1.
Mitch McConnell
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Addison Mitchell Mitch McConnell Jr. is an American politician and the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the Majority Leader of the Senate since January 3,2015 and he is the 15th Republican and the second Kentuckian to lead his party in the Senate. During the administration of President Barack Obama, McConnell was known to the left as being an obstructionist, some on the right praised him for tenacity and courage, while others criticized him for being part of the political establishment and not keeping his promises to conservatives. From early 2016, McConnell refused to schedule Senate hearings for Obamas nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, to replace Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. Garlands nomination remained before the Senate for 294 days, from March 16,2016 until it expired on January 3,2017, McConnell has repeatedly been found to have the lowest home state approval rating of any sitting senator. McConnell was born on February 20,1942, in a hospital in Sheffield, Alabama, which is now called the Helen Keller Hospital, McConnell is the son of Addison Mitchell McConnell, and his wife, Julia. As a youth, he overcame polio and his family moved to Georgia when he was eight. When he was a teenager, his family arrived in Louisville where he attended duPont Manual High School and he graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B. A. in political science in 1964. McConnell was president of the Student Council of the College of Arts and Sciences and he has maintained strong ties to his alma mater and remains a rabid fan of its sports teams. Three years later, McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, McConnell is of Scots-Irish and English descent. McConnell enlisted in the U. S. Army Reserve at Louisville and he received an Honorable Discharge for medical reasons after five weeks at Fort Knox. McConnell began interning for Senator John Sherman Cooper in 1964, later, McConnell was an assistant to Senator Marlow Cook and was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald R. Ford, where he worked alongside future Justice Antonin Scalia. In 1977, McConnell was elected the Jefferson County Judge/Executive, the top political office in Jefferson County. 1984 In 1984, McConnell ran for the U. S. Senate against two-term Democratic incumbent Walter Dee Huddleston. The election race wasnt decided until the last returns came in, McConnell was the only Republican Senate challenger to win that year, despite Ronald Reagans landslide victory in the presidential election. His campaign bumper stickers and television ads asked voters to Switch to Mitch,1990 In 1990, McConnell faced a tough re-election contest against former Louisville Mayor Harvey I. 1996 In 1996, he defeated Steve Beshear by 12. 6%,2002 In 2002, he was re-elected against Lois Combs Weinberg by 29. 4%, the largest majority by a statewide Republican candidate in Kentucky history. 2008 In 2008, McConnell faced his closest contest since 1990 and he defeated Bruce Lunsford by 6%
2.
John Cornyn
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John Cornyn III /ˈkɔːrnᵻn/ is an American politician and the senior United States Senator from Texas, serving since 2002. He is a member of the Republican Party and the current Senate Majority Whip for the 115th Congress, Cornyn previously served as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2007 to 2011. Born in Houston, Cornyn is a graduate from Trinity University and St. Marys University School of Law, receiving his LL. M. from the University of Virginia School of Law. Cornyn was a Judge on Texas 37th District Court from 1985 to 1991, until he was elected a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. In 1998, Cornyn was elected Attorney General of Texas, serving one term until winning a seat in the U. S. Senate in 2002 and he was re-elected to a second term in 2008 and to a third term in 2014. Cornyn was born in Houston, the son of Atholene Gale Cornyn and John Cornyn II and he attended the American School in Japan while growing up when his family moved to Tokyo. He graduated from Trinity University in 1973, where he majored in journalism and was a member of Chi Delta Tau. He earned a J. D. from St. Marys University School of Law in 1977 and he was named the St. Marys Distinguished Law School Graduate in 1994 and a Trinity University Distinguished Alumnus in 2001. He served in San Antonio for six years as a judge before being elected as a Republican in 1990 to the Texas Supreme Court. In 1998 Cornyn decided to run to become Texas Attorney General, in the March primary, Barry Williamson, Railroad Commissioner, placed first with 38% of the vote but failed to get the 50% threshold necessary to win the Republican nomination. Cornyn, then a state Supreme Court Justice, got second place with 32%, in the April run-off election, Cornyn defeated Williamson 58% to 42%. In the general election, Cornyn defeated Jim Mattox, former general and U. S. Congressman. Cornyn became only the second Republican to hold the position and he created the Texas Internet Bureau to investigate illegal internet practices. He fought against government waste and corruption with his investigation of fraudulent Medicare, however, Cornyn was criticized for failing to investigate in a timely manner the notorious false drug convictions of numerous African-Americans in Tulia, Texas. In most cases, the testimony of a narcotics agent led to the arrests of 46 people—43 of whom were black. The accused represented 16% of the black population,14 still languish in prisons scattered around Texas. In 2005 Cornyns name was mentioned among possibilities to replace Supreme Court justices Sandra Day OConnor or William Rehnquist,2002 In the 2002 U. S. Senate Primary in Texas, Cornyn was the candidate promoted and supported by the Texas Republican Party. He easily defeated the five candidates in the Republican Primary while disdaining the opportunity to debate the other candidates
3.
