Problems in American Democracy Part 82

13. The war powers of Congress. (Any standard text on American government.)

14. The taxing power of Congress. (Any standard text on American government.)

15. Other financial powers of Congress. (Any standard text on American government.)

16. The power to regulate commerce. (Any standard text on American government. An excellent reference is Munro, _The Government of the United States_, chapter xvii.)

17. The postal powers of Congress. (Young, _The New American Government and its Work_, chapter xiii.)

18. The control of Congress over territories. (Kimball, _The National Government of the United States_, chapter xxii. See also any other standard work on American government.)

FOR CLa.s.sROOM DISCUSSION

19. Direct versus indirect election of Senators.

20. To what extent, if to any, should Congressmen consider the needs of their local district as of more importance than the needs of the nation as a whole?

21. Should the interval between the election of Representatives and the meeting of Congress be shortened?

22. Should we retain equal representation of states in the Senate, or should this principle be discarded as "undemocratic"?

CHAPTER XLIII

CONGRESS IN ACTION

A. ORGANIZATION OF CONGRESS

548. CONGRESSIONAL SESSIONS.--The Federal Const.i.tution requires Congress to a.s.semble at least once a year, and Congress has provided that the date of meeting shall be the first Monday in December. In addition to such special sessions as may be called either by the President or by Congress itself, there are two regular sessions. One of these is the long session, from December of each odd year until Congress adjourns, generally sometime during the following summer. The other is the short session, beginning when Congress a.s.sembles in December of each even year, and ending at noon on the 4th of March following.

The two houses of Congress jointly fix the time for adjournment, but in case they cannot agree upon this point, the President has the right to adjourn them to such time as he thinks fit. During the congressional session, neither house may, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses are sitting. Since 1800 congressional sessions have regularly been held at Washington, D. C., the National capital.

549. INTERNAL ORGANIZATION.--Each house of Congress has the right to determine its own rule of practice, punish members for disorderly conduct, and, by a two-thirds vote, expel a member. Members guilty of acts of violence or abusive language may be punished by a vote of censure, or may be obliged to apologize to the house. For the commission of a grave offense, a Congressman may be expelled from the house to which he was elected.

The Const.i.tution requires that "each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered upon the journal." The object of this is to secure a permanent record of legislative action, as well as publicity of proceedings. The vote by yeas and nays fixes responsibility for his vote upon each member by making it a matter of public record. The _Congressional Record_, an official account of Congressional debates and proceedings, appears daily during Congressional sessions. This is supposedly a verbatim report of what is said in each house, but as a matter of fact members are allowed to edit and revise their remarks before these are printed. In the case of the House, many of the published speeches have never been delivered at all.

550. THE OFFICERS OF CONGRESS.--In the House of Representatives the chief officer is the Speaker, or presiding officer. The Speaker is chosen from the membership of the House by that body itself. As will be pointed out shortly, this officer is an important personage.

In the Senate the Vice President of the United States acts as the presiding officer. In the absence of the Vice President, or in case that officer succeeds to the Presidency, the Senate itself chooses a president _pro tempore_ to occupy the chair. The presiding officer of the Senate is much less powerful than the Speaker of the House, indeed he is little more than a chairman or moderator.

There are a number of additional officers of Congress, who are chosen by the respective houses from outside their own membership. These officers include a clerk, who in the Senate is called the secretary; the door-keeper; the sergeant-at-arms; the postmaster; and the chaplain. Nominally these officers are chosen by each house, but as a matter of practice the choice is made by the caucus of the majority party, which is held a few days before the organization of each house.

551. THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.--A few days before the organization of the House, the caucus of the majority party settles upon its choice for Speaker. The candidate chosen invariably receives the solid vote of his party in the House, since it is a rule of the caucus that party members who take part in its discussions must abide by its decisions.

As chairman of the House, the Speaker performs the customary duties of a presiding officer. He opens and closes the sittings of the House, maintains order, and decides questions of parliamentary law. The Speaker acts as the official representative of the House in its collective capacity, and authenticates all official proceedings by his signature. It is he who announces the order of business, states the question, and announces the vote. He also has the right to appoint the chairman of the committee of the whole. The Speaker takes part in debate and may also vote.

