Leadership and committees

1. Section
House Leadership 2
• Leaders of the House coordinate the work of 435
individual members by meeting six goals:
– organizing and unifying party members,
– scheduling work,
– making certain that lawmakers are present for
key floor votes,
– distributing and collecting information,

2. Section
House Leadership (cont.) 2
– keeping the House in touch with the
president, and
– influencing lawmakers to support their party’s
positions.
• The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer
and its most powerful leader.
• A caucus, or closed meeting, of the majority party
chooses the House Speaker at the start of each
session of Congress.

3. Section
House Leadership (cont.) 2
• The Speaker has several powers, including:
– influencing proceedings by deciding which
members to recognize first,
– appointing the members of some committees,
– scheduling bills for action and referring bills to
the proper House committee, and
– following the vice president in the line of
succession to the presidency.

4. Section
House Leadership (cont.) 2
• The majority leader,the Speaker’s top assistant, is
responsible for:
– helping plan the party’s legislative program,
– steering important bills through the House, and
– making sure the chairpersons of the many
committees finish work on bills that are
important to the party.

5. Section
House Leadership (cont.) 2
• The majority leader is the floor leader of his or
her political party in the House and is elected by
the majority party.
• Majority whips and deputy whips are assistant
floor leaders in the House.
• The majority whip’s job is to monitor how
majority-party members vote onbills.
• The minority party in the House elects its own
leader and whip with responsibilities that parallel
the duties of the majority party.

6. Section
The Senate at Work (cont.) 3
• The Senate majority leader steers the party’s bills
through the Senate and makes sure that party
members attend important sessions and gets
support for key bills.
• The Senate minority leader critiques the majority
party’s bills and keeps his or her own party
united.
• The Senate brings bills to the floor by unanimous
consent.

7. Section
The Senate at Work 3
• The Senate deliberates, or formally
discusses, public policies.
• The vice president presides over the Senate but
cannot vote except to break a tie.
• In the absence of the vice president, the
president pro tempore—elected by the Senate
from the majority party—presides.

8. Section
Kinds of Committees 4
• Congress has four kinds of committees:
– Standing committeesare permanent groups
that oversee bills that deal with certain kinds of
issues.
• Subcommitteesspecialize in a subcategory of
its standing committee’s responsibilities.
Standing Committees of Congress

9. Section
Kinds of Committees (cont.) 4
– Select committees are temporary committees
that study one specific issue and report their
findings to the Senate or the House.
– Joint committees are committees that are
made up of members from both the House and
the Senate.
– Conference committeesare temporary
committees that are set up when the House
and Senate have passed different versions of a
bill.

10. Figure 6

11. Section
Lawmaking in the House 2
• A proposed law is called a bill until both houses of
Congress pass it and the president signs it.
• The Speaker of the House sends bills to the
appropriate committee for review.
• Only 10 to 20 percent of bills ever get to the full
House for a vote.
• Bills that survive the committee process are put
on one of the House calendars, which list bills
that are up for consideration.

12. Section 2
Lawmaking in the House (cont.)
• After a committee has considered and approved a
major bill, it usually goes to the House Rules
Committee.
• Major bills that reach the floor of the House do so
by a special order from the Rules Committee.
• The Rules Committee has the power to delay or
block bills that representatives and House leaders
do not want to come to a vote on the floor.

13. Section 2
Lawmaking in the House (cont.)
• A quorumis the minimum number of members
needed for official legislative action.
• For a regular session, a quorum requires a
majority of 218 members.

14. Section
The Senate at Work (cont.) 3
• To filibustermeans to extend debate to prevent a
bill from coming to a vote.
• A vote for cloturelimits the debate by allowing
each senator only one hour for speaking on a bill.
• The majority party controls the flow of bills in the
Senate.

15. Section
Purposes of Committees 4
• The committee system serves three important
purposes:
– It allows members of Congress to divide their
work among many smaller groups.
– Committees select which of the bills introduced
into Congress are to receive further
consideration.
– By holding public hearings and investigations,
committees help the public learn about key
problems facing the nation.

16. Section 4
Choosing Committee Members
• In the House and Senate the parties must assign
members to the standing committees.
• Each member can serve on only limited number
of standing committees and subcommittees.
• The chairpersons of the standing committees
make key decisions about the work of committees
and manage floor debates that take place on bills
that come from their committees.

17. Section 4
Choosing Committee Members (cont.)
• The seniority system is the unwritten rule that
implies that the majority party member with the
longest uninterrupted service on a committee is
the appointed leader of the committee.