Part 82 (1/2)

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 Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 members.h.i.+p 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 members.h.i.+p. 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 leaders.h.i.+p, 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.