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December 10, 1979 Advisory by

Majority Whip John Brandemas

 

 

 

Both political parties in each house of Congress elect individual party leaders who have various responsibilities within their respective house and party. The primary leader of each party is generally referred to as the Majority Leader or Minority Leader (with the terms "Majority" and "Minority" referring to which party makes up the majority or minority within the applicable house). Each party also has a secondary leader, known as the Whip. The main functions served by the Whip are tracking legislation, ensuring that party members are present for votes, and advising party members as to the party's voting preferences. Both political parties in each house of Congress elect individual party leaders who have various responsibilities within their respective house and party.



The usefulness of Whip Advisories can be evaluated from both internal and external perspectives. From an internal perspective, documents such as this can enhance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a very practical way. They provide lawmakers with the most essential aspects of pending legislation in an efficient manner so that they can stay up to date while also continuing to be productive. On the other hand, the information provided is intentionally selective and biased, which can hinder the implementation of the democratic ideal by requiring legislators to vote on laws about which they've only been partially informed. The Whip Advisory shown here provides an excellent example of this dynamic. After a fairly detailed Bill Summary, the Advisory includes a section titled "Other Views," which simply states, "The report contains additional, separate and minority views," with no further elaboration.



From an external perspective, primary documents such as this can provide citizens with great insight as to exactly which aspects of a piece of legislation lawmakers focused on when preparing and debating the law, and the plain-language, summary style of writing makes them far more accessible to the average layperson than many other primary source Congressional documents.



Sources:



United States House of Representatives. "Democratic Whips (1899 to present)." Web. Accessed March 29, 2013. http://history.house.gov/People/Office/Democratic-Whips/



United States Senate. "whips." Web. Accessed March 29, 2013.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/whips.htm

Step 4: House voting

Creating rights for refugees

Metadata tags: John Brademas; Majority Whip; Whip Advisory; Refugee Act of 1979; Refugees; House leadership; Congressional voting; Legislative procedure

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