Congress
This chamber of Congress has 435 members, with representation based on state population.
What is the House of Representatives?
This person is typically the leader of the majority party in the House and is the most powerful position in the House.
Who is the Speaker of the House?
These smaller groups within Congress do much of the work often around work with bills.
What are committees?
What is the first step when a member of Congress introduces a bill?
The bill is introduced/sponsored. In the House it is placed in the hopper; in the Senate, a Senator introduces it.
This term means the people represented by a member of Congress.
Who are constituents?
This chamber has 100 members, with each state receiving two representatives.
What is the Senate?
These congressional leaders help check votes, encourage members to attend votes, and make sure members of their party support the party's position.
Who are the Whips?
This type of committee is permanent and has a primary role in the lawmaking process.
What is a standing committee?
After a bill is introduced, it is usually sent to this type of committee for consideration.
What is a standing committee?
This congressional function involves monitoring and investigating how the executive branch carries out laws.
What is oversight?
Name two differences between the House and Senate.
The Vice President serves in this role in the Senate but is not considered a member of the Senate.
What is President of the Senate?
This type of committee is usually temporary and is created for a specific purpose, often to investigate an issue.
What is a select committee?
A committee does not want to move forward with a bill, so it simply holds onto it instead of sending it to the floor. What is this called?
What is pigeonholing a bill?
A citizen disagrees with how their Senator voted on a bill. Name one appropriate way the citizen could participate in the political process.
A Representative wants to speak at length during debate, but the House has strict rules limiting debate. A Senator wants to continue speaking for an extended period of time.
Which chamber provides greater opportunity for extended debate, and why?
The Senate, because Senate debate rules are more flexible and debate is nearly unlimited.
A bill has just been introduced in the Hopper. The Speaker sends it to the appropriate committee for consideration. What leadership responsibility is the Speaker using?
The Speaker can refer bills to committees.
The House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill. This temporary committee is created to work out the differences.
What is a conference committee?
The Senate is debating a bill and one Senator continues speaking in an attempt to delay or prevent a vote. What is this called, and what procedure can be used to end it?
A filibuster; cloture can be used to end it.
A bill passes the House but has not yet been sent to the President. What must happen before it can reach the President?
The Senate must consider and pass the bill. If the Senate passes a different version, the differences must be resolved through a conference committee before the final version can go to the President.
Explain why the Constitution created a bicameral Congress instead of making Congress one large group.
The House is designed around population and smaller constituencies, while the Senate gives equal representation to states and represents entire states. They also differ in term length and debate rules.
Explain one major difference between House and Senate leadership and why the two chambers need separate leadership structures.
Separate rules, votes, offices, and operations. Each chamber has its own leadership structure.
For example, the House has a Speaker, while the Senate has a President of the Senate, President Pro Tempore, and Majority/Minority Leaders.
Congress has hundreds of members. Explain two reasons why Congress uses committees rather than having the entire House or Senate work on every detail of every bill.
Committees:
The House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill. Put these events in the correct order:
A. President considers the bill
B. Conference committee works out differences
C. Both chambers pass different versions
D. Compromise version is created by both chambers
C → B → D → A
Congress passes a bill and sends it to the President. Name two possible actions the President can take and explain what happens to the bill in each situation.