- The federal legislation in the United States is bicameral, composed of an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives). The Senate require members to be older, causing this to be the more mature chamber that is trusted with the responsibility of trying presidents for impeachment. The House allows younger members but is a better representation of the population of America and is therefore responsible for starting bills of appropriation, even though they have more rules overall to remain more structured. Both houses have a president (or speaker) and majority and minority leaders and whips. There are also four types of committees within the two houses. A standing committee is one house than monitors a long term issue. A select committee is temporarily established for important issues but is only for one house. A joint committee can be either long or short term but brings the two houses to discuss. A conference committee is used to reconcile bill differences between the two houses. Within a committee, there are more of the majority party of that chamber and the chairperson is the usually the person with seniority on that committee of those in the majority party.
- The congress has the ability to not only create bills, but resolve any issues within them, pass them into laws, and then act as oversight to make sure they are being implemented properly. House can impeach a president but the senate presides over the trial, and bills of appropriation must start in the house. The congress has to approve who the president appoints to serve as a federal judge (they even have a specific committee for it) and they can declare war. They also have informal power created under the necessary and proper cause of the constitution which allows them to do anything they feel is necessary for the citizens in the United States.
- There are very few, if any, powers that congress share with the other branches of government. Congress is the branch best connected to the people but is no more important than the others within the system of checks and balance that is set up to be deliberate about the decisions that are being made so the country is the most important thing in mind.
- Congress's shared powers are important because they work to establish a system of checks and balances to prevent the government from becoming a tyranny. For example, congress has to approve any appoints that the president makes and since the senators and representatives are chosen by their states, this confirmation ensure that while the people do not have a role in electing the appointed officials, they still have a connection to those people going into government. The process in which a bill becomes a law by going through all three branches in some respect helps to ensure that it is a lengthy process and that wise decisions are always being made, instead of acts being put into place by hasty, impassioned decisions.
- The main function of congress is to create laws that are needed by the American people. They also work to slow down the other two branches, ensuring that all decisions are deliberate and wholly beneficial. They also have congressional overview which means it is their job to follow up with different agencies to make sure that the laws they created are being carried out in the way they were intended to. Lastly, congress is the branch closest to the people and even though are are often accused of representing only the interest groups and companies that benefit them, they do work to represent their constituency and be reelected, overall representing the diverse population in America.
- The necessary and proper clause is one of the main reason that change has happen within congress over time. Since new attitudes have been established since the country was established, congressman have to in turn change to respect what Americans find appropriate (environmental conservation wasn't something that was important before but since the opinion and focus of the public has shifted, the work of congress has to as well). Over time, though, it seems that congress has weaken themselves by informally giving giving up their right to declare war, now expecting the president to do so. Especially lately, they often face gridlock due to extreme and unwavering partisanship.
- Since congress is designed to be slow, it is not the branch that is relied upon during crises. Instead, if any actions need to be taken, they are deferred to the legislative branch that can act quickly and bypass congress when necessary.
- Parties are important to congressman because often their districts are gerrymandered to be primarily one party. Once in congress, it is a pretty even spilt between republicans and democrats and this often leads to an unproductive deadlock. Also, party members work to help each other with their porkbarrel spending, and ensure that they are helping each other pass the bills they personally find important. The political party that has majority also ensures who the leaders will be within each house and within each individual committee.
- In the pluralist model of democracy, interest groups and congressman work together to help advance each other in their causes. By providing financial and advertising support, interest groups help congressman to be elected but in return, the congressman will work to pass legislature or be on committees that are beneficial for the aforementioned interest groups. While this can be a good thing, often people feel that by focusing on the wants of interest groups, the congressman ignore the people that are not including in these groups.
- Even though the executive branch gets more media attention then does congress, they still do receive occasional attention. One of the most important functions is to reveal their decisions and actions to the public in a simpler way that is more likely to be understood. Also, it helps congressmen to gain name recognition which is a positive thing especially when it comes time for elections but this attention can be negative if the media is acting as a watchdog and revealing any misconduct of the congressmen to the public. As a watchdog they can also expose when their is tense deadlock due to polarized, encouraging the congress to work together and appease the public.
- State governments are the responsible for creating the districts from which house representatives are chosen, often participating in gerrymandering which in the end can work for either party. Local governments are similar to the house representatives because they both aim to work closely with their constituents. Also, the local government also helps to direct people to their congressman when they have problems.