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Essay On Make Up Of Congress

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The Makeup of Congress When discussing the makeup of Congress, one must first look to the intent of the framers around creating a bicameral legislature. This would take me to the first section of our class regarding the debates the founding fathers had about equal representation of the states in the Congress. Edmund Randolph of Virginia was the first to offer a suggestion, known as the “Virginia Plan”, that addressed representation. His plan provided for a system of representation based on the population of each state or the proportion of each state’s revenue contribution, or both. This did not fly with the smaller states like New Jersey, Delaware, or Connecticut. The smaller states saw this idea as a bias towards the larger …show more content…

Each congressional member also has a plentiful staff assigned to them who help deal with the many demands of being an agent of the people. Responsibilities of staff include, but are not limited to dealing with details, organizing hearings, handling constituency requests, and negotiating with lobbyist. Additional joint powers of the Congress are that of oversight, which conduct hearings and investigations on government agencies as well as grant appropriations, Advice and Consent, which requires that Congress approve the Presidents appointments for federal justices and Cabinet nominees, as well as treaties with other nations, and the power of impeachment, which is the removal of a president, vice-president, or other executive officials from office. A balance of wisdom and consent in the legislature is addressed by the very nature of the rules in the House and Senate, and will be described in further detail respectively. Basically, the House, being the more organized and less deliberative of the two chambers, would be quicker in voting on what their constituents would want due to the close relationship a representative would have with the people. Their terms are shorter, and this is what drives representatives to be out amongst voters more frequently and more responsive to their concerns. The Senators, however, have longer terms and established rules that allow for long, deliberative debate

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