The Party Whips

However, the House of Commons operates under a Whips system, whereby appointed MPs ensure that all members of a particular party vote in favour of their leaders decisions. This

The majority leader and the assistant floor leader are chosen by the majority party as well. The speaker of the House is important in the organization of the House, because they choose committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The president of the Senate is chosen by the majority party. Like the House, they appoint committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The minority party is not left out. They also have a caucus, and a minority leader and assistant floor leader are selected for both houses. The minority caucus also makes committee assignments for member of its’ party. The staffs of both houses are chosen by the majority party leadership and include the Senate secretary, assistant secretary, chief clerk, assistant chief clerk, chaplains, sergeant at arms, pages, and secretaries. Each house has a set of rules and procedures that are adopted at the beginning of each session. There also has to be a certain amount of members present, or quorum, in order to do business.

The Senate needs to ratify all laws by a two-third vote. The vice president who is the head of the Senate is not permitted to vote, but in case of a tie he is allowed to. The House of Representatives is made of 435 representatives, each is elected by his state and serve two years. The number of representatives depends on the state population. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate elect their own leaders; the part that controls the house, is called the majority leader while the other is called the minority leader.

It would be as foolish to assume that a committee can know and understand a full piece of legislation as it would be to assume that individual members of Congress would. For this purpose, subcommittees are formed. Subcommittees are a further delegation of tasking within the review of legislation. Valerie Heitshusen, an analyst on Congress wrote, “Most committees form subcommittees to share specific tasks within the jurisdiction of the full Committee” (Committee Types and Roles 3). Subcommittees are expected to present their finding on their assigned area of a bill. They, along with experts (witnesses) testify before the full committee on their findings. After the full committee considers the subcommittees’ findings, a vote is taken as to whether or not the bill goes to the chamber.

Some of the important people in the legislative branch is the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and the Senate Majority. The Speaker is the head of the House, they preside over the Majority Leader. As the Speaker is the highest in the House, they hardly vote or participate in debates. The president of the Senate is the vice president. The vice president presides over the Senate and votes only if there is a tie in the senate. Also, if the president were to die or become unable of being the president, the vice president takes over. Another important member in Congress is the Majority Leader, they are just under the Speaker of the House. The Majority Leader makes sure that no one in a party votes from something the party is against, or doesn’t agree with. These are some of the

The purpose of the legislative committee is to come up with a compromise when a bill is proposed to the Senate and House of Representatives. They decide if they go through with a bill or they don’t or if they need to make amendments to the bill and compromise with each other. There is a standing committee which is a permanent selection of people that has legislative jurisdiction they consider bills and issues then recommend any changes that they see need to be made. They have a responsibility to monitor agencies, programs and activities that are within their jurisdictions. The standing committees recommend funding levels, authorization for the government operations and for new and existing programs. The second committee is a select committee;

The Speaker of the House has a variety of responsibilities and duties, which include ruling on procedural matters, recognizing members during debates, sending bills in favor of the committee review, and appointing members to numerous committees. Moreover, in opposition to other state legislatures, The Texas House of Representatives, does not properly recognize the majority nor the minority leaders. The Democratic House Leader and the Republican Chairman, who are elected by their corresponding caucuses are the unofficial leaders.

The Committee chairpersons are the ones with the real power. There is an unwritten rule that the majority party member with the longest continuous service on a committee becomes chairperson when a vacancy occurs. The committee chairperson is the only one in the committee that actually has a real say in what is going on, and that opportunity is given to the one that has served his time the longest. However, that is no longer allowed. A historical event that has influenced Congress’s operations is the Legislation Reorganization act of 1970.This act ensures that there will be no more seniority because. Now a secret ballot elects them, however, the member with the most seniority usually wins anyway.

Shields of the filibuster alert against changing the framework, saying that the delay is a critical security of minority-gathering rights. They say the filibuster backtracks to the authors' desire to make a national government with deliberately built balanced governance and that increasing the procedure debilitates the very condition of American majority rules system. A few Republicans call the thought of demolishing the delay a Democratic power grab.

