Process

For Monday, Davidson, ch. 9.

Colbert, Talarico and the FCC

Keep an eye on the Iran situation.  We will later discuss war powers.

Questions on the assignment?

Further thoughts on simulation committees?  For your writeup, everybody pick two and tell why they would be good for our purposes.  On Monday, I will announce the committees and roles.  On Wednesday, you will choose the roles.

Most bills die. Go to Vital Statistics on Congress  and look at chapter 6.  In the 118th Congress:

House -- Ratio of passed/introduced = 995 /12,547 ≈ 0.079 or 7.9%

Senate --  Ratio of passed/introduced = 1,029/6,759 ≈ 0.152 or 15.2%

Why do so many members introduce so many doomed bills?

Committee chairs

                                House                                    Senate

Main Factor	Party steering committee choice	Seniority on the committee
Republican Term Limits	6 years (3 terms)	6 years (3 terms)
Democratic Term Limits	None	None
Final Approval	Voted by party caucus/conference	Voted by party conference

Committee basics

• In the House, subcommittees are usually the first stop
• Chairs set the agenda, in consultation with the majority

Hearings

• Legislative hearings 
• Oversight hearings
• Celebrity Witnesses -- a partial list 

Markup

Committee Reports

• A committee report on eliminating useless reports

Rules Committee (Davidson 222-225 of print ed.)

• House Rules 
• Types of Rules
• 118th Congress data here.
• Beating the Rule
• The suspension calendar 
• Discharge petitions (229-230) and the Epstein bill

Senate Rules  

• Unanimous consent agreements (Davidson 236-238)
• Filibuster
• Cloture