Chapters 10 & 11

2. • Bi-cameral: 2
house congress
• A way to make
sure Congress
didn’t become too
powerful
A BI-CAMERAL CONGRESS:

3. Term: each term of
Congress lasts for 2
years
Congress began it’s first
term on March 4,
1789.
The start of the new term
is: Noon on the 3rd day
of January, every odd-
numbered year.
Session: a period of time
where Congress assembles
and conducts business
There are two sessions to each
term of Congress. (One
session each year.)
The second session of each
two-year term frequently
begins a few days or even
two/three weeks after the
third of January.
TERMS AND SESSIONS

4. • Adjourns:
pauses action
until the next
session
• A session lasts
throughout
most of the year
today, but in the
past used to
only last 5-6
months
• Prorouge:
power that the
president has to
end a session of
Congress.
• Only used if
Congress can’t
agree on a date
to end.
TERMS AND SESSIONS

5. • Recess: Congress
takes a break for a
set # of days/weeks
to go home
• Special session:
congress can be
called on by the
president during
emergency
situations
TERMS AND SESSIONS

9. LAWCRAFT!

11. TN REPRESENTATIVES:

12. SIZE AND TERMS
• 435 members (not fixed by the constitution, set by
congress.)
• The number of seats is determined by their states’
population.
• Each state is guaranteed at least one seat in the
house.
• New members are chosen every second year.
• No limit on the number of terms any member of
Congress may serve.

15. REAPPORTIONMENT:
• Reapportionment: Redistributing of the seats
in the house after each decennial census.
The Reapportionment Act of 1929:
• The permanent size of the house is 435 members.
• Each census determines the number of seats each
state is to have.
• When the Census Bureau’s plan is ready, the
President must send it to Congress.
• If, within 60 days of receiving it, neither house
rejects it, it becomes effective.

17. CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS:
• Held on the same day in every state.
• Held on the Tuesday following the first
Monday in November of each even-numbered
year.
• Off year elections: Congressional elections
that occur between presidential elections.
• Typically, the party in presidency loses seats
in the off-year elections.

19. DISTRICTS:
Single-member district arrangement: electoral
district from which one person is chosen by
the voters for each elected office.
At-Large Election: election of an officeholder by
the voters of an entire governmental unit
(state/country) rather than by the voters of a
district or subdivision

20. GERRYMANDERING
Gerrymandering: The drawing of electoral district lines
for the advantage of a party or group.
Some are S shaped, Y shaped, bear a resemblance to a
dumbbell or a squiggly piece of spaghetti.
The lines are drawn to either:
1. Concentrate the opposition’s voters in one or a few districts,
thus leaving the other districts comfortably safe for the
dominant party
2. Spread the opposition as thinly as possible among several
districts, limiting the opposition’s ability to win anywhere in
the region.

21. GERRYMANDERING:

22. QUALIFICATIONS FOR
HOUSE MEMBERS:
1. 25 years of age.
2. Must have been a citizen
of the United States for at
least seven years.
3. Must be an inhabitant of
the State from which he or
she is elected.

23. INFORMAL QUALIFICATIONS
• Party identification
• Name familiarity
• Gender
• Ethnic characteristics
• Political experience
The “right” combination of these factors
will help a candidate win nomination
and then election to the House.

25. THE SENATE:
• 100 members in the Senate
• Two from each state
• (The senate had only 22 members when it held
its first session in March of 1789.)
• Framers hoped that the senate would be a a
more enlightened and responsible body than the
House.
• They reinforced this by giving senators a longer
term and setting the qualifications just a cut
above those in they set for the house.

26. ELECTION OF THE SENATE
• Senators are chosen by voters in each
state at the regular November
elections.
• Only one senator is elected from a
State in any given election unless the
other seat has been vacated by death,
resignation or expulsion.

27. TERMS OF THE SENATE:
• Senators serve for six-year terms.
• The six year term is intended to make
senators less subject to the pressures of
public opinion and less susceptible to the
pleas of special interests than are members
of the House.
• Senators may be elected to any number of
terms.