Chuck Schumer
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Charles Ellis Chuck Schumer is an American politician, the senior United States senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al DAmato by a margin of 55%–44%, Schumer was re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24%, in 2010 by a margin of 66%–33% and in 2016 by a margin of 70%-27%. A native of Brooklyn and graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he was a member of the New York State Assembly. Schumer was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2009 and he was the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate minority leader Harry Reid and Senate minority whip Dick Durbin, elected vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate in 2006. In November 2010, he was chosen to hold the additional role of chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee starting at the opening of the 112th Congress. On November 8,2016, Schumer was reelected to his term in the United States Senate. Subsequently, on November 16,2016, he was unanimously elected Senate minority leader to succeed the retiring Reid, Schumer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Selma and Abraham Schumer. His father ran a business, and his mother was a homemaker. His family is Jewish, and he is a cousin, once removed, of comedian. His ancestors originated from the town of Chortkiv, Galicia, in what is now western Ukraine and he attended public schools in Brooklyn, scoring a perfect 1600 on the SAT, and graduated as class valedictorian from James Madison High School, in 1967. Schumer competed for Madison High on the Its Academic television quiz show and he attended Harvard College, where he became interested in politics and campaigned for Eugene McCarthy, in 1968. After completing his degree, he continued to Harvard Law School, earning his Juris Doctor with honors. Schumer passed the New York state bar, in early 1975, however, he never practiced law, choosing instead a career in politics. In 1974, Schumer ran for and was elected to the New York State Assembly, Schumer served three terms, from 1975 to 1981, sitting in the 181st, 182nd and 183rd New York State Legislatures. He has never lost an election, in 1980, 16th District Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman won the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat of Republican Jacob Javits. Schumer ran for Holtzmans vacated House seat and won and he was re-elected eight times from the Brooklyn and Queens-based district, which changed numbers twice in his tenure. In 1982, as a result of redistricting, Schumer faced a potential matchup with veteran Brooklyn congressman Steve Solarz, in preparation, Schumer set about making friends on Wall Street, tapping the citys top law firms and securities houses for campaign donations. I told them I looked like I had a very difficult reapportionment fight, if I were to stand a chance of being re-elected, I needed some help, he would later tell the Associated Press
4.
Dick Durbin
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Richard Joseph Dick Durbin is the senior United States Senator from Illinois, in office since 1997. He has been the Assistant Minority Leader, the second highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate, Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. He graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Georgetown University Law Center, working in state legal counsel throughout the 1970s, he made an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1978. He was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1982, in 1996, he won election to the U. S. Senate by an unexpected 15-point margin. He has served as Senate Democratic Whip since 2005, and for a period of eight years served as the Senate Majority Whip and he is currently dean of the Illinois congressional delegation, as he has served in Congress since 1983 as a U. S. Representative from Illinois 20th Congressional District, and from 1997 as a U. S, Senator Durbin now serves as the Senate Minority Whip following the 2014 midterm election, where the Republicans gained a majority in the U. S. Senate. Durbin won reelection in the 2014 midterm election, beating his Republican opponent, Jim Oberweis, Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to an Irish-American father, William Durbin, and a Lithuanian-born mother, Anna. He graduated from Assumption High School in East St. Louis in 1962, during his high school years he worked at a meatpacking plant. He earned a B. S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1966 and he was an intern in the office of Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois during his senior year in college. Durbin earned his J. D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969 and was admitted to the Illinois bar later that year, after graduating from law school, Durbin started a law practice in Springfield. He was legal counsel to Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon from 1969 to 1972, Durbin was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for a seat in the Illinois State Senate in 1976. He ran for Lieutenant Governor in 1978 as the mate of State Superintendent of Schools Michael Bakalis. They were defeated by Republican incumbents Jim Thompson and Dave ONeal, Durbin then worked as an adjunct professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for five years while maintaining his law practice. In 1982, Durbin won the Democratic nomination for the now-eliminated 20th congressional district and he scored a huge upset, defeating 22-year incumbent Paul Findley. As part of the redistricting process, Findleys district had been redrawn to include more Democrats. Durbin was reelected six times, rarely facing opposition. In 1996, Durbin defeated Pat Quinn to become the Democratic Partys nominee to replace the retiring Democratic incumbent, Senator Paul Simon and he faced Republican State Representative Al Salvi in the November general election. Although the election had been expected to be competitive, Durbin won by a surprising 15-point margin and he has since been re-elected in 2002,2008 and 2014, each time by at least 10%
5.
United States Senate
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The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
6.
History of the United States Senate
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The United States Senate, named after the ancient Roman Senate, was designed as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives. Edmund Randolph called for its members to be less than the House of Commons, to restrain, if possible, the fury of democracy. According to James Madison, The use of the Senate is to consist in proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch. Instead of two-year terms as in the House, senators serve six-year terms, the smaller number of members and staggered terms also give the Senate a greater sense of community. Many of the founding fathers greatly admired the British government, at the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Hamilton called the British government the best in the world, and said he doubted whether anything short of it would do in America. In the minds of many of the Founding Fathers, the Senate would be an American kind of House of Lords, the Senate was also intended to give states with smaller populations equal standing with larger states, which are given more representation in the House. The apportionment scheme of the Senate was controversial at the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton, who was joined in opposition to equal suffrage by Madison, said equal representation despite population differences shocks too much the ideas of justice and every human feeling. Referring to those who demanded equal representation, Madison called for the Convention to renounce a principle which was confessedly unjust, the state delegations originally voted 6–5 for proportional representation, but small states without claims of western lands reopened the issue and eventually turned the tide towards equality. On the final vote, the five states in favor of equal apportionment in the Senate—Connecticut, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, the four states that voted against it—Virginia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Georgia—represented almost twice as many people than the proponents. Convention delegate James Wilson wrote Our Constituents, had voted as their representatives did, would have stood as 2/3 against equality. 62, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, openly admitted that the suffrage in the Senate was a compromise, a lesser evil. Even Gunning Bedford, Jr. of Delaware admitted that he only favored equal representation because it advanced the interests of his own state, can it be expected that the small states will act from pure disinterestedness. Are we to act with greater purity than the rest of mankind, once the issue of equal representation had been settled, the delegates addressed the size of the body, to how many senators would each state be entitled. Giving each state one senator was considered insufficient, as it would make the achievement of a more difficult. A proposal from the Pennsylvania delegates for each state to elect three senators was discussed, but the greater size was deemed a disadvantage. When the delegates voted on a proposal for two senators per state, all supported this number. Since 1789, differences in population between states have more pronounced. At the time of the Connecticut Compromise, the largest state, Virginia, had only twelve times the population of the smallest state, today, the largest state, California, has a population that is seventy times greater than the population of the smallest state, Wyoming
7.
