What branch is the congress in

Legislative Branch

Contents

The legislative branch of the federal government, composed primarily of the U.S. Congress, is responsible for making the country’s laws. The members of the two houses of Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate—are elected by the citizens of the United States.

Powers of Congress

At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to build the foundations of a strong central government. But they also wanted to preserve the liberty of individual citizens, and ensure the government didn’t abuse its power.

To strike this balance, they divided power between three separate branches of government: the legislative, the executive and the judicial.

Article I of the Constitution established the U.S. Congress, a bi-cameral legislative body consisting of two chambers, or houses. As shown by its prime spot at the beginning of the Constitution, the framers initially intended the legislative branch—which they saw as closest to the people—to be the most powerful of the three branches of government.

But as the powers of the presidency and the executive branch expanded during the 19th and 20th centuries, the relative power of Congress diminished, though it still remains essential to the functioning of the nation’s government.

House Of Representatives

There are 435 total representatives in the House; each state gets a different number of representatives depending on its population. Additional non-voting delegates represent the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Members of the House of Representatives elect their leader, known as the Speaker of the House. The speaker is third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the president and the vice president.

The House of Representatives is considered to be the chamber of Congress that is closest to the people, or most responsive to public needs and opinion. To ensure this responsiveness, people elect their representatives every two years, and all House members are up for reelection at the same time. Representatives may serve an unlimited number of terms in office.

According to Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, elected representatives must be at least 25 years old, and have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years. They must also live in the state they represent in Congress.

Senate

As the framers designed it, the Senate is more insulated from contact with the electorate than the House, and its members are expected to make decisions based more on experience and wisdom rather than ever-changing public opinion.

In contrast to the House—where representation is proportional to population—each state has two senators, regardless of size. This system of equal representation in the Senate benefits smaller states, as they have a disproportionate influence relative to their size.

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Senators serve six-year terms, and there is no limit to how many terms they can serve. Only one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. According to the Constitution, a prospective senator must be at least 30 years old and have been a U.S. citizen for at least nine years. Like representatives, they must also live in the state they represent.

The vice president is not only second in command of the executive branch, but also president of the Senate. If there is a tie in the Senate when voting on a piece of legislation, the vice president casts the deciding vote. The most senior member of the Senate is known as the president pro tempore, who presides over the Senate in the vice president’s absence.

Legislative Agencies and Political Parties

In addition to the two houses of Congress, the legislative branch includes a number of legislative agencies that support Congress in carrying out its duties. Among these agencies are the Congressional Budget Office, the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress.

Though the Constitution did not mention political parties, they have grown into one of the key institutions of the U.S. government today. Since the mid-19th century, the two dominant parties in the United States have been the Republicans and the Democrats. In both chambers of Congress, there is a majority party and a minority party based on which party holds the most seats.

In addition to the speaker of the House, who is the leader of the majority party, there is also a majority leader and a minority leader. Both majority and minority parties choose representatives to serve as whips, who count votes and mediate between party leadership and regular members of Congress.

What Does the Legislative Branch Do?

Anyone can write a prospective piece of legislation, aka a “bill,” but it must be introduced in the House or Senate by its primary sponsor, either a representative or senator. After a bill is introduced, a small group or committee meets to research it, ask questions and make additions or changes.

The bill then heads to the floor of the House or Senate for debate, where other representatives or senators can propose additional amendments or changes. If a majority votes in favor of the bill, it goes to the other house of Congress to be debated there.

Once both houses of Congress approve the same version of a bill, it goes to the president, who can either sign the bill into law or veto it. If the president vetoes it, the bill bounces back to Congress, which can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of those present in both the House and Senate.

The presidential veto and Congress’ ability to override it are both part of the system of checks and balances established by the Constitution to ensure no single branch of government exercises too much power.

Other Congressional Powers

In addition to writing and passing laws, Congress also has various other powers, including the power to declare war. Congress also creates an annual budget for the government, levies taxes on citizens to pay for the budget and is responsible for making sure money collected through taxes is used for its intended purpose.

Though the two chambers of Congress must jointly decide on how to exercise many of the powers given to them by the Constitution, each chamber also has specific powers that only it can execute. Among the unique powers of the House of Representatives are impeaching a federal official and proposing all tax legislation.

