempore
b) President proTempore of the Senate
 runs the Senate when theVP is doing
work for the President of the US
 is a member of the majority party
 helps direct which bill get discussed (or
not discussed)
 DOES vote
 The President proTempore of the Senate
today is Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
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12. C. Other Congressional Leaders
1. Floor Leader
• work hard to convince the member of their party to pass the
bills the party desires
• speak for their party on the issues
• note: the “majority leader” is from the majority party in that
house
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13. C. Other Congressional Leaders
1. PartyWhip
• assists the Floor leader
• keeps track of which members of their party vote for and
against the bills the party desires
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14. II. COMMITTEE WORK
 once introduced, all bills are referred to a committee that
handles the topic of that bill
 it is up to the committee to read over, revise, rewrite, or
reject the bills they receive
 committees sometimes investigate legal actions dealing
with their topic (this is called oversight)
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15. A.Types of Committees
1. Standing Committees
• these are committees that continually exist because there is
always some issue or bill for the members to deal with
• see chart on page 181
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16. A.Types of Committees
2. Select Committees
• when a bill or issue arises that is not covered by a standing
committee, a special committee, called a select committee,
is created temporarily
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17. A.Types of Committees
3. Joint Committees
• there are a few committees that are made up of members
from both the Senate and the HOR
• these committees usually have investigative duties to find
out information about important topic of national concern to
help guide policy and law-making
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18. A.Types of Committees
4. Conference Committees
• consisting of members from both houses, these committees
try to work out differences between House and Senate
versions of bills
• we will discuss this more in Chapter 6.4 – “How a Bill
Becomes a Law”
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19. B. Committee Assignments
 Senators and representatives try to get assigned to
committees that will have the greatest impact on the
people that voted for them
 for example, the military is important in North Carolina
(many bases and military families) therefore members of
Congress from NC try to get assigned to the Armed
Services Committee in both the Senate and HOR
 the head of each committee is a member of the majority
party
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20. B. Committee Assignments
1. Seniority System
• those who have been in the Senate of House the longest
get the first pick of the committee they choose, while new
members get the last picks
• members of Congress try to get onto committees that will
have a great impact on the people of their state
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Members with the most seniority:
Senate House of Representatives
Patrick Leahy (D) 1975 - John Conyers (D) 1965 -
Orrin Hatch (R) 1977 - Charles Rangel (D) 1971 -
Thad Cochrane (R) 1978 - DonYoung (R) 1973 -

21. PRIVILEGES
1. Salary
 $174,000 / year
2. Other Privileges
 professional immunity in certain situations to exercise speech
and expression in order to make clear their point without
outside interference (rule of law still applies)
 free parking, trips to their home states
 franking privilege
 low-cost life insurance, health insurance for life
 gym, special restaurants, medical clinic
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22. PRIVILEGES
Helpers
1. Personal Staff
 gather information on bills and issues
 handle requests from voters
 deal with news reporters and lobbyists
2. Committee Staff
 handle the day-to-day lawmaking duties of Congress, such as…
 draft bills
 gather information
 organized committee hearings
 negotiate with lobbyists
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23. PRIVILEGES
Helpers
3. Support Services
a) Library of Congress (LOC)
 holds copies of EVERY book published in the United States
 is a valuable source of information for lawmakers when drafting
bills and learning about issues
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24. PRIVILEGES
Helpers
4. Finance & Budget
a) GeneralAccounting Office (GAO)
 investigative arm of Congress in financial issues
 reviews spending activities of federal agencies
 studies federal programs
 recommends way to improve financial performance of government
b) Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
 source of financial and economic information to Congress members
for making budgetary decisions
 helps Congress stick to a budget plan
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25. CONGRESS ATWORK
 the basic job of Congress members is to get action done on
constituents’ interests and concerns
 members of Congress can be considered linkage
institutions (we will learn about this in Unit 4A:
Citizenship,Voting, & Elections)
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26. CONGRESS ATWORK
A. Lawmaking
 write and introduce bills
 take part in committee work
 listen to input from people about the bill
 vote on the bill
 See section 6.4 “How a Bill Becomes a Law”