Classes of United States Senators
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The three classes of United States Senators are made up of 33 or 34 Senate seats each. The purpose of the classes is to determine which Senate seats will be up for election in a given year, the three groups are staggered so that one of them is up for election every two years, rather than having all 100 seats up for election at once. For example, the 33 Senate seats of Class 1 were elected in 2012, the 33 seats of Class 2 were up for election in 2014, the three classes were established by Article I, Section 3, Clause 2 of the U. S. Constitution. The actual division was performed by the Senate in May 1789 by lot. A senators description as junior or senior senator is not related to his or her class, rather, a states senior senator is the one with the greater seniority in the Senate. This is mostly based on length of service, when the Founding Fathers agreed to give six-year terms to Senators, they also decided to stagger the elections, so that a third of the Senate was up for election every two years. At the same time, they wanted more frequent elections, as opposed to waiting every six years and this was achieved in May 1789, several weeks after the first Senate assembled. To decide on how to implement this, on May 11 the Senate appointed a committee consisting of Senators Ellsworth, Carroll, in accordance with their recommendation, on May 14 the Senate divided the members into three classes, Thursday, May 14,1789. That three papers of a size, numbered 1,2, and 3, be, by the Secretary, rolled up and put into a box, and drawn by Mr. Langdon, Mr. Wingate. On the following day, May 15, the expiration of each class was determined by drawing lots. Upon the expiration of a term of any length, someone starts a new six-year term as senator. Because each state is represented by two Senators, regardless of population, each Senate class collectively represents a different number of people than each other Senate class. When a new state is admitted to the Union, its two senators have terms that correspond to those of two different classes, among the three classes defined below, a coin toss determines which new senator enters which of the classes selected to be expanded. This means at least one of any new states first pair of senators has a term of less than six years, when the last state, Hawaii, was admitted in 1959, candidates for the Senate ran either for seat A or seat B. The new Senators, in a process managed by the Secretary of the Senate, should a 51st state be admitted, it would receive senators in Classes 1 and 2, at which point all three Classes would have 34 senators. US Senate class page Current Class 1, Current Class 2, Current Class 3, A2013 analysis of the partisan leanings of each class
8.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate, the DSCCs current Chairman is Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who succeeded Senator Jon Tester following the United States Senate elections,2016. The DSCCs current Executive Director is Tom Lopach, who is assisted by Deputy Executive Director Preston Elliott, patty Murray was the first female chair of the DSCC. Her tenure was a mixed bag and her team raised more than $143 million, beating the previous record by $40 million, but Democrats lost two seats. For the first time since 1914 a presidents party had control of the Senate in a midterm election. Most observers, though, attributed the outcome to George W. Bushs post-9/11 popularity and the death of Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, chuck Schumer chaired the DSCC for the first of two consecutive cycles. Prior to the election, the Republican Party controlled 55 of the 100 Senate seats, incumbent Democrat Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary, but won re-election as an independent. Democrats kept their two seats in Minnesota and Maryland, and Republicans held onto their lone open seat in Tennessee. In Vermont, Bernie Sanders, an independent, was elected to the left open by independent Senator Jim Jeffords. In the 2006 election, two new female Senators were elected to seats held by men. This brought the number of female senators to an all-time high of 16. Following the elections, no party held a majority of seats for the first time since 1954, however, the party balance for the Senate stood at 51–49 in favor of the Democrats, because independents Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman caucused with the Democrats. The Democrats needed 51 seats to control the Senate because Vice President Dick Cheney would have broken any 50–50 tie in favor of the Republicans, chuck Schumer chaired the DSCC for the second of two consecutive cycles. Going into the 2008 election, the Senate consisted of 49 Democrats,49 Republicans, of the seats up for election in 2008,23 were held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. The Republicans, who openly conceded early on that they wouldnt be able to regain the majority in 2008 and this election was the second cycle in a row in which no seats switched from Democratic to Republican. In addition, this was the largest Democratic Senate gain since 1986, Democrats also picked up open seats in Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia. When the new Senate was first sworn in, the balance was 58–41 in favor of the Democrats, the defection of Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in April 2009 and the swearing-in of Al Franken of Minnesota in July 2009 brought the balance to 60–40. In 2012,23 Democratic Senate seats were available, as opposed to 10 Republican seats, an increase of four seats would have given the GOP a Senate majority
9.
