Limits on the powers of congress

  The Constitution limits congressional power. The original articles of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights bar Congress from passing some types of laws. The First Amendment, for example, prevents Congress from creating a national religion. It also declares that Congress cannot infringe on certain basic freedoms such as freedom of the press, speech, association, and petition. The Eighth Amendment specifies that Congress cannot impose "cruel and unusual" penalties on law-breakers. Other amendments create basic rights for people accused of crimes and limit the government's power to take a citizen's property.

The judicial branch interprets laws, sometimes in ways not intended by Congress. The courts also shape laws by deciding whether they conform to the Constitution. This power, known as judicial review, is a powerful institutional check on Congress.

Perhaps the most substantial limit on Congress is the President's power to veto legislation, which Congress can override only by a two-thirds vote of both chambers. The President also has informal power over Congress. The power and prestige of the White House gives the President an edge over Congress in attracting public attention, so the President can often press Congress to accept legislative proposals. The President has no constitutional authority to compel Congress to consider a specific legislative agenda, but members of the House and Senate often propose legislation on the President's behalf. (1274)

TEXT 22 SENATE

The Senate includes two senators from each of the 50 states, elected for six-year terms. To be a senator, a person must be at least 30 years old, a citizen for nine years, and a resident of the state from which he or she is elected. Most members of Congress have served in state legislatures, city councils, or other elected bodies. Because of the high cost of conducting a congressional campaign, most successful candidates have incomes well above the national median.

The Constitution grants the Senate special powers not shared by the House. Only the Senate has the power to approve treaties proposed by the President. The chamber also has the sole authority to confirm the President’s choices for diplomats, federal judges, cabinet members, and other important federal officials. The Senate also conducts impeachment hearings against the President and federal judges, but only after the House has voted to proceed with impeachment.

Under the Constitution, the vice President of the United States has formal control of the Senate and is officially known as the President of the Senate. In practice, the vice President comes to the chamber only for important ceremonies and to cast tie-breaking votes. The Senate’s majority party appoints its most senior member to assume the vice President’s leadership duties, taking the title President pro tem⁴. This office is also primarily ceremonial. Normally, recently-elected senators—sometimes called junior senators—take turns presiding over the Senate, aided by experts in Senate procedure called parliamentarians.

Most Senate power rests in the hands of the floor leaders⁵—that is, the leaders of the majority and minority parties. Floor leaders and their assistants, known as whips, try to organize members' support behind their party's legislative program. The floor leaders and whips also arrange the Senate schedule, make procedural motions to support or block legislation, and try to prevent the Senate from taking action that absent senators might find objectionable. These leaders also head up key party committees, make appointments to special committees, and speak to the news media on behalf of their parties.

The Senate is organized into 16 permanent committees and nearly 70 subcommittees. These committees and subcommittees hold hearings, conduct research, and supervise the executive branch. Key committees include the Appropriations⁶, Budget, and Finance Committees, and those specializing in agriculture, armed services, banking, commerce, and foreign affairs. The committees and subcommittees make many of the Senate's most important legislative decisions. The average senator sits on three or four committees and about six subcommittees, so most senators work on a wide range of issues. In addition to their committee work, senators often try to affect legislation being considered by committees on which they do not serve.

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TEXT 23 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The 435 House seats are divided among the states in proportion to each state's population. Every state is guaranteed at least one seat. States entitled to more than a single seat must create districts of roughly equal population from which members are elected. The United States Bureau of the Census counts the population of the states every ten years to determine how many seats each state is entitled to. Representatives, elected for two-year terms, must be 25 years old, a citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the state from which they are elected. Five additional members—from Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia—represent their constituencies in the House but do not vote in the chamber.

The House enjoys the sole authority to propose tax legislation, but the Senate must approve tax bills as they would any other type of legislation. By tradition, all bills funding government activities also originate in the House. The House also has the power to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President and other federal officials, but the Senate conducts the actual impeachment trials.

