The Three Branches of the United States Government
There are three branches within the federal government that work with conjunction to one another. They are called the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. They each have different duties and powers that are outlined by the United States Constitution. The duty of the legislative branch, in the most simple of terms, is to write laws. The executive branch enforces the laws, and the main duty of the judicial branch is to interpret each law. Each of the branches helps keep balance between one another by checking their powers. The legislative branch has impeachment power over the executive branch, and can override the executive’s vetoes with a two-thirds vote. The legislative can also
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approve federal judges for the judicial branch, and the judicial branch in turn has the power to declare any laws the legislative makes unconstitutional. This regulation of power is known as the system of checks and balances. First of all, every state within the United States has a legislative branch, and they function in a similar fashion to the federal legislative branch itself. Congress is what makes up the legislative branch, and is split up into two sections: the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has the ability to elect a speaker. This speaker, also known as Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer in the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House is selected by roll call vote on the first day of every brand new Congress. Technically the Speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, or a natural born citizen even, but all past members have been. The House of Representatives is the largest part of congress, where each state sends in representatives based on the state’s own population. As said before, the Speaker of the House is the presiding officer in the House of Representatives, meaning he or she has to keep up with the four hundred and thirty-five members of the house. The speaker is known as the Majority Leader if the party who elected supports them is in the majority, and the minority leader if their party loses the majority. Despite the stresses, the Speaker is a powerful position. They get to decide who speaks and does what in an open floor debate. The Speaker is third in line for presidency (however if they are not a natural born citizen they are not eligible). The other half of Congress is the Senate, which is a little smaller the House.
Each state is represented equally, with two members from each state. The Senate also has a sort of presiding officer called the President Pro tempore. The tempore originally only served in the absence of the vice president, but now holds a full job. The tempore is elected by the Senate, and they are able to speak and vote; however they cannot break a vote like the vice president Like the Speaker of the House, the tempore traditionally is a senior member of the majority party. When the Vice President is away, the Tempore and the Speaker usually hold joint meeting together. The tempore is the tempore until they retire, die, or if their party loses the majority. They also may appoint other Senate member to do their duties while they are absent. When appointing members, sometimes they appoint junior members to help them learn the swing of things. The tempore is the fourth in line for …show more content…
presidency. The parties within the Senate each select a party whip. They are basically assistants to the majority/minority leaders, and may take their place for a short while during a minority/majority leader’s absence. Whips usually just take role and round up votes and quorums. Whips are also tasked with “whipping up” their peers on votes. They may try to sway a vote when the tally is close to 50/50. Congressional meetings that are held annually are generally called sessions.
There are different types of sessions: special session, extraordinary session, joint session, Pro Forma session, lame duck session, closed session, and executive session. A special session is when the state holds another meeting after a die adjournment. An extraordinary session happens when the President calls in a session after a die adjournment. A joint session occurs when the Senate and House of Representatives meet, this can be for many reasons. A pro forma session lasts only for a few minutes, and is a brief meeting of the Senate. A lame duck session happens when Congress meets after the November elections. Some of Congress who attend this session did not get re-elected, thus the phrase lame duck. A closed session refers to a secret session in which confidential information is debated. In an executive session, the senate meets to talk about treaties or presidential nominations.
