• Explain The Role That Congress Plays In Congress

It’s been argued ever since the constitution was made how in touch the congress members where with the people who elect them and this argument still goes on today. With the 425 members of the House each has a district which averages nearly 650,000 people, this is a vast number with many arguing that there is little chance that congress can be in touch with the people when they have to represent such vast numbers. However, the other side of the argument displays evidence that in fact the members of congress are able to stay in touch and represent the people who elect them.

This written report is appertaining to the book How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, written by Lee H. Hamilton. This book is published by Indiana University Press in Bloomington, IL, it was copyrighted in 2004 by the publisher.

Being a part of Congress is one of the most powerful political positions in America. Congress is made up of the House of Representative and Senate for a grand total of 535 members. While that may not give give an individual power, it gives the large group so much power to do many things and even override the president on certain occasions. Most decisions they make need a ⅔ vote from the group. Congress many other powers, maybe too much power. Congress has too much power because of its expressed powers, implied/inherent powers, and its “voting powers”.

Some of the important people in the legislative branch is the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and the Senate Majority. The Speaker is the head of the House, they preside over the Majority Leader. As the Speaker is the highest in the House, they hardly vote or participate in debates. The president of the Senate is the vice president. The vice president presides over the Senate and votes only if there is a tie in the senate. Also, if the president were to die or become unable of being the president, the vice president takes over. Another important member in Congress is the Majority Leader, they are just under the Speaker of the House. The Majority Leader makes sure that no one in a party votes from something the party is against, or doesn’t agree with. These are some of the

In this essay, I will be writing about how the power relationship between the United States Congress and the presidency has changed during the past two hundred years. I will be talking about how the executive branch is more powerful than the legislative branch and how the changing relationship between Congress and the president affected American democracy in a good way.

In order to fully comprehend how a bill comes into law we must first explore what a bill is, what party make up congress and what role the president play in passing a bill to a law. To begin, in legal terms, a bill is the form used for most legislation, whether permanent or temporary, general or special, public or private. It can be propose by citizens, the president or congress itself. Next, it moves to Congress. Congress is a legislative body comprising two inner bodies, the Senate and House of Representatives. The current Congressional house is composed of 535 members, 100 senators, 435 representatives and 6 non-voting members. It is also important to mention that the political view of the parties can play an effective of what bills become

When looking how effectively a country represents its citizens, it is important to take into account the manner in which they are represented. The two main types of representation are descriptive and agency representation. Descriptive representation is the concept that those who represent the American people should not only have the same political interest, but should also mirror the demographic makeup of the people. Agency representation, which is what the United States congress looks like, is when the representation does not reflect the demographic, but they speak for their constituents’ interests in congress. The constituents are able to hold the representatives accountable and can choose not to elect them in the next term, so the representatives

Congress is a complex lawmaking function that runs the country. In other words is the legislative body of our country made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Difficulties that are involved by the representation function have to do with Congressmen wanting to be reelected, opposition between the two parties, and the lobbying that takes place. These three difficulties are what causes the conflict with the lawmaking function of Congress.

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.

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

Mayhew examines the congressmen activity in Washington that is useful to engage in for the purpose of reelection. The first activity is advertising, defined by making a conscious effort to disseminate one’s name in a positive light among constituents to gain a favorable view. They emphasize personal qualities such as:

The United States Congress is more than likely the most significant representative institution in the United States government. Each member of Congress has a primary obligation to the district, to his or her constituency. Though Congress is divided into two parts, called the House of Representatives and the Senate, they both play different roles in the legislature process. Senate is more deliberative and the House is the more centralized and organized. Congress is supposed to represent the American people but they will not always make the “right” decisions, according to some individuals. Obviously it is impossible to please everybody, but surely the laws that are being passed are because Congress views some sort of usefulness from it. There are two different types of representation that was spoken about in the chapter including sociological and agency representation. Sociological is based off of the idea that if two individuals have similar background, character, interests, and perspectives, then they can correctly represent others’ views. Agency is when a representative is held accountable to a constituency for when that constituency is represented poorly. The constituents have the power to hire and fire their representatives.

In the Federalist 51 of the Federalist Papers James Madison writes “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates...the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided.” It is necessary for the legislative branch to have the most power because they reflect the will of the people since we directly elect members of Congress and the laws the legislative branch creates inevitably affects the people. The members of the legislative branch are the closest link to the people; they represent specific interest groups and must be responsive to those interest groups or risk losing re-election. The framers of the constitution such as James Madison believed that since Congress is closest to the people they would have a democratic legitimacy that neither the Executive or Judicial branches would possess.

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.

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