Congress Assignments
1. What is the current salary of members in the House and Senate?
2. Why was Congress created? Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
3. Bicameralism:
4. What are the functions of Congress? Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
5. Logrolling:
6. What are the powers of Congress? Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
7. VENN DIAGRAM/T-CHART: House –Senate
8. What is the “necessary and proper clause”?
9. Filibuster:
10. Profile: Select a member of the House of Representatives and a member of the Senate
11. Congressional Elections: Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
12. Congressional Apportionment: Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
13. Perks and Privileges:
14. The Committee Structure:
15. The Formal Leadership:
16. *How a bill Becomes Law: Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
17. How much will the government spend? Graphic Organizer/Diagram/Outline
18. Pork-Barrel Spending?
19. Read Article I of the U.S. Constitution
20. Article I Quiz
Senate Salaries since 1789
1789-1815 -- $6.00 per diem
1815-1817 -- $1,500 per annum
1817-1855 -- $8.00 per diem
1855-1865 -- $3,000 per annum
1865-1871 -- $5,000 per annum
1871-1873 -- $7,500 per annum
1873-1907 -- $5,000 per annum
1907-1925 -- $7,500 per annum
1925-1932 -- $10,000 per annum
1932-1933 -- $9,000 per annum
1933-1935 -- $8,500 per annum
1935-1947 -- $10,000 per annum
1947-1955 -- $12,500 per annum
1955-1965 -- $22,500 per annum
1965-1969 -- $30,000 per annum
1969-1975 -- $42,500 per annum
1975-1977 -- $44,600 per annum
1977-1978 -- $57,500 per annum
1979-1983 -- $60,662.50 per annum
1983 -- $69,800 per annum
1984 -- $72,600 per annum
1985-1986 -- $75,100 per annum
1987 (1/1-2/3) -- $77,400 per annum
1987 (2/4) -- $89,500 per annum
1990 (2/1) -- $98,400 per annum
1991 -- $101,900 per annum
1991 (8/15) -- $125,100 per annum
1992 -- $129,500 per annum
1993 -- $133,600 per annum
1994 -- $133,600 per annum
1995 -- $133,600 per annum
1996 -- $133,600 per annum
1997 -- $133,600 per annum
1998 -- $136,700 per annum
1999 -- $136,700 per annum
2000 -- $141,300 per annum
2001 -- $145,100 per annum
2002 -- $150,000 per annum
2003 -- $154,700 per annum
2004 -- $158,100 per annum
2005 -- $162,100 per annum
2006 -- $165,200 per annum
2007 -- $165,200 per annum
2008 -- $169,300 per annum
THE FORMAL AMENDMENT PROCESS
PROPOSAL / RATIFICATIONTwo-thirds Congress / Three-fourths of State Legislatures / Three- Fourths of State Conventions
METHOD I
Proposal by 2/3rds of Congress Ratification 3/4ths State Legislatures / METHOD II
Proposal by 2/3rds of CongressRatification by 3/4ths of State Conventions
Two-thirds of a National Convention / METHOD III
Proposal 2/3rds National ConventionRatification 3/4ths of State Legislatures / METHOD IV
Proposal by 2/3rds of National Convention Ratification by 3/4ths of State Conventions
- Only Method I and Method II have ever been used
- Method II was used on only one occasion- the repeal of prohibition 21st amendment ratified in 1933.
- The President has no formal role to play in the amendment process.
- The Constitution cannot be amended to deprive a state of its territory or to deprive any state of its equal representation in the Senate.
- We have never had a National Convention-- it could be called by congress on petition of 2/3rds of the state legislatures.
How Law Making Works
Congress occasionally votes on law proposals called bills. If a bill is passed in one house of Congress (that is, either the House of Representatives or the Senate), then it is proposed in the other house of Congress. Note that both houses must pass the bill with a simple majority vote.
When the bill is accepted in both houses, then the bill is sent to the White House for the president's acceptance. If the president approves congressional legislation, he signs the bill into law. The president has ten days to sign the bill into law.
Within the these ten days, if the president returns the bill to Congress without a signature, he has vetoed the bill. If the president does not return the bill within those ten days, the bill automatically becomes law.
Overriding a Veto
A president is required to state his objections to any legislation he vetoes. Alternately, the Congress is required to consider the president's objections as a form of recommendation. The Congress can choose to vote on recommended changes to the bill and send it to the president for his signing. It can let the legislation drop, which is what usually happens. Or, the Congress can attempt to override the veto.
To override a presidential veto, both houses of congress must pass a bill by a two-thirds majority. This is called a super-majority. In the Senate, this means a bill must have 67 (out of 100) votes. In the House of Representatives, a bill must pass with 290 out of 435 votes.
If this happens, a bill immediately becomes law.
GRAMM-RUDMAN-HOLLINGS ACT
officially the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, U.S. budget deficit reduction measure. The law provided for automatic spending cuts to take effect if the president and Congress failed to reach established targets; the U.S. comptroller general was given the right to order spending cuts. Because the automatic cuts were declared unconstitutional, a revised version of the act was passed in 1987; it failed to result in reduced deficits. A 1990 revision of the act changed its focus from deficit reduction to spending control.C-SPAN Congressional Glossary
Term / Definition / Used InLegislative Veto / A Legislative Veto refers to the repeal by Congress of federal agency or presidential actions.
