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Created with Fabric.js 1.4.5 The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch is divided into two houses of Congress: The Senate and The House of Representatives. The Senate- 100 Members The House of Representatives- 435 Members Each state is represented by two Senators. Senators are elected by voters in the state they are running in. The House of Representatives reflects the size of each state'spopulation. States with a larger population will have more representatives than states with a smaller population. The leader of the Senate is the Vice President of the UnitedStates. His duties are to call uponmembers to speak and to introduce questions for a vote.The Vice president cannot debatequestions and may only voteif there is a tie. The leader of the House of Representatives is also knownas the Speaker of the House.The Speaker of the House is one of the representatives elected bythe majority party members andserves for two years. The speaker can become presidentof the United States if the president and vice presidentcannot serve. The speaker'sduties includes leading sessions,calling for votes, and sees that the rules are followed. The speakeralso places members of the houseon committees. Because of this, thespeaker can influence which laws the house passes. A Senator...Must be 30 years oldMust be a United States citizenfor a minimum of nine yearsMust be a Resident of the state he/she representsServes a six-year term A Representative...Must be 25 years oldMust be a United States citizenfor a minimum of seven yearsMust be a Resident of the state he/she represents and live in the district he/she representsServes a two-year term John Barrasso (R) Chairperson of the SenateIndian Affairs Committee Cynthia Lummis (R) Committee Member on Oversight andGovernment Reform Mike Enzi (R)Chairperson of the Senate Budget Committee Duties of Congress The most important duty of is to make laws. Under the constitution, Congress has the power to collect taxes, maintain armed forces, regulate trade, and punish certain crimes. Congress May also propose amendments to the Constitution. Other Dutiesof Congress include the power to investigate the other two branches of FederalGovernment. Process of a Bill becoming a Law double click to change this header text! Bills are first introduced in either the senate or the House where it receives a number and a title. The bill is then sent to a committee for further study where the bill will either be dropped orapproved. If approved, the bill will be sent to a subcommittee and the process is repeated. If it is approved in the subcommittee, it's sent back to the committee and the same process happens. This time however, if the bill is approved it is placed on either the Senate or house calendar. once the bill has reached the Senate or the House, it is debated. If it is approved, it will be sent to the other house of Congress and if both parts of congress approve it, then it is sent to thepresident. The president can either sign the bill, or veto it. If signed it becomes law but if it is vetoedcongress has one last opportunity to make the bill law by having it approved by two-thirds majority. Types of Congressional Committees the elastic clause was created by the makers of the constitution to address problems that would come up that weren't already written in the constitution. This tells congress that it can make all laws necessary to carry out it's duties. There are five types of Congressional committees: Standing committees, subcommittees, joint committees,select committees and conference committees Congress has many powers but also many limits to keep things balanced. Congress raises andcollects taxes to pay the salaries of government employees and maintain government functions.Congress can declare war, they also established the army. navy and other military services to defend the nation. Congress decided on citizenship requirements is also responsible for admittingnew states and setting standards of weights and measures. However, congress also has many limits. One example would be if congress passes a bill, if the Supremecourt believes the law is unconstitutional then the law will be taken away. Congress is also not allowed to pass laws that take away the rights that are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, they also cannot make laws about elections,education or marriage because this power was given to each individual state. Powers and Limits of Congress Concept of Elastic Clause Challenges facing Congress There's tons of problems facing congress, let's face it nothing really gets done. Especially now that the majority is republican in the house and the senate,and the president is democrat, there's constant political gridlock which will be even worse than before. Another issue that's sort of similar is the contrast between the president's agenda and congresses agenda. Now that republicans have majority in both houses,their agenda has been regularly set to block and counter Obama's propositions. A third major issue congress faces is how low of an approval rating they have amongst Americans. A very small amount of people approve of their actions, andthis results in citizens having little interest in what congresses agenda will be for the future.One of the last issues congress faces that is very present today is the fact that most members of congress are more interested in their own personal or financial gain than benefiting the country as a whole. This has the most severe effect on our country because the people we are electing to have the most control and the largest effect on our daylily lives care more about themselves and their bank accounts than they would ever care about people as an individual.
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