Due to an Oversite on My Part I Have Not Sent These Bills Monthly. It Will Not Happen Again.
The United States Congress is made up of the Firm of Representatives and the Senate. Learn more about the powers of the Legislative Branch of the federal government of the United States.
Established by Article I of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the Business firm of Representatives and the Senate, which together course the United states Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole potency to enact legislation and declare war, the right to ostend or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers.
The Firm of Representatives is made up of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 states in proportion to their full population. In addition, in that location are vi non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and four other territories of the U.s.a.. 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 Business firm 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 (only not necessarily the district) they represent.
The House has several powers assigned exclusively to it, including the ability to initiate acquirement bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the instance of an electoral college tie.
The Senate is equanimous of 100 Senators, 2 for each state. Until the ratification of the 17th Subpoena in 1913, Senators were chosen past country legislatures, not by popular vote. Since then, they have been elected to six-twelvemonth terms by the people of each country. Senator'due south terms are staggered so that about i-tertiary of the Senate is upwards for reelection every ii years. Senators must be thirty years of age, U.S. citizens for at least 9 years, and residents of the land they correspond.
The Vice President of the United States serves every bit President of the Senate and may bandage the decisive vote in the upshot of a tie in the Senate.
The Senate has the sole ability to confirm those of the President's appointments that require consent, and to ratify treaties. There are, nonetheless, two exceptions to this rule: the House must besides corroborate 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 club to pass legislation and send it to the President for his signature, both the House and the Senate must pass the same pecker by majority vote. If the President vetoes a neb, they may override his veto past passing the neb again in each chamber with at least two-thirds of each torso voting in favor.
The Legislative Process | Powers of Congress | Government Oversight
The Legislative Process
The starting time 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 asking of the President, such equally the annual federal budget. During the legislative process, however, the initial bill can undergo desperate changes.
After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate commission for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with lxx subcommittees, and 23 Business firm committees, with 104 subcommittees. The committees are not set up 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 than specialized policy areas. For example, the House Committee on Ways and Ways includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.
A bill is start considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee hold to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full commission, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this phase of the process, the committees and subcommittees phone 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 tin can compel people to appear using amendment power if necessary.
If the total 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 beak is particularly pressing, it may exist considered correct 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 fence procedure. 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 almost bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the nib under consideration during their speeches, and whatever subpoena tin be introduced. Senators tin use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a beak — and by extension its passage — by refusing to stand downwardly. A supermajority of 60 Senators can intermission a delay by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once argue is over, the votes of a simple majority passes the bill.
A pecker must pass both houses of Congress before information technology goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills take the exact same wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Briefing 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 so votes again to corroborate the conference report. Depending on where the bill originated, the final text is then enrolled by either the Clerk of the Firm or the Secretary of the Senate, and presented to the Speaker of the Firm and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The bill is then sent to the President.
When receiving a beak from Congress, the President has several options. If the President agrees substantially with the bill, he or she may sign information technology into law, and the beak is then printed in the Statutes at Large. If the President believes the law to be bad policy, he may veto it and send it back to Congress. Congress may override the veto with a 2-thirds vote of each bedchamber, at which bespeak the beak becomes law and is printed.
There are 2 other options that the President may do. If Congress is in session and the President takes no action within ten days, the bill becomes law. If Congress adjourns before 10 days are up and the President takes no action, then the pecker dies and Congress may not vote to override. This is called a pocket veto, and if Congress still wants to laissez passer the legislation, they must brainstorm the unabridged process anew.
Powers of Congress
Congress, as one of the three coequal branches of regime, is ascribed significant powers by the Constitution. All legislative power in the authorities is vested in Congress, pregnant that it is the only role of the regime that tin make new laws or modify existing laws. Executive Branch agencies upshot regulations with the full force of law, just these are only nether the authority of laws enacted by Congress. The President may veto bills Congress passes, but Congress may also override a veto by a 2-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 besides empowered to enact laws accounted "necessary and proper" for the execution of the powers given to any part of the government under the Constitution.
Office of Congress's practise of legislative dominance is the institution of an annual budget for the government. To this end, Congress levies taxes and tariffs to provide funding for essential regime services. If enough money cannot be raised to fund the government, so Congress may as well qualify borrowing to make up the difference. Congress can besides mandate spending on specific items: legislatively directed spending, commonly known as "earmarks," specifies funds for a particular project, rather than for a authorities agency.
Both chambers of Congress have extensive investigative powers, and may compel the production of show or testimony toward whatever end they deem necessary. Members of Congress spend much of their fourth dimension holding hearings and investigations in committee. Refusal to cooperate with a Congressional amendment can result in charges of contempt of Congress, which could event in a prison house term.
The Senate maintains several powers to itself: It ratifies treaties past a two-thirds supermajority vote and confirms the appointments of the President past a majority vote. The consent of the House of Representatives is as well necessary for the ratification of trade agreements and the confirmation of the Vice President.
Congress also holds the sole ability to declare war.
Authorities Oversight
Oversight of the executive branch is an of import Congressional check on the President's power and a balance against his discretion in implementing laws and making regulations.
A major way that Congress conducts oversight is through hearings. The House Committee on Oversight and Regime Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Regime 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 every bit 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 Function of Direction 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 co-operative besides polices itself: Lx-four Inspectors General, each responsible for a different agency, regularly audit and study on the agencies to which they are attached.
Source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/legislative-branch
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