The Texas State Senate has 14 standing committees , 1 subcommittee and one select committee.

An important point made in Weissert and Weissert concerning Congress and its committee structure is that the majority of the work in Congress is done through committees. They perform the majority of research on issues and possible solutions, get legislation written, re-written and amended, and support it as it moves through Congress and finally gets passed. They are the “workhorses of the legislature” (Weissert and Weissert, 29).

These 435 seats are divided among the states every ten years. Representatives serve for two years at a time, and every second November there is a new election where they are chosen by the people in a direct election. (1) The House is required to choose a Speaker for itself who is in charge over the proceedings of the House and is the highest position in the House leadership. Other leadership positions are the Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Majority and Minority Whips. The Minority Leader would generally be the Speaker if his party were the majority.(1) The whips act as a median between the leadership and the other House members. The Senate is the Upper House and its members are called Senators. The qualifications for Senators are similar to those of house representatives, he or she must be 30 years old or older, must have been a U.S. citizen for nine years, and must live in the state they plan to represent.There is again no restriction of sex, race, class, social standing, or any other classification, for both a Senator or House representative . Each state has two Senators, no matter what the size of the state happens to be. A Senators term lasts six years and like the other house members every second November there is a new election. The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate but he is a non-voting member unless a vote of the Senate ends in a tie which causes him to cast the deciding vote. If the Vice President is not available

Firstly, there are standing committees. They are a permanent committee in house or senate that considers bills within a specific area. Each different committee is given a specific area of legislative policy jurisdiction. Members tend to seek committee seats that deal with matters of special interest to their constituents. There are select committees. It is a temporary legislative committee created for a limited time for a specific reason. They normally form to investigate public issues like aging. Another is joint committees. It is comprised of both Chambers of Congress. They can be permanent or temporary. They work with economy, tax, or Library of Congress. Conference Committees are formed to reach an agreement between the House and

The Organizational Structure of congress in the United Stated is demonstrated through the fact that we have a House and a Senate that are separated from each other. Congress is a very complex structure that possesses many committees that all handle a variety of topics. The United States Senate is composed of only 100 members that serve six year terms. Some refer to the senate as the “upper house”, and only 1/3 of the members of the United Senate are re-elected every two years. The House of Representatives is composed of 435 members that each serve two year terms. The HOR is known as the “lower house” and all 435 members are up for re-election every two years. The top two leadership roles in the Senate are The Vice President of the United States who presides over the Senate, and required to vote when there is a tie in Senate. Also in the case of a death of a president, the Vice president must step up and preside over the nation. The second most vital role in Senate is the President Pro-Tempore. The President Pro-Tempore is the highest ranked senator as elected by the Senate. The top two positions in the House are The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader. The Speaker of the House is arguably the most influential single legislator in both houses. The Speaker presides over proceedings on the House floor, designates which bills go to which committees, designates committee assignments for new members, appoints the party 's other leaders , and

The module goes on to address the changes made in the Congressional committee system. Committees are an integral part of our Congressional system without them in place the 435 members of the House and the 100 members of the Senate would be severely hindered in doing their job. Committees have been used in the Congress since the beginning at first the committees were ad hoc bodies put together to address issues and then reported back to their specific bodies as time went by permanent standing committees were formed. Over time members built careers within committees building seniority and power. “By the turn of the century, seniority had become such an iron-clad formula that in both House and Senate party leaders’ real discretion in committee assignments was limited primarily to new members.” (Loomis/Schiller p 156) The power amassed by committee chairmen began to rival party leadership and stifle junior members of committees. Both parties recognized that too much power rested with the chairpersons of committees and worked to place limits on this power and return it party leadership. The Democrat reforms occurred from 1959-1975 and included limiting the number of chairs a member could hold and fixed jurisdiction of subcommittees among other steps. The Republican changes reduced the number of staff personnel and did away with