The Speaker of the House leads the House of Representatives, scheduling debates, assigning bills to House committees, and appointing members to special committees. The majority party nominates the Speaker, who is then confirmed by a vote of the entire House, which almost always follows party lines. Because of the office's extensive powers, the Speaker stands as the most visible and important figure on Capitol Hill, and one of the most powerful leaders in the country.

Speaker manages House business more tightly than is possible in the Senate. Members of the House can address the chamber only when the Speaker recognizes them (calls on them), and the Speaker also has strong influence on committee appointments. Within limits, the speaker can block a bill by sending it to a committee likely to vote down the proposal, or the Speaker can support a bill by directing it to a receptive committee. The Speaker can also kill a bill by choosing not to put it on the House schedule for a vote. The Senate's floor leaders, in contrast, must rely much more on consensus and persuasion to manage Senate business.

As in the Senate, the House's majority and minority parties each choose floor leaders and whips to organize party members. Party committees plan party policy and recommend members for committee assignments.

The House has 19 committees. Most of these committees in turn have subcommittees to consider narrower topics. The average House member works on two committees and three subcommittees. Because of the House's large size, its committees usually frame issues for debate in the chamber. In contrast, major issues are sometimes shaped by the Senate as a whole. The House as a body usually defers to decisions made by individual committees, making House committees even more powerful than those in the Senate.

The majority party dictates how many majority and minority members sit on each committee. The political parties decide which committees their representatives will sit on. The most sought-after⁷ committees are Appropriations, Ways and Means⁸ Transportation, Commerce, and Rules⁹ .

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TEXT 24 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS  

Each Congress proposes thousands of new laws, but only a small percentage win the approval of both chambers and the President. At every stage of the lawmaking process, these proposals are amended, modified, and refined. To become law, a measure must make it through committee and floor debates¹⁰, win the support of important interest groups, gain a majority of votes in the two chambers, and then win the President's signature.

Proposing New Laws  

Only a member of the House or Senate can sponsor new laws. Members of Congress sometimes sponsor legislation at the request of the President. They also sponsor bills requested by interest groups, businesses, labor unions, and many other groups. Sometimes identical or similar bills are introduced simultaneously in each chamber. A bill's backers may try to find additional members to cosponsor the legislation to demonstrate its broad support. To introduce a bill, a member hands it to the Senate clerk or puts it in the House hopper¹¹ (a mahogany box at the Speaker's podium). The bill is then assigned a number, such as HR 205 (House of Representatives number 205) or S 100 (the 100th bill introduced into the Senate during the session).

Most proposals are public bills, which means that they apply to large classes of people. Members of Congress may also sponsor private bills, which affect small numbers of people and often involve immigration status, patents, or claims against the government. A bill, whether public or private, must pass both chambers in identical form to become law. Congress also passes joint resolutions¹², often to enact temporary legislation such as short-term budget extensions. Joint resolutions have the force of law when signed by the President or when passed over the President's veto. Congress sometimes expresses its opinions through concurrent resolutions¹³, which do not require the President’s approval and do not carry the force of law. In 1998, for example, more than three dozen senators sponsored a concurrent resolution that condemned Iraq's "continued threat to international peace and security." If both chambers approve a concurrent resolution, it is published by the archivist of the United States. The House or the Senate can vote on its own to pass a simple resolution¹⁴, which affects only the chamber that passes it.

Of the thousands of bills and resolutions proposed in each session of Congress, less than 10 percent are approved by both chambers and signed by the President. Many measures fail because they are seen as too extreme or because they are not seen as addressing pressing issues. Members of Congress sometimes propose laws they know have little chance of enactment, usually to draw attention to a problem, to stake out their position, or to curry favor with an interest group. Years or even decades may pass before public or group support pushes the bill to enactment.

The Committee System

 Congress conducts most of its work through two major types of committees. The most common are standing committees, which are usually permanent. Each standing committee takes responsibility for a particular subject area. Congress creates temporary committees, usually called select or special committees, to write bills on a particular topic or to conduct investigations. Both chambers, for example, have select committees to authorize and oversee the nation's intelligence-gathering operations, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency.

