Legislative Branch
The Legislative branch is made up of two parts, the House, and the Senate. These two parts make up the Congress. The great compromise is the reason we have the House and the Senate. States with large population wanted representation based on population, but states that had fewer people wanted all states to be represented equally. The House was make to satisfy the big states wish and the Senate was to satisfy the smaller states. Congress does thing including voting on bills and passing them onto the President to sign or veto with a majority vote, revising bills and checking the other branches, and other specific powers granted to the houses in the constitution.
The House of Representatives
- 435 members (amount per state depends on the census, must have at least one).
- 2 year terms
- Can be keep running for re election as many times as they want.
Constitutional Requirements
- 25 years old
- U.S. citizen for 7 years
- Resident of the district you represent
Leaders
- Speaker of the House- Chosen by the majority party and presides over the House, assigns members to committees, and assigns bills to committees.
- Majority Leader- Rounds up votes for the party that is the majority.
- Majority Whip- Counts the votes before hand.
- Minority Leader- Rounds up votes for the party that is the minority.
- Minority Whip- Counts the votes before hand.
Powers
- Ability to impeach
- All bills that have to do with money must originate in the House
- With the Senate they can declare war.
The Senate
- 100 members
- 6 year terms
- Can be keep running for re election as many times as they want.
Constitutional Requirements
- 30 years old
- Citizen for 9 years
- Resident of state they are representing.
Leaders
- President of the Senate- Vice President of the U.S., he presides over the Senate.
- Majority Leader- Elected by the majority party they are their spokesperson.
- Minority Leader- Elected by the minority party they are their spokesperson.
- Jury when the impeachment goes to trial with 2/3 vote they can kick the impeached person out of office.
- Ratify treaties with 2/3 vote.
- With the House they can declare war.
- Presidential appointees must be approved by the Senate.
Salary of Congress
- Congressman- $173,000
- Speaker of the House- $223,500
- Majority/Minority House Party Leader- $193,400
- Majority/Minority Senate Party Leader- $193,400
Congressional Committees
- Standing Committees- Permanent committees that handle bills in specific areas.
- Joint Committees- Membership draw from House and Senate to work on common policy areas.
- Conference Committees- Formed when the Senate and the House pass a different version of the same bill.
- Select Committees- Temporary committee, created for specific purpose.