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Committees and Law-Making

Committees and Law-Making. Dr. East 2/24/14. Committee System. From last worksheet, what were: standing? Joint? Conference? Select/special? All committees in each branch have both majority party and minority party members, they all also have websites too

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Committees and Law-Making

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  1. Committees and Law-Making

    Dr. East 2/24/14
  2. Committee System From last worksheet, what were: standing? Joint? Conference? Select/special? All committees in each branch have both majority party and minority party members, they all also have websites too House = approx. 19 standing committees, each averaging about 30 members, has 90 sub-committees House Committee on Rules = super important committee that Senate does not have it reviews most bills after they come from committee and before they go to full house for consideration, Sets the “rule” for each bill, gives date for full house consideration and time allotted for discussion Majority party committee members chosen directly by Speaker Committee decides if a bill maybe considered under “closed rule”… this is a type of consideration that does not allow for amendments to the bill House members have average of 17 staff members each.
  3. Senate = 17 standing committees, size 15 – 29 members, with approximately 70 subcommittees, this allows majority party members to chair at least one Senate members are generalists that have many committee and sub-committee assignments, House assignments are usually worked by specialists on a topic Senate, more legislation crafted on Senate floor and with more input from all Senators as things are amended and changed Senators, have an average of 40 staff members each
  4. House Chambers
  5. Senate Chambers
  6. Senator Harry Reid’s Office
  7. Staff work cubicles and meeting rooms
  8. What was pork? What are Earmarks? How do leaders make decisions and who do they listen too? Trustee style of decision making = role played by elected representatives who listen to constituents’ opinions and then use their best judgment to make final decisions Delegate style of decision making = role played by elected representatives who vote the way their constituents’ would want them too, regardless of their own opinion Politico style of decision making = role played by elected representatives who act as trustees or as delegates, depending upon the issue. All Senators, Congressmen, and staff will also listen to lobbyists… lobbyist = member of an interest group who seeks to influence legislation that will benefit their interest group or organization Their colleagues. They ask for advice, get their support for their own bills… called Logrolling = voting trading just to get support for future votes
  9. So what did you learn about law-making from your bill proposal activity?
  10. How a Bill Becomes a Law **** Due to Sunshine Laws, most Senate and House subcommittee hearings are viewable by us (think C-SPAN)… good for congressional oversight by public School House Rock Bill on Capital Hill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo Examine Figure 7.4 pg. 259. Let’s discuss the process.
  11. 3 Agencies that Support Law-Makers Congressional Research Service (CRS) Administered by Library of Congress, helps gather data and information for Congressmen as they prepare bills; conducts non-partisan studies; prepares bill summaries and tracks progress of all bills that are introduced. Government Accountability Office (GAO) established to audit (keep track of) expenditures of executive branch and federal agencies; conducts studies upon congressional request
  12. Agencies Cont. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) – provides info. on the economic impact of proposed programs and the cost of proposed programs; also analyzes the President’s budget and economic projections; gives Congress good second opinion to President’s budget projections and program ideas.
  13. Vocabulary Work From Textbook, beginning pg. 247 On separate sheet of paper, Define: Discharge petition (pg. 247) Divided Government (pg. 254) Logrolling (255) Markup (258) Hold (258) Filibuster (259) Cloture (260) Veto (261) Pocket Veto (262) Oversight (266) Congressional Review (267) War Powers Act (267) Senatorial Courtesy
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