Encyclopedia
The
United States Congress is the
legislature of the
United States federal government. It is
bicameral, comprising the
House of Representatives and the
Senate. The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district and serving a two-year term. House seats are
apportioned among the
states by
population. Each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are 100 senators, serving staggered six-year terms. Both Senators and Representatives are chosen through direct election.
The
United States Constitution vests all legislative powers of the federal government in the Congress. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. Through
Acts of Congress, Congress may regulate interstate and foreign commerce, levy
taxes, organize the federal courts, maintain the
military,
declare war, and exercise certain other "necessary and proper" powers.
The House and Senate are coequal houses. However, there are some special powers granted to one chamber only. The Senate's
advice and consent is required to confirm presidential nominations to high-level executive and judicial positions, and for the ratification of
treaties. Bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives, and only the House may initiate any
impeachment proceedings.
Congress meets in the
U.S. Capitol in
Washington, D.C. The term, "Congress" may also refer to a particular meeting of the Congress, reckoned according to the terms of Representatives. Thus, as of 2006, the
109th Congress is in session.
History
The Congress of the United States derives from First Continental Congress, a meeting of representatives of twelve of
Great Britain's thirteen North American colonies, in the autumn of 1774. On 4 July 1776, the
Second Continental Congress declared thirteen former colonies independent states, referring to them as the "United States of America." Under the
Articles of Confederation, Congress was a
unicameral body in which each state was equally represented, and in which each state had a veto over most action. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon the
Convention of 1787. Originally intended to revise the
Articles of Confederation, it ended up writing a completely new constitution.
James Madison called for a
bicameral Congress: the lower house elected directly by the people, and the upper house elected by the lower house. The smaller states, however, favored a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise was reached; the House of Representatives to provide representation proportional by population, whereas the Senate would provide equal representation by states. In order to preserve further the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators.
The post
Civil War Gilded Age was marked by Republican dominance of Congress. Senate elections were tainted by
corruption, bribery and
gridlock preventing the election of a senator. These issues were addressed by the
Seventeenth Amendment , which provided for the direct election of senators.
The early
twentieth century witnessed the rise of party leadership in both houses of Congress. In the House of Representatives, the office of
Speaker became extremely powerful. Leaders in the Senate were somewhat less powerful; individual senators still retained much of their influence. In particular, committee chairmen remained particularly strong in both houses until the reforms of the 1970s.
During the long administration of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt , the Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. Both the Republicans and the Democrats were in control at various points during the next decade. However, after winning the elections of 1954, the Democratic Party was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next forty years. The Republicans returned to a majority position, in both houses of Congress, in the election of 1994. The Republicans have controlled both houses since, except that the Democrats held the Senate from 2001 to 2003.
Composition
The House of Representatives consists of 435 members representing the fifty states. Seats are
apportioned among the states on the basis of population, but every state, regardless of size, is guaranteed at least one seat. Representatives are directly elected by single-member constituencies known as congressional districts. Each state may draw the boundaries of its districts, subject to certain legal requirements; for instance, districts must have approximately equal populations. Representatives serve for two-year terms.
The Senate consists of 100 members, two representing each state regardless of population. A senator is elected not by a district, but by a state as a whole. Senators serve for terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate seats are up for election every two years and so that both seats from a given state are never contested in the same general election . The District of Columbia and the territories are not represented in the Senate in any manner.
The Constitution makes no provision for representation in Congress for citizens of the
District of Columbia or the territories. Attempts to change the situation, regarding lack of
District of Columbia voting rights, including the proposed District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, have been unsuccessful. Currently, the District of Columbia and the territories of
American Samoa,
Guam, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands are represented by a single delegate each, while
Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner. Delegates and Resident Commissioners may participate in debates and vote in committees, but may not vote on the floor of the full House. Delegates serve for two-year terms; the Resident Commissioner serves for a four-year term.
Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates in primary elections.
Ballot access rules for independent and third party candidates vary from state to state. General elections are held in every even-numbered year, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November . Special elections are held whenever vacancies arise; in the case of the Senate, however, the Governor of a state normally holds the power to temporarily appoint a senator until a special election can be held. In almost all cases, general and special elections are conducted by the
first-past-the-post electoral system.
Louisiana, however, uses runoff voting for congressional elections.
