House and Senate Legislative Process Exam 2

• The legislative process within the House and Senate is the focus of this chapter

Objectives.

• An explanation of the differences between the two chambers according to how floor procedures work.
• A discussion of how the House and Senate operated in past eras, and how those operations have changed in recent years.
• The stages of floor consideration in the House and Senate are traced.

DACA

• Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals

House Vs Senate, Areas of Difference

• After committees have considered bills the areas of difference emerge
• The House is rules-oriented to achieve a reasonable consensus
• The Senate is a deliberative body with an emphasis on debate which makes outcomes less certain
• Floor procedures, constituencies, Size of each chamber, and length of terms and minimum age are all areas of difference

Roots of House and Senate floor procedure

• Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution allows each house to determine the rules of its proceedings
• Four main design aspects affect and differentiate house operations: Constituencies, size, length of service, and age

Constituencies: House

• Size is determined by population
• Popular election meant close ties to constituencies

Constituencies: Senate

• Framers wanted to remove popular pressure and focus on lawmaking
• State legislatures originally had the power to select senators
• There were also more diverse constituencies, with states rather than districts

Size: House

• Size meant to expand with population growth
• The first congress had 65 members
• Since 1913 by law there are 435 members

Size: Senate

• 1789 had 26 members.
• 1835 had 50 members.
• 1959 saw 100 members when Hawaii and Alaska joined the union.

Length of Service: House

• Elections every two years are designed to keep representatives connected to constituents

Length of Service: Senate

• Longer terms allow members to provide leadership, stability, and independence from popular opinion
• Staggered elections separate senators into three distinct election classes.
• Continuity could provide leadership in times of crisis

Age: House

• Members must be 25 years old, up from 21 years old

Age: Senate

• Members must be 30 years old
• Senatorial trust requires a greater extent of information and stability of character

How the Chambers Operate Today

• Several factors contribute to how the two chambers operate today, including Partisan polarization and the rise of Congress majorities
• Congressional districts have become less competitive in the general election due to self-sorting resulting in politically homogenous regions
• House and Senate elections have become nationalized, therefore Encouraging more ideologically driven behavior by members of Congress

Moving Bills from Committee to the Floor: formal path

• Uses calendar system

Moving Bills from Committee to the Floor: less formal path

• Taken by consensual or privileged legislation and Controversial or higher-profile legislation

Complicated or Major Legislation: In the House

• Relies on majoritarian procedures
• A Special Rule defines the terms and conditions of floor debate
• The form of the resolution can be Open, Modified or Structured, or Closed

Calendars: Senate

• Has two calendars including Calendar of Business for legislation reported by committees and Executive Calendar for executive branch nominees and treaties

Calendars: House

• Has four calendars including Union Calendar for tax, authorization, and appropriations measures, House Calendar for other public bills and resolutions, and Private Calendar for measures affecting specific individuals
• The Consensus Calendar (2019) is used to move legislation with broad support to the top of the floor agenda even if it has not been reported by committee

Consensual or Privileged Legislation: House

• The Speaker may permit a member to make a motion that a bill pass under suspension of the rules.
• This is an expedited procedure for less controversial matters that limits debate to 40 minutes and prohibits amendments,
• Requires 2/3rds majority for adoption reserved for legislation with high levels of support

Consensual or Privileged Legislation: Senate

• There is no suspension process, so it passes more trivial and consensual legislation by simple unanimous consent agreements (UCAs)
• The majority Leader can do this with the cooperation of the other members but is reserved for issues of relatively little importance
• It permits senators to pass a package of noncontroversial bills all at once

Consensual or Privileged Legislation: Both Chambers

• These matters are called up for consideration at almost any time without special permission, agreements, or calendars
• This Includes budget resolutions and appropriations legislation, ethics resolutions, veto messages from the president, reports from conference committees, and special rules regarding the consideration of bills in the House