Vice President of the United States
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The executive power of both the vice president and the president is granted under Article Two, Section One of the Constitution. The vice president is elected, together with the president. The Office of the Vice President of the United States assists, as the president of the United States Senate, the vice president votes only when it is necessary to break a tie. Additionally, pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the president presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. Currently, the president is usually seen as an integral part of a presidents administration. The Constitution does not expressly assign the office to any one branch, causing a dispute among scholars whether it belongs to the executive branch, the legislative branch, or both. The modern view of the president as a member of the executive branch is due in part to the assignment of executive duties to the vice president by either the president or Congress. Mike Pence of Indiana is the 48th and current vice president and he assumed office on January 20,2017. The formation of the office of vice president resulted directly from the compromise reached at the Philadelphia Convention which created the Electoral College, the delegates at Philadelphia agreed that each state would receive a number of presidential electors equal to the sum of that states allocation of Representatives and Senators. The delegates assumed that electors would typically choose to favor any candidate from their state over candidates from other states, under a plurality election process, this would tend to result in electing candidates solely from the largest states. Consequently, the delegates agreed that presidents must be elected by a majority of the number of electors. To guard against such stratagems, the Philadelphia delegates specified that the first runner-up presidential candidate would become vice president, the process for selecting the vice president was later modified in the Twelfth Amendment. Each elector still receives two votes, but now one of those votes is for president, while the other is for vice president. The requirement that one of those votes be cast for a candidate not from the electors own state remains in effect. S, other statutorily granted roles include membership of both the National Security Council and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. As President of the Senate, the president has two primary duties, to cast a vote in the event of a Senate deadlock and to preside over. For example, in the first half of 2001, the Senators were divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats and Dick Cheneys tie-breaking vote gave the Republicans the Senate majority, as President of the Senate, the vice president oversees procedural matters and may cast a tie-breaking vote. As President of the Senate, John Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes that was surpassed by John C. Calhoun with 31. Adamss votes protected the presidents sole authority over the removal of appointees, influenced the location of the national capital, on at least one occasion Adams persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and he frequently addressed the Senate on procedural and policy matters
10.
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
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The president pro tempore of the United States Senate, also president pro tem, is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. Unlike the vice president, the president pro tempore is a member of the Senate. Selected by the Senate at large, the president pro tempore has enjoyed many privileges, during the vice presidents absence, the president pro tempore is empowered to preside over Senate sessions. Since 1890, the most senior senator in the majority party has generally chosen to be president pro tempore. This tradition has been observed without interruption since 1949, the current President pro tempore of the Senate is Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. Elected on January 6,2015, he is the 90th person to serve in this office, although the position is in some ways analogous to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the powers of the president pro tempore are far more limited. The president pro tempore is third in the line of succession, following the vice president. Additional duties include appointment of various officers, certain commissions, advisory boards. The officeholder is an ex member of various boards and commissions. With the secretary and sergeant at arms, the president pro tempore maintains order in Senate portions of the Capitol, the office of president pro tempore was established by the Constitution of the United States in 1789. The first president pro tempore, John Langdon, was elected on April 6 the same year, originally, the president pro tempore was appointed on an intermittent basis when the vice president was not present to preside over the Senate. Until the 1960s, it was practice for the vice president to preside over daily Senate sessions. Until 1891, the president pro tempore only served until the return of the president to the chair or the adjournment of a session of Congress. Between 1792 and 1886, the president pro tempore was second in the line of succession following the vice president. When President Andrew Johnson, who had no president, was impeached and tried in 1868. Wades radicalism is thought by historians to be a major reason why the Senate. The President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House were removed from the line of succession in 1886. Both were restored to it in 1947, though this time with the president pro tempore following the speaker, William P. Frye served as President pro tempore from 1896 to 1911 (54th–62nd Congress, a tenure longer than anyone else
11.
Cloture
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Cloture, closure, or, informally, a guillotine is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken, clôture is French for ending or conclusion. It was introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom by William Ewart Gladstone to overcome the obstructionism of the Irish Parliamentary Party and was made permanent in 1887 and it was subsequently adopted by the United States Senate and other legislatures. The name cloture remains in the United States, in Commonwealth countries it is usually closure or, informally, guillotine, in the United Kingdom closure and guillotine are distinct motions. In Australia, the procedure by which finite debating times for particular bills are set, generally, a minister will declare that a bill must be considered as urgent, and move a motion to limit debating time. The declaration and motion may refer to a bill, or to multiple bills or packages of bills. A guillotine motion may not be debated or amended, and must be put to a vote immediately, closure in Canada was adopted by the House of Commons in 1913 by Conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden. The new closure rule was immediately tested by the government only a few days after its adoption during debate at the Committee of the Whole stage of the Naval Aid Bill, closure is the term used in Canada, cloture and guillotine are not used. The motion to end debate was submitted by Council member Philip Wong Yu-hong some time after 4 am Hong Kong time, Wong stood up and suggested that legislatures in other countries have a procedure called cloture motion, and suggested Council President should end debate immediately. President Tsang agreed and said that he considered ending debate even without Wongs suggestion because he would not allow debate to go on endlessly, cloture is not defined by any rule or precedent of the Legislative Council. Standing Order 92 therefore may implicitly give Council President discretion on whether he should or should not follow the rules of other legislatures. Legislative Council President Tsang chose to end debate without calling for a cloture vote, Council member Leung Kwok-hung then stood up and said that he had never heard of cloture without a vote anywhere else and suggested there should have been a cloture vote. Cloture was again invoked by Tsang Yok-sing on 13 May 2013 to halt debate of the 2013 Appropriation Bill, in the New Zealand House of Representatives, any MP called to speak may move a closure motion. If the length of the debate is not fixed by standing orders or the Business Committee, the Speaker may decide to put the motion to a vote. A closure motion may be adopted to end debate on a matter in both the House of Commons and in the House of Lords by a majority of those voting. In the House of Lords, the Lord Speaker does not possess an equivalent power, only one closure motion is permitted per debate. Specific to legislation, a motion, formally an allocation of time motion. The use of guillotines has been replaced by the programme motion, both guillotine motions and programme motions are specific to the Commons, the Lords does not permit time restrictions
12.