Officers
The Constitution authorizes the House of Representatives to elect its own Speaker. The Speaker's powers as presiding officer are extensive; he or she controls the course of
debate and enforces the rules of the House. Normally, the Speaker does not personally preside over debates; instead, the task is delegated to other members. The Speaker is also the head of his/her party in the House, outranking the Majority Leader .
The
Vice President of the United States is
ex officio the President of the Senate; he or she has no vote except in the case of a tie. The Senate also elects a
President pro tempore, or "temporary President," to preside when the Vice President is absent. The President
pro tempore, by custom, is the most senior senator of the majority party. Neither the Vice President nor the President
pro tempore regularly presides; instead, the duty is performed by other senators. The powers of the President
pro tempore are much less extensive than those of the Speaker. He or she does not head the majority party in the Senate; rather, the Majority Leader is the full head of the Senate majority party.
Women, ethnic and racial minorities
Congress has historically not reflected the full diversity of the United States. While the Constitution has never explicitly excluded persons from membership in Congress on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex, state rules on suffrage have varied, and a person ineligible to vote is rarely considered eligible for public office. Today, 85% of Congress is male and 15% is female.
As of 2006, the US ranks 68th in terms of women holding office in the legislature. This puts the US just above
Israel, but below
Ecuador. Interestingly the US is also below
Liechtenstein, a nation that did not allow women to vote until 1984.
The early Congresses were composed largely of upper-class men of European descent. This changed briefly during the
Reconstruction era. Ratification of the
Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments expanded the franchise to include former slaves and excluded former members of the government of the
Confederate States of America from holding office. This combination permitted a number of African Americans to win seats.
This movement reversed when Reconstruction ended and Southern states began disenfranchising blacks through the use of
Jim Crow laws. During the remainder of the 19th century, and into the 20th century, racial, economic, and ethnic prejudice in the rest of the country largely kept out non-Protestants and the new waves of immigrants from southern Europe. This slowly began to change in the 20th century as these groups gained more political clout. The
Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s again enfranchised African-Americans, who gained more seats as a result. The Senate today is 1% African American and the House is roughly 9.2% African American. There are 4 Asians and Pacific Islanders in the House and 2 in the Senate. Tom Cole, Republican of
Oklahoma's 4th Congressional District, is the only registered American Indian currently in the House.
Restrictions on office holding
Article I, Section 6, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits members of Congress from also holding a federal civil office, thus differentiating the U.S. from
parliamentary systems where cabinet members are usually, but not explicitly, drawn from and continue to sit in the legislature. The same section also prohibits members from being appointed to offices created.
The Constitution does not prohibit Representatives or Senators from simultaneously holding a state post. During the
eighteenth century, some members of Congress did also serve as state legislators and other state officials. Such cross-federal dual office holding is now prohibited by state constitutions or statutes, or by general custom. It also does not explicitly prohibit a particular person from serving in both the House and Senate at the same time or, for that matter, from simultaneously holding two or more seats in the House of Representatives. However, no person has ever done so; a member holding a seat in one house has always resigned that seat before being seated in the other house.
Powers
Section 8 of
Article One of the United States Constitution sets forth the powers of Congress. The most important powers are the powers to levy and collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, coin money, establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights, fix standards of weights and measures, establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, raise and maintain the armed forces, declare war, and "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers".
There are additional powers other parts of the Constitution grant. For instance, Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union . Other powers have been granted, or confirmed, by constitutional amendments.
Congress has the power to break deadlocks in the
electoral college. If no presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the House may elect the President from the three candidates with the highest numbers of
electoral votes. Similarly, if no vice presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the Senate may elect the Vice President from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Several of the members of the Constitutional Convention expected that, while
George Washington would be overwhelmingly elected as first President under the Constitution, selection by the House would be the normal method after him.
The "necessary and proper clause" of the Constitution permits Congress to make "all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" its other powers and the rest of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has interpreted the necessary and proper clause broadly, which has permitted the Congress wide authority.
One of the foremost non-legislative functions of the Congress is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch. This power is usually delegated to committees—standing committees, special committees, select committees, or joint committees composed of members of both houses. Investigations are conducted to gather information on the need for future legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed, and to inquire into the qualifications and performance of members and officials of the other branches. Committees may hold hearings, and, if necessary, compel individuals to testify by issuing subpoenas. Witnesses who refuse to testify may be cited for contempt of Congress, and those who testify falsely may be charged with perjury. Most committee hearings are open to the public; important hearings are widely reported in the
mass media.
Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution places certain limits of congressional authority. For instance, Congress may not suspend the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus , pass bills of attainder or
ex post facto laws, or grant titles of
nobility. Several other restrictions are specified by constitutional amendments, especially the
Bill of Rights. The last clause of the Bill of Rights, the Tenth Amendment, provides that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Checks and balances
The constitution provides certain checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government. The influence of Congress on the presidency has varied from one period to another; it depends largely on the leadership and the political influence of the President. The authors of the Constitution expected the greater power to lie with Congress and that is one reason they are described in Article One. Under the first half-dozen Presidents, power seems to have been evenly divided between the President and Congress, in part because early Presidents largely restricted their vetoes to claims of unconstitutionality.
Andrew Jackson dominated his Congresses; his successors were weaker men . Senators ruled, including
Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster,
John C. Calhoun, Thomas Hart Benton,
Stephen Douglas, and
Thaddeus Stevens. The
impeachment of
Andrew Johnson completed this trend, making the presidency much less powerful than Congress. During the late nineteenth century, President
Grover Cleveland aggressively attempted to restore the executive branch's power, vetoing over four hundred bills during his first term. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have seen the rise of the power of the Presidency under
Theodore Roosevelt ,
Woodrow Wilson ,
Franklin D. Roosevelt ,
Richard Nixon ,
Ronald Reagan , and
George W. Bush . In recent years, Congress has restricted the powers of the President with laws such as the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the War Powers Resolution; nevertheless, the Presidency remains considerably more powerful than during the nineteenth century.
The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to
impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Senate is constitutionally empowered to try all impeachments. A simple majority in the House is required to impeach an official; however, a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for conviction. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future. Impeachment proceedings may not inflict more than this; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. . Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached:
Andrew Johnson in 1868 and
Bill Clinton in 1999. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. In 1974,
Richard Nixon resigned from office after impeachment proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee indicated he would eventually be removed from office.
The Constitution entrusts certain powers to the Senate alone. The President may only appoint
Cabinet officials,
judges, and other high officers with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. The Senate confirms most presidential nominees, but rejections are not uncommon. Furthermore, treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to take effect. The House of Representatives has no formal role in either the appointment of federal officials or the ratification of treaties.
In 1803, the Supreme Court established judicial review of Federal legislation in
Marbury v. Madison, holding, however, that Congress could not grant unconstitutional power to the Court itself. The Constitution does not explicitly state that the courts may exercise judicial review; however, the notion that courts could declare laws unconstitutional was envisioned by the
founding fathers.
Alexander Hamilton, for example, mentioned and expounded upon the doctrine in
Federalist No. 78.
Legislative procedure
Term
Under the
Twentieth Amendment, congressional terms begin at noon on January 3 of every odd-numbered year. It is conventional to refer to each Congress by the ordinal number of its term. Thus, the current Congress is known as the "
109th Congress"; the previous Congress was the "
108th Congress," and so forth.
At the beginning of each new term, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are sworn in. The oath taken is provided by statute: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God." The House of Representatives also elects a Speaker to preside over debates. The President
pro tempore of the Senate, by contrast, holds office continuously; normally, a new President
pro tempore is only elected if the previous one retires, or if there is a change in the majority party.
A term of Congress is divided into two "sessions," one for each year; Congress has occasionally also been called into an extra, session. A new session commences on January 3 each year. Before the
Twentieth Amendment, Congress met from the first Monday in December to April or May in the first session of their term ; and from December to March 4 in the second "short session".
The Constitution forbids either house from meeting any place outside the Capitol, or from adjourning for more than three days, without the consent of the other house. The provision was intended to prevent one house from thwarting legislative business simply by refusing to meet. To avoid obtaining consent during long recesses, the House or Senate may sometimes hold
pro forma meetings, sometimes only minutes long, every three days. The consent of both bodies is required for Congress's final adjournment, or adjournment
sine die, at the end of each congressional session. If the two houses cannot agree on a date, the Constitution permits the President to settle the dispute.
Joint sessions
Joint Sessions of the United States Congress occur on special occasions that require a concurrent resolution from both House and Senate. These sessions include the counting of
electoral votes following a Presidential election and the President's State of the Union address. Other meetings of both House and Senate are called Joint Meetings of Congress, held after unanimous consent agreements to recess and meet. Meetings of Congress for Presidential Inaugurations may also be Joint Sessions, if both House and Senate are in session at the time, otherwise they are formal joint gatherings.