Skirting Committees in the House

• Discharge petition is a procedure that extracts a bill from an unwilling committee and allows it to be considered by the chamber
• Requires the signature of an absolute majority (218), Therefore Seen as hostile to the jurisdictional authority of a committee and its chair
• The threat of filing is often enough to induce the committee to act

Debate and Amendments in the House

• The Speaker normally recognizes a majority-party member of the Rules Committee which explains the special rule defining the potential limitations on debate and amendments
• After no more than an hour's debate, they vote to either adopt the rule and proceed with consideration of the bill or reject it and thus kill the bill before the chamber even gets started
• It is uncommon for majority-party members to vote against a special rule, Seen as a rejection of the leadership's agenda

Debate and Amendments in the House part 2

• After adopting the rule, the House proceeds to debate under regular rules of procedure of one-hour rule, This restricts the length of the debate, the order of voters, and the opportunity for amendments
• The House frequently uses the Committee of the Whole (COW) – the entire chamber acts as a committee for consideration of the bill, Which allows for a smaller quorum size, or number of members that must be present to do business
• Generally provides each member with five minutes of debate time on amendments and debate is controlled by floor managers as well

Debate and Amendments in the House part 3

• At the end of a bill consideration, the COW will "rise and report,” returning to formal House rules
• Final stages often entail an initial “motion to recommit" to the originating committee, if passed the motion would kill the bill
• Most bills aren't recommitted and thus the House proceeds to vote on adopting the bill

Unanimous Consent Agreements in the Senate

• These agreements allows the Senate to avoid chamber rules that would otherwise bog it down, and are the result of negotiation between majority and minority leaders with input from partisan leadership of the relevant committees
• Less restrictive rules and modification helps the chamber complete the necessary legislation.
• Provides senators with knowledge of schedule
• UCA's require unanimity with any senator being able to object (refuse to grant consent) giving them considerable power

Unanimous Consent Agreements in the Senate part 2

• Bill sponsors resolve resistance by negotiating with lawmakers to accommodate demands and accept the chamber is at an impasse and move on to other legislation
• A two-track system allows two or more pieces of legislation to be considered at the same time

Withholding Consent

• Senators can withhold consent with filibusters or holds

Filibuster

• Any tactic that blocks a measure on the Senate floor from coming to a vote due to chamber rules requiring the presiding officer to recognize all senators wishing to speak
• Once recognized, the senator may speak at length, without yielding the floor while remaining standing and speaking continuously and maintaining a quorum

Hold, or Silent Filibuster

• An informal version of the filibuster, not specifically in chamber rule, and is a Senator's intention to object to any unanimous consent requestion for consideration of the measure and is Recognized by the majority leader on less salient legislation
• The Holder's name is kept secret; Party leaders keep “hold lists” and never release them to the public
• Since 2007, only lasts six days, BUT two or more senators can go back and forth with a “rolling hold" that keeps their names secret

Cloture

• A super majoritarian threshold allows the chamber to move beyond most blocks and a Cloture petition can be filed with the signature of 16 members and 3/5 of the members, or 60 senators
• On the second calendar day after the petition is filed, a roll call vote on the cloture motion is triggered, motion is not debatable,
• If invoked, This completely terminates the matter while limiting addition debate to 30 hours and keeps only germane amendments in order

Amendments in the Senate

• Once a bill reaches the Senate floor, it is open to amendments at any time, but their boundaries are defined by UCA.
• Boundaries can also by defined by germaneness provisions of a cloture motion

Methods for amending a bill

• There are multiple including: To Change the text of the bill (first-degree amendment), Change the text of the amendment (second-degree amendment), Striking language from the bill, Inserting new language into a bill, and Replacing the entire text of a bill with new language

Conference Committee

• The difference between chapters is that Members of the originating House and Senate panels negotiate differences in the two chambers' version after they have passed them
• Once an agreement is struck, the conferees bring the bill back to their respective chambers as a conference report, with only the potential for an As a take-or-leave-it proposal, with no amendments allowed