Where Can I Read Bills in Congress
The United States Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Learn more about the powers of the Legislative Branch of the federal government of the United States.
Established by Article I of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which together course the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare state of war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers.
The House of Representatives is fabricated up of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population. In addition, there are 6 non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and iv other territories of the United States. The presiding officer of the sleeping accommodation is the Speaker of the Business firm, elected by the Representatives. He or she is tertiary in the line of succession to the Presidency.
Members of the House are elected every two years and must be 25 years of age, a U.Due south. citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the state (just not necessarily the district) they correspond.
The Firm has several powers assigned exclusively to information technology, including the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the case of an electoral college tie.
The Senate is composed of 100 Senators, 2 for each state. Until the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, Senators were chosen past state legislatures, not by popular vote. Since and so, they have been elected to six-yr terms past the people of each land. Senator'due south terms are staggered so that about one-tertiary of the Senate is up for reelection every two years. Senators must be 30 years of age, U.South. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the land they represent.
The Vice President of the United States serves every bit President of the Senate and may cast the decisive vote in the event of a tie in the Senate.
The Senate has the sole power to confirm those of the President's appointments that crave consent, and to ratify treaties. At that place are, even so, two exceptions to this rule: the House must too approve appointments to the Vice Presidency and whatsoever treaty that involves strange merchandise. The Senate also tries impeachment cases for federal officials referred to information technology by the House.
In order to laissez passer legislation and send it to the President for his signature, both the Business firm and the Senate must laissez passer the same nib by majority vote. If the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing the nib again in each sleeping accommodation with at least 2-thirds of each trunk voting in favor.
The Legislative Procedure | Powers of Congress | Authorities Oversight
The Legislative Process
The first step in the legislative process is the introduction of a nib to Congress. Anyone can write it, but merely members of Congress can introduce legislation. Some of import bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal budget. During the legislative process, however, the initial bill can undergo desperate changes.
After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 Firm committees, with 104 subcommittees. The committees are not set in stone, but change in number and course with each new Congress as required for the efficient consideration of legislation. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialized policy areas. For case, the House Commission on Ways and Ways includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.
A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may exist accustomed, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee concord to move a bill frontwards, it is reported to the total commission, where the process is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the claim and flaws of the pecker. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to announced before the committee and provide testimony, and can compel people to announced using subpoena power if necessary.
If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the bulk party leadership decides when to place the bill on the agenda for consideration. If a beak is particularly pressing, it may exist considered right away. Others may look for months or never be scheduled at all.
When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are ordinarily limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the nib under consideration during their speeches, and whatever amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to delay bills under consideration, a process by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill — and by extension its passage — past refusing to stand downwardly. A supermajority of lx Senators can break a filibuster past invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. One time debate is over, the votes of a simple bulk passes the bill.
A neb must pass both houses of Congress before information technology goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills have the verbal same wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Conference Committee is convened, consisting of members from both chambers. The members of the commission produce a briefing report, intended as the last version of the beak. Each sleeping accommodation and so votes once again to approve the conference written report. Depending on where the nib originated, the final text is then enrolled by either the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate, and presented to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The neb is then sent to the President.
When receiving a bill from Congress, the President has several options. If the President agrees substantially with the bill, he or she may sign it into constabulary, and the nib is then printed in the Statutes at Large. If the President believes the police force to exist bad policy, he may veto information technology and send it dorsum to Congress. Congress may override the veto with a ii-thirds vote of each chamber, at which betoken the pecker becomes law and is printed.
There are 2 other options that the President may practise. If Congress is in session and the President takes no action inside ten days, the bill becomes constabulary. If Congress adjourns before 10 days are up and the President takes no action, then the nib dies and Congress may not vote to override. This is called a pocket veto, and if Congress still wants to pass the legislation, they must begin the entire process anew.
Powers of Congress
Congress, as one of the 3 coequal branches of government, is ascribed significant powers past the Constitution. All legislative power in the authorities is vested in Congress, meaning that it is the only part of the government that can make new laws or modify existing laws. Executive Co-operative agencies issue regulations with the full force of constabulary, but these are only nether the authorization of laws enacted past Congress. The President may veto bills Congress passes, but Congress may as well override a veto by a ii-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Commodity I of the Constitution enumerates the powers of Congress and the specific areas in which it may legislate. Congress is likewise empowered to enact laws deemed "necessary and proper" for the execution of the powers given to any part of the government under the Constitution.
Part of Congress's exercise of legislative authorization is the institution of an almanac upkeep for the government. To this stop, Congress levies taxes and tariffs to provide funding for essential government services. If enough money cannot exist raised to fund the government, then Congress may as well authorize borrowing to make up the divergence. Congress tin also mandate spending on specific items: legislatively directed spending, commonly known every bit "earmarks," specifies funds for a item project, rather than for a authorities bureau.
Both chambers of Congress have extensive investigative powers, and may compel the production of evidence or testimony toward any end they deem necessary. Members of Congress spend much of their fourth dimension property hearings and investigations in committee. Refusal to cooperate with a Congressional subpoena can result in charges of contempt of Congress, which could result in a prison term.
The Senate maintains several powers to itself: Information technology ratifies treaties by a two-thirds supermajority vote and confirms the appointments of the President past a majority vote. The consent of the House of Representatives is also necessary for the ratification of merchandise agreements and the confirmation of the Vice President.
Congress also holds the sole power to declare war.
Government Oversight
Oversight of the executive branch is an important Congressional check on the President'due south power and a residual against his discretion in implementing laws and making regulations.
A major mode that Congress conducts oversight is through hearings. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Commission on Homeland Security and Government Affairs are both devoted to overseeing and reforming government operations, and each committee conducts oversight in its policy area.
Congress also maintains an investigative arrangement, the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Founded in 1921 as the General Accounting Office, its original mission was to audit the budgets and financial statements sent to Congress by the Secretarial assistant of the Treasury and the Director of the Function of Management and Budget. Today, the GAO audits and generates reports on every aspect of the government, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent with the effectiveness and efficiency that the American people deserve.
The executive co-operative likewise polices itself: Sixty-iv Inspectors General, each responsible for a unlike agency, regularly audit and report on the agencies to which they are attached.
Source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/legislative-branch
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