552. POWER OF THE SPEAKER OVER LEGISLATION.--In addition to performing the customary duties of a presiding officer, the Speaker possesses important powers over legislation. The imperfect organization of the House, and its lack of effective leadership, as well as the vast amount of business coming before it, have tended to centralize much of the legislative power of the House in the hands of this officer.

The Speaker of the House has the power to determine to which committee a bill shall be referred. Thus he may determine the fate of a measure by sending it to a committee which he knows to be hostile to the bill, or to a friendly committee, just as he likes.

It is the Speaker who decides when a member is ent.i.tled to the floor, and no motion or speech can be made except by a member who has been duly recognized by the chair. There are a number of unwritten rules in this regard, but in the last a.n.a.lysis the Speaker may recognize only persons whom he desires to have speak. Thus Congressmen who are not of the Speaker's party may be kept from making themselves heard upon important measures. When a bill is before the House, the chairman of the committee in charge of the measure usually hands the Speaker a list of Congressmen who are to be heard upon the floor. By recognizing only those whose names appear on this list, the Speaker may confine the discussion to members who are favored by himself and his party.

The Speaker has the power to decide points of order, and otherwise to deal with such obstructions to legislative business as the filibustering tactics of the minority party. Often this power is exercised in connection with the quorum. The quorum or number of members who must be present in order that business may be transacted, is fixed by the Const.i.tution as a majority of each house. Formerly it was the habit of minority members to remain silent at roll-call, so that if several members of the majority party were absent, it might be that no quorum would appear. In such a case legislative business would be blocked. But in 1890 Speaker Reed adopted the practice, since become invariable, of counting as present members actually in the House, whether or not they respond to their names at roll-call. The Speaker also checks filibustering by disregarding all motions and appeals which he thinks are made simply for the purpose of obstructing legislative business.

553. THE COMMITTEE ON RULES.--Of great importance in the House is the committee on rules. This committee has the power to decide upon the order for considering bills, and to determine the length of debates.

It also determines the time when the vote shall be taken. This it does by "reporting a rule," that is to say, by presenting a report as to the time and conditions under which the House shall consider a measure. This report takes precedence over all other business. Thus the fate of a bill may be determined by the committee on rules.

Previous to 1910 this committee consisted of the Speaker, and two majority and two minority members named by the Speaker. But in the 61st Congress, there occurred what has been called the "revolution of 1910." This "revolution" opposed Speaker Cannon's policy of using for personal and partisan purposes his power to appoint the other members of the committee on rules. As the result of a violent agitation the House finally placed marked restrictions upon the Speaker's control over the committee. The membership of the committee on rules was increased, first to ten, and then to twelve. Of these twelve members eight belong to the majority party and four are minority members. The committee is no longer chosen by the Speaker, but is selected by the House itself. The Speaker is even excluded from membership in the committee.

554. THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE SYSTEM. [Footnote: For a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the committee system see Chapter x.x.xVI.]--In both houses of Congress the a.s.sembly is divided into a number of committees, each of which is charged with the consideration of legislation dealing with particular subjects.

Previous to 1911 the Speaker appointed all House committees, but since that date all committees have been chosen by the House as a body, though in practice the decisions are made by the caucuses of the majority and minority parties, held just before the organization of the House. Similarly, the Senate chooses its own committees from lists drawn up by the caucuses of the two political parties. In either house, the minority party has such representation upon committees as the majority party chooses to allow. There are in the House more than fifty of these committees, while in the Senate the number is even larger. In the House of Representatives the more important committees are those on rules, ways and means, appropriations, judiciary, banking and currency, interstate and foreign commerce, and rivers and harbors.

B. THE MAKING OF A FEDERAL LAW [Footnote: A more detailed account of the law-making process may be found in Reed, _Form and Functions of American Government_, Chapter XXII.]

555. HOW LEGISLATION IS INITIATED.--The course of congressional legislation may be ill.u.s.trated by following a bill through the House of Representatives.

Any member of the House may introduce a bill by filing it with the clerk. The t.i.tle of the bill is printed in the _Journal and Record_, this const.i.tuting a first "reading." The bill is then delivered to the Speaker, who refers it to the proper committee. Once a bill has been pa.s.sed to the committee its fate rests largely with that body.

