Legislative Branch
Committees
Types of Committees
Standing Committees: cmtes that meet regularly session to session
Select Committees: meet for a specific purpose and are short term
Joint Committee- have memmbers from both houses
Conference Committees: solve disputes between house and senate on a bill
Powers of Congress
Lay and collect taxes
Borrow money, coin money
Establish the rules for naturalization(process of becoming an immigrant)
Regulate interstate and foreign commerce
Key Positions of Congress
Declare war; create inferiour courts
House
Senate
Speaker of the house; majority and minorty leader of the majority and minority party; majority and minority whip(lead the discipline of the house)
President of the senate(VP of the US; tie breaker); President Pro Temp(is the VP when the actual VP is absent; majority and minority leaders and whips
Key Procedures
House
Senate
Committee of the whole- consists of all house members and is used to expediate the law making process
discharge petition- used to get a bill that is being stalled on to the floor of the house to be voted on
Cloture- can be used to end a debate on a bill
Filibuster- debatee on a bill excessively in order to prevent a bill on being voted upon
unanimous consent- all senators vote on the bill unless an objection is raised
hold: informal process in which a senator can prevent a bill from being voted on
Key elements that apply to house and Senate
Quorum: has to be a minimum number of reps present in order to vote on a bill
Earmarking: adding a revision to a bill that allocates funding for a specific program
Pork barrel- when a senator requests funding for a program in the home district of the said senator
Log rolling: when two or more senators support each others bill for political reasons
Bill Making process:
- Introduced in the house -> referred to house committee -> referred to sub cmte -> reported by full cmte -> sent to rules cmte -> house debate and votes on passage
- Introduced in the senate -> referred to senate cmte -> referred to sub cmte -> reported by full cmte -> senate debates and votes on passage
- Sent to conference cmte if there are any disputes and work out any differences between bills; compromise version sent to each chamber for final approval
- Bill sent to president who can either pass or veto the bill; Senate can override veto with 2/3 vote and w/o presidential signature