At some time during the first two months of each session, the President customarily delivers the
State of the Union Address, a speech in which he or she assesses the situation of the country and outlines his or her
legislative proposals for the congressional session. The speech is modeled on the
Speech from the Throne given by the
British monarch, and is mandated by the Constitution of the United States.
Thomas Jefferson discontinued the original practice of delivering the speech in person before both houses of Congress, deeming it too monarchical. Instead, Jefferson and his successors sent a written message to Congress each year. In 1913, President
Woodrow Wilson reestablished the practice of personally attending to deliver the speech; few Presidents have deviated from this custom since.
Joint Sessions and Joint Meetings are traditionally presided over by the Speaker of the House. However, the Constitution requires the President of the Senate to preside over the counting of electoral votes.
Bills and resolutions
A proposal may be introduced in Congress as a bill, a joint resolution, a concurrent resolution, or a simple resolution. Most legislative proposals are introduced as bills, but some are introduced as joint resolutions. There is little practical difference between the two, except that joint resolutions may include preambles but bills may not. Joint resolutions are the normal method used to propose a constitutional amendment or to declare war. On the other hand, concurrent resolutions and simple resolutions do not have the force of
law. Instead, they serve to express the opinion of Congress, or to regulate procedure.
Members of Congress often introduce legislation at the behest of lobbyists. Lobbyists advocate the passage of bills affecting the interest of a particular group . In many cases, the lobbyists write legislation and submit it to a member for introduction. Congressional lobbyists are legally required to be registered in a central database, and are employed by political organizations,
corporations, state governments, foreign governments, and numerous other groups. In 2005, there are almost 35,000 registered Congressional lobbyists, representing a doubling since 2000. Some of the most prominent lobbyists are ex-members of Congress, others are family members of sitting members. As an example,
Dennis Hastert,
Tom DeLay, and
Roy Blunt all have immediate family members who are lobbyists.
Bills may be introduced by any member of either house. However, the Constitution provides that: "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing
taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, whenever the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. Although it cannot originate revenue and appropriation bills, the Senate retains the power to amend or reject them.
Each bill goes through several stages in each house. The first stage involves consideration by a committee. Most legislation is considered by standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a particular subject matter, such as Agriculture or Appropriations. The House has twenty standing committees; the Senate has sixteen. In some cases, bills may be sent to select committees
A decision not to report a bill amounts to a rejection of the proposal. Both houses provide for procedures under which the committee can be bypassed or overruled, but they are rarely used. If reported by the committee, the bill reaches the floor of the full house. The house may debate and amend the bill; the precise procedures used by the House of Representatives and the Senate differ. A final vote on the bill follows.
Central party discipline is not as strong in Congress as it is in
parliamentary systems, and in the Senate it is weaker than in the House. However, the leadership does have certain powers to sway reluctant legistators to vote with the party. Party leaders derive most of their powers from the ability to fundraise, to control the flow of legislation, and to assign desirable positions; a rebel Congressman may be threatened with a cutoff of funds for his/her campaign, a reduction of pork for his/her district, thwarting of his/her pet legislation, and/or denial of a future committee chairmanship.
The party leadership may use the "
catch and release" strategy in order to ensure the passage of important legislation with the support of reluctant members. The leaders "catch" a member, pressuring him or her to vote in favor of the legislation even if it is unpopular in the member's constituency. Then, if the bill has sufficient support to pass anyway, the member may be "released," that is, permitted to vote as he or she pleases. Hence, members may avoid alienating influential special interest groups, while remaining loyal to the party.
Once a bill is approved by one house, it is sent to the other, which may pass, reject, or amend it. In order for the bill to become law, both houses must agree to identical versions of the bill. If the second house amends the bill, then the differences between the two versions must be reconciled in a conference committee, an
ad hoc committee that includes both senators and representatives. In many cases, conference committees have introduced substantial changes to bills and added unrequested spending, significantly departing from both the House and Senate versions. President
Ronald Reagan once quipped, "If an orange and an apple went into conference consultations, it might come out a pear." If both houses agree to the version reported by the conference committee, the bill passes; otherwise, it fails.