The committee may confer with certain administrative officers, listen to individuals interested in the subject, summon and examine other persons, and then reach a decision upon the bill. The committee may amend the bill as it pleases. If unfavorable to the measure, the committee may report it adversely, or too late for legislative action.

Indeed, it may even fail to report it at all. Theoretically the House may overrule the committee's decision on a bill, but so generally are the committee's recommendations followed by the House that the adverse action of the committee virtually kills a bill.

556. THE BILL IS REPORTED TO THE HOUSE.--Let us suppose that the committee reports the bill back to the House. The measure is then placed upon a calendar and here awaits its turn, unless the committee on rules sees fit to direct the immediate attention of the House to it. The second reading is an actual and full reading of the bill for the purpose of allowing amendments to be offered. After the second reading, which may result in the adoption of amendments, the Speaker puts the motion, "Shall the bill be engrossed and read a third time?"

Debate is then in order. If the vote which follows is in the affirmative, the bill is read a third time, but only by t.i.tle. The question of pa.s.sage is put by the Speaker immediately after the third reading.

557. DEBATE UPON THE BILL.--Debate in the House of Representatives has little influence upon most bills, the fate of a measure being practically determined by the committee considering it. Most speeches are frankly intended for political purposes, and for circulation in the Congressional Record, rather than as actual and positive influences upon the bill which is being discussed.

Debate in the House is limited in several ways. No member may spend more than an hour in debate upon any question, except the member in charge of the bill. This member may have an additional hour at the close. In the committee of the whole, speeches are limited to five minutes. No member may speak more than once on the same subject without special permission from the chair. The single exception to this rule is the member who has introduced the bill. Before debate begins, the chairman of the committee in charge of the bill arranges, in consultation with the Speaker, a list of members who are to be heard upon the bill. No other members are ordinarily recognized by the Speaker in the ensuing debate.

After a certain amount of discussion the member in charge of the bill will generally move the previous question in order to cut short the debate and bring the House to a direct vote upon the question.

558. THE VOTE.--In the House voting may be by any one of three methods. Voting may be by "sound of voices." In this case the Speaker calls in turn for the "ayes" and "noes," and decides by the volume of the sound whether the motion has been carried or lost. This is usually the method first employed, but either of the other two methods may be demanded before or after voting by sound of voices has been employed.

Voting may be by tellers. When this is decided upon the members pa.s.s between tellers appointed by the Speaker--those in the affirmative first--and are counted. This method requires the demand of one fifth of a quorum.

Voting may be by yeas and nays. In this event, the clerk calls the roll and each member, as his name is reached, answers "aye" or "no,"

the vote then being recorded. The Const.i.tution provides that one fifth of the members present may demand the yeas and nays. Since it takes a long time to call the roll of the House, demands for roll-calls are frequently employed by minorities with the intent of obstructing legislative business.

559. THE BILL GOES TO THE SENATE.--A bill defeated in the House never reaches the Senate, of course.

But if it receives a majority vote in the House, it is engrossed and sent to the Senate. Here the bill goes through practically the same stages as in the House. [Footnote: In the Senate, however, debate is unlimited.]If the Senate rejects the bill, the measure is dead. If the Senate pa.s.ses the bill without amendment, it is returned to the House, and enrolled on parchment for signature by the President. If the Senate amends the bill, the bill and the attached amendments are returned to the House. If the House disagrees with the proposed changes, it may either ask for an inter-house conference, or it may simply send a notice of its disagreement to the Senate. In the latter case, the Senate either reconsiders its amendments, or asks for a conference. In case of a conference, each house appoints an equal number of "managers," who arrive at some sort of compromise, and embody this in a report. This report is acted upon by each house in separate session.

560. THE BILL GOES TO THE PRESIDENT.--Bills killed in Congress never reach the President, but a measure duly approved by both houses is then sent to the chief executive for his approval. If he signs it, the bill becomes law. If he does not approve it, he may return it with his objections to the house in which it originated. If this house votes for the pa.s.sage of the measure by a two-thirds majority, and if this action is concurred in by the other house, the measure becomes law over the veto of the President. If the President neither signs nor returns the measure within ten days, it automatically becomes law.

However, measures reaching the President during the last ten days of the congressional session become law only if signed by him. His failure to sign a bill reaching him under these circ.u.mstances const.i.tutes a "pocket veto."