For its part, the Senate alone can ratify treaties signed with other countries, try impeached officials and confirm all presidential appointments, including the members of the president’s Cabinet and justices of the Supreme Court.

The Legislative Branch

Navigate this Section

Established by Article I of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers.

The House of Representatives is made up of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population. In addition, there are 6 non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and four other territories of the United States: American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. The presiding officer of the chamber is the Speaker of the House, elected by the Representatives. He or she is third in the line of succession to the Presidency.

Members of the House are elected every two years and must be 25 years of age, a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the state (but not necessarily the district) they represent.

The House has several powers assigned exclusively to it, including the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the case of an Electoral College tie.

The Senate is composed of 100 Senators, 2 for each state. Until the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, Senators were chosen by state legislatures, not by popular vote. Since then, they have been elected to six-year terms by the people of each state. Senators’ terms are staggered so that about one-third of the Senate is up for reelection every two years. Senators must be 30 years of age, U.S. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the state they represent.

The Vice President of the United States serves as President of the Senate and may cast the decisive vote in the event of a tie in the Senate.

The Senate has the sole power to confirm those of the President’s appointments that require consent, and to provide advice and consent to ratify treaties. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule: the House must also approve appointments to the Vice Presidency and any treaty that involves foreign trade. The Senate also tries impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House.

In order to pass legislation and send it to the President for his or her signature, both the House and the Senate must pass the same bill by majority vote. If the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing the bill again in each chamber with at least two-thirds of each body voting in favor.

The Legislative Process

The first step in the legislative process is the introduction of a bill to Congress. Anyone can write it, but only members of Congress can introduce legislation. Some important bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal budget. During the legislative process, however, the initial bill can undergo drastic changes.

After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 House committees, with 104 subcommittees. The committees are not set in stone, but change in number and form with each new Congress as required for the efficient consideration of legislation. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialized policy areas. For example, the House Committee on Ways and Means includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.

A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full committee, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear before the committee and provide testimony, and can compel people to appear using subpoena power if necessary.

If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the majority party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away. Others may wait for months or never be scheduled at all.

When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill — and by extension its passage — by refusing to stand down. A supermajority of 60 Senators can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once debate is over, the votes of a simple majority pass the bill.

A bill must pass both houses of Congress before it goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills have the exact same wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Conference Committee is convened, consisting of members from both chambers. The members of the committee produce a conference report, intended as the final version of the bill. Each chamber then votes again to approve the conference report. Depending on where the bill originated, the final text is then enrolled by either the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate, and presented to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The bill is then sent to the President.

When receiving a bill from Congress, the President has several options. If the President agrees substantially with the bill, he or she may sign it into law, and the bill is then printed in the Statutes at Large. If the President believes the law to be bad policy, he or she may veto it and send it back to Congress. Congress may override the veto with a two-thirds vote of each chamber, at which point the bill becomes law and is printed.

There are two other options that the President may exercise. If Congress is in session and the President takes no action within 10 days, the bill becomes law. If Congress adjourns before 10 days are up and the President takes no action, then the bill dies and Congress may not vote to override. This is called a pocket veto, and if Congress still wants to pass the legislation, they must begin the entire process anew.

Powers of Congress

Congress, as one of the three coequal branches of government, is ascribed significant powers by the Constitution. All legislative power in the government is vested in Congress, meaning that it is the only part of the government that can make new laws or change existing laws. Executive Branch agencies issue regulations with the full force of law, but these are only under the authority of laws enacted by Congress. The President may veto bills Congress passes, but Congress may also override a veto by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Article I of the Constitution enumerates the powers of Congress and the specific areas in which it may legislate. Congress is also empowered to enact laws deemed “necessary and proper” for the execution of the powers given to any part of the government under the Constitution.

Part of Congress’s exercise of legislative authority is the establishment of an annual budget for the government. To this end, Congress levies taxes and tariffs to provide funding for essential government services. If enough money cannot be raised to fund the government, then Congress may also authorize borrowing to make up the difference. Congress can also mandate spending on specific items: legislatively directed spending, commonly known as “earmarks,” specifies funds for a particular project, rather than for a government agency.

