Process Essay: Where Does Power Lie In Congress

Where does power lie in Congress?

Congress in the US is granted all legislative powers by the Constitution, the power to appropriate funds, regulate trade and commerce and to formally declare war. Although the President imposes his will on all of these activities Congress is still an extremely important and powerful body; arguably today it has a superior mandate as President Bush was elected on a popular minority and less recently. Congress is regularly re-elected (every two years) and because of the diversity of the US population it represents a very broad range of interests. The Gingritch years in the House of Representatives show how a reassertion of power in Congress can shape the political landscape in the US.

David McKay comments that in
Although not mentioned in the Constitution Congressional committees have become an essential tool in Congress as its membership has increased and an expansion in government involvement in economic and social life has required a far greater volume of legislation and increased scrutiny of the executive. Select committees are permanent and therefore members of a committee who are re-elected gain a large amount of expertise in the policy area the committee deals with and a large amount of skill in executive scrutiny. The main functions of committees are the scrutiny of legislation in their field of speciality (N.B. this involves the power to stop a bill), the scrutiny of executive departments and basic 'housekeeping' and co-ordination roles. Congressional committees are powerful, well-funded, well-staffed (large numbers of researchers) and respected as important bodies. For this reason members want to serve; also they may advance in the party through good committee service and also through committee membership have a more powerful influence on the legislative process and may gain a degree of control over legislation of particular importance to their