The Role of the Senate and House of Representatives Essay

Article I of the Constitution lays out the basic format of the legislative branch. The document states that the power to create laws or change existing laws lies with Congress, a government body made out of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state, regardless of size or population, has two senators who are elected directly by the public according to the 17th Amendment. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, is dependent on population, and a state 's number of representatives is determined by the U.S. census every ten years. For example, Alabama 's state

First, Congress consists of two bicameral chambers, which contains the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The tasks that these two chambers play in the legislative process subsist unlike. However, they do work together to pass bills by the majority vote, and they can also proclaim war. Furthermore, the populations are represented in the House, therefore the House proceeds much larger, and diverse than the Senate. However, the Senate remains more elite. Additionally, an appropriation bill must originate in the House. The House has the power to declare impeachment of whichever manner of misconduct within an elected official. Moreover, the Senate decides on what the punishment would be for the individual. Another power the Senate holds contains to approve appointed officials, and judges by the President. In conclusion, these two chambers remain essential for our government, and without one Congress will fall apart.

The majority leader and the assistant floor leader are chosen by the majority party as well. The speaker of the House is important in the organization of the House, because they choose committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The president of the Senate is chosen by the majority party. Like the House, they appoint committee chairmanships and committee assignments. The minority party is not left out. They also have a caucus, and a minority leader and assistant floor leader are selected for both houses. The minority caucus also makes committee assignments for member of its’ party. The staffs of both houses are chosen by the majority party leadership and include the Senate secretary, assistant secretary, chief clerk, assistant chief clerk, chaplains, sergeant at arms, pages, and secretaries. Each house has a set of rules and procedures that are adopted at the beginning of each session. There also has to be a certain amount of members present, or quorum, in order to do business.

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.

In order to fully comprehend how a bill comes into law we must first explore what a bill is, what party make up congress and what role the president play in passing a bill to a law. To begin, in legal terms, a bill is the form used for most legislation, whether permanent or temporary, general or special, public or private. It can be propose by citizens, the president or congress itself. Next, it moves to Congress. Congress is a legislative body comprising two inner bodies, the Senate and House of Representatives. The current Congressional house is composed of 535 members, 100 senators, 435 representatives and 6 non-voting members. It is also important to mention that the political view of the parties can play an effective of what bills become

The second power of the house is the power to impeach a member of the executive or judiciary if they feel they are not behaving correctly, this has happened 17 times since 1789, in 1980 they impeached 3 judges and in 1999 President Clinton. The final exclusive responsibility of the house is that if the Electoral College produced a deadlock the house would have to choose the president, this has only happened twice, in 1800 and 1924. These responsibilities of the house are all of great importance for the American political system to function and could and have been fundamentally responsible for the leader of the country.

The Article I creates the Legislative Branch which comprises the Congress of the United States. The legislative branch is separated into ten separate sections and is also the longest of the articles and congress is also a bicameral legislature. This article sets up the congress with an upper house and the lower house. The upper house is known as the senate and comprises of 100 members. Each state is represented by two members from each state for a total of 100 members. The leader of the senate is known as the President of the Senate but who actually is the Vice President of the United States is but the only time he votes for legislation is when there is a tie. The term length for a Senator is six years, in which one third of Senators are up for reelection every two years. The Senate also has the power to approve treaties as a condition of ratification and approve members of the cabinet and Federal judges. The Senate also has the power to try

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the consensus of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary is presented to the President and must be approved by him to take effect. If it is disapproved by him, is must be passed again by two thirds of the Senate and House, according to the rules and limitations arranged in the case of a bill.

government and is also known as Congress. Congress is made up of 2 houses; The House of Representatives and the Senate. Officials elected for the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old and be U.S. citizens for at least 7 years; The number of Representatives is decided based on that state's population and they are elected by residents from that state. The Senate has 100 officials, 2 from each state and they are also elected by residents from that state; senators must be at least 30 years old and be citizens of the U.S. for 9 years. Their main job is to create laws, bills, and/or amendments that will benefit citizens. The laws must be supported by the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments stating general rights every U.S. citizen has. For a law to be passed, two thirds of each house must approve of that bill and then it is sent to the President for his approval and signature. The Legislative branch is also in charge of money; they are the only branch that can create and collect taxes. Presidents, Presidential Appointments, and Supreme Court Justices can also be rejected or impeached by congress. In addition, Congress can also reject treaties the President may also want to make with other countries and they have full military power; Congress decides if the U.S. will get involved in any type of war and how they will do

In 1953, a changed made in the amendment which allowed two senators per county regardless of the population, and one representative per 3520 people per county. This change brought several law suits in the Supreme Court. Then, the Court decided that very

These 435 seats are divided among the states every ten years. Representatives serve for two years at a time, and every second November there is a new election where they are chosen by the people in a direct election. (1) The House is required to choose a Speaker for itself who is in charge over the proceedings of the House and is the highest position in the House leadership. Other leadership positions are the Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Majority and Minority Whips. The Minority Leader would generally be the Speaker if his party were the majority.(1) The whips act as a median between the leadership and the other House members. The Senate is the Upper House and its members are called Senators. The qualifications for Senators are similar to those of house representatives, he or she must be 30 years old or older, must have been a U.S. citizen for nine years, and must live in the state they plan to represent.There is again no restriction of sex, race, class, social standing, or any other classification, for both a Senator or House representative . Each state has two Senators, no matter what the size of the state happens to be. A Senators term lasts six years and like the other house members every second November there is a new election. The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate but he is a non-voting member unless a vote of the Senate ends in a tie which causes him to cast the deciding vote. If the Vice President is not available

Unit 9 has so many important concepts that should be mentioned, but the most important concepts to me are the structures and functions of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Laws have always been playing an important role in protecting ourselves from various things in our society. It is crucial to pay attention to what law is made because it can have a direct impact on our everyday lives. For example, if someone breaks the law, he/she may be enforced to pay fines or go to the jail. Therefore, citizens of the U.S need to know how these parts of the Congress are established and operate because these are involving in law making processes. Not only that, knowing the functions of these parts can help us keep track of how our Congress work

Also, the Senate's president pro tempore, who is typically a senior senator of the majority party, is in charge when the Vice President of the United States isn't present. The Senate also has the power to choose its other officers.

The powers of the Congress are listed almost exclusively in the Constitution under Article I, Section 8 which state powers such as: the right to declare war, the right to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and the right to regulate commerce with foreign nations. The Congress is also given the right to lay and collect taxes among other things. The House of Representatives has the greatest privileges of either the house or the senate. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach, or bring charges against, federal officials for misconduct. If no candidate in a

The Legislative Branch consists of Congress, which is made up of two parts; The House of Representatives and the Senate. These two parts of Congress was a result of the 1789 Compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan was about states wanted more representation in Congress because they were bigger states. From that plan the New Jersey Plan was brought forth. The New Jersey Plan basically said was smaller and bigger states should have equal power in Congress, so the bigger states don’t overpower the smaller states. In 1789 the solution came, with Great Compromise that took parts of both plans and used it. As part of the Virginia plan the House of Representatives was created, that gave representation in