Both chambers of Congress have extensive investigative powers, and may compel the production of evidence or testimony toward whatever end they deem necessary. Members of Congress spend much of their time holding hearings and investigations in committee. Refusal to cooperate with a congressional subpoena can result in charges of contempt of Congress, which could result in a prison term.

The Senate maintains several powers to itself: It consents to the ratification of treaties by a two-thirds supermajority vote and confirms the appointments of the President by a majority vote. The consent of the House of Representatives is also necessary for the ratification of trade agreements and the confirmation of the Vice President.

Congress also holds the sole power to declare war.

Government Oversight

Oversight of the executive branch is an important Congressional check on the President’s power and a balance against his or her discretion in implementing laws and making regulations.

One primary way that Congress conducts oversight is through hearings. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs are both devoted to overseeing and reforming government operations, and each committee conducts oversight in its policy area.

Congress also maintains an investigative organization, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Founded in 1921 as the General Accounting Office, its original mission was to audit the budgets and financial statements sent to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Today, the GAO audits and generates reports on every aspect of the government, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent with the effectiveness and efficiency that the American people deserve.

The Executive Branch also polices itself: Sixty-four Inspectors General, each responsible for a different agency, regularly audit and report on the agencies to which they are attached.

Legislative Branch (Congress) Introduction

Legislative Branch (Congress) Introduction

What is Legislative Branch (Congress) About and Why Should I Care?

This is a tale of two Congresses.

Well, actually this is a tale of one Congress—but one Congress with two very different personalities.

The first Congress is an idealistic place—the beating heart of American democracy. James Madison called it «the first branch» of government, the place where the people’s representatives meet in virtuous pursuit of the public interest.

The Senate, with its tradition of unlimited debate, fancies itself the «world’s greatest deliberative body.» The House lacks such a snappy nickname, but takes pride in being the most democratic institution of the national government.

The entire Congress serves as the modern embodiment of an ancient republican ideal stretching back to Plato and Aristotle, an ideal reflected even in the classical form of the Capitol building itself. Congress is our living temple of democracy.

This is the Congress that provided a platform for some of the greatest orators in American history—like Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun, the trio of legendary lawmakers who were as powerful as most presidents in the early nineteenth century.

This is the Congress that reconstructed the United States into one nation following the devastation of the Civil War.

This is the Congress that overcame deep partisan divisions to pass the landmark bills that continue to shape the world we live in—the Social Security Act of 1935, which for the first time gave most Americans a chance to enjoy retirement in old age; the GI Bill of 1944, which gave millions of middle-class war veterans unprecedented opportunities for higher education and homeownership; the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended Jim Crow racial discrimination; and the Reagan tax cut of 1981, which fueled a new prosperity in the markets by sharply lowering tax burdens on businesses and individuals.

This is the Congress we can all be proud of.

But then there’s the second Congress, the one that seems less like a temple of democracy than a capitol of stupidity, corruption, and destructive partisanship.

This is the Congress where one senator beats the tar out of another with a gold-headed cane, right there on the floor of the world’s greatest deliberative body.

This is the Congress where the Vice President of the United States, fulfilling his ceremonial role as the presiding officer of the Senate, greets a lawmaker of the opposition party with an unceremonious «Go f*** yourself!»

This is the Congress where legislators focus on the most critical issues facing the nation—like finding time to honor 50 glorious years of Marshmallow Peeps.

This is the Congress that led Mark Twain to quip a century ago, «Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.» (And this is the same Congress that makes Twain’s words often ring just as true today.)

In this tale of two Congresses, the temple of democracy and the capitol of idiocy are, in fact, one and the same. This is our legislative branch, the sole lawmaking body of our representative democracy. It is—and always has been—a peculiar mix of the ridiculous and the sublime.

How did the framers of the Constitution design the legislative branch to serve as the voice of the people’s will in pursuit of the public interest? How well does the Congress fulfill these democratic ideals in practice? What powers does Congress have, and how does it use them? And is it fair for so many of us—like Mark Twain—to view the legislative branch with such cynicism and disdain?

Legislative Branch (Congress) Trivia

Since 1789, more than 11,000 proposed amendments to the United States Constitution have been introduced in Congress. Only 27 have been ratified.

President Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in 1868 and nearly removed from office—he prevailed in his trial before the Senate by only one vote—later became the only president to serve in the Senate leaving the White House. In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the same Senate seat he had earlier occupied from 1857-62. Johnson died just a few months later, however.

President Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in 1868 and nearly removed from office—he prevailed in his trial before the Senate by only one vote—later became the only president to serve in the Senate leaving the White House. In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the same Senate seat he had earlier occupied from 1857-62. Johnson died just a few months later, however.

Legislative Branch (Congress) Resources

Books

Lee Hamilton, How Congress Works and Why You Should Care (2004)
A longtime congressman from Indiana, author Lee Hamilton served in the House of Representatives for 34 years. In this book, he attempts to describe how the institution really works, from the inside. Hamilton has a clear allegiance to the Congress and his book might be read as a kind of subtle defense of the legislative branch against the nation’s widespread criticism of it.

Robert Remini, The House: The History of the House of Representatives (2007)
Remini, a talented popular historian, has joined forces with the Library of Congress to produce this highly readable—if not terribly critical—narrative history of the House of Representatives. For anyone interested in the 220-year history of the House, this is a great place to start.

Lewis Gould, The Most Exclusive Club: A History of the Modern United States Senate (2006)
Gould’s history of the Senate in the twentieth century takes a much more critical tone than Remini’s history of the House; where Remini seems to have a certain affection for his subject, Gould’s view of the Senate often seems to stand on the tipping point between skepticism and contempt. But there is a great deal of worthwhile material here, and Gould’s interpretation of the Senate as an elitist institution full of egomaniacal grandstanders, often standing in the way of progress, is not one that entirely lacks justification.

Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (2002)
Lyndon Johnson became president because he was vice president when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. But he became vice president because he built himself up into one of the most powerful figures in Congress in the twentieth century. Caro’s biography describes in staggering detail—weighing in at a hefty 1000 pages—Johnson’s mastery of Senate politics in the 1950s.

Music

Woody Guthrie, Library of Congress Recordings, vols. 1-3 (1992 box set, original release 1964)
Okay, so it’s a bit of a reach, but most congressmen don’t really make sweet music. But the Library of Congress, which has served as the legislative branch’s research arm for two centuries, is also an incredible repository for classic American music…which gives us the perfect opportunity to hype this priceless collection of recordings by Woody Guthrie, perhaps the greatest folk musician in American history. Check it out and learn why rock stars ranging from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen have embraced Guthrie’s legacy.

Parliament, Gold (2005)
Okay, so this is even more of a reach. But Congress is sort of like Parliament, and Parliament is perhaps the greatest funk band ever. And who wouldn’t rather listen to the mad genius of George Clinton and his band of merry men than the, um, memorable music created by actual members of the legislative branch? (That’s ex-US Senator John Ashcroft singing his own original composition, «Let the Eagle Soar,» in 2002. Didn’t we warn you that Parliament was better?)

Images

The Capitol
Washington, DC’s Capitol Building is the home of the United States Congress. The House is on the left, the Senate on the right.

Capitol Rotunda
The rotunda of the Capitol, under the dome, is one of the most impressive spaces in the building that houses the legislative branch of government.

Speaker of the House
The Speaker of the House is one of the most powerful figures in the United States government. The Current Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, is the first woman ever to fill the role.

Floor of the House
The 435 members of the House of Representatives meet in this ornate hall inside the US Capitol Building. The chamber is also used for joint meetings of Congress, such as the annual State of the Union address given by the President.

Caning on the Senate Floor
In one of the most notorious incidents in the history of the US Senate, in 1856 South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks attacked Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate, beating him severely with a wooden cane. The same fierce intersectional conflict between pro-slavery southerners and anti-slavery northerners that created the Sumner-Brooks incident would lead, just five years later, to the Civil War.

Movies & TV

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Director Frank Capra’s earnest feel-good classic tells the story of one good man transforming Washington’s corrupt politics through his resolute honesty and integrity. The film made star Jimmy Stewart into one of the major Hollywood stars of the mid-twentieth century and provided a fictional model invoked by good-government reform candidates ever since.