United States congressional committee
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A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty. Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction, woodrow Wilson once wrote, it is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work. It is neither expected nor possible that a member of Congress be an expert on all matters, Congressional committees provide valuable informational services to Congress by investigating and reporting about specialized subjects. Congress divides its legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among approximately 200 committees and subcommittees, of the 73 discharge petitions submitted to the full House from 1995 through 2007, only one was successful in securing a definitive yea-or-nay vote for a bill. The growing autonomy of committees has fragmented the power of each chamber as a unit. This dispersion of power has weakened the legislative branch relative to the other two branches of the federal government, the executive branch and the judiciary branch. In his often cited article History of the House of Representatives, written in 1961, galloway wrote, In practice, Congress functions not as a unified institution, but as a collection of semi-autonomous committees that seldom act in unison. Galloway went on to cite committee autonomy as a factor interfering with the adoption of a coherent legislative program, such autonomy remains a characteristic feature of the committee system in Congress today. This reform was abolished in a 1935 counterattack led by the intra-House oligarchy, thus the era of the Great Depression marks the last across-the-board change, albeit a short-lived one, in the autonomy of House standing committees. The 1946 act reduced the number of House committees from 48 to 19, jurisdictions of all committees were codified by rule in their respective chambers, which helped consolidate or eliminate many existing committees and minimize jurisdictional conflicts. There are no limits on the number of subcommittees in the U. S. Senate, Congress has convened several other temporary review committees to analyze and make recommendations on ways to reform and improve the committee system. For example, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 led to further reforms to open Congress to further public visibility, strengthen its decision-making capacities, the first Senate committee was established April 7,1789, to draw up Senate rules of procedure. In those early days, the Senate operated with temporary select committees and this system provided a great deal of flexibility, as if one committee proved unresponsive, another could be established in its place. The Senate could also forgo committee referral for actions on legislation or presidential nominations and these early committees generally consisted of three members for routine business and five members for more important issues. The largest committee established during the 1st Congress had eleven members and this system proved ineffective, so in 1816 the Senate adopted a formal system of 11 standing committees with five members each. Three of those committees, the Finance, Foreign Relations and the Judiciary Committees exist largely unchanged today, with the advent of this new system, committees are able to handle long-term studies and investigations, in addition to regular legislative duties. According to the Senate Historical Office, the significance of the change from temporary to permanent committees was perhaps little realized at the time. With the growing responsibilities of the Senate, the committees gradually grew to be the key policy-making bodies of the Senate, by 1906, the Senate maintained 66 standing and select committees—eight more committees than members of the majority party
13.
Filibuster in the United States Senate
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A filibuster in the United States Senate is a dilatory or obstructive tactic used in the United States Senate to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote. The most common form of filibuster occurs when a senator attempts to delay or block a vote on a bill by extending debate on the measure, the only bills that cannot be filibustered are those few considered under provisions of law that limit time for debating them. According to the Supreme Courts ruling in United States v. Ballin, nevertheless, under current Senate rules, a rule change could itself be filibustered, requiring two-thirds of senators who are present and voting to end debate. The presiding officer is expected to rule in favor of the rules of the Senate. No such majority vote provision existed in Senate rule XXII, on April 6,2017, that precedent was further changed by Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority to include Supreme Court nominations. The concept of the emerged in the Senate in the 1850s. At the time, both the Senate and the House of Representatives allowed filibusters as a way to prevent a vote taking place. Subsequent revisions to House rules limited filibuster privileges in that chamber, in 1789, the first U. S. Senate adopted rules allowing senators to move the previous question, which meant ending debate and proceeding to a vote. But in 1806, former Vice President Aaron Burr argued that the motion was redundant, had only been exercised once in the preceding four years. The Senate agreed and modified its rules, because it created no alternative mechanism for terminating debate, filibusters became possible. Until the late 1830s, however, the filibuster remained a solely theoretical option, the first Senate filibuster occurred in 1837. In 1841, a defining moment came during debate on a bill to charter the Second Bank of the United States. Senator Henry Clay tried to end the debate via majority vote, other senators sided with King, and Clay backed down. In practice, narrow majorities could enact legislation by changing the Senate rules, from 1917 to 1949, the requirement for cloture was two-thirds of senators voting. Despite that formal requirement, however, political scientist David Mayhew has argued that in practice, during the 1930s, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana used the filibuster to promote his populist policies. He recited Shakespeare and read out recipes for pot-likkers during his filibusters, in 1946, senators John H. Overton, Richard B. Russell, Senator Millard E. Tydings, Clyde R, the filibuster lasted weeks, and Senator Chávez was forced to remove the bill from consideration after a failed cloture vote, even though he had enough votes to pass the bill. In 1953, Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon set a record by filibustering for 22 hours and 26 minutes while protesting the Tidelands Oil legislation
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Quorum
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A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised, the requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by a small number of persons. The term quorum is from a Middle English wording of the commission formerly issued to justices of the peace, derived from Latin quorum, of whom, genitive plural of qui, as a result, quora as plural of quorum is not a valid Latin formation. Each assembly determines the number of members constitutes a quorum in its governing documents. The quorum may also be set by law, in the absence of such a provision, a quorum in an assembly whose membership can be determined is a majority of the entire membership. In the meetings of a convention, unless provided otherwise, a quorum is a majority of registered delegates, in a mass meeting or in an organization in which the membership cannot be accurately determined, the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting. In committees and boards, a quorum is a majority of the members of the board or committee unless provided otherwise, the board or committee cannot set its own quorum unless given such power. In a committee of the whole or its variants, a quorum is the same as the assembly unless otherwise provided, in