Congress also holds a recess. This recess started out as a long holiday in the spring in the 1800s, so the staff could escape the heat and pain of no air conditioning. As air conditioning evolved, Congress began to hold year-long sessions. This resulted in very little off time, so Congress got together to bring about a recess. This recess now happens in the month of August, because of the Legislative Organization Pact that was passed in
1970. Passing a bill is a long and drawn out process, just as the constitution intended it to be. First, a member of congress must introduce the bill. Then it is given a designation number. Then it is referred to a committee by the leader of the house the member of congress came from. The committee can either pigeonhole it (do nothing about the bill at all) or it can refer the bill to other subcommittees. The bill is then sent to the Senate or full House if the bill is deemed worthy by the committee. Then the two houses have an open floor debate about the bill. As explained before, the two houses handle debates slightly more different than the other. The House has a roll call vote, and the Senate is allowed to speak and propose as much as they wish. More than often the House and the Senate will procure two different versions of the bill. When this happens the houses appoint members to a conference committee, and they work to unite the versions. After they meet, the houses then vote on the new bill. The bill then is passed to the president. The bill becomes a law if the president signs it. If the president vetoes the bill, it is passed back to Congress. Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote, but this is rare. Usually when a president vetoes a bill, it stays dead. Also, a president can choose to do nothing to a bill. After ten days of the president doing nothing to a bill, the bill becomes a law if and only if Congress is in session. If Congress has since been adjourned, the bill is killed. This is the only part the president plays in the legislative process, albeit it is an important one. The direct processes through which each bill becomes a law are rarely the same each time. Each bill may not follow the sequence of others due to the varying circumstances of each bill. Complications abound in practice. This is merely and overview of the general path of each potential law. The executive branch is another branch of government. As said before, this is the branch that mainly enforces and executes each law. This power is given to the president, who is Commander-of-chief and head of state. The president appoints members of the Cabinet and independent federal agencies. These people are the ones directly involved with enforcing laws. Along with members of these agencies and of the United States army, the executive branch employs around four million Americans. The executive branch conducts diplomacy with other nations, and the president has the power to sign treaties. The checks the executive branch has on the legislative include: the president has the power to veto a bill, proposing laws to congress, and the executive can appoint federal officials. The checks the executive branch has over the judicial branch include: nominating judges to the supreme court and federal court system, Presidential pardon to criminals, and Presidential amnesty. The duties of the head of state (aka the president) are mostly like England’s and hold ceremonial significance. The head of state can bestow medals and can hold state dinners. As the head of state, the president usually travels around the country and the world. The 25th amendment was ratified in 1967. This amendment established a chain of command for who was to take over should the President die or become unable to perform their duties. Although the vice president had always taken over before this amendment was established, it was never a true law. There are four key sections to the 25th amendment. Section one establishes that the vice president should take over should the president die or is otherwise unable to perform his duties. The second section states the process for getting a new vice president if the seat should become vacant. The president must choose a new vice president and member of congress must vote and approve this new candidate. Section three states that the Vice president may take over as “Acting Presidency” when declared to do so by the President. The Acting presidency ends when the president issues a second statement declaring it so. Section four gives that if a president is unfit to serve, the vice president and members of the Cabinet are allowed to submit a declaration. In return, the president must issue a statement that proves his competency to Congress. Theoretically the white house staff are subordinate to the president. They are not his equals, and derive most of their power from him. Since the president elects members of his own cabinet, there isn’t really a way to undermine him, or a reason they would want to. The state of union speech is the president’s most anticipated speech. It will more than likely influence policies and new laws in the years that follow it. It is a constitutional requirement for the president to stay in touch with the general public, with staff, and with allies. The state of union speech is the president’s own assessment of the nation. It also allows the President to put forth his own agenda about the economy and such in front of Congress. Proposing his position here allows for him to rally his allies. A speech from the opposing side usually follows the president’s speech, to give the views of the other side. The President’s cabinet consists of the heads of fifteen executive departments and the vice president. They are allowed to advise him on matters involving each of their respective department s. The current members of President Obama’s cabinent are as follows: The vice president is Joe Biden, Secretary of State is John Kerry, Secretary of the Treasury is Jacob Lew, Secretary of Defense is Ashton B. Carter, Attorney General is Loretta Lynch, Secretary of the Interior is Sally Jewell, Secretary of Agriculture is Tom J. Vilsack, Secretary of Commerce is Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Labor is Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of Health and Human Services is Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is Julián Castro, Secretary of Transportation is Anthony Foxx, Secretary of Energy is Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Education is Arne Duncan, Secretary of Veterans Affairs is Robert McDonald, and Secretary of Homeland Security is Jeh Johnson. The order listed here is also the order of succession to presidency. Most of the executive’s roles and responsibilities are pretty explanatory, such as the Secretary of Agriculture regulates food and helps food producers and farmers. Lastly, there is the judicial branch. This branch checks the executive branch by their ability to rule whether a law is unconstitutional. Their Supreme court justices also can’t be fired by the President. Over the legislative branch, the judicial branch has the power to declare their new written laws unconstitutional. There are nine judges in the Supreme Court. Each justice is appointed by the President and ok-ed by the Senate. Justices hold their appointed position usually for life. By constitutional power the Supreme Court has both appellate and original jurisdiction. Appellate jurisdiction means the court can review over the decisions of a lower court. Most of what the court reviews are appeals from a lower court.
With these powers come several responsibilities, among them a Constitutional requirement to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Although the President may fulfill this requirement in any way he or she chooses, Presidents have traditionally given a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress each January (except in inaugural years) outlining their agenda for the coming
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.
Congress is in session far more than that of the part-time Texas legislature. The Texas Legislators must create laws for the second most populated, second largest State, This is not a part time task. The Texas congress could easily be in session year-round. Many issues brought up while the Texas Legislature is not in session are left in limbo as they await the next legislative session. An ideal legislature is working around the calendar to ensure that they are serving as leaders.
