Question 4 – How does an impeachment proceeding work for a Cabinet officer?
A Cabinet officer may be impeached in a number of ways, including:
- by charges made on the floor of the House of Representatives by a representative;
- by charges referred to a committee for debate and exam;
- by charges made by a State legislature or grade jury; or
- by charges made by an investigative House committee.
First, the House votes on the impeachment. Then, the Senate hears the case and acts as a judge on the merits of the case. The same process occurs if the President is impeached. However, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the Senate in the event of a presidential impeachment. (See: Art. I, sec. 2, cl. 5; sec. 3, cl. 6, 7; Art. II, sec. 4).
Question 5 – If, after a bill passes both houses of Congress and goes to the President for signature, can Congress recall the bill? And if so, how?
Yes. Congress can recall a bill that it has signed and sent to the President. However, this process is very rare and 3 main requirements must be met.
First, a bill which has reached the President can only be recalled by a concurrent resolution (i.e. a resolution that passes both the House and Senate). Second, after Congress passes the concurrent resolution it must send the resolution to the President. If the President has already signed the bill, then the bill is law and Congress is too late. If Congress would like to repeal the bill, it would have to go through the normal repeal process of a law. Third, assuming the President has not signed the bill, the bill must be sent by the President back to Congress.
So, if Congress really wants to recall a bill that it has sent to the President for signature, Congress needs to act quickly and hope that the President has not signed the bill into law yet. (See: Art. I, sec. 7, cl. 2).
Question 6 – What does it mean when someone says senators are paired?
A pair occurs when two senators – generally belonging to opposite parties – agree that they will not vote when the other senator is absent. There are 2 types of pairs including (i) general and (ii) specific. A general pair occurs when two senators agree that they will not vote on any bills or measures when the other senator is absent. A specific pair occurs when two senators agree that they will not vote on a specific bill or measure if the other senator is absent. General pairs are very rare while specific pairs are less rare. (See: Art. I, sec. 5, cl. 2).
So, why would two senators ever agree to a pairing? Well, the theory is that both senators’ votes will cancel each other out because they will be voting against each other. There a number of reasons why a pairing might occur including political maneuvering to secure a bill’s passage, alliances with certain senators to build report in the hopes of getting future bills passed, as a means to ensure fairness to both sides, etc.
Next, we’ll go over questions 7 – 9.