Lecture Notes on Congress the Presidency

Govt 2305
American Government
Professor Sutter

Congress: The Federal Legislative Branch

The Structure of Congress

Article I of the United States Constitution created the bicameral Congress, with the House of
Representatives elected directly by the people of the states and a Senate elected by the state
legislatures. (Amendment 17 altered the Constitution in 1913 to allow for the direct election of
U.S. Senators from the states.) Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators regardless
of the states population. Each states representation in the House is based on the states
population. The total membership of the House was set at 435 by law in the early 20th century.
Senators serve a six-year term of office. Approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election
every two years. Members of the House serve a two-year term of office and the entire House is
up for election every two years. A new Congress is formed in January of every odd-number year
following the national election in the preceding November.
The makeup of House districts in each of the states is reconfigured every ten years by each
states legislature follow a report of the national census. Under current law, Congress apportions
the House by the equal proportions method, and then the states legislatures redraws new House
district lines to represent the new national allocation of House seats and to reflect population
shifts. This process is known a redistricting.
Under our first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, a Congress did exist but was
unicameral and essentially powerless as a national governing body. No national executive or
judicial branch existed. The framers of the Constitution of 1789 extended broad new governing
powers to the federal government and placed those powers principally in the hands of the new
Congress. The principal powers given Congress can be found in Article I, Section I of the
Constitution and include the power to tax and spend, to regulate commerce, raise and support an
army and navy, create and regulate the currency, declare war and to make all Law which shall
be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing powers. This necessary and
proper clause, when combined with one or more of the specific powers enumerated in Article I,
Section, has allowed Congress to dramatically expand the national governing powers without the
necessity of amending the Constitution.

The Organization of Congress

Congress is organized on the basis of three factors: political party affiliation, leadership, and
committees.
The two major political parties produce the leadership organization and the committee
organization of Congress. Nearly all members of Congress are elected as either Republicans or
Democrats. Third party candidates, usually called Independents in Congress, are rarely elected
rarely win election to Congress and virtually never serve in positions of leadership.
Each political party elects its own leaders and these officers supervise and operations of the
Congress. Article I of the Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States serves
ex officio as the president of the Senate and may vote in the Senate but only in case of a tie.
Until the twentieth century, the vice-president often served a leadership role in the Senate.
However, in the early part of the twentieth century, party leaders assumed control of the Senate,
with the party in the majority gaining principal control over the body. The Senate Majority
Leader (the leader of the majority party in the Senate) has extensive powers over the
organization and operation of the body. The Constitution calls for the Speaker of the House of
Representatives to be the elected leader of that chamber. The speaker is elected by the members
of the House at the start of a new Congress every two years. In effect, the speaker is elected by
the majority party because at the start of a new Congress, members vote as a block for the
candidate selected as their nominee for speaker, and, thus, whichever party is in the majority,
that party elects the speaker.
The party which has the majority membership in each of the respective two bodies effectively
controls that house. Currently, the U.S. House is controlled by a Republican majority and the
U.S. Senate is controlled by a Democratic majority.
Most of the actual legislative work of Congress, both in the House and Senate, is done in
committees. There are four types of committees: (a) standing committees, (b) select
committees, (c) joint committees, and (d) conference committees. The bulk of the work of
Congress is done in standing committees which are functionally organized in ways similar to the
organization of the executive departments. All bills are submitted to standing committees and
must go through these committees before being approved by the full House or Senate. Select
Committees are created ad hoc for special reasons to investigate some current issue or problem
that would not be handled by the regular standing committees. Joint Committees have members
from both the House and Senate to serve unique, particular function. These committees are
created for reasons such as national security, such as the Joint Committee on Intelligence or for
administrative functions common to both bodies, such as the Joint Committee on the Library of
Congress. Conference Committees are created whenever a bill is passed in different versions by
the House and Senate. Conference Committees settle differences between the two versions.
Conference Committees have members from both House and Senate and function only until a

given bill is reconciled. The significance of conferences committees derives from the fact that
all bills must pass both houses in exactly the same language to be reported to the president for
approval or veto.

