The document discusses the rules and procedures of the United States Congress. It outlines that Congress has developed rules to help it operate effectively and that the House has more rules than the Senate. It also notes that both houses use a formal system of parliamentary procedure to keep debates orderly. The document then provides details on the leadership positions and roles in both the House and Senate.
1. Congressional Rules
-Developed to help Congress
operate
-House has more rules than
Senate
why???
-Parliamentary Procedures
both Houses of Congress
use a formal system of
debate which keeps the
debate orderly
2. Congressional Leadership
-Majority Leader
-each House chooses a
leader of the majority
party to be floor leader
House Majority Leader Senate Majority Leader Harry
Steny Hoyer, D-MD Reid, D-NV
-Minority Leader
-each House picks a
minority party member to
its floor leader
House Minority Leader
John Boehner, R-OH
Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-KY
-Party Whip
-each party in each House
has a Party Whip to keep
track of voting for
important issues
3. House Leaders
-Speaker of the House
-basically runs the House
of Representatives
-sets up the calendar and
schedules bills for debate
Senate Leaders
-Vice President
-official leader but only votes
in a tie and is rarely present
-President Pro-Tempore
-mostly symbolic position
given to the longest serving
Senator from the majority
party
V.P. Joe Biden Sen. Robert Byrd, D-
WV
4. House Leaders
-Speaker of the House
-basically runs the House
of Representatives
-sets up the calendar and
schedules bills for debate
Senate Leaders
-Vice President
-official leader but only votes
in a tie and is rarely present Speaker Nancy Pelosi
-President Pro-Tempore
-mostly symbolic position
given to the longest serving
Senator from the majority
party
5. Staff Support
-personal staff of each member of
Congress
-Committee staff who function as
experts in the committees area
-Library of Congress
-General Accounting Office
investigates and reports on gov’t
spending
Library of Congress
-Government Budget Office
-predicts the costs of gov’t
programs
6. Committee Government
-developed committees to divide
the work load of Congress
-standing committees--
Permanent committees of
Congress who study, revise,
and pass legislation
Created 1958, est. NASA after Sputnik
-select committees--committees
which study more temporary
problems in society
-joint committees--
committees which involve
members of both Houses of
Congress meeting together
7. Committee Membership
-Based on seniority
-Term that refers to how
long a member has been in
Congress and is important
in assigning committee
memberships
-Party leaders make
committee assignments
-majority party of each
house appoints the
chairperson of each
committee