Legislative Branch Flashcards

Legislative Branch Overview

• Primary function of the legislative branch is to create laws.
• Comprises Congress, which shares power with the president and the Supreme Court, and consists of two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Congress

• Congress is the national legislative body responsible for lawmaking.
• The House of Representatives is tasked with making and passing federal laws.
• The Senate serves as an assembly representing citizens with high deliberative functions.

Legislative Process

• Makes it extremely hard for a bill to become law to ensure quality and benefits for the country.
• A bill must pass in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and be approved by the president to become law.

Committees in Legislation

• Committees, known as "little legislatures," have final authority on pieces of legislation with standing committees being the most important.
• Conference committees reconcile differences when bills pass in different forms in both chambers.

Representation

• Congress performs two major functions: lawmaking and representation.
• The difference between substantive representation (advocating for policy preferences) and descriptive representation (reflecting the demographic make-up of constituents) shows Congress is better at substantive representation.

Incentives for Elected Officials

• The primary goal of all elected officials is to secure re-election.

Functions of Congress

• Functions include bicameralism, lawmaking, representation, constituent services, oversight, public education, and conflict resolution.

Bicameralism

• Refers to the division of the legislature into two separate assemblies.

House Apportionment Consequences

• Reapportionment allocates House seats to each state after a census.
• Redistricting involves redrawing district boundaries within each state.

Differences Between House and Senate

• The House is directly elected every two years and has exclusive authority to introduce tax bills; it is larger than the Senate.
• The Senate requires longer terms and is designed for more deliberative governance.