Bell Ringer

• What is a “Christmas-tree” bill?

• What is pigeon-holing?

Unrelated riders that are attached to a bill.

When the committee ignores a bill and it dies (just goes away).

Congress at Work

Chapter 7

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Section 1

• Fewer than 10% of all proposed bills actually become law.

• Why?– Process is long and arduous – more than

100 step.– Willingness to bargain and compromise.– Congressmen will sometimes introduce

bills that have no chance at becoming law simply to be on record about an idea or policy

• The 111th Congress considered:

•6,156 pieces of legislation in the House.

•3,791 pieces of legislation in the Senate.

•237 pieces of that legislation were signed into Public Law.

As of 9-20-10

Types of Bills

Bills and Resolutions

PrivatePublic

Simple ResolutionJoint Resolution

Concurrent Resolution

Public

• Deal with general matters and apply to the entire nation.–Examples: tax bills, education

laws.

Private

• Deal with individual people or places.• Example: Renaming a post office or other public building.

Resolutions

• Resolutions differ from bills in that they deal with matters that affect only one house or the other, and they do not relate directly to the public will.

• Resolutions may change rules or procedures, or they may wish a member a happy birthday or a prosperous retirement.

• They do not require the signature of the President.

Types of Resolutions

Simple• Deal with matters

affecting only one house of Congress. Does not require signature of president and does not become law.

Joint• Passed by both houses and

requires presidential signature to become public law.

• Used to correct errors in previous bills or appropriate money for a special purpose.

• When used to propose constitutional amendments the presidential signature is not required.

• Cover matters requiring action of both houses, but does not need a law.

Concurrent

Introduction of a Bill

http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/index.cfmOur Federal Government: The Legislative Branch

                                       

Bill Numbers• House bills begin with "H.R." (H.R.112-

100)• Simple Resolutions begin with "H. Res."

(H.Res. 112-100)• Concurrent Resolutions begin with "H.

Con. Res." (H. Con. Res. 112-100)• Joint Resolutions begin with "H. J. Res“

(H.J. Res. 112-100).• Senate bills begin with "S." (S. 112-

100).

Public Law• Become PL 112-100

Source: http://clerkkids.house.gov/laws/

Bell Ringer

• On what committee does all important work on tax bills and other bills involving money begin?

Taxing and

Spending Bills

Section 2

What does it cost to run the government?

• http://www.uwsa.com/us-national-debt.html

How Does the Government Pay for it All?

Article I, Section 8• “The Congress shall have the

power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States…”

• "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.“

» Oliver Wendell Holmes

• “There are only two sure things in life – death and taxes.”

» Benjamin Franklin

Where do bills that deal with money begin?

House Ways and

Means Committee• Accepts or rejects presidential

requests for tax increases and cuts.

• Makes rules to determine who pays what taxes and who receives tax benefits.

Closed Rule

• Until 1973 no amendments could be added to a tax bill on the floor.

• Only Ways and Means Committee members could have a hand in writing a bill.

Senate’s Role

• Article I, Section 7 allows the Senate to propose amendments.

• Can also eliminate provisions senators object to.

How the House and Senate

Appropriate Money• Article I, Section 9 • “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury,

but in consequence of appropriations made by law.”

• Appropriation is a must before money can be spent.

• Once appropriation has taken place, authorization of spending must take place.

• Authorization sets up federal programs and specifies how much money may be appropriated for that program.

Appropriation Committees

• Use your textbook to find out the following:– What They Do:

– What They Cannot Do:

Receive, review, and amend appropriations requests from executive agency budgets. Report out all bills to the executive branch.

Kill bills. Affect uncontrollable expenditures and entitlements.

What are Uncontrollables and Entitlements?

• Accounts for about 70% of annual appropriations and authorizations.

• Uncontrollables – expenditures that the government is legally committed to finance.– Social Security, Interest on national debt,

federal contract already signed.• Entitlements – social programs that

continue on a yearly basis.

Bell Ringer

• What is pork-barrel legislation?

A government project that benefits a legislators home state and/or district (extra left over).

Senator

Or

Representative

Voters in home states and districts

Each Other

Staff or Committee Members

The President

Lawmaker’s Political Party

Speaker of the House

Senate Majority Leader

Lobbyists for special interest groups

and PACS

Campaign Fund Contributors and Campaign Workers

Major Influences on Lawmakers

Helping Constituents

Section 4

Two Hat Act

• Problem solvers for their constituents back home.

• Must make sure state and/or district gets its share of federal money, projects, and contracts.

How do they juggle???

•CASEWORKERS!!!!

Caseworker Responsibility in Representative Artur Davis’ Office• Housing• Military• Postal• Veterans• Social Security• Medicare• Immigration • IRS

• Pension benefits • Passports/ visas• Education• Labor• Service academy nominations• Flag requests• Requests for White House

tours

Three Purposes of Casework

• Helps lawmakers get re-elected.• A way in which Congress can oversee

the executive branch.– How are they handling federal programs

(Ex: Social Security, Veteran’s Benefits, Worker’s Compensation).

• Provides a way for average citizens to cope with the largeness of the national government.– Red Tape

Bring Home the Bacon• Through pork-barrel legislation.• Through winning federal grants

and contracts.• Through keeping federal projects.

Public Works Bills“Pork-Barrel Legislation”

• Accounts for billions of dollars each year and thousands of jobs.

• Examples: Post Offices, Dams, Military Bases, Waterway improvements, Federally-funded highways (Interstates), Veterans’ hospitals, Transit systems.

Pork-Barrel

• Came into use as a political term in the post-Civil War era. It comes from the plantation practice of distributing rations of salt port to slaves from wooden barrels. When used to describe a bill, it implies the legislation is loaded with special project for members of Congress to distribute to their constituents back home as an act of generosity to the federal taxpayers.

You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours

• When two or more congressman agree to help each other it is called “logrolling.”

Grants and Contracts

• Controlled by agencies of the executive branch (i.e. Departments).

• Harder for the lawmakers to control flow of funds.