Legislative Branch I INTRODUCTION Legislative Branch, the lawmaking part of the United States government. The legislative branch includes the two chambers of the Congress of the United States the Senate and the House of Representatives and their staffs. The legislative branch passes bills that become law if they are signed by the president of the United States, who leads the executive branch. These laws are then subject to interpretation and constitutional review by the Supreme Court of the United States and other courts in the judicial branch. The legislative branch also includes several smaller agencies. These provide research and administrative services to Congress or to the nation as a whole. Article I of the Constitution of the United States defines the powers of Congress, which include several powers that set it apart from the executive and judicial branches. It has the power to set tax rates, authorize government spending, print and borrow money, and perform many other duties. In practice, however, these powers are exercised within a system of checks and balances that brings all three branches into play. For example, the president can propose and veto legislation. The Supreme Court can interpret laws and even void them if they conflict with the Constitution. Although the president and the Supreme Court can impose limits on congressional use of power, the other branches cannot usurp (take over) the special powers delegated to the legislative branch. II STRUCTURE The most important part of the legislative branch is Congress, which includes a total of 540 elected members in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 members, two from each state. The House s size has been fixed by law at 435 members since 1911. Five other
representatives from American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico take part in House deliberations but cannot vote on legislation. The main responsibility of the two chambers is to draft and pass laws. Proposed laws come from many sources the president, executive agencies, interest groups (organized groups that pressure Congress), citizens, and congressional members themselves. These pressures combine to make a complex legislative process. Legislative tasks are divided among a large number of work groups committees, subcommittees, task forces, party committees, and informal groups of lawmakers. The House has 22 full committees and about 90 subcommittees; the Senate has 20 committees and about 70 subcommittees. There are also 4 joint House-Senate committees. Altogether Congress has about 250 formal work groups, containing more than 3,000 seats overall. (Each senator and representative serves on several committees and subcommittees.) Outside the committee systems, scores of task forces, party committees, and informal caucuses allow members to involve themselves in policies that interest them or affect their constituents. Also, many staff members are needed to assist senators and representatives in drafting laws and communicating with voters back home. Nearly 25,000 people are employed to support legislative activities. Of these, more than half work directly for the Senate or the House of Representatives, mostly in the offices of individual senators or representatives either on Capitol Hill or in state or district offices. The rest are staff aides for Senate or House committees or for the chambers themselves (including clerks, legal specialists, and messengers). In addition, the legislative branch includes five major supporting agencies and several minor ones. The Architect of the Capitol operates and maintains Capitol Hill buildings and grounds including the Capitol itself and House and Senate office buildings. The Government Accountability Office conducts studies for congressional committees and also serves as the auditing agency for the entire government. The Government Printing Office, as the name implies, prints government documents including legislative publications such as the Congressional Record, the daily proceedings of the two chambers. (Important documents, however, are increasingly available directly from government Internet sites.)
The Library of Congress, established in 1800, is the national library, containing the world s most extensive collections in such subjects as American history, law, music, photography, and film. The library s Copyright Office registers copyrights for creative works such as books, periodicals, plays, music, dances, motion pictures, and computer software. Another division, the Congressional Research Service, provides information and reports for members of Congress. The Congressional Budget Office is Congress s chief source of information for the annual federal budget-making process, supplying data, economic projections, and analyses of revenue and spending. III HISTORY Legislative assemblies effectively governed the 13 American colonies during British rule. When conflict erupted with Britain, these bodies sided with the rebels. Partly as a result of their support for the rebel cause, these legislatures came to be seen as the protectors of popular interests, and were given broad powers under the early state constitutions and the first national charter, the Articles of Confederation (1783-1789). These charters from the revolutionary period were heavily slanted toward legislative dominance, leaving little room for executive authority. Political theorists such as John Locke of England and Baron de Montesquieu of France, who advocated popular rule through legislatures, also argued that it is best to divide authority into separate branches of government to prevent abuses of power. So the Constitution of the United States, drafted in Philadelphia in 1787, was designed to restore balance: Congress still came first, but its powers were shared with independent executive and judicial branches. Throughout U.S. history Congress has demonstrated its independence from the other branches of government, particularly the executive branch. In some periods the Congress managed to dominate the political system. During the late 19th century, for example, congressional leaders such as House speaker Thomas Bracket Reed of Maine dominated the national legislative process at the expense of the president. Presidents gradually reasserted dominance over the legislative branch beginning in the
early 20th century. By the end of World War II in 1945, the presidency was firmly entrenched as the country s most visible political institution. Despite the relative dominance of the president, Congress has retained an important role in proposing and drafting legislation. In addition, members of Congress have proved willing to challenge presidential authority when they feel the president has exceeded the appropriate powers of the office. During the Watergate scandal, for example, Congress strongly asserted its right to investigate allegations of obstruction of justice and other crimes by President Richard Nixon. Congress also retains a key investigative role that is distinct from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other executive agencies. Because Congress conducts nearly all of its proceedings in public, it has served as an important site for investigations into sensitive subjects such as organized crime, political assassinations, and government corruption. IV COMPARED WITH OTHER LEGISLATIVE SYSTEMS Many of the world s legislatures follow the design of the British Parliament, the so-called Westminster model. In the Westminster system, legislative power resides in a popularly elected parliament, composed of one or two chambers. The majority party, or a coalition of parties, agree to form a government, known as the government of the day. Executive power is exercised by a cabinet headed by a chief minister usually called prime minister, premier, or chancellor who is typically drawn from the membership of the legislature. Such systems are found throughout western Europe and in countries such as India that were once part of the British Empire. In systems based on separation of powers (sometimes mistakenly called presidential systems), legislative and executive powers are divided between two branches whose principal officers are elected. The United States is the purest example of a separated system. However, countries such as Colombia and Mexico follow formal constitutions modeled on that of the United States. A new, hybrid type of political system has appeared in the second half of the 20th century. This system resembles a traditional parliamentary system, except that the prime minister and cabinet
share executive power with an independently elected president. In 1958 France created such a system, which is known as France s Fifth Republic. More recently, countries in central and eastern Europe, such as Poland and Lithuania, adopted this arrangement after the collapse of Communist regimes. Contributed By: Roger H. Davidson