The Executive actions stand unless nullified by disapproval resolutions passed by Congress. / House and Senate
Line-item veto
A special form of veto in which the chief executive has the right to prevent particular provisions of a bill enacted by a legislative assembly from becoming law without having to kill all the other parts of the bill at the same time. Many state governors in the United States have line-item veto power with respect to at least some kinds of legislative enactment. Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton have all endorsed the idea of granting the President line-item veto powers over appropriations bills as a means of controlling the budget deficit problem, but the President of the United States has only recently acquired a very limited line-item veto power through certain changes in the rules of the House of Representatives and Senate. In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that even this limited form of line-item veto enacted by a simple Congressional majority was unconstitutional. Most Congressmen and Senators seem reluctant to approve a constitutional amendment to provide for a permanent line-item veto for the President because this power would enable him more easily to veto pork barrel projects or other special interest legislation that they have traditionally added into more urgent omnibus appropriations bills through skillful logrolling -- thus giving the President additional power to punish severely those members of Congress who have in some way opposed or displeased the President and potentially upsetting the current balance of power between the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government.
Congress Quiz
1. Congress represents the ______Branch. Legislative
2. Members of the House of Representatives are elected every ______years.
3. Members of the Senate are elected every ______years.
4. House of Representatives Age Requirement. 25 yrs old
5. Senate Age Requirement 30 yrs old
6. What is the number of seats in the House of Representatives?
7. In the case of a vacancy in Congress who has Executive Authority to fill it? Governor
8. The ______has the power to impeach and the ______holds the trial. House; Senate
9. ______of the Senate seats are open to election every two years.
10. The ______presides over meetings of the Senate but cannot vote unless there is a tie. The ______votes when the ______is absent.
*11. The quorum rule requires the 218 members of the House and 51 members of Senate are present to conduct business. The rule, however is not enforced in the handling of routine matters.
12. The ______proceedings are more flexible while the ______proceeds are more rigid.
13. The ______clause grants no specific powers but can be stretched to fit different circumstances. Elastic/necessary and proper
14. A ______is a law that inflicts punishment without a trial. Bill of attainder
15. An ______is a law that inflicts punishment for an act that was not illegal when it was committed. Ex post facto law
16. A ______is a court order directing a sheriff or other public officer who is detaining another person to produce the body of the detainee so the court can assess the legality of the detention. Writ of Habeas Corpus
17. Federal funds can be spent only as ______authorizes. This is a significant check on the ______power. Congress, president’s
18. The ______clause gives Congress the power to regulate interstate and foreign trade. commerce
19. All tax and appropriation bills for raising money have to originate in the ______. The ______often amends such bills and may even substitute an entirely different bill. House; Senate
20. When Congress sends the president a bill, he or she can sign it (in which case it becomes law) or send it back to the chamber in which it originated. If it is sent back, a ______of each chamber must pass it again for it to become law. If the president neither signs it nor sends it back with _____ days, it becomes law anyway, unless Congress adjourns in the meantime. Two-thirds majority, ten,
BONUS: The ______Amendment allows the Senators to be directly elected by the people changed from a State legislature selection process. Seventeenth Amendment
Congress: Rank-and-File Members' Salary
The current salary (2008) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $169,300 per year.
Congress
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS, DIAGRAMS, OUTLINES
Foundation
Functions
Powers
VENN DIAGRAM/T-CHART
House –Senate
Congressperson—Profile 362
Congressional Elections
Congressional Apportionment
Perks and Privileges
The Committee Structure
Formal Leadership
How a Bill Becomes a Law –Cartoon Commercial Script/Skit (Children’s Network)
Government Spending
Key Constitutional Grantsof Powers to Congress
Article I, Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Article IV, Section 3
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Amendment XVI
(Ratified February 3, 1913.)
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
President Lyndon Johnson signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Questions
1. The alternative to a government of enumerated powers is, of course, a government of unenumerated powers. The Constitution might have said "Congress shall have all powers not specifically prohibited elsewhere in this Constitution." What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system?
2. It would be silly to say, for example, the "power to establish post offices" did not include the power to print postage stamps or pay mail carriers. But does it also include the power to advertise the joys of stamp collecting on television? How broadly or narrowly should the enumerated powers be read? Should the "Necessary and Proper Clause" be interpreted as authorizing actions rationally related to one of the listed powers, or only actions "necessary" to carrying out a listed power?
3. Thomas Jefferson had serious doubts as to whether the Constitution gave him the power to acquire land from France through the Louisiana Purchase, but he went ahead with the deal anyway. Was the Louisiana Purchase constitutional? What might be the constitutional source for the power to acquire lands?
4. In McCulloch vs Maryland, Chief Justice Marshall notes that the Constitution is not a statute, and suggests that it should be read more liberally and flexibly than a statute so that it might serve the ages. Do you find Marshall's argument about constitutional interpretation persuasive?
5. Thomas Jefferson was none too pleased with the decision in McCulloch. Jefferson said, "The judiciary of the United States is a subtle core of sappers and miners constantly working underground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric." What do you think about Jefferson's characterization?
6. In Gettysburg, the Court says that to justify an exercise of congressional power, "any number of powers may be grouped together, and an inference from them all may be drawn that the power claimed has been conferred." This is the so-called "implied powers doctrine." Is the Court now moving in the direction of abandoning this doctrine and insisting upon more specific textual support to sustain exercises of federal power?