Items that I have learned this week, were policymaking at the state and federal level, law making and the three branches of government. This includes the steps involved in making law and the committees where the decisions are made. I also learned about the legislative branch, were laws are made, the executive branch, which involves the presidency and the judicial branch that includes the court system.
The text defines policy as, “authoritive decisions made in the legislative, executive or judicial branches of government that are intended to direct or influence the actions, behaviors, and decisions of others.” (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017, p. 11) Though the authoritative decisions are made within the three branches of our government, parties
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The Congress has two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress is granted byt the U.S. Constitution “All legislative powers” and the right to enact “necessary and proper laws.” (Teitelbaum & Wilensky, 2017, p. 13) Within Congress are committees where the drafting of bills take place. There are a total of 35 committees within Congress. A bill is presented to a member of Congress to be considered by a committee. The bill must garner enough support in committee to move on otherwise it will die in committee. If the bill receives majority support from the committee it is sent to the house or Senate for a vote. It the bill receives majority support it is then sent the other chamber of Congress for consideration. If the bill gains majority support in the other chamber of Congress it is then sent to president for approval. This example is a perfect world scenario. The bill may go back and forth between each chamber of Congress if one chamber recommends a different version or that changes be made. If the Congress cannot come to an agreement on changes the bill can die. Once sent to the president, the president can decide not to sign the bill. If Congress is in session during this time the bill becomes law after 10 days. If Congress is not in session and the bill goes unsigned then the bill dies in what is known as a pocket veto. The president can veto the bill all together, which …show more content…
This branch of government consists of justices, judges, magistrates in two separate court systems on both the federal and state levels. Courts are tasked with the huge responsibility of interpreting the U.S. Constitution while protecting nad enforcing individual rights. (Tetielbaum & Wilensky, 2017) The federal court system consists of district courts and appellate courts. When a decision is made at the district level, the decision can be appealed to the federal court of appeals. If a decision is not changed at the court of appeals level, the case can be petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the
The Constitution of the United States sets out the procedure of a bill becoming a law in Article 1, Section 7. Scholars have interpreted the Constitution to read that a president can only sign or veto a bill, but the section that many other scholars have looked over that would allow for the line-item veto is that, “if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to r...
The United States Congress was created by the framers of the Constitution as the most important part of the legislative branch of the national government. The Congress was set up with a bicameral structure composed by the House of Representatives or Lower Chamber and the Senate or Upper Chamber. According to “Origins and Development” and “History of the House”, two descriptions of the history of the Congress, both chambers assembled for the very first time in New York in 1789 and then moved to Philadelphia in 1790 where they stayed for 10 years. In 1800 the Congress moved to Washington, DC; however, it was not until 1857 and 1859 that the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively moved to their current meeting locations in the Capitol after its restoration due to the British invasion of 1814 that burned the building. With more than two centuries legislating, the Congress has acquired great expertise in governing the country and meeting the Constitution’s mandates. Yet, in order to accomplish all its tasks the Congress has a very well-defined structure and very specific ways to proceed. Indeed, in order to undertake the most important of its mandates, “to enact law”, the Congress has a rigorous procedure that is combined with some of the different structural elements of Congress which indicate the direction that bills must follow once introduced. One of the most important of such elements is the congressional committee structure.
Today the word presidential veto does not come out in the United States Constitution, but Article I require that bills, orders, resolutions or other act of legislation by the Congress be brought to the President for his approval (Belz 1998 p 136). Normally the President is presented the bill, he can either sign it into law or may return the bill to the originating the Congress with his objections to the bill the appropriate constitutional term used is a veto, or neither sign nor return it to Congress after having been presented the bill for ten days exempting Sundays in cases where the Congress is still in session, the bill becomes a law; otherwise, the bill does not become a law and is considered a pocket veto according to the US constitution (Donald 2001 p.112).
Preview – Today, I am going to inform you about the branches of the United States government, the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch.
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
The American government is comprised of three different branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch. Each one of the branches is essential to the government, and the other two branches. Each branch plays an important part in making sure the other two are doing what they are supposed to be doing, as well as making sure its own duties are getting done. Without these three branches America’s government would be chaos.
