POLYS3.txt

• *•House of Representatives
• •25 Years of Age
• •Citizen for 7 Years
• •Resident of State
• •Serve 2 year term

• *•Senate
• •30 Years of Age
• •Citizen for 9 Years
• •Resident of State
• •Serve 6 year term

•Standing-Permanent

•Select-Temporary

•Joint or Conference- Members from Both Houses

•Prepare Legislation for Consideration on the Floor

•Hold Hearings

•Administrative Oversight

•Primary Source for Policy Leadership

•The Letters and e-mails may not be from constituents but from interest groups

•Communications from constituents may have nothing to do with legislation

•Communications from constituents may contradict each other

•Members may hear nothing at all from constituents

• •Staff
• •Franking Privileges
• •Pork Barreling
• •Logrolling
• •Name Recognition
• •$165,200 for 2007
• •Speaker of the House - $212,100
• Majority and Minority Leaders - $183,500

Each congress person is given funding for a staff

•The funding in the House of Representative is equal for all members

•The funding for Senators is proportional to the population of the state that they represent

• •Individual staff members
• –Clerical duties
• –Case work
• –Ombudsman

• •Congressional staff members
• –Work for the committees instead of a single representative
• –Set agenda
• –Schedule hearings
• –Develop legislation

• •Congressional Research Services
• –Conducts legal research, policy analysis

• •Congressional Budget Office
• –Analyzes the efficiency and performance of the federal budget and programs

• •Governmental Accountability Office
• –General Accounting Office
• –Watchdog for federal programs and agencies. Evaluates the economy.