Question Binder ANSWERS!

I asked the legislative staff all the Question Binder questions that related to Congress. I could tell they liked finding the answers to them because after I asked each one, they looked up the answer on the Congressional Research Service website, which provides nonpartisan research resources only to members of Congress and their staffs (you can't access this website outside of Congressional offices, unfortunately). So here are answers to most of the questions:

If a person was born to foreign parents in the U.S. embassy, in say, France, for example, would they be a natural born U.S. citizen? - probably yes, though I actually called and left a message with the State Department for this one (I said I was calling from Congressman Altmire's office, which I was). I'm waiting to hear back on the answer.

Has the United States ever drilled for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge? -- no. It was declared a Federally protected area in 1960 and Congress renewed that in 1980. They have been federal surveys to determine how much oil might be there, but none has been gotten out of the ground. This is a very timely question - the Congress was discussing this when I was there (as you will read in a future blog entry called "Special Order Hours").

Could the President pardon a family member? - yes, he can pardon whomever he wants

What bills does the President pay? Does the President pay taxes? - yes. He pays taxes on is ranch in Crawford, Texas. He does not pay the White House electricity bill.

Because of the mass exodus of people from Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, would Louisiana get fewer representatives and when would this number go into effect? - they said this was a good question. The answer - yes, and it would not take effect until 2010 when they do the census again. They also said that this might be a reason Senator Landrieu (D-LA) may lose the next election - since many of the people who would have voted for her have been displaced.

When Congress meets are representatives of the Judicial Branch there? - the White House has a hill lobbyist who acts as a liaison between the Congress and the President, so the Legislative Assistants thought it likely that there was one between the Congress and the Supreme Court as well, though they weren't sure. They did say the Judiciary Committee makes sure laws are constitutional. The Supreme Court can't just come out and say a law is unconstitutional. A suit must be filed in the court first.

If a Supreme Court Justice is not mentally competent can they still hold their job for a life term? - yes, though Congress can impeach them.

If you were a Senator before you were President, when your presidency is up, are you still the Senator of that state? -- no, you had to give up your seat in order to become President.

Can you be kicked out of a political party? - sort of, but not exactly. At the moment in the Senate there are 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans and 2 independents. These 2 independents "caucus" with the Democrats, which means they usually vote the way the Democrats do. This gives the Democrats a majority with 51. At the moment, Senator Joe Lieberman, one of the independents, is Chair of Committee on Homeland Security in the Senate. He is an independent because he lost the Democratic primary, and so he ran as an independent. Recently he has been voting more with the Republicans. So the Democrats could take his Committee Chair away from him. Hence, if this happens, he would not be "kicked out" of the political party, per se, but he would be "kicked out" of a leadership position.

How many times can Congress revise a bill and how many times can the President veto it? - You can "ping-pong" 5 or 6 times - 3 each way.

If everyone in the President's Cabinet was naturalized, who would become the new President? - Congress drafted bills after 9/11 to address this. If you look up "United States presidential line of succession" on wikipedia it will show you the order. If you look at it you'll see that two current members of the cabinet are not eligible because they are naturalized citizens. Recently, the Secretary of Homeland Security was added to the end of the list on March 9, 2006. Regarding the question, however, the government has always made sure that such an event is unlikely - at the State of the Union Address, one of the Secretaries is always hidden in an undisclosed location. For further explanation, see wikipedia.

And finally, yes, Charlie, I asked the librarian at the Library of Congress orientation session I attended if the Library of Congress really has a Book of Secrets. She said no. Sorry Charlie. However, I found out from another history teacher this summer that Disney put out a book of "behind-the-scenes" explanations of the truths and myths in the National Treasure movies, so I will try to get this.