Of the three branches, the first one to be outlined in the Constitution is the Legislative branch. This branch serves many purposes regarding the formation of the nation's laws. The Legislative branch, is a bicameral house, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of these houses have different tasks that work together to create laws for U.S. Citizens.
...e system and if approved in committee, sub-committee, hearings, and the floor from which it originated, it will go to the other chamber for consideration and vote before ever reaching the president’s desk for signature.
Before there is a law, there is a bill – and bills have many phases to pass through before these may become laws. The course materials of week three point out that a bill can originate in the House of Representatives or in the Senate – but different versions of the same bill could begin simultaneously in both chambers of Congress (Unit 3 the Congress, 9). It is possible for the President – or someone else – to write a bill, but a member of Congress must introduce the legislation through sponsorship. New bills receive a number and receive assignment to the committee best suited to examine the bill. Project Vote Smart reveals “Bills may be referred to more than one committee and it may be split so that parts are sent to different committees” (Project Vote Smart 2010). If the bill passes through the committee – or committees – the bill may get a new number before passing on to floor action. But it is not necessary for the bill to receive a new number. The foregoing stages describe the initial actions of the Legislative branch in the procedure of a bill becoming law.
There are three branches of the federal government, the executive, the judicial, and the legislative. The executive branch consists of such people as the president, the cabinet, and the executive offices of the president. The executive branch is known for enforcing laws created by the legislative branch. The judicial branch entails the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Judiciary. The judicial branch must review the laws the executive branch is to enforce. There is also the legislative branch. This branch contains the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and the Library of Congress. Laws are created through the legislative branch.
The US court system consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The trial court is the first to hear the facts of a case and has original jurisdiction. The appellate court hears cases whose resolution is disputed by the losing party in the trial court. The supreme or high court hears cases whose outcome is disputed by the losing party in the appellate court. The supreme or high court chooses which cases warrant a hearing. The federal and the state court system have the same basic structure. Each consists of a trial court, an appellate court, and a supreme or high court. The Federal Court of Appeals has thirteen (13) circuits which cover most states except the District of Columbia. The federal system also has specialty courts such as the Court of Federal Claims and the United States Tax Court.
Phaedra Trethan. (2013). The Three Branches of US Government. Retrieved November 25, 2013, from About.com US Government Info: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/branches.htm
First there is the House of Representatives. The House is the lowest level of what makes up the United States Congress. Members of the House are made up of state officials. The number of House representatives that each state gets is directly affected by the state’s current population, and so the number changes with each state. There are many duties formed by the House some of which include; introducing bills, bringing up resolutions, offering amendments, and serving on committees. Members of the House are voted for directly by the people of state from which they come. Each representative must be at least
First, in the long process of a bill becoming a law is introducing a bill. After someone from Congress in either chamber has come up with an idea for a bill they must introduce it. For members of the House of Representatives this is easy. All they have to do is put their idea in a mahogany box at the front of the chamber called the hopper. Now for a Senator to introduce a bill they must either hand it to the clerk of the Senate or they must talk about it in a presentation to their peers in a floor speech. Sometimes though Senators can cut down this process by adding their bill as an amendment to legislation that is already being processed. This saves them a lot of time. Also, new ideas for bills are labeled depending on what chamber they come from. Bills from the house will always be labeled with an H.R. with its number behind it. Well bills from the Senate will always be labeled with an S. followed by its number.
The United States government braces its power among three powerful branches, legislative, executive and judicial. These branches interact with one another to establish authority that is strong, yet equal to have power over the country. Each branch pursues certain responsibilities and duties to operate in an efficient and effective manner in which society upholds. The executive, legislative and judicial branches all interact amid each other to validate accuracy of the nation’s most powerful law of the land, the Constitution. It is important to know how these branches interact with each other to learn how a bill becomes a law. Reflecting on how the three branches promote a balance of power that is constructive to include the agendas and electoral roles that also plays a vast part in the government’s operation.