Every odd-numbered year, the legislature assembles to make new laws to fix modern issues occuring in the state. These meetings always begin on the second Tuesday of January and is called the regular session, which lasts up to 140 days. The Governor can direct the legislature on matters for no more than
This is the dysfunctional aspect of gridlock. Studying the reasons behind dysfunction, the implications of this dysfunction, and how it impacts the rest of the nation politically and socially has become one of the best ways to study Congress because it has defined Congress for years. Many of these theories, like Congress itself, disagree with each other and look at different sides of the same coin in many instances. By looking at these theories and what they say it will help everyone better understand how Gridlock has shaped the politics of the nation, and just the nation itself.
The Senate also has many different responsibilities. In order to be a senate the qualifications you must have are you must be at least thirty years
3 The legislative branch is the lawmaking branch of government. 4 The executive branch is the branch that enforces the laws of government power, and the judicial branch oversees the enforcement and creation of laws so that they are following the rulebook of the founding ideas of governmental power. All of these branches shown in any representation of government would be a practical representation. 4. 1 Demonstrate knowledge of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal
The Senate, is made up of fifty people, two senators from each state. In order for someone to be elected as a senator, he/she must be at least thirty years of age, as well as a U.S. Citizen for a minimum of nine years. Unique to the Senate, are the approvals of presidential appointees and treaties. Also in the Senate, are leaders who are essentially senators with special and titles. One of these leaders is the Vice President of the United States, who votes on issues only in the event of a tie. Second, is the President Pro-T...
The rise of the use of recess appointments has led the Senate to come up with unjust practices to keep the president from having an opening to recess appoint. Pro-forma sessions were created by Senate democrats to stop President George W. Bush from making recess appointments. Pro-forma sessions were an open Senate floor to start business for the Senate. However, only one senator was needed to bang the gavel into a meeting. These sessions could be as short at thirty seconds. This would deny the President from being able to make any recess appointments, because the Senate would not be in recess, although most members were not in for the session and no votes could be held. These pro-forma sessions are a deceitful way to keep the President from fairly appointing in Senate
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.
In the American political system, Congress plays a vital role. Whether it concerns legislation, finances and taxes, or investigation, Congress is a necessary entity for politics. With rules and regulations, Congress can effectively pass legislation that betters the United States. However, sometimes, Congress fails to answer and provide remedy to pressing issues that the United States face, which results in the failure of Congress enacting legislation regarding the most debatable and critical issues. Usually, congressional gridlock occurs when different parties are dominant in the House of Representatives and Senate, and the Houses do not come to conclusions on the issues.
The legislative branch the first branch of the three, consist of two branches establishing Congress, the House and Senate. Each of these components elected by residents of each state has specific requirements that they must follow. The House objectives has several powers assigned exclusively to it, including the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President in the case of an electoral college tie (Quote GCU). The Senate objectives are managed by the Vice President of the country, known to be the President of there group. Under the President the Senate confirms appointments that requires consent and ratifies treaties (Quote GCU). This helps the entire branch with duties that are performed.
And is introduced by the speaker of the house and can be introduced as early as 60 days prior to session. It is numbered and is read for the first time, then assigned to a committee, each house has standing committees that consider their bills. Each committee has a chair ( from the majority) and a ranking member ( from the minority) they edit the bill so that it may pass onto the floor with different stages of review including analysis, and public hearing, then the house debates and votes, the bill os then sent to the calendar committee for assignment to a calendar. When the committee has reported the bill favorably to the floor the speaker determines which bills are discussed and for how long. Bills are then considered by the whole house at once, it's called, a ‘committee of a whole.’ Roll call votes are done electronically in the house or can be done by voice booting with a collection of “yeas” and “nays”. The bill then goes to second reading, editing, debating and then voted on again and then goes to a third hearing to make more changes before it is sent to the senate. The senate majority leaders determines which bills are scheduled when and for how
As one party controls the House and Senate, and another controls the President, the ability for a bill to be passed takes much longer as a bipartisan agreement must be met. This also results in a gridlock, as the President controls the veto power and Congress has the key to the treasury and enacting bills. For example, during the Clinton Administration in 1995-1996, the federal government had a temporary shutdown as President and Congress couldn’t come to a compromise for the budget regarding funding of Medicare, education, the environment, and public health. Due to divided government, the federal government was in a complicated situation and no beneficial solution was achieved in a short period of time. However, a resolution can be formed in this instance.
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