The United States Congress is the legislature of the United States, meaning it’s where
laws are made.
Congress is made up of two houses, the House of Representatives, or just the House, which
has 435 members and 6 non voting members
and the Senate which has 100 members.
In this video we are going to first learn about the constitution which lays out the
role of Congress,
then we’ll learn how laws are made in Congress,
and finally we will learn about the key differences between the two differences between the 2
houses.
But first, why don’t you like this video and subscribe to my channel for more great
content?
The United States Constitution lays out the role of Congress.
The Federal government has three co equal branches, or parts, each with their own specific
roles.
There is the legislative branch which is made up of the two houses of congress which is
where laws are written.
The Executive branch, or the President, then carries out these laws. x
The Judiciary branch which is made up of the supreme court then scrutinises both the laws
themselves and how the Executive chooses to carry them out. x
In this video we’re focusing on Congress. So what does the Constitution say about the
powers Congress has?
Congress writes the annual budget which sets out how much the government plans to spend
and how much it will get from taxes over a year.
Congress also has the power to order borrowing to pay for this.
Congress also has power to do other things as well like declare war
and approve presidential treaties and appointments.
It also serves as a check on the power of the president by starting investigations and
hearings,
as well as impeaching the President or federal officials which is when they are put on trial.
Next we will learn about the legislative process, how a bill, which is a proposal for a law,
becomes a law.
For a bill to become a law it has to be agreed upon by both houses. The bill can start in
either house,
but once it has it has to go through a series of committees which scrutinise it and change
it.
If the committee votes to approve the bill it goes to the Senate and House where it is
debated again.
In the House debate can only go on for a certain amount of time, because there are so many
members compared to the Senate
and because unlike in other legislative systems like the United Kingdom, the speaker of the
House is not an impartial figure, they can decide what is voted on
and how long it is debated or if something will even be debated in the first place.
On the other hand in the Senate debate can go on for much longer
and members can filibuster, which is when they talk for so long the bill doesn't get
voted on.
If the bills are agreed upon in both houses, they go to the president, who has to sign
them into law.
The President can veto bills, which means he or she refuses to sign them into law,
but if a ⅔ majority votes against his veto, the bill is made into law regardless.
You might be thinking the President doesn’t have much power over legislation?
but he or she does have more indirect power as the leader of a political party,
meaning the President can set the tone for legislation in Congress.
As well as this, it is the President as the executive who decides how the laws that Congress
sets are carried out, but that’s for another video.
Next, what are the key differences between the House and the Senate?
For starters, the Senate is much smaller than the house, having only 100 members,
compared to the House’s 435.
The House is also elected more often, every 2 years, whereas ⅓ of the Senate is up every
2 years.
You have to be older than 30 to run as a Senator,
25 in the House.
There are also some differences in the specific power of the two houses
The senate ratifies treaties
and confirms the president's appointments,
it also has the power to try officials once the House has voted for impeachment.
The House on the other hand starts revenue bills.
But why are there these differences between the House and Senate?
According to the writers of the constitution, the differences between the house and senate
stem from a need to balance the power of smaller and larger states as well as a need to give
the United State's population as a whole representation in Congress
The United states is a federal republic, meaning it combines a strong national government
with maintaining the sovereignty of individual states.
One way in which Congress ensures this is through the different make up of members of
the two houses.
The senate has 2 senators for each state,
so every state is equal, and smaller states are thus overrepresented
whereas the house is divided up by population, more populous states have more representation.
In simplistic terms you could say that the Senate maintains the interested of the states,
and the House the nation as a whole.
As James madison says in the Federalist Papers this means the house has more of “an immediate
dependence on, and intimate sympathy with, the people’.
What adds to this is the fact that the house is up for election every two years,
it directly responds to the changing public opinion of the population across the United
States.
Senators on the other hand, are up less often, every six years, so a third of senators up
every two years.
Before 1913 and the Seventeenth amendment, they weren’t even elected, instead being
appointed by state legislatures.
Because Senators spend less time trying to get reelected it makes the Senate more or
less free from the pressures of public opinion or at least less so than the House;
this means there is more stability and bipartisanship.
The fact that debate is nearly unlimited in the senate further reflects this stability
and time afforded to pour over things-
whereas in the house it is limited, there is pressure to get legislation passed quickly.
So that’s the United States Congress.
I hope you enjoyed the video, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. Thanks for watching.