The legislative branch was established under Article 1 of the Constitution and consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, collectively known as Congress, and is primarily responsible for making laws. Once a bill enters Congress, it must be passed by both houses in order to go on to the President for consideration. Currently, the House and the Senate are working on negotiations on a veterans bill “to let veterans get health care outside the Department of Veterans Affairs, including looking for ways to cover the cost” (Klimas). There are two bills circulating for approval with nearly the same intent, but due to the broad extent of the Senate bill, “conferees will need to work out the differences between the two bill”(Klimas). Before this issue can advance to the next level, both the House and the Senate must pass the same bill with majority vote.…
3. A Senate filibuster allows a senator to delay action on a certain bill. The House Rules Committee manages the flow of legislation which can make it easier or more difficult for a bill to pass. The Conference committees settle any differences that the House and the Senate may have over a bill. Congress exercises oversight of the federal bureaucracy mainly through their Standing…
The Senate’s purpose is to be a second thought on legislative proposals after the House of Commons.[1] Members of the Senate are supposed to be a check and balance on the House of Commons. The Father of Confederacy designed the Senate for that reason. They are to be always checking on the other chamber and making sure legislation is going as it should be. Bicameral legislatures are common throughout the world and date back to early as the seventeen hundreds. Such countries as the United States of America (1787), German Confederation (1871), Australia (1901), Germany (1949), and India (1950).[2] Having a “…second chamber promotes democracy and protects democracy and protects minority rights by curbing high-handedness and arrogance in Cabinet and Commons.”[3] The Senate is a second chamber that the founder’s of this country envisioned and it serves as a check on the House and is apart of the bicameralism system.…
Senators represent an entire state, as members of the House of Representatives only represent districts, highlighting from the outset their different abilities to reach a broader spectrum of people, along with Senates being 1 of 100, and House members being 1 of 435. Therefore Senators have an easier avenue to implement their work, as a House representative has far less status, due to them being far denser in numbers a clear example of this is that of Bill Frist who in January 2003 became majority leader after only eight years in the Senate. While at the same time Representative Nancy Pelosi became House minority leader, but she had been a member in the house since 1987. This further highlights the ability of those with the senate to gain more status. Power within Congress is very much concentrated within committees, rather than that of the Chamber floor in question, which further highlights the Senates greater status, as Senators are far more likely to chair committees, which further heightens their status on Capitol Hill.…
The senate and congress each gained power. The “upper house” is the senate, and it is made up of two senators from each individual state. There are obligated to be at least thirty years old, a citizen of the United States for nine years, and usually serve up to six years. The way the house is conducted is that there are representatives based on how big the state is and its population. Representatives must be at least twenty five years of age and had to be a citizen for at least seven years. The United States constitution is enforced in a sense, because this system implements checks and…
In Congress, there are several different people that uphold various responsibilities, in which all play a very large role. To start with, there are two houses, the House…
The first draft of this new Constitution lacked the placement of specific limits on government power which is why this bill was created. The U.S. House of Representatives approved 17 amendments from which the Senate approved 12. Those 12 were sent to each if the…
The amendments can be proposed by a two-thirds majority of both houses of Congress, once this is passed it is then ratified by the legislatures in three-quarters of the States. The constitution can also be amended by a national convention called by Congress at the request of the State Legislatures, which can then be ratified by conventions in three-quarters of the States. These processes are interchangeable; the houses of Congress can propose an amendment and it can be ratified by the States, or vice-versa. No amendments have ever been passed through the use of conventions, as gaining a two-thirds majority of State legislatures is too substantial. The US constitution has been criticised for being too rigid making it difficult to amend and as the parties within government become more homogenous and party voting increases, the process of amendments gets even tougher.…
The House of Representatives has many jobs such as electing the President in the case of a tie (The Legislative Branch). "The Senate has the sole power to confirm those of the President's appointments that require consent, and to ratify treaties (The Legislative Branch)." The first step of a bill becoming a law is the introduction to Congress. Congress is the only part of the US government that can make or change laws. For a bill to be passed it must be accepted by the Legislative branch and the president. The House of Representatives can "fire" any elected official (The Legislative…
A second structure of Congress is committees. There are twenty-one standing committees in the House and seventeen in the Senate; each committee serves an important function. Ultimately, the committee system helps the members of Congress by allowing for a division of labor. Congress at large simply does not have the time or expertise needed for every piece of legislation, which is why committees are so important. The small groups can make things happen more effectively than if Congress as a whole had to work on the legislation. A congressional seniority system exists in the committees where over time congressmen can rise to more powerful positions but with increased incumbency and members of Congress staying on longer there is less room for…
The term filibuster, only applies to the Senate. A filibuster does not apply to the House of Representative for the fact of the growing numbers of members within that house that will vary from time to time. The House of Representative also have different rules from the Senate regarding the time a debate can prolong (United States Senate). When a filibuster takes…
Another difference is that the Senate is composed of 100 senators, two from each state. The House of Representatives, however, is made up of 435 representatives. The number of representatives each state receives is determined by that state’s population. A third difference would be the fact that each serves different term lengths. A member from the Senate serves a six year term, while a member from the House of Representatives serves a two year term.…
Although the Senate committee system is similar to that of the House of Representatives, it has its own guidelines, within which each committee adopts its own rules. This creates considerable variation among…
Amendments can be added, but a majority of congress and the people need to ratify it. One amendment that should be added is an amendment that gives the state power to recall their senators if they…
Many section of the Constitution have been debated and examined. One of the most interesting articles is Article V which details the process of ‘amending,’ or revising, the Constitution. There are two ways to go about the amending process. According to usconstitution.net, “the first method is for a bill to pass both houses of the legislature, by a two-thirds majority in each. Once the bill has passed both houses, it goes on to the states. This is the route taken by all current amendments. Because of some long outstanding amendments, such as the 27th, Congress will normally put a time limit (typically seven years) for the bill to be approved as an amendment.” Secondly, "Congress ... on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which ... shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States (Philip 26)." This procedure has never been used to amend the Constitution.…