Chapter 5 Lesson

Chapter 5 - Congress: Our Legislative Branch

Structure of Congress

• The Legislative branch of the United States' government is called Congress

  • Congress is established by Article I of the Constitution

  • Congress is separated into two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate

• The House has 435 members, called Representatives, and each state gets a number of representatives based on their population.

• The Senate has 100 members, called Senators, and each state is given 2 Senators.

The enumerated powers of congress

• The main role of Congress is to pass laws for the nation.

  • These laws are related to the "enumerated" powers of Congress, which are specifically listed in Article I, Section 8.

    • These are also known as the "delegated" powers. Some of these powers are also shared with the states, these are known as concurrent powers.

• Power to tax and spend

• Power to borrow money

• Power to coin and print money

• Power to declare war

• Power to raise and support armed forces

• Power to maintain a navy

• Power to pass naturalization laws

• Power over the regulation of trade

• Power to establish post offices

• Power to establish post offices

• Power to establish lower federal courts

Multiple Choice

What Article of the Constitution established Congress?

• Article I

• Article II

• Article III

• Article V

Multiple Choice

What is the main role of Congress?

• to make laws

• to execute laws

• to interpret laws

• to amend laws

Other roles of the Legislative Branch

• Congress has a number of other roles that they are responsible for which are related to the system of checks and balances.

  • Power of impeachment - the ability to impeach the President, Vice President, and other federal officers in the executive branch and to impeach Supreme Court justices and judges.

    • Under the impeachment process, the House impeaches (accuses) and the Senate conducts the trial.

  • Power of appointment confirmation - the Senate confirms Presidential appointments by a majority vote

  • Power to ratify treaties - the Senate ratifies treaties by a two-thirds vote

Other roles of the Legislative Branch

• Congress also proposes constitutional amendments

• The House of Representatives has the power to choose the President if no candidate wins the Electoral College

Multiple Choice

What are powers shared by the federal and state governments called?

• concurrent powers

• delegated powers

• implied powers

• enumerated powers

Multiple Choice

What is the power impeachment?

• The power to accuse an official and potentially remove them

• The power to control the finances of the country

• The power to make laws

• The power to amend the Constitution

• Powers that are not directly stated in the Constitution

  • Also called the Elastic Clause

• Gives Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying out the enumerated powers."

  • ex. (creating a national bank to handle the countries finances)

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The Implied Powers of Congress

Multiple Choice

What is another name for the "implied powers" of Congress?

• Enumerated powers

• Elastic Clause

• Delegated powers

• Concurrent powers

• Congress is not all powerful, there are many checks on its powers:

  • The President can veto (refuse/deny) any bills that Congress tries to pass.

  • Any powers not given to Congress are reserved for the States

  • Congress is prohibited from passing ex post facto laws or suspending habeas corpus in peacetime

Limits on Congressional Power

Leadership of congress

• The leaders of Congress include:

  • Speaker of the House: The leading member of the majority party

  • Vice President of the United States: serves as President of the Senate. (main power is to make tiebreaker votes)

  • President pro tempore of the Senate: The leading member of the majority party, in charge of the Senate when the United State VP is absent

  • Majority leader: Leader of the majority party in both the House of Representatives and the Senate

  • Minority leader: Leader of the minority party in both the House of Representatives and the Senate

organization of congress

• The members of Congress organize themselves into committees (small groups) to get work done faster.

  • Standing committees: permanent committees that focus on a particular subject, represent the entire chamber in miniature.

  • Special (or select) committees: temporary committees that are created for a specific purpose, usually investigations.

  • Joint committees: members of both chambers (Senate and House of Representatives) that work together, for example a conference committee to eliminate differences in bills passed by each chamber

How a bill becomes a law

1. Introduction of a Bill: A bill is a proposed law. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to the appropriate standing committee.
2. Committee stage: The committee then decides if the bill is worth considering by investigating, holding public hearings and examining experts.

3. Debate and vote: If approved by committee, the bill is sent the floor of the chamber to be discussed and voted on. It will often be changed and needs a simple majority vote (more than half) to pass.

4. Bill sent the other house: Once the bill is passed in one chamber, it is sent to the other chamber to repeat the whole process.
5. Conference committee: The become a law, a bill must be passed by both chambers in the same form. Members from each chamber create a conference (joint) committee where they fix the differences.
6. Submitted to the President: Once both chambers pass the same bill, it is sent to the President. The President can approve the bill, veto (deny) the bill, or do nothing at all. If the bill is vetoed, Congress can override it with a 2/3 vote in each chamber.

Multiple Choice

What is a "bill"?

• a proposed law

• an amendment to the Constitution

• a committee of members of Congress

• a power given to the President

Multiple Choice

How many chambers of Congress must a bill go through before being sent to the President?

• 1

• 2

• 5

• 3

Congressional Qualifications

To qualify for a Congress, an individual must fulfill the following requirements.

​	​House of Representatives	​Senate
​Minimum Age	​25 years old	​30 years old
Minimum Length of U.S. Citizenship​	​7 years	​9 years
​Residence	​Resident of the state where elected	​Resident of the state where elected
Number of Members ​	​435	​100