Congress

1. Congress Who helps get the job done?

2. Congress The senators and representatives can�t do it alone. They work in committees to pass bills more efficiently. They have secretaries, support staff, agencies of their own, and even an entire library to help them out.

3. Committees A committee is a �group within a group.� Purpose One: Since each Congressperson can�t be an expert on every issue, they each join committees that match their expertise. This divides the enormous workload of Congress amongst smaller groups.

4. Committees (continued) Purpose Two: Committees �weed out� the bills that deserve further attention from thousands of bills that are introduced. Purpose Three: Committees hold public hearings and investigations, and educate the public about problems and issues facing the nation.

5. Committees (continued) Types of Committees Standing Committees Subcommittees Select Committees Joint Committees Conference Committees

6. Committees (continued) Types of Committees Standing committees: permanent, set up to deal with very specific issues (see pg. 143 of textbook for list). Majority party chooses the chairperson, membership usually matches the proportion of majority/minority in House or Senate (i.e. 60% Democrat, 40% Republican) Examples: Agriculture, Education, National Security, Veteran�s Affairs

7. Committees (continued) Types of Committees (continued) Subcommittees: further subdivide the work of the Standing Committees Example--The Agriculture Committee has the following subcommittees: Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research; Horticulture and Organic Agriculture; Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, and three others.

8. Committees (continued) Types of Committees (continued) Select Committees: a temporary committee set up to explore a particular issue and report back to the Congress as a whole. Example: The Senate has a Select Committee on Ethics, set up to overhaul the Senate�s Code of Ethics. Once that�s done, the committee will dissolve (won�t exist anymore.

9. Committees (continued) Types of Committees (continued) Joint Committees: made of members of both the House and the Senate; joint committees may be either temporary or permanent, and generally study issues to report back to both the House and Senate. Examples: Joint committees have been set up to investigate atomic energy, defense, taxation, and to deal with the Library of Congress (both houses use it).

10. Committees (continued) Types of Committees (continued) Conference Committees: this is composed of members of both the House and Senate. After a bill has passed both houses, it is sent to a Conference Committee to make sure that both versions of the bill match. They may make further compromises before the bill is sent to the President to be signed into law.

11. Committees (continued) Miscellaneous Committee information Assigning members to committees is extremely important. Representatives and Senators want to be on committees that work with bills that directly benefit their state or district. This is the best way for a lawmaker to directly influence the national policies in many areas. The leaders of the party in charge decides who gets to the chairperson (leader) of each committee. Chairpersons are among the more powerful members of Congress because they decide which bills their committee will hear and which will get weeded out. Seniority usually decides the chairperson, but that has changed since the 1970s.

12. Support Staff and Agencies �The work of Congress is so massive and complicated that lawmakers need trained staffs to help them do their work effectively.� (pg. 146) For the first 100 years of U.S. history, Congressmen had no staff to assist them. Now, they couldn�t do their job without them.

13. Support (continued) Types of support: Personal staff Administrative assistants Legislative assistants Caseworkers Committee staff Support agencies Library of Congress Congressional Budget Office (CBO) General Accounting Office (GAO) Government Printing Office (GPO)

14. Support (continued) Administrative Assistants Runs the lawmaker�s office, supervises their schedule, gives political advice, may deal with other powerful lawmakers or influential people who want to meet with the lawmaker. Other administrators serve as secretaries, receptionists, and file clerks for the lawmakers.

15. Support (continued) Legislative Assistant Makes sure the lawmaker is well-informed about certain bills they�re working on or going to be voting on, does research, drafts bills, studies bills in Congress, writes speeches and articles for the lawmaker May attend committee/subcommittee meetings for the lawmaker if their schedules don�t allow it.

16. Support (continued) Caseworker Help to handle workload of constituents in the home district or state who are requesting help from the lawmaker. Most lawmakers have two offices � one in D.C. and one in their home district or capital city of their state.

17. Support (Continued) Committee Staff Each committee has specific staff that just work for that committee, no matter who the chairperson is. These may act as administrative assistants/secretaries for the committee, and may draft bills, study issues, collect information for the members, plan hearings, write memos, and prepare the committee reports. These unelected support personnel may be vastly knowledgeable about the work of each committee.

18. Support (continued) Library of Congress Created in 1800 to �purchase such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.� Purchased Jefferson�s library of 6,000 books in 1815 (including a copy of a Koran). Today, one of the largest libraries in the world. More than 100 million items, including books, journals, music, films, photos, maps. Hundreds of employees are responsible for answering requests from lawmakers for information about bills. They can find out almost any piece of information in the world.

19. Support (continued) Congressional Budget Office: coordinates budget-making process of Congress with work of executive branch, makes cost predictions for future General Accounting Office: Watchdog over spending by Congressional programs Government Printing Office: Prints EVERYTHING for the federal government! All bills, laws, committee speeches, etc.