Most standing committees have the power only to authorize government action and cannot commit funding to implement the policy. Before most laws can be carried out, they must receive an appropriation of funding from the House and Senate appropriations committees. This occurs during Congress's annual budget process. The amount of money in the budget depends on the level of taxes and other revenues brought in by law processed by the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Much of a committee's work is handled by a sizable number of professional staff assistants. In 1996 there were nearly 1200 House committee aides and more than 800 Senate committee aides. Some of the staff are experts in technical areas, such as military weapons, farming, and international finance. They guide lawmakers—especially those who are new or inexperienced—through the web of issues handled by the committee.

After a bill is introduced, the presiding officer—the Speaker of the House or the President pro tem of the Senate—refers it to a specialized committee to review the measure. Most bills die at this stage when committee members vote to take no action or to table¹⁵ the proposal. Most committees conduct much of their business through subcommittees, in which the subject matter of the committee is further broken down. Complex bills receive attention from several committees and subcommittees. A farm trade bill, for example, might be considered by the House's Agriculture, Commerce, and Small Business Committees.

Committee review of a bill may involve hearings, staff research, revision, amendments, and then a final recommendation to approve or reject the measure. Hearings sometimes highlight support for a measure, but they can also point out flaws and spark conflicts within Congress and the country at large. Hearings usually affect the committee's main decision, whether to report (recommend) the bill to the full chamber or to reject it entirely. Very few bills are sent to the full chamber without changes.

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Final Action on Bills  

Once a committee reports a bill or resolution, it must be placed on the Senate or House agenda before the chamber can vote on the measure. Treaties and presidential nominations for federal offices reported by Senate committees must also be put on the agenda for a vote. The Senate has a simple scheduling system, with two calendars¹⁶. The main Senate calendar, called the Calendar of General Orders, includes all public and private bills. The other Senate calendar, the Executive Calendar, is set aside for treaties and nominations proposed by the President. As in the House, the Senate passes many routine bills with the agreement of all members, using a procedure called unanimous consent. In addition, Senate leaders often seek consensus among senators concerning the arrangements of debate for controversial bills.

Without a unanimous consent agreement, the Senate must debate and vote on a bill under rules that permit all senators virtually unlimited debating time. Even a small number of senators can use this rule to filibuster¹⁷ - to block a measure by speaking on the Senate floor for hours or even days on end. Filibusters can be halted by invoking cloture¹⁸ (closure), which requires a petition signed by 16 senators followed by a three-fifths vote of all senators. Because of the flexibility of the Senate's debating rules, a bill's sponsors usually try to postpone a vote until they have secured a unanimous consent agreement, which is sometimes called a time agreement because it limits the time for debate. Failing that, a bill's sponsors will try to ensure that an overwhelming number of their colleagues want the bill to be considered by the chamber.

The House deliberates much faster. Nearly two-thirds of all House measures are approved through two mechanisms: unanimous consent and suspension¹⁹ of the rules, a procedure that passes bills quickly but requires approval of two-thirds of the chamber. Controversial bills (about one in every ten) are considered under a special rule granted by the House Rules Committee. Approved by the full chamber, these rules govern floor debate—setting time limits, limiting amendments, and sometimes barring objections to portions of the bills. Dominated by the leaders of the majority, the Rules Committee tries to arrange debate that favors the majority view of the legislation.

The bill's managers—its sponsors or senior committee supporters—control House floor debate. These managers allocate debating time to strong supporters of the measure and other allies who ask to address the House. Leading opponents of a measure allocate the opposition's speaking time. Debates change few minds and are usually directed at the news media and outside observers. In exchanges called colloquies²⁰, members question one another to place their views on the public record.

Finally, members vote on amendments and final passage of the bill. The Senate has almost 700 votes in every Congress, and the House of Representatives has more than 500. Voting may be by voice, by division (standing to indicate support or opposition), or by individually recorded votes. Most important votes are recorded individually.

When a bill is approved on the floor of one chamber of Congress, it passes over to the second chamber for consideration. The bill again faces introduction, committee referral, committee action, placement on the calendar, floor debate, and floor vote²¹. If the bill passes the second chamber in original form, it is sent to the President for signature or veto. If the President vetoes a measure, Congress can override the veto only through a two-thirds vote of both chambers.

