Limited Government -Article One How Congress will work -Congress is given certain powers

-defined in Article 1 of the Constitution

Enumerated powers (listed) Implied powers (necessary and proper clause) -Congress is denied certain powers -defined in Article 1
When the founders created our federal government, they wanted a limited government. How did they achieve this when they drafted the plan for the Legislative Branch? What sorts of things should Congress be able to control? What sorts of things should they NOT be allowed to control? ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________

Told what they can and cannot do

Expressed Powers -Expressed, Delegated, Enumerated, Exclusive the same Congress and federal gov. only

-Powers given to Congress in Article One

-Examples: Declare war and form army Coin/make money
Why do you think things like declaring war, making money, and regulating trade (both inside and outside the United States) are left ONLY to the federal government? What sorts of problems might we run into if these powers were reserved? What about if they were concurrent?

Regulate foreign trade

Regulate interstate commerce

Implied Powers -Powers given to Congress by the Necessary and Proper Clause Elastic clause - Congress can stretch powers to meet needs -Interpretation of the Constitution Loose interpretation Examples: Creating an air force

Bailout plan

Additional Powers -Power to Investigate Reviews laws, government activities, special investigations -Power to Propose Amendments By a 2/3 vote of BOTH houses

-Power to Impeach Can charge (poss. remove) federal official with wrongdoing in office President/Vice President/judge

Powers of the House -Must start all Appropriation Bills -power of the purse-- Power of the House whereby all revenue producing bills must be introduced in the House of Representatives Closer to the people

-Picks President if no winner in Electoral College

Closer to the people -Begins the Impeachment Process Investigates and charges an official with misconduct in office
How is having the power of the purse an influential power of the House of Representatives? Why do they have it? What do they use it for? How does that give them more power?

Impeachment, charging a federal official of misconduct or wrongdoing while in office, is a two-part process. The first part of impeachment happens in the House of Representatives. The House acts as a grand jury, surveying the evidence to decide if there is enough to officially charge the official with committing something illegal. If the house finds enough evidence, they will officially charge the official. That is the impeachment.

The second part of the process happens in the Senate. The Senate will hold a trial for the federal official to determine whether or not that official will be removed from office and potentially serve time in jail. The Senate, then, acts as the jury in the process.
Therefore, it is possible for a President to be impeached but not removed from office. We have had two Presidents impeached, but we have never removed a President from office.

Powers of the Senate -Approves Presidential Appointments Supreme Court justices, federal judges, ambassadors - checks and balances
The most recent major Presidential appointment was that of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. As with all Presidential appointments, John Roberts had to gain approval from the Senate. Why is it important for the Senate to approve all Presidential appointments and treaties? ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________

-Approves all Treaties -Acts as jury in Impeachment cases The impeachment trial occurs in the Senate

Other Limits -10th Amendment Reserved powers for the states Congress cannot interfere with reserved powers -Checks and Balances System Judicial can declare laws unconstitutional President can veto laws -Two Party System No real power for 3rd party groups

Why is it important to put limits on the laws Congress is able to pass? What is the Presidents role in checking Congressional power?

Congressional Rules

-Developed to help Congress operate

Everyone has a different opinion and different goals

-House has more rules than Senate

why??? More people in one space -Parliamentary Procedures both Houses of Congress use a formal system of debate which keeps the debate orderly

What do you think Congress would be like, and achieve, if there were not rules?

House Leaders
Leaders from majority party -Speaker of the House -basically runs the House of Representatives

Speaker of the House John Boehner

3rd in line to be President

-sets up the calendar and schedules bills for debate

Senate Leaders
-Vice President -official leader but only votes in a tie and is rarely present

-President Pro-Tempore
-mostly symbolic position given to the longest serving Senator from the majority party
Vice President Joe Biden is the official leader of the U.S. Senate. However, he rarely attends and only votes in a tie. Therefore, the President Pro Tempore, the day-to-day leader of the Senate, is Senator Daniel Inouye.

Congressional Leadership
-Majority Leader -each House chooses a leader of the majority party to be floor leader

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Party with most representation

-Minority Leader -each House picks a minority party member to its floor leader

House Minority Leader John Boehner

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Party with least representation -Party Whip -each party in each House has a Party Whip to keep track of voting on important issues Get party members to vote with the rest of the political party

House Majority Whip James Clyburn

Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin

Congressional Leadership House of Representatives

Speaker of the House Always from MAJORITY party Majority Leader Majority Party Whip
Majority Whip Team

Senate
Vice President Rarely attends and only votes in a tie President Pro Tempore Always from MAJORITY party, day-to-day leader

Minority Leader Minority Party Whip

Minority Whip Team

Majority Leader
Majority Party Whip
Majority Whip Team

Minority Leader
Minority Party Whip
Minority Whip Team

House Committee Chairpersons ALWAYS from majority party

Senate Committee Chairpersons ALWAYS from majority party

Staff Support
-personal staff of each member of Congress
Run home and D.C. offices -Committee staff who function as experts in the committees area Gather information for speeches and meetings -Library of Congress Congressional Research Office gathers facts/arguments for bills
The Library of Congress is an essential tool for Congressional operations. In researching new bills (also called legislation), the Library of Congress helps to gather historical facts, arguments, and old related bills for the discussion on the new bill.

-General Accounting Office investigates and reports on govt spending

Looks for ways to improve government spending

-Government Budget Office -predicts costs of govt programs

Committee Government
-developed committees to divide the work load of Congress Committee membership important to Representatives -standing committees-Permanent committees of Congress who study, revise, and pass legislation Continue from session to session education, commerce -select committees-committees which study more temporary problems in society -joint committees-committees which involve members of both Houses of Congress meeting together

Both houses of Congress operate in committee government as an attempt to divide the Congressional workload and achieve better and faster legislation.

Committee Membership -Based on seniority -Term that refers to how long a member has been in Congress and is important in assigning committee memberships -Party leaders make committee assignments

From majority and minority

-majority party of each house appoints the chairperson of each committee

Decide when committees will meet, what bills will be studied, and forms subcommittees