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27. CONGRESS ATWORK
B. Casework
 help individual constituents deal with the federal
government
1. Why bother with casework?
 helps to get reelected
 can better keep an eye on the executive branch ability to carry
out the laws and programs
 to help average citizens
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28. CONGRESS ATWORK
C. Helping the District or State
 members of Congress try to bring money and jobs to their
district or state
1. Public Works
 building projects paid for by the government
 creates a new service to the area
 building projects bring new jobs to the area
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29. CONGRESS ATWORK
C. Helping the District or State
2. Grants and Contracts
a) Grants
 a grant is money given to a district or state for a specific purpose, it
does not have to be paid back
 grants bring federal money into the state which will be used to help
benefit the people in the state
 the money usually goes towards things that not just benefit the
district or state but the nation
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30. CONGRESS ATWORK
C. Helping the District or State
2. Grants and Contracts
b) Contracts
 a contract is an agreement by government with a company for the
production of some good or service
 contracts ensure money to a company (or companies) for a period of
time thus producing jobs
 the goods or services produced usually produce the nation
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31. CONGRESS ATWORK
C. Helping the District or State
2. Grants and Contracts
c) “Pork-Barrel” Projects
 a grant or contract that primarily benefit
the home district or state
 members of Congress try to add pork-
barrel projects to bills in order to bring
more money into their state in order to
gain favor with their constituents
 added favor will mean more votes come
election day or services produced usually
produce the nation
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32. Powers of
Congress
For use with section 6.2
***NOTE: Most of the Information here is Review from earlier
Chapters!***

33. I. LEGISLATIVE POWERS
A. Expressed Powers
• also called “delegated powers”, “enumerated powers”
• these are the powers specifically given to Congress in Article
I, section 8
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34. I. LEGISLATIVE POWERS
B. Implied Powers
• powers the government exercises but are not specifically
mentioned in the Constitution
• found in Article I, section 8, clause 18 known as the “elastic
clause” or the “necessary and proper clause”
• gives Congress the ability to stretch its powers to meet the
new needs of the nation while carrying out it’s duties
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35. II. NONLEGISLATIVE POWERS
A. Checks and Balances
• these are powers of a branch of government that allow it to
monitor and limit the powers of the others
1. Examples
 propose amendments to the Constitution
 Senate approves or reject Presidential appointments (including
Supreme Court Justices, federal judges, ambassadors, cabinet
members)
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36. II. NONLEGISLATIVE POWERS
1. Examples
a) impeach and removal of elected officials
• in the case of misconduct by an elected official
• a joint committee is formed to investigate and conduct hearings
• the HOR drafts a bill that accuses the official of misconduct
• the HOR debates the issues in the bill then votes
• if the bill passes the official is officially impeached (formally accused
of wrongdoing)
• the Senate then conducts the trial
• the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court runs the trial
• it requires two-thirds of the Senate to convict the official
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37. II. NONLEGISLATIVE POWERS
B. Power Limitations
• the Bill of Rights specifically limits and denies the federal
government of certain powers
• Article I section 9 of the Constitution also lays out many
limitations on Congress
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38. II. NONLEGISLATIVE POWERS
B. Power Limitations
1. Denied Powers (Article I, section 9)
 Congress cannot suspend the writ of habeas corpus
 Congress may not pass a bill of attainder
 Congress cannot pass an ex post facto law
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39. II. NONLEGISLATIVE POWERS
B. Power Limitations
2. Checks and Balances
 the Supreme Court may declare laws established by Congress as
unconstitutional
 the president may veto bills passed by Congress before they can
become laws (Congressional override: if 2/3 of both houses vote
again in favor of a bill vetoed by the president then it will
become law)
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