Making Law
Only standing members of the Congress may introduce bills for consideration. Revenue or tax
bills can only be introduced in the House of Representatives. A bill may be introduced or
sponsored by one or more members. In the House, the sponsor introduces legislation by
dropping the bill into the hopper, which on the House clerks desk. The House clerk is
responsible for tracking all proposed legislation. In the Senate, the presiding officer must
recognize a bills sponsor so that the Senator may introduce the bill. The bill is assigned a prefix
(HR for House bills, S for Senate bills) and a number, and the name(s) of the bills
sponsor(s) is printed on the bill.
The bill is then assigned to a standing committee for review. It is here, in the standing
committees, where the bulk of the legislative work is done. The bill is placed on the calendar of
the committee to which it has been assigned. If the committee decides not to consider the bill,
the bill essentially dies. If the bill is accepted for consideration, the full committee assigns the
bill to a subcommittee for hearings and debate. After hearings, subcommittee members markup
the bill, i.e., amend, rewrite or change sections of the bill, created a committee print. If the
subcommittee votes to approve the bill, it sends the revised version back to the full committee
where the entire processhearings, markup and votingis repeated.
If a Senate committee approves a bill, the bill is placed on the calendar for floor debate. Debate
is scheduled through a unanimous consent agreement. In the House, a bill must be approved by
the Rules Committee and given a place on the calendar before it can be debated on the floor
(although budget bills do not go to the Rules Committee). In the House, bills are placed on one
of four calendars: (1) Union Calendar, which schedules tax and appropriations bills; (2) House
Calendar, which schedules bills that do not raise revenue or involve expenditures or property; (3)
Consent Calendar, which schedules bills raising little controversy and will be passed without
debate; or (4) Private Calendar, which schedules bills requiring the federal government to pay an
individual or group.
Debate on the House floor is limited due to the size of the body. On the House floor, the bill is
debated, amendments offered, and a vote taken by the full House. If the bill passes the House, it
is sent to the Senate for consideration if it was not considered there at the same time. In the
Senate, a bill may be help up by a filibuster or a hold. A hold prevents the bill from coming to
the floor until it is removed. A senator asked to be told before a given bill comes to the floor.
The hold signals that opposition may be on the horizon for the given bill and the leadership is
thus reluctant to bring it to the floor. A filibuster is a Senate procedure allowing a senator who is
seeking to block consideration of a bill to hold the floor by long speeches or unlimited debate.

For the Senate to end a filibuster, a cloture vote must be taken requiring sixty senators to cut off
debate.

If the two chambers of Congress pass different versions of the same bill, a conference
committee is established made up of members from the original House and senate committees.
If the conference committee fails to reach a compromise, the bill dies there. If a compromise bill
is agreed upon in conference, the new bill is sent to the House and Senate for a final vote. No
amendments or changes are allow. If the bill is not passed by both houses, it dies. If it is passed
by both houses, it is sent to the president.
A bill must pass both houses of the bicameral Congress in exactly the same language in order to
go on to the president for his approval or veto.
The president has ten days to decide on a bill he receives from Congress. He may sign the bill,
and the bill becomes law. He may veto the bill. Congress may override the presidents veto with
a two-thirds vote in each chamber (this supermajority requirement makes overrides difficult to
achieve). The president may wait the full ten days at which time then the bill becomes law
without his signature if Congress is still in session. If Congress adjourns before the ten days are
up, he may choose not to sign the bill and it is then considered vetoed by the pocket veto.

Unique Duties of the Two Chambers

The House and the Senate each have unique duties. Only the House may, as stated earlier,
initiate revenue bills. Only the House may bring articles of impeachment (much like the actions
of a grand jury bringing an indictment against an individual) against federal officers for actions
which the House may deem misconduct. The House may elect the president if no presidential
candidate earns a majority in the electoral college. The Senate, after the House has impeached a
federal official, acts a judge and jury. It alone has the power to convict and remove the official
from office. The Senate, if no presidential candidate ears a majority in the electoral college, is
solely responsible for electing the vice president. Only the Senate has the advise and consent
power. The Senate alone has the power to review and approve (or reject) presidential
nominations of U.S. ambassadors, judges and justices to the federal bench, and high officials of
the executive branch (most prominently, the presidents Cabinet). Also, the Senate alone has the
power of advise and consent over foreign treaties made by the president.

Legislative Oversight
Since Congress authorized the creation of most federal departments, bureaus and agencies and
funds them all through their budgetary power, Congress assumes the role of oversight to examine
the activities of executive department entities to determine whether they comport with the

mandate established by Congress in the authorizing legislation creating them and to determine if
the expenditures of the agencies meet the guidelines set by the Congress. Congress examines
also the bureaucratic decisions by executive agencies. Congress can nullify and executive
branch regulation by the passage of a joint resolution in both chambers within sixty days of the
announcement of the regulation and the acceptance by the president. Congress also plays a
significant role in the determination of U.S. foreign and military policy through its constitutional
powers and its oversight activities. Tension between the Congress and the president has long
existed over the question of war making. Only Congress may declare war, but the president, as
commander-in-chief executes the operations of the military and has sent troops overseas for
military excursions dozens of times. Congress sought to curtail what it saw as the presidents
war-making excesses with the passage, over presidential veto, of the War Powers Act in 1973.