29. CONTINUOUS BODY
• Only 1/3 of senators (33
or 34 senators) expire
every two years
• A governing unit whose
seats are never all up for
election at the same
time.

30. CONSTITUENCIES:
Constituencies: The people and interests that an elected
official represents.
[Senators are supposed to be less concerned with the
interests of a specific small locality and more focused on
the “Big picture” of a national interest.]

31. REPRESENTME!

32. QUALIFICATIONS OF THE SENATE
• 30 years of age
• Citizen of the United States
for at least 9 years
• Must be an inhabitant of the
State from which he or she is
elected.

33. LEAVING THE SENATE
• The senate can punish its members for disorderly
behavior by majority vote
• The senate can expel a member with 2/3 vote.
• Fifteen members of the Senate have been
expelled. Fourteen of them were expelled for
supporting the Confederacy.

34. ALFRED O.P. NICHOLSON
A Confederate
sympathizer from
Tennessee

36. THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Personal and Political Backgrounds
Religion:
60% Protestant, 25% Roman Catholic, 8% Jewish,
7% other
Gender:
House: 472 Males, 63 Females; Senate: 86 Males
14 Females
Ethnicity:
39 African Americans, 23 Hispanics, 5 Asian
Americans, 2 Native Americans

37. CONT.
• Over 1/3 of the House and over ½ of the Senate
are lawyers.
• Near all have college degrees
• Many House members come from state
legislatures
• Many Senators are former House representatives
• Not an accurate cross section of the population;
Congress is mainly made up of upper-middle class
society.

38. THE JOB:
5 Major Roles
 1. Legislators
 2. Representatives of their constituents
 3. Committee members
 4. Servants of their constituents
 5. Politicians
Committee Members
Committee’s are formed to research bills and screen there
proposals
Servants
House and Senate members are both politcians and servants
of their constituents.
All these elements make up a politician

39. MEMBERSHIP PRIVILEGES
• If anything is said on the floor, it cannot
be held against them in a court of law.
Protects from suits of slander and
libel
• They cannot deframe a member in a
public speech, an article , conversation
or otherwise.
• Paycheck: $174,000 per year

40. COMPENSATION
• It is stated in the Constitution that all
members of Congress shall receive a
Compensation.
• Today, the salaries of Senate and House
members are 158,000 dollars each year.
• The Speaker make 196,300 a year and the
floor leaders make, 172,900 a year

41. NON-SALARY COMPENSATION
• Special tax deductions
• Travel allowances
• Excellent pension plan, up to 150,000 retirement pay.
• Funds for staff and operating cost.
• The Franking Privilege, gives Congressmen to mail letters
and packages, postage free.
• Free parking
• They set their own salary

43. THE SCOPE OF CONGRESSIONAL
POWERS
Congress only has powers granted/given by the Constitution
Congress cannot:
• create a national public school system
• require people to vote/attend church
• set a minimum age for marriage/drivers’ licenses
• confiscate all handguns
• censor the content of newspaper/radio/television

44. THE SCOPE OF CONGRESSIONAL POWERS
Congress can- do many things in three different ways-
• Expressed Powers- in the specific wording of the
Constitution
• Implied Powers- by reasonable deduction from the
expressed powers
• Inherent Powers- by creating a national government
for the United States

45. The Framers:
Strict Constructionists:
Led by Thomas Jefferson
Insisted Congress should only be able to exercise its
expressed powers and those implied powers absolutely
necessary to carry out those expressed powers
Liberal Constructionists:
Led by Alexander Hamilton
Believed in a broad interpretation of the Constitution, has
prevailed throughout history

46. THE EXPRESSED POWERS OF MONEY AND COMMERCE
The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax, this was not
included in the Articles of Confederation
Tax- a charge levied by the government on persons or property
to raise money to meet public needs
Limitations of Taxing Power
 Only for public purposes, not for private benefit
 May not tax exports
 Direct Taxes, paid directly to the government by whom they are imposed,
must be apportioned among the States according to their populations
 All indirect taxes must be levied at the same rate in every part of the
country

