The _____ Has Sole Power to Review Presidential Appointments

The Us Congress is fabricated upwardly of the Business firm of Representatives and the Senate. Learn more than about the powers of the Legislative Co-operative of the federal authorities of the United States.

Established by Commodity I of the Constitution, the Legislative Branch consists of the Business firm of Representatives and the Senate, which together form the United States Congress. The Constitution grants Congress the sole authority to enact legislation and declare state of war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments, and substantial investigative powers.

The Firm of Representatives is made upwardly of 435 elected members, divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population. In addition, there are six non-voting members, representing the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and four other territories of the Usa. The presiding officeholder of the chamber is the Speaker of the House, elected past the Representatives. He or she is third in the line of succession to the Presidency.

Members of the Firm are elected every two years and must be 25 years of age, a U.Due south. citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the land (but not necessarily the commune) they correspond.

The Firm has several powers assigned exclusively to it, including the ability to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the example of an electoral college tie.

The Senate is composed of 100 Senators, two for each state. Until the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, Senators were chosen by state legislatures, non by pop vote. Since then, they have been elected to vi-year terms by the people of each state. Senator's terms are staggered so that virtually one-third of the Senate is up for reelection every two years. Senators must be 30 years of age, U.South. citizens for at to the lowest degree ix years, and residents of the state they represent.

The Vice President of the Usa serves as President of the Senate and may cast the decisive vote in the event of a necktie in the Senate.

The Senate has the sole power to ostend those of the President's appointments that crave consent, and to ratify treaties. There are, nevertheless, two exceptions to this rule: the House must also approve appointments to the Vice Presidency and whatever treaty that involves foreign trade. The Senate also tries impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House.

In order to pass legislation and ship it to the President for his signature, both the House and the Senate must laissez passer the same bill by majority vote. If the President vetoes a bill, they may override his veto by passing the bill once again in each chamber with at least two-thirds of each torso voting in favor.

The Legislative Process | Powers of Congress | Government Oversight

The Legislative Procedure

The commencement step in the legislative procedure is the introduction of a neb to Congress. Anyone can write it, merely only members of Congress tin introduce legislation. Some important bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal upkeep. During the legislative process, nonetheless, the initial pecker tin can undergo desperate changes.

After being introduced, a bill is referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 House committees, with 104 subcommittees. The committees are not set in stone, but change in number and form with each new Congress as required for the efficient consideration of legislation. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more than specialized policy areas. For example, the Business firm Committee on Ways and Ways includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.

A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accustomed, amended, or rejected entirely. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill frontwards, information technology is reported to the full commission, where the procedure is repeated again. Throughout this stage of the process, the committees and subcommittees telephone call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear earlier the commission and provide testimony, and can compel people to announced using amendment power if necessary.

If the full commission votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the bulk party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away. Others may await for months or never be scheduled at all.

When the neb comes upward for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are normally limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited — Senators may speak to issues other than the neb nether consideration during their speeches, and any amendment tin can exist introduced. Senators tin can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure past which a Senator delays a vote on a beak — and by extension its passage — by refusing to stand downwards. A supermajority of 60 Senators tin can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote. Once debate is over, the votes of a simple majority passes the bill.

A bill must laissez passer both houses of Congress before it goes to the President for consideration. Though the Constitution requires that the two bills have the verbal aforementioned wording, this rarely happens in practice. To bring the bills into alignment, a Conference Committee is convened, consisting of members from both chambers. The members of the commission produce a conference report, intended as the final version of the bill. Each chamber then votes again to approve the conference study. Depending on where the bill originated, the final text is and so enrolled by either the Clerk of the Business firm or the Secretary of the Senate, and presented to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate for their signatures. The pecker is and so sent to the President.

When receiving a bill from Congress, the President has several options. If the President agrees substantially with the bill, he or she may sign information technology into constabulary, and the bill is then printed in the Statutes at Large. If the President believes the police to be bad policy, he may veto it and ship it dorsum to Congress. Congress may override the veto with a two-thirds vote of each chamber, at which point the bill becomes police force and is printed.

There are 2 other options that the President may exercise. If Congress is in session and the President takes no action within 10 days, the bill becomes constabulary. If Congress adjourns before 10 days are upward and the President takes no action, and so the bill dies and Congress may non vote to override. This is called a pocket veto, and if Congress still wants to pass the legislation, they must begin the unabridged process anew.

Powers of Congress

Congress, as ane of the iii coequal branches of government, is ascribed meaning powers past the Constitution. All legislative power in the government is vested in Congress, pregnant that information technology is the only part of the government that tin can make new laws or change existing laws. Executive Branch agencies issue regulations with the full force of law, but these are but under the authority of laws enacted by Congress. The President may veto bills Congress passes, but Congress may also override a veto past a 2-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Commodity I of the Constitution enumerates the powers of Congress and the specific areas in which information technology may legislate. Congress is as well empowered to enact laws deemed "necessary and proper" for the execution of the powers given to whatever part of the government under the Constitution.

Function of Congress'southward exercise of legislative potency is the institution of an annual budget for the government. To this end, Congress levies taxes and tariffs to provide funding for essential regime services. If plenty coin cannot be raised to fund the government, then Congress may too authorize borrowing to make upward the deviation. Congress can as well mandate spending on specific items: legislatively directed spending, commonly known as "earmarks," specifies funds for a particular project, rather than for a authorities bureau.

Both chambers of Congress take extensive investigative powers, and may compel the production of bear witness or testimony toward whatever finish they deem necessary. Members of Congress spend much of their time holding hearings and investigations in committee. Refusal to cooperate with a Congressional subpoena can result in charges of contempt of Congress, which could outcome in a prison term.

The Senate maintains several powers to itself: It ratifies treaties past a 2-thirds supermajority vote and confirms the appointments of the President past a majority vote. The consent of the Firm of Representatives is also necessary for the ratification of trade agreements and the confirmation of the Vice President.

Congress also holds the sole ability to declare war.

Government Oversight

Oversight of the executive branch is an of import Congressional check on the President's power and a balance confronting his discretion in implementing laws and making regulations.

A major fashion that Congress conducts oversight is through hearings. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Diplomacy are both devoted to overseeing and reforming government operations, and each committee conducts oversight in its policy area.

Congress also maintains an investigative organization, the Regime Accountability Office (GAO). Founded in 1921 as the General Accounting Role, its original mission was to audit the budgets and fiscal statements sent to Congress past the Secretarial assistant of the Treasury and the Manager of the Office of Direction and Budget. Today, the GAO audits and generates reports on every aspect of the government, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent with the effectiveness and efficiency that the American people deserve.

The executive co-operative also polices itself: Sixty-iv Inspectors General, each responsible for a different agency, regularly audit and report on the agencies to which they are attached.

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Source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/legislative-branch

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