CongressI. Intro

II. Qualifications/Power• House & Senate

Differences

III. Organization & Leadership

A. Leaders

IV. Conc.

Key Terms• Speaker of…?• Majority Leader• Whips• President Pro-Tempore• “Rookie” Senators

House & Senate DifferencesHouse Senate

Minimum Age: 25 Years 30 Years

US Citizenship: 7 year minimum

9 year minimum

Term Length:(No term limit)

2 years 6 years

Residency: Live in-state; usually in district

Live in-state

House & Senate Differences

House Senate

Number per state:

Based on population- (today

about one per 650,000)

2 per state

Total Number: 435 100

House & Senate Differences

• Initiates all tax bills

• Initiates all spending bills (Tradition)

• Initiates Impeachment/ Removal

• Approves or rejects Presidential nominations

• Ratifies or rejects treaties

• Acts as jury in removal trial

House Senate

Constitutional Powers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw

Key Concept:

The Majority Party has tremendous influence over all legislation passed—they choose Congressional Leaders

Majority Party

House of Representatives

Senate

Democratic (for now)

Democratic

White House/Presidency Democratic

Leadership in the House of Representatives

Speaker of the House

Majority Leader

Minority Leader

Whips

The Speaker of the House

• Chosen by vote of all House members (member of Majority party)

• Controls debate & the Calendar: determines which bills come up for discussion

• Tradition encourages the Speaker to be non-partisan & very often does not vote

Speaker Of The House

• The Speaker’s office is located right off the Capital Rotunda

House Majority Leader

• Leader of the majority party and in charge of their agenda.

House Minority Leader

• Leader of the minority party and in charge of their agenda.

The Party Whips

• Whips: Build groups of support for bills to ensure party members vote “properly”

The current Whip

James Clyburn D-SC

Leadership in the Senate

President of the Senate (VP)

President Pro-Tem

Majority Leader

•Symbolic

•Symbolic

Minority Leader

Whips

“Rookie Senators”

•Most powerful

President Pro-Tempore

President of the Senate

The Vice President of the United States

The VP only votes in the Senate to break a tie

Joe Biden (D)

President Pro-Tempore of SenateQualifications: Member of Majority party who has been in

the Senate the longest.

“Rookie” Senators

First-term Senators usually serve as “Chair” for debates because there are only 100 members of the US Senate.

Our US Senators

Debbie Stabenow (D)Previous Occupation: Training Consultant/Social Worker

Education: B.A. MSU-1975; M.S.W. MSU-1975

Religion: Methodist

First Elected: 2000

Our US Senators

               

Carl Levin (D)Previous Occupation: AttorneyEducation: JD Harvard Univ., 1959Religion: Jewish

First Elected: 1978

CongressI. Intro

II. Qualifications/Power• House & Senate

Differences

III. Organization & Leadership

A. Leaders

IV. Conc.

Key Terms• Speaker of House• Whips• Majority Leader• President Pro-

Tempore• “Rookie” Senators