American Government 5.3The Senate
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Drill: Whip & Quorum 
(Party) Whips: help the floor leaders in persuading party members to support laws the party favors.
Quorum- is required number of members to be present for a legislative body to take official action.

OBJECTIVE: Student will contrast the Senate’s leadership and role in the lawmaking process with those of the House of Representatives by completing today’s lesson.

I. The Senate at Work
A.	The Senate has fewer rules than the House. 
B.	The atmosphere in the Senate is more informal than in the House.
C.	The vice president presides over the Senate
D.	The president pro tempore often presides in the Senate when the vice president is absent.
E.	The Senate majority leader is that party’s
F.	Majority and minority floor whips assist their leaders in making sure members are present for key Senate votes.
II. How Senate Bills Are Scheduled 
A. Senate leaders control the flow of bills to committees and to the floor for debate
B. A filibuster is a legislative weapon which allows unlimited debate to defeat a bill.
D. The majority party controls the flow of legislative work in the Senate.
Odds & Ends
A. The majority leader main job is to steer the party’s bills through the Senate.
B. The Senate conducts most of its business through unanimous consent. 	
C. The whips make sure that legislators are present for key votes.
D. In the Senate the rules are designed to make sure that all senators obey strict procedures.
E. The filibuster is not as strong a weapon as it used to be because of the two-track procedural system.
F. Calendar of General Orders list of bills for Senate consideration
G. Filibustering is one way to defeat a bill
G.	cloture limits senators’ speaking time

American Government 5.3The Senate
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Review 
1. D 		6. D
2. C 		7. B
3. A 		8. C
4. E		9. D
5. B 		10. A	11. Cloture: limits senators’ speaking time
12. Whips: help the floor leaders in persuading party members to support laws the party favors.
13.  President pro tempore: presides in the Senate when the vice president is absent.
14. Filibuster: allows unlimited debate to defeat a bill	
15. More discussion takes place on the floor of the Senate because there are fewer senators.
16. To allow members more freedom to express their ideas

Primary Documents CTIVITY 4
1.  The advantages of federalism for states include protection from military threat and freedom from some of the burdens of debt. The advantages for private interests include a central government with the power to honor its debt obligations
2. The number of House members increased as the population grew until 1910 when the number of House members was fixed at 435. (After Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the United States, the number of representatives rose briefly during the 1960s; then the level returned to 435.)
3. As the country expanded and the population increased, more laws were needed and the laws became more complex. With an increase of member-ship in the House, it became less efficient for all members to do the work necessary for successful legislation. Work was delegated to smaller, more manageable committees that continued to extend their power and authority beyond just providing details and support for bills to virtually taking over the lawmaking process. 
4. Woodrow Wilson was referring to the immense power the standing commit-tees in Congress have over the lawmaking process. Most of the important steps in the legislative process of making a bill into a law take place in committees 
5. Census data are beneficial for determining the number of congressional representatives each state is entitled to; for measuring the level of social services, such as hospitals, schools, housing, needed in specific communities; for predicting the number of people who will qualify for Medicare; for tracking changes in ethnic and racial population ratios and so forth. 
6. People might be concerned about how their individual income or the railroads to obtain enough land for the operation of their railroad lines. 

Summary: In today’s lesson we compared the Senate’s leadership and role in the lawmaking process with those of the House of Representatives.

Homework:  Filibuster & Cloture 
Filibuster—is a legislative weapon, which allows unlimited debate to defeat a bill.
Cloture - limits senators’ speaking time
Name ____________________________________________Class ___________ Date______________
American Government 5.3The Senate3 
Match each item in Column A with the items in Column B. Write the correct letters in the blanks.
Column A
_____1. president of the Senate
_____2. most important officers in the Senate
_____3. list of bills for Senate consideration
_____4. way to defeat a bill
_____5. limits senators’ speaking time
	Column B
A. Calendar of General Orders
B. cloture
C. majority and minority leaders
D. vice president
E. filibuster

In the blank at the left, write the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. 
_____6. This person’s main job is to steer the party’s bills through the Senate.
A. speaker of the House 			C. minority leader
B. vice president 				D. majority leader
_____7. The Senate conducts most of its business through
A. the majority leader’s rule. 			C. strict rules and procedures.
B. unanimous consent. 			D. a calendar of scheduled bills.
_____8. These assistants make sure that legislators are present for key votes.
A. filibusters 					C. whips
B. minority leaders 				D. majority leaders
_____9. In the Senate the rules are designed to make sure that all senators
A. introduce new bills every year. 		C. obey strict procedures.
B. follow their party’s platform. 		D. have freedom to express their ideas.
_____10. The filibuster is not as strong a weapon as it used to be because of
A. the two-track procedural system. 		C. cloture.
B. the Civil Rights Act of 1957. 		D. the Thurmond bill.

Terms to Know: In your own words, write a definition for:
11. Cloture
12. Whips
13.  President pro tempore
14. Filibuster

15.  Why does the committee system have a less important role in the Senate than in the House of Representatives? 

16. Why are procedures more informal in the Senate than in the House of
Representatives? 

5.3 Primary Documents: The Americans: The National Experience BY DANIEL J. BOORSTIN
Not until 1850 did the census become a substantial source of national statistics. . . . The United States Census, for the first time, provided that changing numbers of population (and hence the changing rates of regional growth) should become normal elements in the periodic redistribution of the power of the units in the political system. In England and elsewhere in Europe, parties struggled during the 19th century to make individual changes in the basis of representation, but in America a continual process of change had been incorporated into the original scheme. The census figures would in the normal course of events become public: this, too, was a great change, for, at least until the 19th century (and in some  

5.3 American Government  Primary Documents: The Americans ….continued
countries into the 20th), statistical data were state secrets. Over there the fears of the tax-farmer and of rival nations dominated, but here the claims of different parts of the country to be represented had to be published to the people.
The effect of the decennial reapportionments was especially dramatic in the first century of national life. In the first Congress, the constituency of a member of the House averaged about 33,000 persons; in 1840 it averaged about 71,000; by 1890 it would average about 176,000. Instead of redistributing the membership as it existed in 1789, the House allowed itself to grow with the population.	This was, of course, only another example of the American penchant for multiplying political units (in this case, congressional districts). Its consequence was not only to alter the apportionment of powers within the House, but substantially to alter the House’s character, and its way of doing business. While the House of Representatives in 1789 numbered 65 and in 1790 numbered 106, by 1820 the number had doubled to 213, and by 1860 had increased to 243. The number was finally fixed at 435 in 1910, where it remained until the temporary addition of two more in 1960 after the admission of Alaska and Hawaii.
The committee machinery of the House was gradually elaborated: by 1800 there were still only four standing committees, but by 1850 these had reached thirty-four. As the House and its committees grew, the jurisdiction of the committees widened. Originally the introduction and reference of bills was strictly controlled by the House itself and the committees were left only with problems of detail and draftsman-ship.
The committees, which at first were mere creatures of the House, by 1825 had begun to assume their modern powers, until they gradually took over its business. By 1885 congressional government had become (in Woodrow Wilson’s phrase) “government by the standing committees of Congress.” 

1. What are the advantages of federalism for states? Advantages for private interests?

2. Explain the relationship between the census and the development of Congress.

3. Give the reasons why congressional committees have become more elaborate and powerful.

4. What did Woodrow Wilson mean by the phrase “government by the standing committees of Congress”?

5. In what ways do you think census data are beneficial?

6. What kinds of privacy issues might concern people about providing census data?

In your own words, summarize today’s lesson.