American government systems and institutions

American Government

Congress is structured on the basis of three overlapping principles. It is organized based first of all on our political parties. It is also organized based on the types of legislation that is enacted. Congress has its own leadership organization and both this leadership organization and the committee organization of Congress are linked to the party organization (Congress, n.d.).

Members of Congress are elected based upon which political party they are affiliated with. They run either on the Republican or Democrat ticket. Third party candidates, who run as Independents, are rarely elected. Once a person is elected, they affiliate either with the Republican Conference or the Democratic Caucus. Both political parties have Policy Committees in order to help them make strategic and tactical decisions. Both parties maintain Campaign Committees to help its members gain re-election and to defeat Members of Congress from the other party. House and Senate maintain distinct committees (Congress, n.d.).

Each political party within the House and Senate elects its own leaders. These people become the leaders of the Congress. The party with the majority in the House or Senate has the Majority Leadership positions and the party with the minority in the House and Senate has the minority positions. The Majority Party leadership consists of the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader, and Majority Whip. The Minority Party leadership consists of: the Minority Leader, Assistant Minority Leader and Minority Whip. The Senate leadership consists of: the President of the Senate which is the Vice President of U.S., President Pro-Tempore who is the Senator of the Majority Party with Seniority, Senate Majority Leader, Assistant Senate Majority Leader, Senate Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Assistant Senate Minority Leader and the Senate Minority Whip (Congress, n.d.).

The actual work that is done in Congress, both in the House and Senate, is done through committees. There are four different types of committees: standing committees, select committees, joint committees, and conference committees. Standing Committees are where the real work gets done in Congress. They are organized in ways similar to the organization of the Executive Departments. All bills that are introducing are submitted to standing committees and must go through these committees before being approved by the full House or Senate. Select Committees are formed for special reasons to investigate some current issue or problem, which is not being handled by the regular standing committees. Joint Committees contain members from both the House and Senate. Conference Committees are created every time a bill is passed in a different version by the House and Senate. Conference Committees are intended to iron out the differences. Conference Committees also have members from both House and Senate. They are a kind of joint committee, but they function only until a given bill is reconciled (Congress, n.d.).

Some of the most important work that is done in Congress takes place in small groups of six to seventy-one senators or representatives, in committees. When lawmakers want to make a new law, they write a bill then that bill goes to a committee that then debates the contents of the proposed law and writes the final bill to be voted upon in the House and Senate. Every year, several thousand actions are referred to committees. Only a small percentage is selected for consideration, and those not addressed often receive no further action. Committees determine the fate of most proposed laws. According to some experts the committee system is the natural form of division of labor in such a large and complex body as the Congress (Overview: The Committee System in the U.S. Congress, 2009).

Presently there are about 19 standing committees in the House, and 16 in the Senate. Standing committees work with specific bills, and most operate with subcommittees that handle a committee's work in certain areas. Select and joint committees are used for in between categories and housekeeping tasks. There are several joint committees which are made up of members of both houses of Congress. Each committee deals with specific issues. There are committees in the House that deal with education, science, national security, and commerce to name just a few. There are the committees in the Senate that deal with the environment, finance, banking, and agriculture, among others. Sometimes the topics even overlap between the chambers of the Congress (Overview: The Committee System in the U.S. Congress, 2009).

Each committee has a Chairman who is usually the ranking majority member. This means that they are the member of the majority party in that chamber who has been on the committee for the longest period of time. The Chairman duties include overseeing a professional staff assigned to the everyday business of the committee. One third of the staff is chosen by the minority party members of the committee, while the other two thirds are chosen by the majority party members. Because of this each time the Senate or the House goes from a majority of Democrats to a majority of Republicans, or vice versa, committees need to choose a new Chairman and a new staff (Overview: The Committee System in the U.S. Congress, 2009).