The document outlines some key rules and procedures of the US House of Representatives. It discusses that the House sets its own rules, committees do most of the legislative work, and party affiliation is important. It also describes House leadership positions like the Speaker, Majority Leader, and committee roles in moving bills through the legislative process.

1. House of Representatives

2. Rules for Law Making
• Complex Rules
• Members of the house set their own rules (i.e.
There is a limit of 5-minutes per member
• Rules are geared for moving legislation quickly
• Members do not have to consult other
members before making big decisions

3. Committee Work
• Committees do most of the work (why?)
• Representatives tend to specialize in a certain
area to help their constituents
• Some committees: Agriculture, Armed
services, Banking and Financial, Government
reform, and Small Business.

4. Importance of Party Affiliation
• Why have parties?
• Republicans sit on the right in the chamber
and Democrats sit on the left
• The party with the most members is called the
Majority
• The party with the least members is the
Minority
• Members of each party choose their leaders

5. Importance of Part Affiliation
• Leaders have 6 purposes:
1. Organizing and unifying party members
2. Scheduling the work of the House
3. Making certain that lawmakers are present for
key floor votes
4. Distributing and collecting information
5. Keeping the House in touch with the President
6. Influencing lawmakers to support the policies of
their political party

6. House Leadership
• Speaker of the House is the presiding officer
• A special Caucus (closed meeting) of the majority
chooses Speaker, full house must approve
• Speaker presides over House sessions
• Decides which members get to speak first
• Appoints members of some committees
• Schedules bills for action
• Refers bills to proper Committee
• Third in line of succession for President
• Who is the Speaker of the House?

7. House Floor Leaders
• The Speaker’s top assistant is the Majority
Leader-Who is it?
• Plans the party’s legislative program
• Steer important bills through the house
• Make sure that work is finished on a bill
• Floor leader of his/her party
• Elected by their party

8. House Floor Leaders
• Majority Leader is aided by Whips
• Whips are assistant floor leaders
• Main job is to watch how majority-party members
intend to vote on bills
• Persuade them to vote as the party wishes
• Make sure members are are present to vote
• Minority Leader-Who is it?
• Minority Whips

9. Lawmaking in the House
• House starts sessions Usually before noon
• House is in session Monday-Friday
– Monday’s are for routine work
– Friday is usually set aside to go to visit
constituents
– Most work is done Tuesday-Thursday

10. How House Bills Are Scheduled
• All Laws start as bills
• A bill is dropped in the “hopper,” which is a
mahogany box in the front of the chamber
• The Speaker then assigns that bill to a committee
for review, study and discussion (only 10-20% of
bills ever go to a full-house vote)
• If a bill survives the committee, it is added to the
House Calendar-which lists bills that are up for
consideration

11. The House Rules Committee
• The Rules Committee is the “traffic officer” in the
House
• They direct the flow of major legislation
• After a bill is approved it goes to the Rules
Committee for review
• They have the power to move the bills ahead,
hold them back or stop them altogether
• Rules committee also is the referee in the house
and settles disputes between committees

12. A Quorum for Business
• A quorum is the minimum number of
members needed to take official action
• In a normal session a quorum is majority-218
members.
• When the House amends legislation a quorum
is only 100 members: this is called Committee
of the Whole