Congress's Primary Responsibilities

Congress' Primary Responsibilities

• Congress's main responsibilities are lawmaking, representation, and oversight of the executive branch.
• Lawmaking: The process of creating laws involves agenda setting, policy formulation and adoption, policy implementation, and policy evaluation. Congress plays a key role in all stages, with the executive branch also actively involved in agenda setting.
• Legislative Oversight: Congress ensures the executive branch effectively carries out laws through oversight. Their power to create and abolish agencies, assign program responsibilities, control funding, and confirm or reject presidential appointments is essential for this.
• Representation: Congress members act as representatives for their constituents, responding to their needs and demands while also informing the public.
  • Trustee: Representatives use their own judgment, considering national interests first and constituents' needs second.
  • Delegate: Representatives prioritize constituents' views and act as their voice, even if it conflicts with the broader national interest.
  • Politico: Representatives combine elements of both trustee and delegate approaches, adjusting their stance based on the issue and public opinion.

Congress' Secondary Responsibilities

• Impeachment: The House can impeach officials (including the president), and the Senate conducts the trial. A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is needed for removal from office.
• Seating and Disciplining Members: Congress determines the validity of congressional elections and can exclude members who do not meet constitutional requirements. They can also discipline members through expulsion, censure, or reprimands.
• Selecting Leaders: Congress plays a role in filling positions within the executive and judicial branches. This includes resolving presidential elections if no candidate secures a majority of electoral votes, approving a new vice president, and confirming presidential appointments to these branches, including the Supreme Court.

Congress Members

• Congress, primarily composed of white males, is heavily influenced by members with legal or business backgrounds.
• The House of Representatives has two-year terms, while senators serve six-year terms.
• Currently, the Democratic party is the majority party in the Senate.
• The vice president (currently Kamala Harris), serves as the president of the Senate and casts tie-breaking votes.
• The Senate Majority Leader is the most powerful position in the Senate (currently Chuck Schumer), responsible for setting the legislative agenda.
• The Republican party controls the House of Representatives.
• The Speaker of the House (currently Mike Johnson) is a highly influential role, presiding over the House, voting, and controlling committee assignments.

Congressional Committees

• The committee system is integral to Congress's functioning, with members' influence often determined by their committee assignments.
• Standing Committees are permanent and have jurisdiction over specific policy areas.
• The majority party holds a significant advantage in committee makeup, ensuring their dominance within legislative processes.

The Legislative Process

• A bill starts in either the House or Senate and is referred to the appropriate committee.
• The committee reviews and amends the bill, potentially leading to its death or advancement to the floor.
• The Floor Debate stage sees further debate and amendment opportunities, governed by the established rules.
• The House Rules Committee plays a significant role in this stage, setting open or closed rules, which dictate amendment possibilities during debate.
• In the Senate, a filibuster can delay or block a bill's progress by extending debate indefinitely. A cloture vote with 60 out of 100 senators needed to end the filibuster.
• If both chambers pass different versions of the bill, a conference committee is formed to create a unified version, which is then subjected to further votes in the House and Senate before being sent to the president.
• The president has the power to sign the bill into law or veto it.

Explore the key responsibilities of Congress, including lawmaking, legislative oversight, and representation. Understand how Congress shapes laws, monitors the executive branch, and acts on behalf of its constituents. This quiz will test your knowledge on the roles and functions Congress plays in government.