Process Essay: The Role Of Congress In The United States

The Power and Significance of Congress Firstly it is important to look at the power and significance of congress as a legislative body. This includes the creation of law, and the scrutiny of the executive. Because the US federal system is ruled by 'separation of powers', it is important that the legislative - congress - acts as a good check and restraint on the executive - the president.

The Senate needs to ratify all laws by a two-third vote. The vice president who is the head of the Senate is not permitted to vote, but in case of a tie he is allowed to. The House of Representatives is made of 435 representatives, each is elected by his state and serve two years. The number of representatives depends on the state population. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate elect their own leaders; the part that controls the house, is called the majority leader while the other is called the minority leader.

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states that, “Representatives…shall be apportioned among several states...according to their respective Numbers.” Apportionment is the mathematical process of dividing and allocating the four hundred and thirty five seats in the House of Representatives among the fifty states based on the population figures collected by the Census Bureau. This process, according to the Constitution, must be conducted “within every subsequent Term of ten Years.” Each of the fifty states is guaranteed one representative. The number of House of Representatives from each state fluctuates every ten years due to population deviation.

This worked out to satisfaction of the smaller states and for the larger states they were given a House of Representatives that would consist of a larger body of representatives for each state in proportion to the amount of the people in that state.

In print, the Constitution says, “representatives… shall be apportioned... according to (population),” (A1) and “the Senate...shall be composed of two senators from each state” (A2). In the House, representatives are based on population. This means that smaller states don’t have as much of a say as the larger states that have a bigger population. If smaller states do not have a say, laws could be made that does not help that particular state.

The president is the foreign policy leader for the United States with an important political, military and economic role in the international arena. If there is collision between the president and congress, can congress restrain the president in foreign policy making?

The United States Congress consists of two chambers; the Senate and the House of Representatives (O’Connor, Sabato, &Yanus, 2015). Congress is the legislative branch of government with a primary goal of creating the laws as well as to represent the people’s interest in national politics (O’Connor et al., 2015). Each of the 50 states gets its share of 435 representatives based upon its population in which a constitutionally delegated process also known as apportionment adjusts the number of seats allotted to each state accordingly following a U.S. Census decennial (O’Connor et al., 2015).

The main function of Congress and the legislative branch is to make laws. Although it oversees the executive branch, the president, as well as the judicial branch, Congress represents and speaks for the people under the federal government. Congress is mainly considered to be the broken branch because initially Congress would have the power to establish foreign affairs and declare war if necessary. However, the president has taken over the role while Congress observes. Not only that but also the development of the gridlock within Congress leads Congress toward no longer accomplishing and meeting the role the legislative branch is supposed to meet. Not to mention no acts of bipartisanship plus the problem of the diversity of members of Congress,

The senate has only fifty members which means there is only two people per state. The House of Representative members

One function of Congress is lawmaking. It is one of their main jobs to make rules for Americans, but they don’t initiate most of the bills they pass. Most are initiated in the Executive Branch or from interest groups and their political parties. Congress gets support for their bills by persuading other members to support

For the House of Representatives, the seats apportioned are based on the population of the states. For the Senate, the seats apportioned are two for each state (Gerken 1). While the House of Representatives

Congress determined the size of the House of Representatives to be 435 members. In order to be a member of the House, you have to pass certain qualifications. You have to be at least 25 years of age, have been a citizen of the US for at least seven years, and be an inhabitant of the State from which he or she is elected. The Senate has 100 members because the Senate is composed of only two Senators from each State. The framers expected the Senate would be more enlightened and a more accountable body than the House because of the size.

Congress was created because the founding fathers were afraid of putting too much power given to only one individual would cause abuse of that power, and because the system of government needed the system of checks and balances (Ln, 4-2&3). When Congress was being made by the founding fathers the two separate political parties were arguing over how representation would be decided. The larger states wanted representation based on population, but the smaller states wanted equal representation for every state. The founding fathers made Congress a bicameral legislature for each of the ideas. The two houses are the House of Representatives and the Senate.

     Article I of the Constitution is based on the legislative department. Section 1. Legislative Power; the Congress: is the nations lawmaking body. It is composed of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Section 2. House of Representatives: shall be made up of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States. Section 3.