Posted on 04/19/2011 5:40:07 PM PDT by cradle of freedom
Could someone please tell me the details on how the Speaker of the House and Senate President are chosen? And how are the committee members and committee chairs chosen?
The health care votes last year gave us a peak at the hardball politics that go on behind the scenes. It reminds me very much of how our Massachusetts legislature works. As you know, Massachusetts politics is dominated by Democrats, there are only a few Republicans. The Democrats are controlled by the House Speaker and the Senate President. It is all top down. There is really no representation. The only people who get representation are the ones who live in the districts of the Speaker and Senate President. This is not a truly representative form of government. All of the state pays taxes but the only people who get representation are those who have the most powerful people in legislature, the other legislators are just rubber stamps. They line up with their begging bowls offering their votes in exchange for their bit of the state aid for their local district.
I believe this is also going on in Washington, especially in the Democrat Party. So, I would like to know whether the Speaker and Senate Presidents are elected by secret ballot, which would be free of political pressure. Or are they elected in an open way which would subject them to all sorts of bribes and arm twisting.
I thought the President of the Senate was the VP.
House Speaker, minority leader and Senate majority leader and minority leader are chosen by their respective parties members in the chamber.
The Speaker is elected by the House. (See Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution.) Technically, the House could elect someone who was not a Member of Congress as the speaker, but has never done so.
The Vice President is the president of the Senate according to the Constitution. The President Pro Tempore is mandated by Article 1 Section 3 and is elected by the Senate. By Senate Tradition, it is typically the longest serving member of the Majority party who is elected to this position.
House Rule X governs the selection of Committee Chairs. They are selected by a vote of the House.
Got Google ???
Got Google ???
The Senate President is chosen by the Electoral College. The Vice President is the President of the Senate.
“The Majority Whip (speaker) of the house is the only one that can bring impeachment against the President.”
The majority whip is not the speaker of the house. And any house member can introduce a bill of impeachment.
I think you mean The VP can break a tie vote in the Senate.
I know that each party selects its leaders, but what I would like to know is the actual process. Whether it is done in a totally free way as by a secret ballot or through an open face-to-face manner. I think this is the key to who has the power.
I am only getting a whiff of this but I think I smell a skunk. If legislators are not allowed to vote in secret, they they will be strong-armed by the most powerfull members of the legislature. This could keep a small clique of people in control of the Democrats and Republicans and the financial interests that support that small clique can control the whole legislative branch. I think this is key.
That must be an internal rule. I’ve never heard of it. But the speakership is a powerful position.
There’s the president of the senate (the vice-president of the United States) and the president pro-tempore, who is the official head of the body in the absence of the president (usually the longest serving member of the majority party).
I’m afraid that I’m not getting my point across. It is about who CONTROLS THE POWER in the legislative branch. This is what I am wondering about. If they select their leaders by secret ballot, then the majority will not be so easily controlled by a small elite group. If they have to announce their selection for the leader, then they can be intimidated or bribed by the more powerful members. Think “card check”. Card check is a scheme by the unions to intimidate rank-and-file union members into accepting a union. With card check the workers have to sign a card voting on whether they want or reject a union. This can make workers vulnerable to intimidation by the union thugs. If on the other hand, the workers are allowed to choose whether they want a union by secret ballot, they will feel free to vote their true feelings.
I think the newscaster were saying it was Constitutional.
Do you think that we really have a congress that truly represents the will of the people?
Well it’s constitutional because each house can choose its own rules. But there’s nothing in the constitution about the powers of the speaker.
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