Constituent Service
And important role of members of the Congress is to serve the needs of their constituents back in
their home states. Members of Congress work to provide federal money for projects in their
home states and home districts to boost the local economies. Members of Congress also serve
their constituents by interceding on behalf of their constituents who have problems with
executive branch agencies that they, the constituents, can readily resolve. Since members of
Congress provide the funding for executive branch operations, executive branch agencies and
departments are quick to provide service to the members of Congress who seek the resolution of
conflicts constituents have with the federal agencies and departments. This provides the
members of Congress with constituents who appreciate the intercession on their behalf by the
member, often through voting for the member for reelection. The member of Congress, in turn,
appreciates the action by the executive department or agency in resolving their constituents
problems promptly and positively, and thus, are more likely to favorably consider budget
requests by those agencies come time to prepare the annual federal budget.

The Presidency: The Federal Executive Branch

The History and Structure of the Presidency

Under the countrys first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, there was no national
executive branch of government, and, hence, no president. The founders of the country were
concerned that a governing powers centralized in one person would lead to the abused they had
complained of the King of England in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. However, with

the proposed creation of a new, powerful federal government in the Constitutional Convention of
1787, the framers of the new constitution eventually resolved their concerns by placing the
principal national governing powers in the hands of the Congress in Article I, and limited the
powers of the new president in Article II to that of one who would execute the programs and
policies of the Congress, with, of course, certain independent powers given the president as a
check and balance on Congress.
Today, however, if one were to ask a person on the street to name his U.S. Representative in
Congress, or even one of his two U.S. Senators from his state, most would be at a loss. Ask the
person to name the President of the United States, the person on the street would have no trouble
whatsoever in responding. Indeed, not only better know of the president and his functions, most
people pay little regard to Congress. This public perception is a reflection of the shift of power
from where the framers intended itin the hands of Congressto the hands of the president.
This shift only occurred in the twentieth century, but the shift has been so great, scholars have
dubbed the modern presidency the Imperial Presidency, suggesting an almost king-like power
in the hands of the modern president, a state which the framers distinctly wished to avoid.
Under Article II of the Constitution, the president is required to be a natural-born citizen of the
United States, be at least thirty-five years old. Article II set the term of office for the president at
four years and required no limitation on the number of terms he served. However, the first
president, George Washington, chose to serve only two terms and a two-term only president was
set. Franklin D. Roosevelt nevertheless was elected to four terms during the time in history
when the United States was threatened by the Great Depression and World War II. After his vice
president, Harry Truman, took office in 1944 and was, despite all predictions to the contrary, was
re-elected in 1948, many Republicans feared that the Democratic Party might have a permanent
lock on the presidency and pushed the passage and ratification in 1951 of the 22nd Amendment
which limits presidents to two four-year terms, or no more than ten years in office.
The presidency was affected by another constitutional amendment, adopted in 1967, which
established procedures for filling vacancies in the vice presidency and presidency as well as
creating means to deal with the disability of a president. Constitutional ambiguity over the line
of presidential succession had been clarified in 1947 a legislation which called for, after the vice
president, a line of succession including, in order, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
the President pro tempore of the Senate, then the Secretary of state, treasury and defense, and
other Cabinet heads in order of the creation of their department. A series of heart attacks
suffered by President Dwight Eisenhower in his two-terms in office and then the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy led to the 25th Amendment passage and ratification. After the
assassination of President Kennedy in November of 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson served at
president for the remainder of 1963 through all of 1964 and part of January of 1965 without a
vice president. Had Johnson died in office during that period, Speaker of the House John
McCormack, in his early 70s, would have become president. Although Ronald Reagan was 69
when elected president in 1980, the Gipper did not look his age. Speaker McCormack did.
Gerald R. Ford was the first appointee under the 25th Amendment. Named vice president by
President Richard Nixon following the resignation Vice President Spiro Agnew after Agnews
indictment on criminal charges, Ford served as vice president only a few months before
President Nixon resigned from office facing certain impeachment and conviction for his

Watergate crimes. President Ford then named former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller
as his vice president under the 25th Amendment.

