The Legislative Power

The legislative branch of the federal government is represented by Congress. There are two houses of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 100 voting members, two from each of the 50 states. They are elected for a six-year term and the number of their terms is unlimited. The House of Repre­sentatives has 435 voting members in addition to two representatives from Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia who are not entitled to vote. The members of the House are called representatives or Congressmen (or congresswomen). They are elected for a two-year term.

Many members of the Congress are regularly re-elected, and so some of them serve for over 20 years.

The number of representatives from each state depends on the state population. Every ten years the U.S. Census reports the distribution of the population throughout the entire country. The congressional seats are then re-distributed accordingly. California claims the largest delegation. New York ranks second. Alaska, Nevada, and some others have only one representative.

Within Congress there exist party leaders who are selected by congressional party caucuses (party meetings).

Either house – the Senate or the House of Representatives may offer a bill (but only the House proposes finance bills). All bills are immediately referred to a legislative committee. These committees are organized by special areas such as education, agriculture, and foreign affairs. Each committee is made up of representatives of both parties and each committee has its own staff.

The committee responsible for a particular bill holds hearings on it. Experts appear before the committee and offer suggestions and opinions about the bill. After the hearings, the committee reports its recommendations to the House. These recommendations may include suggested changes in the bill, or the committee may propose an entirely new one. Committee recommendations are of great importance because, when the legislators vote on a bill, they usually follow the committee report. If a committee chooses not to consider the bill, the bill dies. It is nearly impossible for a bill to reach the House or Senate floor without first winning committee approval.

Following the committee action the bill is debated on the floor of each house. Then the vote is taken. A voice vote, the most common and the quickest, involves a general chorus or Yeas or Nays. The chairperson decides which side has the majority. In a roll-call vote each vote is recorded separately. If a bill is defeated in either house, it dies. If the House of Representatives and the Senate approve similar bills with some different provisions, both bills go to a conference committee, in which selected legislators work to adjust the differences.

The bill becomes law following one or several steps by the president. He may approve the bill and sign it; he may sign the bill with a statement expressing his disapproval; or he may simply not sign the bill, in which case it automatically becomes law after ten days. But if the president wants to prevent the bill from becoming law, he vetoes it. But the proposal may still become law if two thirds of each house of Congress then vote for it, thus overriding, or defeating the president’s veto. This does not happen often. The president may also use the «pocket veto» by withholding his signature within ten days of congressional adjournment.