If the second chamber modifies the bill in any way, it must then be sent back to the first chamber. Sometimes sending the bill back and forth results in an agreement by both chambers. Or the chambers will create a conference committee²², which brings together members of both chambers. The conference committee tries to agree on a compromise bill that is acceptable to both the House and the Senate. The bill produced by the conference committee must then be approved by both chambers, and then sent to the President. (3499)

TEXT 25 INFLUENCES ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Of all the branches of government, Congress is the most open to pressures of all kinds. Four main sources of influence on Congress are political parties, the President, interest groups, and public opinion.

Political Parties

  Most lawmakers have long-term attachments to the Democratic or Republican parties. It is possible to run for Congress as an independent, but few have been elected. In recent decades, only one true independent, Bernard Sanders of Vermont, has won election to Congress, first winning his House seat in 1990.

Congress is organized and led by its political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. Even before newly elected members arrive on Capitol Hill, they are likely to have received their party's help in running and financing their campaigns. In both chambers, parties award committee assignments to their members. The majority party provides chairpersons for all the committees and subcommittees. In the House, the majority party draws up the rules and dictates the party balance of committees. These powers to organize House business gives the parties power over individual members. The majority and minority party leaders, although less partisan than the House, lead the Senate.

Members tend to make legislative votes along party lines²³. In the 104th Congress (1995-1996), for example, more than six out of every ten floor votes in the House and Senate were party-line votes in which a majority of Democrats opposed a majority of Republicans. The average Republican lawmaker followed his or her party on nine out of ten floor votes; the average Democrat, on eight out of ten.

The President

 Beginning with George Washington, virtually all Presidents have tried to influence lawmaking on Capitol Hill. Presidents shape the legislative agenda, and they try to persuade members of Congress to support particular bills. Presidents prevail on about three-fourths of the House and Senate votes on which they take a position. Some Presidents—for example, Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s—enjoy extraordinary success in steering their proposals through Congress.

Presidents do better with members of their own party than with opposition party members. As a result, the best predictor of a President's success on Capitol Hill is the numerical strength of the President's party in Congress. Shifts of party control on Capitol Hill can dramatically change a President's fortunes. For example, President Bill Clinton's legislative success rate with the 103rd Congress (1993-1994), when his fellow Democrats controlled both chambers, was the best in nearly 30 years. After the Republicans captured Congress in 1994, Clinton's success rate fell to a modern-day low.

A President's skill at dealing with members of Congress can determine the fate of bills whose legislative support is unclear. Some Presidents, such as Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, work closely with members of Congress. Others, such as Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, seem ill at ease and ineffective in contacting lawmakers.

Presidents can also veto (reject) legislation that has been passed by Congress. When both houses approve a bill or resolution and send it to the President's desk, the President has ten days to sign it into law or return it to Congress. If the President fails to either sign or return the measure within ten days, it becomes law anyway—unless Congress is out of session. If the President opts not to act on a bill for ten days after Congress has finished its session, it is automatically vetoed. This is known as a pocket veto²⁴.

On average, Presidents veto about 5 percent of the measures sent to the White House, but this varies with different presidential administrations. The veto's most potent use is as a threat. As a bill wends its way through the House and Senate, its sponsors want to know whether or not the President is likely to sign it. Congress can override a presidential veto only through a vote of two-thirds of both chambers. This high threshold makes overrides quite rare—only about 4 percent of presidential vetoes are successfully overcome by Congress. Because of the difficulty in overriding a veto, a bill's sponsors try to secure the President's support before Congress votes on the measure.

The veto is a blunt tool because Presidents must either accept or reject the entire contents of a bill, which may include hundreds or even thousands of provisions. This is especially true of federal spending bills, which are usually made up of thousands of line items (entries for individual programs) and their corresponding funding limits. In 1996 Congress passed the Line-Item Veto Act, which gave the President the power to veto individual items in funding or tax bills. In 1998, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the act was unconstitutional

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