online groups, a quorum has to be determined in a different manner since no one is actually present. The rules establishing such groups would have to prescribe this determination, an example is that a quorum in such groups could be established as present if enough members state that they are present at the designated meeting time. The chair of the group has the responsibility to determine if a quorum is present, in addition, any member can raise a point of order about an apparent absence of a quorum. When a quorum is not met, the assembly can only take limited procedural actions. These limited actions are to fix the time to which to adjourn, adjourn, recess, or take measures to obtain a quorum, any other business that is conducted is not valid unless it is ratified at a later meeting where a quorum is present. However, there is no obligation to ratify such action and those responsible may be punished for their actions, in legislatures and other assemblies that have the legal power to compel the attendance of their members, the call of the house procedure may be used to obtain a quorum. This procedure does not exist in ordinary societies, since voluntary associations have no coercive power, when a call of the house is ordered, the clerk calls the roll of members and then the names of absentees. Members who do not have an excused absence are arrested and brought in, the arrested members may be charged a fee. In the United States Senate, the procedure was used in the morning hours of February 25,1988. Byrds motion was approved 45-3 and arrest warrants were signed for all 46 Republicans, after a cleaning woman gave a tip that Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon was in his office, Giugni opened the door with a skeleton key. Packwood attempted to shove the door closed, but Giugni and two assistants pushed it open, Packwood was carried feet-first into the Senate chamber by three plainclothes officers and sustained bruised knuckles
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Saxbe fix
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The rollback, first implemented by an Act of Congress in 1909, reverts the emoluments of the office to the amount they were when that member began his or her elected term. To prevent ethical conflicts, James Madison proposed language at the Constitutional Convention that was adopted as the Ineligibility Clause after debate, Members of Congress have been appointed to federal judgeships without any fix being enacted, court challenges to such appointments have failed. There were four Saxbe fixes for appointees of presidents prior to Barack Obama, the first two rollbacks concerned appointees of Republicans William Howard Taft and Richard Nixon, and the last two were implemented for appointees of Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Congress approved two more in the weeks preceding Obamas presidency in preparation for his designated Cabinet nominees, since the 1980s, Saxbe fixes have only been temporary, extending to the conclusion of the term for which the sitting member of Congress was elected. Madison wrote that corrupt legislative actions, in the form of the creation of offices. The delegates who were present agreed that no member of Congress should be eligible to be appointed to a position while serving in Congress. Madison originally proposed a length on such a bar. However, Nathaniel Gorham, James Wilson, and Alexander Hamilton wanted no bar at all at the conclusion of congressional service. Eventually, Madison proposed a compromise, that no office ought to be open to a member, which may be created or augmented while he is in the legislature and they eliminated the one-year ban because they judged it to be ineffective in protecting the Constitution. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney moved that the vote and the prohibition carried by vote of 8 states to 3. Madison moved that the phrase or the Emoluments whereof shall have been augmented by the legislature of the United States, during the time they were members thereof and this motion failed 2–8, with one state divided. The clause was limited to civil offices so as not to military service. Accordingly, the clause was passed in its current form without an explicit time consideration, article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution therefore prohibits self-dealing legislation and is intended to protect the separation of power of the various branches of government. Corruption such as seen in the British Parliament was a consideration during debate by the framers of the Constitution. Most scholarly texts on the Constitution ignore the clause, although the Saxbe fix is named for Nixon nominee William Saxbe, the devices first intentional use predates him by several decades. As a matter of tradition, the Saxbe fix is considered sufficient to remove the disqualification of the Ineligibility Clause. The Ineligibility Clause has interfered with appointments as far back as 1793, President George Washington attempted to appoint William Paterson to the Supreme Court on February 27,1793, after the resignation of Associate Justice Thomas Johnson. However, Paterson, who was serving as Governor of New Jersey, had previously elected to serve a Senate term that would expire at noon on March 4,1793
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Seal of the United States Senate
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The Seal of the United States Senate is the seal officially adopted by the United States Senate to authenticate certain official documents. Its design also serves as a sign and symbol of the Senate. The current version dates from 1886, and is the seal design used by the Senate since its inception in 1789. The use of the seal is restricted by law and other regulations. The seal has a shield with 13 stars on top and 13 vertical stripes on the bottom, an olive branch, symbolizing peace, graces the left side of the shield, while an oak branch, symbolizing strength, is on the right. A red liberty cap above the shield and crossed fasces below the shield represent freedom and authority, blue beams of light emanate from the shield. Surrounding the seal is the legend United States Senate, several of the elements are derived from the Great Seal of the United States. The seal is affixed to impeachment documents and resolutions of consent to international treaties and it also appears on presentation copies of Senate resolutions recognizing appointments, commendations, and notable achievements. Other uses include authentication of senator credentials, and also votes for President. The seal is kept in the custody of the Secretary of the Senate, in the twentieth century, the Secretary has authorized its official use by the majority and minority leaders. It is illegal to use the Senate seal in any manner reasonably calculated to convey an impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States. The seal is depicted in a glass window in the United States Capitol. There are four staircases in the building, and all four stairwells contain a large stained glass window. One of these windows, on the Senate side of the Capitol, originally depicted an eagle with a shield and flags of the United States, the window was initially filled in with frosted glass, but was later replaced with a colorful design depicting the senate seal. The window is visible from the office on the other side. An image of this served as the theme of the Senates web page from about 2002 to 2006. The Senate never had a flag until the 1980s, even though by then most other government agencies, departments. In April 1984, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii proposed that the Senate commission an official flag using the design of the Senate seal
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Traditions of the United States Senate
