Unit 4: Congress 3 Flashcards
Jobs of Congress Members
4 jobs
- Lawmakers
- Representatives of their Constituents (the people)
- Committee Member
- Servants of their Constitutents
Lawmakers
Jobs of Congress Members
- Write and pass laws
Representatives of their Constituents (the people)
In 3 ways
Jobs of Congress Members
- Delegate: Vote the way their constituents want
- Trustee: Vote the way they personallu want
- Partisan: Vote the way the party wants
Committee Member
Jobs of Congress Members
- Screen propsedlaws, provide oversight (checks) of the Executive branch
- Provide supervision in order to check the executive branch and the power that they have
Servants of their Constituents
Jobs of Congress Members
- Act as their advocates
- Help people who have issues with the federal government
- They are expected to act and vote the way their constituents wish for them to, and they help them solve problems they may be expereincing with the federal government
- Ex. Help citizens deal with federal Bureaucracy
Committees in Congress
Why are committees necessary for Congress to function efficiently?
- There is far to much to do in Congress for their work to be done as an entire group
- The work needs to be divided amongst several smaller groups, committees, in order to make sure that every propsal has an opportunity to be discussed
Why are commttees important to how Congress works?
- Committees are where bills get looked over, debated, and changed most thoroughly
- Members of Congress respect the committee system and will rarely vote against the recommendation of their party’s committee members. Most bills will either pass or fail based on committee decisions
- The majority party always holds a majority of the seats on a committee or subcommittee. The majority party also appoints a chairperson
Types of Committees
5 kinds
- Standing Committee
- Select Committee
- Joint Committee
- Conference Committee
- House Rules Committee
Standing Committee
Types of Committees
- A permanent committee, specializing in a specific area of government, to which all bills related tot hat topic are sent
- Powerful decision makers
- Ex. Armed Services, Judiciary, Commerce
Select Committee
Types of Committees
- Set up for a specific purpose for a limited time, usualy to conduct an investigation
- Ex. Benghazi, Steroids in baseball, January 6
Joint Committee
Types of Committees
- Composed of members from both the House and Senate
- Can be permanent (Ex. economics), but most are temporary
- When the House and Senate are dealing with an identical issue, they may decide to create a joint committee to work together
Conference Committee
- A temporary committee created to produce acompromise bill that both houses will accept before it goes to the President to sign
- The House and Senate versions of a bill could be very different, conference committees make slight changes to make them both identical
House Rules Committee
Types of Committees
- The “traffic cop” of the House
- So many bills are introduced in the House they need to be screened by someone
- After a bill leaves a committee in the House, the Rules Committee gets it before it reaches the floor
- The Committee decides if, when, and under what circumstances a bill will be debated on the floor
- Rules can speed up, delay or prevent any bill from becoming a law
House Differences
- Incubments win 90% of elections
- Individuals are LESS powerful, limited by strict rules
- Majority party controls rules with little minority party input
- Debates are limited to 1 hour
- Members must be experts in the issues that affect their districts
- All money and tax bills must originate in the House. If the people have issues with how much they pay or here it’s being spent they can speak directly to representatives
- More formal and impersonal, strict rules needed for efficiency
Senate Differences
- More competitive elections
- Members have more independence
- More cooperation between parties
- Unlimited debate time unless cloture invoked
- Members are policu generalists - good at everything but not experts
- Emphasis on foreign policy
- Smaller, must work closer together for longer. Allows it to generally reach a conclusion and decision