Advise and Consent (1962)
An underrated classic from director Otto Preminger, Advise and Consent turns the Machiavellian backroom dealings of Congress into high drama. The story revolves around the contentious confirmation process required for a controversial nominee for secretary of state to take office. Who could have imagined that Article II, Section, Clause 2 would make for such brilliant cinema?

The Candidate (1972)
A young Robert Redford stars in the title role as a political idealist convinced to make a hopeless run against a popular incumbent for a supposedly unwinnable US Senate seat. As the campaign drags on, Redford’s character finds himself more and more corrupted by the political machine and the partisan system. In the film’s most iconic moment, Redford stares blankly into the camera just after learning he has unexpectedly won his election, asking «What do we do now?»

Websites

house.gov
The official website of the US House of Representatives provides an abundance of useful information, including schedules and calendars for current legislation and a variety of historical resources.

senate.gov
It’s not quite as good as the House website in terms of providing information on current events, but the Senate’s official home on the internet is great for historical and artistic exhibits online.

Roll Call
Roll Call is a newspaper devoted entirely to reporting events on Capitol Hill. The paper’s website offers great one-stop coverage of news from the legislative branch.

THOMAS
In a slightly goofy move, the Library of Congress decided to name its legislative information portal after Thomas Jefferson. (Why they went with all-caps, we have no idea.) Odd name aside, THOMAS is a powerful tool for learning about current and past legislation and congressional policies.

Video & Audio

Schoolhouse Rock: How A Bill Becomes a Law
Why bother reading up on the convoluted process by which proposed legislation moves through Congress when you can just have cartoons sing it to you? (Warning: this song is annoyingly catchy and will get stuck in your head. «I’m just a bill. «)

Primary Sources

The Constitution
You’ll want to turn your attention to Article I, which establishes the form and structure of the legislative branch of government.

THOMAS from the Library of Congress
Named after Thomas Jefferson, THOMAS is the Library of Congress’s incredibly useful point of access to all the primary-source info you could possibly desire regarding legislative branch activity. Bills and resolutions, roll call votes, past laws, current schedules, and the Congressional Record—it’s all here, in easily searchable form.

McCullough v. Maryland
This landmark 1819 Supreme Court case interpreted the «Necessary and Proper Clause» of the Constitution in a liberal manner, establishing a precedent that would help lead to the gradual expansion of the implied powers of government over the course of the next two centuries.

Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, was one of the most important pieces of legislation passed by Congress in the first half of the nineteenth century. The compromise quieted sectional controversy between the slave South and free North for a generation.

Pacific Railway Act
In 1862, Congress passed a landmark bill providing funding for the construction of a transcontinental railroad. That railroad, completed in 1869, tied the West Coast to the East and helped initiate a period of rapid economic and industrial growth in the United States.

Interstate Commerce Act
In 1887, Congress passed an act authorizing the federal regulation of the railroad industry, beginning a new era of extensive government regulation of the economy.

Social Security Act
Perhaps the most important legislative accomplishment of the New Deal, the Social Security Act passed by Congress in 1935 established a new system of government-funded retirement insurance for all Americans.

Civil Rights Act
In 1964, Congress ended a century of legal discrimination against blacks by passing the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed the Jim Crow system of de jure segregation.

CONGRESS

Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government, is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 100 Senators, two from each state. One third of the Senators are elected every two years for six-year terms of office. The Senators represent all of the people in a state and their interests.

The House has 435 members. They are elected every two years two-year terms. They represent the population of “congressional districts” into which each state is divided. The number of Representatives from each state is based upon its population. For instance, California, the state with the largest population, has 45 Representatives, while Delaware has one. There is no limit to the number of terms a Senator or a Representative may serve.

Almost all elections in the United States follow the “winner-take-all” principle: the candidate who wins the largest number of votes in a Congressional district is the winner.

Congress makes all laws, and each house of Congress has the power to introduce legislation. Each can also vote against legislation passed by the other. Because legislation only becomes law if both houses agree, compromise between them is necessary. Congress decides upon taxes and how money is spent. In addition, it regulates commerce among the states and with foreign countries. It also sets rules for the naturalization of foreign citizens.

