1 / 15

How Congress Is Organized

This text provides an overview of how Congress is organized, including the terms, leadership positions, committees, and the President's role in the legislative process. It also addresses common questions about the Speaker of the House, the President pro tempore, the necessity of committees, and the process of passing a bill.

mpoole
Download Presentation

How Congress Is Organized

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. How Congress Is Organized Ch. 8 Sec. 3 Pp. 223-228

  2. Congress • The terms, or meeting periods, have been numbered since their 1st meeting in 1789 • Current Congress is the 110th • Stay in session from Jan. 3rd until they vote to end the session (usually Oct.) • Division into committees is not in the Constitution

  3. Leadership in Congress • Presiding officer in the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House • Presiding officer in the Senate is the Vice President, or the President Pro Tempore when the VP is absent. • The political parties make decisions about the leadership positions Joe Biden Vice President/President of Senate

  4. Speaker of the House • Most powerful member • Presides over sessions (decides order of business and who may speak) • Appoints committee members and refers bills to committees John Boehner

  5. Congressional Leadership • Vice president presides over Senate, but can not take part in debates and only votes when there is a tie • Chief officers of majority and minority party in House and Senate are Floor Leaders • Work with committee leaders and help guide bills through Congress

  6. Working in Committees • Citizens, interest groups, and the president can draw up bills • Congressmen introduce them and they are given numbers • They are then sent to one of the standing committees, and they decide if they will be introduced to Congress • Committees are needed, because over 10,000 bills introduced in a term

  7. Committees in Congress • Select committees are formed to deal with problems not covered by standing committees • Joint committees have members from both houses and usually conduct investigations • Conference committees are formed when the two houses can not agree on a bill

  8. The President’s Role • President can sign a bill into law • 2 kinds of veto – a) send it back unsigned and Congress can override it by a 2/3 vote b) pocket veto – keeps bill for 10 days, during which Congress ends their session

  9. Questions • The most powerful member of the House of Representative is the • Speaker • U.S. President • President pro tempore • Majority floor leader

  10. Questions • The Constitution does not tell the • House to pick a Speaker • Senate to pick a president • Congress how to make laws. • Vice President to lead the Senate.

  11. Questions • Why is a system of committees necessary in Congress? • too few members of Congress • too many bills to study • citizens demanded committees • U.S. Constitution requires it

  12. Questions • Only a member of Congress can • Draw up a bill • Veto a bill • Introduce a bill • All of the above

  13. Questions • Floor leaders work to • create an elastic clause for the Constitution. • gain the favor of special interest groups. • guide bills through Congress. • assist in selecting judges.

  14. Questions • In order to reach the President, a bill must pass through • the state legislatures • only the Senate • a standing committee • both houses of Congress

  15. Questions • What is true of events that can occur after the President vetoes a bill? • the bill is dead • bill returns to committee • The Speaker has a day to change the bill • Congress can override by two-thirds vote

More Related