2.2

• House Leadership


  • House of Representatives: Speaker of the House (Will be member of the majority party, creates committee assignments)
  • Senate: Vice President & President Pro Tempore (Will be member of the majority party)
• Committees


  • Smaller groups of legislators who debate on legislation
  • Standing Committees (Stands forever as they deal with persisting issues that are ALWAYS present, e.g. Appropriations Committee)
  • Joint Committees (Involves members from both houses)
  • Select Committees (A temporary committee that is formed for a specific purpose)
  • Conference Committees (Formed if both houses can't agree on the same bill)
• House Rules Committee


  • Gatekeeper for all legislation
  • If the House does not let a bill through for debate, it dies
  • Decides when votes take place & assigns bills to various committees for debate & revision
• Committee of the Whole

  Encourages for more debate and for debate to be done faster in the House
• Discharge Petition


  • Used to force a bill out of committee for debate
  • Majority vote
• Senate


  • Filibuster: An attempt to stall the passing of bills or kill bills by talking for a long time
  • Cloture Rule: Move to end a filibuster by three-fifths vote
  • Unanimous Consent: Call of agreement to all senators to restrict privileges for getting work done faster
• Bill → Law


  1. A bill can be sponsored from either the House or Senate

  2. As that bill is considered & debated, it often changes

  3. Pork Barrel Spending: Funds earmarked for a particular representative's district

  4. Once a bill comes out of committee, it goes to the floor for voting

  5. Can be affected by log-rolling: "I'll vote for your bill if you vote for mine"

  6. If a bill is passed by both Houses, it goes to the President for signing
• Types of Federal Spending

  • Mandatory Spending: Money the government has to allocate by law (e.g. Medicare & Medicaid)
  • Discretionary Spending: Money left over after the government does its mandatory spending, does not need to be allocated by law (e.g. human resources)
  • Deficit Spending: Spending more than what the government has (borrow funds or raise taxes)