The Powers of the Presidency

The Constitution grants the president fewer powers than it does the Congress. Most of Article II
deals with the procedures for election and service, succession and impeachment. However,
specific significant powers are granted the president.
Military Power: Article II, Section 2 names the president commander-in-chief of the armed
forces. As stated before, only Congress has the authority to declare war, the president has the
actual power to make war in that he has final responsibility for conduction military policy and
deployment.
Judicial Power: The president appoints members of the federal judiciary to the bench including
justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. When there is a vacancy on the Supreme
Court or one of the lower federal courts, the president nominates a jurist based on political,
ideological, and practical factors. Federal judges serve for live. Because of this and because of
the significance of federal court appellate rulings, particularly Supreme Court decisions, is said
that perhaps the most significant long-term affect a president can have on the country is his
appointments to the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts. All the presidents judicial
nominees must be approved by the Senate under its advise and consent powers. Article II
authorizes the president to grant reprieves and pardons for federal crimes, but not conviction by
impeachment. Perhaps the most famous pardon in recent times occurred in 1974 when President
Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for federal crimes he may have
committed when president.
Foreign Policy Powers: Based on his constitutional powers in this area, the president is the
countrys chief diplomat. The president appoints U.S. ambassadors, with the advise and consent
of the Senate. Article II states that the president is to receive foreign ambassadors and ministers
on behalf of the United States. The president also makes treaties with foreign nations,
dependant, also, on the Senates advise and consent power. Most treaties are approved by the
Senate. One significant instance of the Senate rejecting a foreign treaty negotiated and signed by
a president was the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 which created the League of Nations. President
Woodrow Wilson worked tirelessly for the treaty in hopes of preventing an outbreak of another
world war through the creation of the League. Without the United States as a signatory the
League of Nations was essentially a failure and another world war started less than two decades
later.
Executive Powers: The president is empowered by Article II to appoint cabinet officers and
other high officials of the federal government. Cabinet officers and most of the high executive
officers appointments require the advise and consent of the Senate. The most recent addition to

the presidents cabinet was the new Office of Homeland Security, created by Congress with the
Homeland Security Act of 2002. Perhaps the most significant statement of the presidents
executive powers and the most succinct statement of the overall nature of the presidency as
designed by the Constitution occurs in the last sentence of Article II, Section 3, which states that
the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Indeed, the framers of the
Constitution created the presidency to carry out, to execute, the laws passed by Congress. And
this is the function of the president in his role as the chief executive of the country.
Legislative Powers: While only members of Congress can introduce and pass legislation, the
president was given significant powers to propose and influence legislation. Article II authorizes
the presidents State of the Union address in Section 3: He shall from time to time give to the
Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such
Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. The presidents address to Congress,
which was for a number of years starting with President Thomas Jeffersons administration, was
delivered to the Congress only in written form, has been given since President Woodrow
Wilsons administration as a speech to a joint session of Congress which has been for many
years now televised to a world audience, guaranteeing enormous impact by the presidents
speech, now given each year in January. As mentioned previously in the section on Congress,
the president is given the authority by the Constitution to influence legislation through the veto
process. The president is given the power by the Constitution to convene one or both Houses
during times of crisis and to adjourn Congress when the members cannot agree on adjournment.
These are powers seldom which have been seldom used.

The Modern Presidency

The growth of the modern presidency took hold with the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the 1930s and 40s. FDR oversaw a dramatic expansion of federal power thanks to the
adoption of his New Deal programs by Congress to combat the ravages of the Great Depression.
The national governments power also expanded during the course of World War II. Much of
these expanded powers were controlled by the president himself. Accelerating the growth of
presidential power during this period was the acceptance and popularization of broadcasting in
the country in the form of radio. The strength and number of radio stations and receivers grew
geometrically in the later 20s and early 30s. FDR was the first president to make effective use of
radio in making dramatic use of one of the presidents most important powers: the power to
persuade. Franklin Roosevelts cousin, Theodore Roosevelt claimed during his administration in
the first decade of the century that the presidency was a bully pulpit, meaning that the
presidency was in a unique position, as the only nationally elected figure, to speak to and for the
American people. Yet Theodore Roosevelt, in four years of using his bully pulpit could, at most,
speak directly to a few thousand people. But with a microphone in his office or study, Franklin
Roosevelt could speak to millions of Americans at once, urging them to accept his plans and
proposals, urging them to call their members of Congress and demand they get on the program,
the presidents program, of turning the country around. Before radio, most Americans had never
heard the voice of their president. Now he sat with them in their living rooms. The bully pulpit

was now magnified a million-fold and the president had a means of taking the business of
making public policy out of the hands of Congress and grasping it in his own.