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Congress
111th Congress Not only did the Democrats win the Presidency, they also increased their majorities in both Houses of Congress. As of August 2009, the 111th Congress had 258 Democrats and 178 Republicans with one vacancy. This is a gain of 24 seats. In the Senate, with two Independents voting with the Democrats, there were 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans. Republican Senator Ted Stevens lost narrowly in Alaska after he was convicted of campaign finance violations. The Senate seat in Wisconsin was not decided in favor of the Democrat Al Franken until June 30, 2009. Senator Joe Lieberman, now an Independent and who actively campaigned for John McCain, was allowed to remain within the Democratic Caucus and kept his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. The Republicans lost nine Senate seats in the 2008 election.
110th Congress During the Congressional elections of 2006 for the 110th Congress, the Democratic Party regained control of both Houses of Congress for the first time since the election of 1994 when they lost control of the House. They gained 33 seats in the House and picked up six in the Senate. The US House of Representatives will have 234 Democrats and 201 Republicans. The U.S. Senate will be comprised of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 2 Independents, both whom plan to caucus with the Democrats. The Democrats will have a 51-49 majority in the US Senate.
109th Congress In the 109th Congress, the Republicans continued to control the Presidency and both houses of Congress. They did so from January 2003 through January 2007. This has been the first time since the early days of President Dwight D. Eisenhower that Republicans have controlled both the Executive and the Legislative Branches of the U.S. Government. On January 4, 2005, when the 109th Congress convened, the Senate had 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 1 Independent who was aligned with the Democrats. The House of Representatives had 232 Republicans, 202 Democrats, and 1 Independent who was aligned with the Democrats. The Republicans have controlled House since the 104th Congress, which convened in January 1995. 108th Congress The 108th Congress convened on January 7, 2003. At that time, the Senate had 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The House of Representatives had 229 Republicans, 205 Democrats, and 1 Independent. The House
of Representatives. The Official Web Site of the U.S. House of Representatives is http://www.house.gov/
U.S. Senate Senators
must be at least thirty years old, citizens of the United States for at least
nine years, and must, at the time of their election, be inhabitants of the State
which they will represent. They do
not necessarily have to be residents of that state at the time of election. This makes the U.S. Senate a malapportioned or unrepresentative body. Until 1913 when the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was added, U.S. Senators were not even popularly elected. They were chosen by their respective State legislatures. Only as our Republic became more democratic did popular election procedures come to be applied to the Senate. The Official Web Site of the U.S. Senate is http://www.senate.gov/ Since U.S. Senators serve for six years, one third of the membership is elected every two years. U.S. Senators are grouped into three classes. Class 3 States have races for the U.S. Senate in 2010.
Organizational Structure of Congress Congress is organized on the basis of three overlapping principles: It is organized on the basis of our political parties. It is functionally organized on the types of legislation enacted. And Congress has its own leadership organization. Both the leadership organization and the committee organization of Congress are linked to the party organization. 1. Party Organization. Almost all members of Congress are elected on the basis of their political party affiliation. They run as either Republicans or Democrats. Third party candidates, who usually call themselves Independents, are rarely elected. Once elected, Congresspeople and Senators affiliate either with the Republican Conference or the Democratic Caucus. Both political parties have Policy Committees to help the parties make strategic and tactical decisions. Both parties also maintain Campaign Committees to help members gain re-election and to defeat Members of Congress from the other party. House and Senate maintain distinct committees. 2. Leadership Organization. Each political party elects its own leaders. These leaders become the leaders of the Congress. The party with the majority in the House or Senate had the Majority Leadership positions and the party with the minority in the House and Senate has the minority positions.
House Leadership:
Senate Leadership 3. Committee Organization. The actual work of Congress, both in the House and Senate, is done through committees. There are four types of committees: a) standing committees, b) select committees, c) joint committees, and d) conference committees. a. Standing Committees are the real workhorses of Congress. They are functionally organized in ways similar to the organization of the Executive Departments. All bills are submitted to standing committees and must go through these committees before being approved by the full House or Senate. b. Select Committees are created for special reasons to investigate some current issue or problem, which is not being handled by the regular standing committees. c. Joint Committees have members from both the House and Senate. They are created for either very important reasons such as the Joint Committee on Intelligence or very mundane reasons such as the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress. The need for secrecy motivates the first; its narrow significance the creation of the second. d. Conference Committees are created each time a bill is passed in different versions by the House and Senate. Conference Committees are designed to iron out the differences. Conference Committees have members from both House and Senate. They are, thus, a kind of joint committee, but they function only until a given bill is reconciled. Functions of Congress
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