The American Congress

The American Congress is a bicameral legislature with two houses: The House of Representatives and the Senate. The representatives from the House are determined by population of each state is comparison to each other. Thus the amount of representatives from each state might fluctuate in some elections. No state, no matter how small its population may be like the state of Alaska, cannot have fewer than three representatives. Representatives in the House serve for 2 year periods and can serve for an unlimited amount of terms in office as long as he or she is re-elected by the people of that district.

The Senate is made up of two senators from each state making the total amount of Congressmen in the Senate one hundred. The Senate is in charge of ratifying presidential appointees and ratifying treaties as well as introducing and passing legislation. Senators serve for 6 year terms and can run for an unlimited amount of terms.

Congress is broken up into the majority and minority parties. Each political party has their own WHIPSs who make sure that members of their party are voting along party lines. The majority political party in the House of Representatives gets to choose the Speaker of the House which is the most important position in Congress. Over the years the position of the Speaker of the House has increased in power and influence. There is also a Senate pro tem who presides over the Senate along with the Vice president.

In Congress there are also lobbyists who are paid by corporations in the United States to persuade politicians to vote certain ways on policy making decisions and bills in Congress. The lobbyists want the politicians to remember to vote for their constituents who helped them get into office.

Congress is further broken up into committees. Committees in the House of Representatives are assigned to politicians through the Speaker of the House. Almost always the committee chairs are members of the majority party in power. The committee chairs try to pas legislation favorable to the Speaker and majority party in power. Committees are then broken down into subcommittees. In the committees bills are debated and then if they are approved by committee members, the bill is debated on the floor of the House. This process is called floor action.

Major House Committees include the Rules committee on which the Speaker chairs as well as the Appropriations Committee, Intelligence Committee and Treasury Committee. The Appopriations and Ways and Means Committee is responsible for finances with each bill in regards to the budget and national debt. A Congressional record is also set up which records the speeches and documents in Congress.