The Government of the United States of America is known as the Federal Government and has three distinct branches to it, which work in their way but in coordination with each other.
The three branches are The Executive, The Legislative, and The Judiciary. In this article, we will talk about the Legislative branch of the Federal Government.
Under Article 1 of the US constitution, the United States Congress is the legislative branch of the government. It is bicameral which means it has two separate houses or chambers in which political decisions are made. The two houses of the Legislature are the House of Representatives and the Senate.
House of Representatives:
The house currently consists of 435 voting members, each representing a certain district. The total number of representatives from a particular state is decided based on its population in the latest United States Census.
The member has a term of 2 years and a minimum of 1 member can be selected from one district. Other eligibility criteria are as follows:
- Individual must be of at least 25 years.
- Must have been a US citizen for at least 7 years.
- Must reside in the state that they want to represent.
In addition to these 435 members, there are 6 non-voting members which include 5 delegates from each of the District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Northern Marina Islands, and 1 commissioner from Puerto Rico.
Senate:
The second is the second part of the Bicameral legislature of the federal government. The Vice-President is the president of the Senate. The Senate is made up of two senators from each state.
Here the population is not an issue and exactly 2 senators are selected from each state. There are currently 100 senators in the Senate (2 from each state). The term of the senators is fixed at six years which means almost one-third of the Senate stands for election every two years.
Powers of the Congress:
Congress has numerous powers which are vested in them by Article 1, section 8 of the constitution. These powers include collection and allotment of taxes, to coin money and to regulate its value, provide post office, make roads, issue patents and make other courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
It also has other powers like it can declare war, make rules for the land and naval forces, maintain and raise armies and naval forces, regulate interstate commerce, and have exclusive legislation in the District of Columbia.
Committees:
As talked about earlier, congress is spilt into two- The house and the senate- and manages the task of writing legislation by dividing work between the two. The committee structure allows congress to study a subject intensely.
It is never expected that a member is an expert on every subject that the Congress comes along and it is also not possible to do that. Because of this reason, small committees are made which specially work on that subject.
In short, Committees investigate the specialized matter and provide a report to the whole Congress.
Procedures:
A new session of a Congress starts on January 3rd and has a total of 2 sessions (one for each year).
The constitution needs Congress to meet at least once a year and prohibits either house to meet outside the capitol without the permission of the other house. Congress can occasionally call an extra session called a special session.
Also, Joint sessions are a part of the legislature of the United States. A joint session is called when an opinion is required from both the house and the senate. It is done on a special occasion and has particular agenda. For example, the counting of electoral votes is done in a joint session.
Written by: Bhavish Doshi
Edited by: Gourav Chowdhury
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