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The United States Senate observes a number of traditions, some formal and some informal. Some of the current and former traditions are described below, From the Senates earliest days, depending on the era and the Senator, this has ranged from several months to several years. Today, this obsolescent Senate tradition survives only in part—the special attention given to a members first major address, until the practice first stopped, copies were provided by the Government Printing Office. A private organization, the Libertarian Press, revived the practice in 1997, the procedural activities of the Senate are guided by the Standing Rules of the Senate. Tradition states that day is begun with the Chaplains Daily Prayer. Following the prayer, the Senate recites the Pledge of Allegiance, at the end of a session of Congress it is traditional for Senators to read speeches into the Congressional Record praising the efforts of colleagues who will not be returning for the next session. If a Senator dies in office, it is traditional for the Senate to adjourn for a day, no Senate tradition has been more steadfastly maintained than the annual reading of President George Washingtons Farewell Address. This tradition, originally designed to be a morale-boosting gesture during the darkest hours of the American Civil War, a number of items located around the Senate chamber are steeped in tradition. In 1819 new desks were ordered for the senators to replace the set which was destroyed in the British attack on Washington in the War of 1812. The Daniel Webster desk has the oldest design as it lacks a 19th-century modification to add extra storage space to the top, when Daniel Webster acquired this seat, he pronounced that if his predecessor could organize himself to work with the reduced desk space, so could he. Every subsequent senator who has sat at that desk has also declined to have it improved, in keeping with a 1974 Senate resolution, this desk is assigned to the senior Senator from Websters birth state, New Hampshire. Jeanne Shaheen has been the occupant of this desk since 2011, in the early twentieth century, a tradition of senators engraving their own name on the bottom of the desk drawers emerged. In 1965, California senator George Murphy began a tradition of keeping a desk near the back of the chamber stocked with candy, the unique Senate gavel is made of ivory and has an hourglass shape with no handle. It was presented to the Senate by the Republic of India and it replaced the gavel in use since at least 1789, which had deteriorated over the years and finally cracked during the 1954 Senate session when then Vice President Richard Nixon used it. Prior to this an attempt to prevent damage to the old gavel was done by adding silver plates to both ends. Both gavels are kept in a box that is carried to the senate floor by a page. According to custom, bean soup is available on the Senate dining room menu every day, the Dubois includes mashed potatoes and yields five gallons of soup. Place beans into pot with hot water, add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally
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United States Capitol
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The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building or Capitol Hill, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U. S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the end of the National Mall in Washington. Though not at the center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the Districts street-numbering system. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors. In 2014, scaffolding was erected around the dome for a project scheduled to be completed by early 2017. All exterior scaffolding was removed by the end of summer 2016, prior to establishing the nations capital in Washington, D. C. the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia, New York City, and a number of other locations. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, Congress requested that John Dickinson, the Governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution and formally began on March 4,1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790, when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a capital for ten years, until the nations capital in Washington. Pierre Charles LEnfant was given the task of creating the city plan for the new capital city, in reviewing LEnfants plan, Thomas Jefferson insisted the legislative building be called the Capitol rather than Congress House. The word Capitol comes from Latin and is associated with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the connection between the two is not, however, crystal clear. In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the Presidents House. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City, the most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect. However, Hallets designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted on January 31,1793, to much praise for its Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty by Washington, along with praise from Thomas Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the portion of the design
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United States Senate chamber
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The United States Senate Chamber is a room in the north wing of the United States Capitol that serves as the legislative chamber of the United States Senate, since January 4,1859. The Senate first convened in its current meeting place after utilizing Federal Hall, Congress Hall, the Senate floor itself is overlooked on all four sides by a gallery on the second floor. The Senate floor itself is 80 by 113 feet, the Senate convened, beginning in 1790, in a second-floor chamber in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until moving into the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol building in 1800. From 1810 to 1859, the Senate utilized the Old Senate Chamber for legislative functions, during this time, the Senate nearly doubled in size as new states were admitted to the Union. In light of the size of both houses of congress, two new wings were added on to the United States Capitol. Beginning in 1851, the Capitol underwent several expansions including the new wings and their respective chambers, in addition to expanding the space available for the Senates use, the chambers designers were concerned that the room have acoustical and line-of-sight qualities comparable to those of a theater. The construction of the began in 1851 and continued until senators began utilizing the room for legislative business in 1859. The general design of the chamber, a rectangular, two-story room in the center of the Capitols north wing and this platform, semi-circular in shape, faces a raised rostrum in the front of the room. On all four sides of the second level, a visitors gallery overlooks the Senate floor. The Senate first allowed visitors to observe proceedings in 1795, the galleries for observing the Senate, including a womens gallery, became popular destinations for tourists and residents alike throughout the nineteenth century. Above the presiding officers desk at the rostrum was the press gallery, here, reporters are able to observe and cover the proceedings of the Senate. Because of the chambers theater-like qualities and size, numerous requests were made, in 1863, the chamber was used for a presentation of a narrative poem about a Union Army soldier, William Scott, who had fallen asleep at his post and was sentenced to be shot. Among the audience for the performance was the then-President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, in 1923, practicing physician and former commissioner of the New York City Board of Health Royal Copeland began his first term in the Senate. In June 1924, the Senate voted to adopt a measure by Copeland to improve the conditions of the Senate Chamber. On May 16, however, Copeland requested the postponement of his proposal in light of a new ventilation system that received the endorsement of experts in public health. The manufactured weather ventilation system, designed by Carrier Corporation, was completed in 1929 - the Senates first air conditioning system, in 1949-1950, the Senate Chamber underwent a reconstruction that involved the removal of the skylight and a redesign of the rooms walls. In place of the chambers original cast-iron pilasters, newer red Levanto marble pilasters were installed, the wooden rostrum was replaced with a newer, larger version made of marble. The iron and glass ceiling, including the skylight, was replaced with a ceiling of stainless steel and this redesign, in addition to improving the acoustic properties of the room, was to update the rooms mid-nineteenth century decor, which was then out of date
