What’s their job?
Makes the laws
Origin?
Article 1 in the Constitution
Designed to be the strongest branch bc it’s the people’s branch, but in reality it’s not the strongest branch cuz they be indecisive
Consists of Congress, how many total members in Congress (HOR + Senate)
535 members
How many Senators?
100
How many representatives in the House?
435
HOR requirements and terms
- has to be 25 or older
- 2 year terms
- lower house
Senate requirements and terms
- upper house
- has to be 30 or older
- one third of seats go up every 2 years, so every senator goes up in 6 years
Legislation: Law-making Process
- An idea for change because of a problem
- Write a bill, get it sponsored by someone in Congress, get it on the agenda for the appropriate committee
- The bill is in the hopper, passes through the committee, and goes to the House (where it can be debated for 1 hour)
- It passes through the House, it then goes to the Senate (it can also start in the Senate and then go to the House but that’s less common) The Senate can debate it for as long as they wish
- Senate agrees → it goes to the President’s desk where he/she then signs it into law
Minority/Majority leaders are based on what?
Whether that party has the minority or majority in Congress
Majority or Minority leaders often have assistants called _____.
Whips
Senate vs HOR dynamic?
Senate is more relaxed bc less ppl
HOR needs more reprimanding (that’s why theres a speaker!) bc they be so many ppl
Current Minority whip
Scallse
Current Majority leader in Senate
Schumer
Current Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi
Current Majority leader in HOR
Hoyer
Current Minority leader in Senate
McConnel
Current Minority leader in HOR (will become the Speaker in Jan)
McCarthy
NJ’s representatives in Senate
Booker and Menendez
NJ’s D12 representative in the House
Bonnie Watson Coleman
T or F: The Speaker of the House is 3rd in line of Succession (Prez –> VPrez –> Speaker)
True