47. The Constitution gives Congress the power to borrow on the
credit of the United States, there are no limits to the
amount and no restriction on the purpose
Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Congress and President
Clinton, vowed to eliminate deficit financing by 2002
 Did so by 1998, continued in ’99,’00,’01
Three Factors eliminated this progress
 Sharp downturn in the nation’s economy
 Major tax cut by President Bush and enacted in Congress
in ’01,’02,’03
 The onset of war in Afghanistan and Iraq

48. Congress has the power to regulate interstate and foreign
trade
Commerce Clause- gives Congress the power to regulate
Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian Tribes
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
 Gibbons claimed the New York grant conflicted with the power of
congress to regulate commerce, the Court agreed
Limits of the Commerce power
 Cannot tax exports
 Cannot favor the ports of one State of those of any other in the
regulation of trade
 Cannot require that “Vessels bout to, or from, one State, be obliged to
enter, clear, or pay duties in another
 Could not interfere with the slave trade (until 1808)

49. Constitution gives Congress the power to coin money and
regulate the values thereof
Also gives Congress the power to establish uniform laws on
the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States

50. OTHER EXPRESS POWERS
Congress has the inherent power to act on matters affecting the
security of the nation
War Power Resolution of 1973- claimed the power to restrict the
use of American forces in combat areas where a state of war
does not exist
Congress has the power to establish an uniform rule of
naturalization
Has the power to establish Post Offices and post Roads
 Established crimes based on this power- to obstruct the mail, use to
commit fraud, or committing any other crime
 Prohibits mail of many items- i.e.-firecrackers, knives

51. Copyright: The power to promote
the progress by giving authors
and inventors the exclusive right
to their writings and discoveries
Congress also has the power to fix
the standard of weights and
measures- reflects the absolute
need for accurate uniform
gauges of time, distance, area,
weight, volume
 1838-set English System as standard

52. Emnent domain-the
inherent power to take
private property for
public use
Judicial Powers- to create
federal courts below the
Supreme Court and to
structure the federal
judiciary, to define
federal crime and set
punishments for
violators
EXPRESSED POWERS:

53. IMPLIED POWERS
The necessary and proper clause: gives the power to
make all laws that are necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the other powers
• Often called “elastic clause”
McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819
 A Maryland Law required federally chartered banks to use only a
special paper to print paper money, which amounted to a tax.
James McCulloch refused to use the paper claiming the States
could not take the Federal Government. The court declared the
Maryland law unconstitutional

54. TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT:
Congress may propose
amendments by a two-thirds
vote in each house
Congress may call a national
convention of delegate from
each of the States to propose
an amendment

55. T0 ELECT A NEW LEADER:
The House can be called to
elect a President, if no
candidate wins the majority
of electoral votes:
• Thomas Jefferson 1801
and John Quincy Adams
1825
The Senate must choose a Vice
President under the same
circumstance-Richard M.
Johnson 1837
Congress must also confirm a
successor by a majority vote in
each house if necessary-
Gerald Ford in 1973 and
Nelson Rockefeller in 1974 as
Vice Presidents

56. FANCY LAW TERMS:
In 1998 Bill Clinton was accused of having “sexual
relations” with his intern Monica Lewinsky.
Impeach: to accuse or bring charges
Acquit: to find not guilty
Perjury: lying under oath

57. The Constitution provides that the President, Vice President,
and all civil officers of the United States may be removed
from Office On Impeachment for and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors
 The House impeaches, or bring charges and the Senate sits as the
court in impeachment cases
The Constitution gives two executive powers to the Senate
 All major appointments made by the president must be confirmed by a
Senate majority vote
 The President makes treaties by and with the Advice and Consent of the
Senate provide two thirds of the Senators present concur

58. Congress has the power to investigate any matter that
falls within the score of its legislative powers.
It may do so to gather information useful to Congress in
the making of Legislation, oversee the operation of
executive branch agencies, focus public attention on
a particular subject, expose questionable activities of
public officials, and promote particular interests of
some members of Congress