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Dirksen Senate Office Building
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On the eve of America’s entry into World War II, in 1941, the U. S. Senate authorized the Architect of the Capitol to prepare plans for a second Senate Office Building. When World War II delayed implementation of the Senate’s building plans, to house the additional staff, the Senate resorted to renting space in nearby buildings. Moreover, with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states. As pressure for more space mounted, the Senate in 1948 acquired property on which to erect an office building in order to accommodate the enlarged staff. Although more streamlined and less ornate, the new building was designed to harmonize with the Capitol, bronze spandrels between the third- and fourth-floor windows depicted scenes from American industry, Shipping, Farming, Manufacturing, Mining and Lumbering. Below the new building’s west pediment is the inscription, “The Senate is the Living Symbol of Our Union of States. ”Although the Senate approved the plans for the new building in 1949, construction was delayed until 1956. By then, increased costs of construction caused some scaling back of the original design, Capitol and the Russell Senate Office Building. The Hart and Dirksen Buildings are connected, and one can walk between the two almost as easily as if they were one structure. The building was renovated during 1999–2000 under the auspices of the Architect of the Capitol, day-to-day supervision of the project carried out by Assistant Architect Michael G. Turnbull, FAIA. The renovation was well received by Senators and their staff, I have nostalgia for the Dirksen Building because this is where my father had his office, and I was very content to stay here. Now that it has been renovated--and mine was the first suite to be consider that we are in the high-rent district. Thank you for the truly well thought out way in which building is being renovated. It is now work space that serve the needs of the Senators for another 50 years
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Hart Senate Office Building
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Construction began in January 1975, and it was first occupied in November 1982. Rapidly rising construction costs plagued the building, creating several scandals, the structure is named for Philip Hart, who served 18 years as a senator from Michigan. The Dirksen Senate Office Building was intended to occupy the block bounded by 1st Street NE, Constitution Avenue NE, 2nd Street NE. However, due to the resource and financial demands of the Korean War, in 1969, Congress voted to acquire the eastern half of the block for a New Senate Office Building. Originally, the Senate intended only to build a $21 million underground parking garage here and that effort was approved in June 1971. But in May 1972, the Subcommittee on Buildings of the Senate Committee on Public Works approved a plan to construct the New Senate Office Building above the parking garage, the buildings cost was estimated at $48 million in June 1972. The full Senate approved the plan in September 1972. Warneckes design for the building was approved by the Senate Committee on Public Works on August 8,1974. Warnecke was given just two weeks to come up with the cost estimate, which the Architect of the Capitol later claimed was far too little time to generate an accurate cost forecast, by the end of the year, the estimated cost of construction had risen to $69 million. Ground for the new structure was broken in January 1975, the poor and uneven condition of the soil at the site caused delays in the excavation, and major cost increases. When the foundations were finished, it was discovered many of the anchoring bolts were misaligned and had to be replaced. This also added new costs to the project. On August 30,1976, the Senate voted to name the new building the Philip A. Hart Senate Office Building in honor of retiring Senator Philip Hart. Hart died on December 26,1976, of melanoma, having declined to run for reelection the previous November, by August 1978, actual construction costs were now $85 million and were expected to top $122 million. The Senate approved a plan to spend another $54 million on the structure, initially, the House approved this plan. But when constituents bitterly complained, the House reversed itself on both counts, by 1979, construction estimates had soared to $179 million, and the General Accounting Office said it would rise to $230 million without changes. In July 1979, the Senate agreed to cap costs at $137.7 million after an acrimonious three-hour debate during which some suggested the building be torn down. The Hart Senate Office Building was completed in September 1982 at a cost of $137.7 million, Architect of the Capitol George M. White argued the construction cost was a reasonable $110 per square foot
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Russell Senate Office Building
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The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908, opened in 1909 and it occupies a site north of the Capitol bounded by Constitution Avenue, First Street, Delaware Avenue, and C Street N. E. The first congressional office building was constructed immediately after the turn of the 20th century to relieve overcrowding in the United States Capitol, previously, members who wanted office space had to rent quarters or borrow space in committee rooms. In March 1901 Congress authorized Architect of the Capitol Edward Clark to draw plans for office buildings adjacent to the Capitol grounds. In March 1903 the acquisition of sites and construction of the buildings were authorized, in April 1904, the prominent New York City architectural firm of Carrère and Hastings was retained. John Carrère took charge of the Senate Office Building project, while Thomas Hastings oversaw the construction of an almost identical office building for the United States House of Representatives and their Beaux Arts designs were restrained complements to the Capitol. Architecturally, their elevations are divided into a base and a colonnade with an entablature. The Constitution AV side is a replica of the easternmost façade of the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The colonnades, with 34 Doric columns that face the Capitol, are echoed by pilasters on the sides of the buildings, both buildings are faced with marble and limestone, the Russell Buildings base and terrace are gray granite. Modern for their time, they included such facilities as forced-air ventilation systems, steam heat, individual lavatories with hot and cold running water and ice water, telephones, both are connected to the Capitol by underground passages. Originally there were 98 suites and eight rooms in the Russell Building. Of special architectural interest is the rotunda, eighteen Corinthian columns support an entablature and a coffered dome, whose glazed oculus floods the rotunda with sunlight. The Russell Building was occupied in 1909 by the Senate of the 61st Congress, the growth of staff and committees in the twenty years following its completion resulted in the addition of a fourth side, the First Street Wing, to the originally U-shaped building. Wyeth and Francis P. Sullivan were the architects for the new wing
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Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
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