Task 1

Study the following words and expressions and memorize them:

the Senate [‘senit] – сенат

Representative [¸repri’zent∂tiv] – представитель, делегат

Population [¸popju’lei∫∂n] – население

To divide [di’vaid] – делить

To base [‘beis] – базировать, основывать

California [¸kæli’fo:nj∂] – Калифорния

Delaware [‘del∂wε∂] – Делавер

Limit [‘limit] – ограничение, предел

To serve [‘s∂:v] – служить

To follow [‘fol∂u] – следовать чему-либо

Candidate [‘kændidit] – кандидат

To make laws [‘lo:z] – издавать законы

To introduce legislation [intr∂’dju:s ¸ledзis’lei∫∂n] – вносить законопроект на рассмотрение

Tax [‘tæks] – налог, пошлина

Commerce [‘kom∂:s] – торговля, общение

Naturalization [¸næt∫r∂lai’zei∫∂n] – натурализация, устройство

Task 2

Task 3

Do the following exercises on the text.

Exercise 1. Find English equivalents for the words below.

q законодательная речь

q 6-летний срок службы

q каждые два года

q избирательный округ

q базируется на

q набирать наибольшее количество голосов

q голосовать против законопроекта

q если обе палаты согласны

q устанавливать размеры налогов

q регулировать отношения между штатами

q устройство иностранных граждан

Exercise 2. Give English equivalents in brackets.

1. Congress is made up of (Сенат) and (Палата представителей).

2. Each (сенатор) is elected for six years and each (представитель) for two years, with no limitation on the number of (сроков).

3. Almost all elections (следуют) the (победитель получает все) principle.

4. Each (палата) of (Конгресс) has the (полномочия) to introduce (законопроект).

5. Legislation only (становится законом) if (компромисс) between two houses is found.

6. Congress decides upon (налоги), (регулирует) commerce among the states and (устанавливает правила) for the (устройство) of foreign citizens.

Exercise 3. Find sentences with Passive Voice and translate them.

Exercise 4. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. The executive power is exercised by Congress.

2. The number of Representatives from each state depends on its population.

3. A Senator or a Representative may serve only one term.

4. Only the Senate has the power to introduce legislation.

5. The only function of Congress is regulating commerce among the states.

Exercise 5. Answer the questions on the text.

1. What power of the government does Congress exercise?

2. What Houses does Congress consist of?

3. How are the Senators and Representatives elected?

4. What do the Senators represent?

5. How many terms may a Senator or a Representative serve?

6. What candidate wins in the election?

7. What are the functions of Congress?

Exercise 6. Put questions to get these answers.

1. Each state is divided into “congressional districts”.

2. Almost all elections follow the “winner-take-all” principle.

3. Legislation becomes law if both Houses agree.

4. The House of Representatives has 435 members.

What is Congress?

Congress makes the laws.

If you only know one thing about the legislative branch, that should be it. (Now, it may or may not be a good idea to know more than one thing, but that’s up to you.)

Congress makes the laws, and that makes Congress the heart of America’s representative democracy—the place where the democratic representation actually happens, where lawmakers elected directly by the people meet to make laws to (hopefully) serve the public interest.

There’s a reason why founding father James Madison called Congress «the first branch» of government. Under the Articles of Confederation—America’s first independent system of government, which lasted from 1781 to 1789—the national government consisted only of Congress. There was no president and no federal court system, no executive or judicial branches of government. That approach didn’t work out very well, which is why 55 leading citizens—including legendary figures like Madison, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton—met in Philadelphia over the summer of 1787 to hammer out a new arrangement for national government. That new arrangement, the Constitution of the United States, created a much more robust government, one in which Congress’s powers were checked and balanced by newly created executive and judicial branches.

Even so, the legislative branch remained at the center of the framers’ vision for representative democracy. It’s no accident that the legislative branch is described in Article I of the Constitution, or that Article I is longer than the other six articles combined. A large majority of the Constitutional Convention’s time and energy was poured into resolving thorny problems in the design of the legislative branch. By comparison, the presidency (Article II) and the federal court system (Article III) were tacked on as relative afterthoughts.

Under the new system of government created by the Constitution—the system we still use today—the legislative branch lost its monopoly on power and became one of three equal branches of government. Still, the legislative branch remained something of a first among equals; the Constitution empowers the president to execute the laws and the judiciary to interpret them, yet only Congress makes the laws.