FINAL- FEDERAL GOVT. 2305
1. The Organizational Structure of congress in the United Stated is demonstrated through the fact that we have a House and a Senate that are separated from each other. Congress is a very complex structure that possesses many committees that all handle a variety of topics. The United States Senate is composed of only 100 members that serve six year terms. Some refer to the senate as the “upper house”, and only 1/3 of the members of the United Senate are re-elected every two years. The House of Representatives is composed of 435 members that each serve two year terms. The HOR is known as the “lower house” and all 435 members are up for re-election every two years. The top two leadership roles in the Senate are The Vice President of the United States who presides over the Senate, and required to vote when there is a tie in Senate. Also in the case of a death of a president, the Vice president must step up and preside over the nation. The second most vital role in Senate is the President Pro-Tempore. The President Pro-Tempore is the highest ranked senator as elected by the Senate. The top two positions in the House are The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader. The Speaker of the House is arguably the most influential single legislator in both houses. The Speaker presides over proceedings on the House floor, designates which bills go to which committees, designates committee assignments for new members, appoints the party 's other leaders , and
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.
Is congress a dysfunctional institution? Columnist Ezra Klein contends that institutional deadlock and partisan rancor have paralyzed congress, causing it to lose power to the president and the bureaucracy. Former Massachusetts Senator Mo Cowan describes he has to come view the work of congress along with fellow members after fulfilling the remainder of John Kerry’s term upon the nomination of Governor Deval Patrick.
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
and congress have in our democracy. The people elect members of the House while members off the senate are chosen by state legislators and how members are the house serve a term of two years while members of the senate have a term of 6 years. How congress have the power to rise and regulate the army and the navy, and declare war while the power of the senate can only ratified treaties, accept or reject presidential nominations. The congress and the house of representatives are significant in our democracy and how they continue to play a significant role in our democracy.
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
The key structural element of the House of Representatives compared to the senate under the Constitution is that the House is larger, each state has a number of representatives proportional to its population. And the Senate is smaller, each state has two senators. Under the U.S. Constitution, Senators serve six-year terms; and members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms. The Senate represents the state, and the House represents the people.
The Senate and House of Representatives both need to be on the same page. No bill will be passed if there is a disagreement between the two. However, they both have different abilities. For example, the House initiates revenue bills and can implement impeachment procedure which the Senate cannot do. The Senate can approve treaties and can provide insight to the President’s actions. It seems as though the Senate has more weight, being casually called the “upper” house, and the House of Representatives called the “lower” house.
Congress has many functions to keep it working and functioning. They do many things to make laws, make sure they’re fair, and much more. There are also many committees with important jobs. There are many things that influence congressional elections such as reapportionment, redistricting, much more. There are many people who make up the House and Senate and they have many important jobs to keep things running smoothly.
These differences are why the Senate is known as the upper house, and the House of Representatives is called the lower house. According to the Constitution, to be a member of the Senate a candidate must be at least thirty years of age, be a citizen of the United States for nine years, and must live in the state at the time elected. To be a member of the House of Representatives, a candidate must be at least twenty-five years of age, must be a citizen of the United States for seven years, and must live in the state at the time elected. These different requirements support that the Senate is the upper house because the requirements needed to be in the Senate are stricter than those of the House. The structures also differ greatly. There are 435 members of the House and only 100 members of the Senate. Because of this, each individual member’s vote in the Senate is worth more than each member of the House. Also a Senator's term lasts longer than a Representative's term; a Senator’s term is six years and a Representative’s is two. Because of this, Senators have more time to make and change legislation. Also if a House member makes changes that voters don’t like, they can be replaced in under two years. In the Senate, however, if negative changes are made, there isn’t anything voters can do for years and they can continue to make changes that are disagreeable to voters. The two chambers also have different responsibilities and powers that show that the Senate is the upper house. The House has the power to impeach government officials. They act as a “prosecutor”. The Senate holds the trials of impeachment and acts as “judge and jury” (United States Senate). The Senate acts as the upper house because the House only brings issues involving impeachment to the attention of the Senate. It is the Senate who actually can impeach officials. The Senate also has
Within the Congress, shared characteristic could encourage the divisions greatly. People from the Congress hold a key position in the organization parts. Congress is divided in the way that there is a Democratic Party and after that there is the Republican Party. When you have two absolutely various viewpoints on things proceeding on the planet it is amazingly hard to go to a normal understanding that is the best for our country as a rule and key position in the organization parts.A example of Congress not being able to act, Congress is generally seen as the "broken branch" of government, not ready to collaborate to finish the nation's wishes. Besides, is a longstanding grievance? Woodrow Wilson saw the House as "a separated mass of knocking
Congress is like a mosaic. At first glance, it seems simple and complete. However, when examining the picture as a whole, the image seems to constantly transform. Geometric shapes in a mosaic intertwine perfectly, and an overall image is created in unity. We must look at Congress in a similar way. In order to understand the way Congress works, we have to determine the intermingling of congressmen that cause transformation among its body. First, there are multiple committees that make up Congress as a whole. There are four main types of committees in Congress: standing, which examines proposed laws, select, which is formed temporarily for a certain issue, joint, made up of house and senate representatives to consult on an issue, and conference,
The United States Congress as the highest political institution is the face of American politics. Established by the first article of the Constitution of 1788, the Congress is the depository of the legislative power of the United States. This institution has been going through a transformation along the history, and an evidence of it are the consecutives changes in the demography of the members of the congress. In recent years, the power has been decentralized and the diversity within influences the behavior of the Congress. The history show us that the white members has been predominant in the Congress, however, the United States has become home of people from all over around the world and the representation of these minorities has increased
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.
Most individuals with a general background knowledge of the United States Federal Government system are aware that in order for a bill to become a law, it must first pass a majority vote in Congress. There is, however, a very important step in the legislative process that sometimes goes unnoticed. The committee system of the legislation process ensures that the appropriate attention is given to each bill introduced to Congress. Each member of both chambers are assigned to committees and subcommittees, and are expected to become subject matter experts in their respective roles as committee members.
The Role of the Senate and House of Representatives The Congress of the United States consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives which means the USA is bi-cambial. The Congress of the United States was created by Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. The Senate is composed of 100 Members, 2 from each State, who are elected to serve for a term of 6 years.