Unit 4: Congress 4 Flashcards
Speaker of the House
- Presiding officer of the House of Representatives and leader of it’s majority party
- No no one is more [pwerful than the speaker of the House (presiding officer)
- This person is mostly someone who is in the majority party, no one from each different party is going to vote for the other party
Duties of the Speaker of the House
4 duties
- No member may speak unless he or she is recognized by the speaker
- Interprets and applies the rules
- Refers bills to committees
- Put motion to a vote and decides the outcome of the vote
No member may speak unless he or she is recognized by the Speaker
Duties of the Speaker of the House
- No member may speak unless called upo (like schoool)
- The Speaker of the House is powerful powerful. If someone wants to speak the opposite of what the Speaker wants they can make it hard for those who oppose him
Interprets and applies the rules
Duties of the Speaker of the House
- 400 pages of rules in the House of Representatives, make sure everyone follows them. If not they can find and punish them
- Ex. STRICT call times
Refers bills to committees
Duties of the Speaker of the House
- A member writes a bill. The Speaker can decide which committee in the house looks at this bill
- This can be used to hurt or help it
- Ex. If you want a dog tax break, they could send it to the farmer committee who would LOVE IT
- If the Speaker doesn’t like it he could send the dog tax break to the space committee, where they literally don’t care
Put motions to a vote and decides the outcome of the vote
Duties of the Speaker of the House
- After the time is up on a bedate the speaker can choose to expand the time OR say nope none of you can agree so this famils
- They keep everyone on time
- POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
President of the Senate: The Vice President of the US
3 duties
- Recognizes members
- Puts questions to a vote
- May only vote to break a tie. Cannot speak on the floor or debate
Recognizes members
Duties of the President of the Senate: The Vice President of the US
- Call on people when it’s their turn to speak (like the house)
Puts questions to a vote
Duties of the President of the Senate: The Vice President of the US
- Like the speaker. It’s time to vote or need to hear from other people
May only vote to break a tie. Cannot speak on the flooror debate
Duties of the President of the Senate: The Vice President of the US
- Cannot vote in the Senate unless its a tie, the VP was voted as the VP not the senator
- Gives the party in the white house a lot of power
President Pro Tempore
- President of the Senate in the VP’s absence. Usually the longest serving member of the majority party
- Duties: Holds the same power as the President of the Senate, but only when the VP is absent
Floor Leaders
4 floor leaders
- House Majority Leader
- House Minority Leader
- Senate Majority Leader
- Senate Minority Leader
Duties of the Floor Leaders
- Responsible for steering the floor action in favor of their parties. Make sure their decisions benefit THEIR party
- Job of the floor leaders is to talk to each person from their party adn make sure party ideals are reflected
- What does that mean?
- Make sure Congressional acts benefit their party. Responsible for steering floor action in favor of their parties in the Senate
Whips
4 kinds
- House Majority Whip
- House Minority Whip
- Senate Majority Whip
- Senate Minority Whip
What are the duties of the Whips
- Influence votes within their party, assissts in setting and sccomplishing a legislative program
- Peer pressure specialists, influence votes within their party so they can accomplish their goals, get people to vote what people in their party wants
- They convince people to vote with the party, if you voteyes with the group you are in with the Whip: we’ll campaign with you, help you get your bill passed easily
- OR if you make a Bill we will have everyone vote against you, and will find someone to vote against you in the primary election
What are the two ways to interpret the Constitution
- Strict Constrctionists
- Loose Constructionists
Strict Constructionists
What are the two ways to interpret the Constitution
- Congress should only have its expressed powers and those implied powers that are absolutely necessary
- FOLLOW EXACTLY WHAT THE CONSTITUTION SAYS
- More Republican
Loose Constructionists
What are the two ways to interpret the Constitution
- Congress should beable to broadly interpret its power
- The Constitution is flexible and can be changed
- More Democratic
What are three types of power in the Constitution
- Expressed powers
- Implied powers
- Inherent powers
Expressed powers
What are three types of power in the Constitution
- Specifically spelled out in the Constitution
- Ex. It says that congress can print money, so they can print money
Implied Powers
What are three types of power in the Constitution
- Not expressly states but reasonably suggested by the expressed powers
- Congress wrote the Interstate Highway Act in 1956, the Constitution didn’t give Congress the power to build highways (Congress DOES have the power to regulate trade within the states)
- Congress has the expressed power to collect taxes, so they must have the implied power to hire people to do the tax collection. The IRS
Inherent powers
What are three types of power in the Constitution
- Powers that national government have historically possessed