After passage by both houses, a bill is submitted to the
President. The President may choose to sign the bill, thereby making it law. The President may also choose to veto the bill, returning it to Congress with his or her objections. In such a case, the bill only becomes law if each house of Congress votes to override the veto with a two-thirds majority. Finally, the President may choose to take no action, neither signing nor vetoing the bill. In such a case, the Constitution states that the bill automatically becomes law after ten days . However, if Congress adjourns during the ten day period, then the bill does not become law. Thus, the President may veto legislation passed at the end of a congressional session simply by ignoring it; the maneuver is known as a pocket veto, and cannot be overridden by the adjourned Congress.
Every Act of Congress or joint resolution begins with an enacting formula or resolving formula stipulated by law. These are:
- Act of Congress: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."
- Joint resolution: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."
Quorum and voting
The Constitution specifies that a majority of members constitutes a quorum to do business in each house. The rules of each house provide that a quorum is assumed to be present unless a quorum call demonstrates the contrary. Representatives and senators rarely force the presence of a quorum by demanding quorum calls; thus, in most cases, debates continue even if a majority is not present.
Both houses use voice voting to decide most matters; members shout out "aye" or "no," and the presiding officer announces the result. The Constitution, however, requires a recorded vote on the demand of one-fifth of the members present. If the result of the voice vote is unclear, or if the matter is controversial, a recorded vote usually ensues. The Senate uses
roll call votes; a clerk calls out the names of all the senators, each senator stating "aye" or "no" when his or her name is announced. The House reserves roll call votes for the most formal matters; normally, members vote by electronic device. In the case of a tie, the motion in question fails. In the Senate, the Vice President may cast the tiebreaking vote.
Privileges
Under the Constitution, members of both houses enjoy the privilege of being free from
arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace. This immunity applies to members "during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same." The term "arrest" has been interpreted broadly, and includes any detention or delay in the course of
law enforcement, including
court summons and subpoenas. The rules of the House very strictly guard this privilege; a member may not waive the privilege on his or her own, but must seek the permission of the whole house to do so. Senate rules, on the other hand, are less strict, and permit individual senators to waive the privilege as they see fit.
The Constitution also guarantees absolute freedom of debate in both houses, providing, "for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place." Hence, a member of Congress may not be sued for slander because of remarks made in either house. However, each house has its own rules restricting offensive speeches, and may punish members who transgress them.
Obstructing the work of Congress is a crime under federal law, and is known as contempt of Congress. Each house of Congress has the power to cite individuals for contempt, but may not impose any punishment. Instead, after a house issues a contempt citation, the judicial system pursues the matter like a normal criminal case. If convicted in court, an individual found guilty of contempt of Congress may be imprisoned for up to one year.
Aside from benefits directly facilitating their legislative work, members enjoy a number of other perks. As of 2005 rank and file Congressmen received a salary of $158,100. Congressional leaders are paid more. Members are granted several free Capitol parking spaces and are exempt from
parking tickets through the use of special license plates. Members of Congress enjoy such facilities as private gymnasiums, low cost barbers, and subsidized dining areas. They are also able to substitute their signature for postage allowing them to send large quantities of mail at a reduced cost .
Another privilege is the use of the
Library of Congress. The Library's primary mission is to serve the Congress and its staff. To do this, the Congressional Research Service provides detailed, up-to-date and non-partisan research for Senators, Representatives, and their staff to help them carry out their functions as national servants.
Member groups
Some, but not all of the self-defined unofficial caucuses of members
- Congressional Black Caucus
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
- Democratic Freedom Caucus
- Congressional Progressive Caucus
For a full list of caucuses, see main article at Congressional caucus.
See also
- List of United States Congresses
References
- Baker, Ross K. . House and Senate, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Berg-Andersson, Richard E. .
- Berman, Daniel M. . In Congress Assembled: The Legislative Process in the National Government. London: The Macmillan Company.
- Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek. . Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly.
- Herrick, Rebekah. . "Gender effects on job satisfaction in the House of Representatives." Women and Politics, 23 , 85–98.
- Hunt, Richard. . "Using the Records of Congress in the Classroom," OAH Magazine of History, 12 : 34–37.
- Imbornoni, Ann-Marie, David Johnson, and Elissa Haney. .
- Lee, Frances and Bruce Oppenheimer. . Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
- Rimmerman, Craig A. . "Teaching Legislative Politics and Policy Making." Political Science Teacher, 3 : 16–18.
- Ritchie, Donald A. . "What Makes a Successful Congressional Investigation." OAH Magazine of History, 11 : 6–8.
- Story, Joseph. . Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. . Boston: Brown & Little.
- Wilson, Woodrow. . Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
- Some information in this article has been provided by the .
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