CONGRESS

TAHMINA BARAKI
Content
• Introduction
• The structure of the Congress
• The U.S. House of Representative
• The Senate
• The power of congress
• How a bill becomes a law
 Introduction
• Congress is the legislative branch of the federal gov. that represents the American people and makes the
nation’s law.
• Congress is divided into 2 institutions: The house of reprensentative and the senate.
• They have equal but unique roles in the federal gov.
The structure of the congress
• The united state congress is a bicameral legislature, meaning 2 chambers.
• The senate is referred as the upper chamber and the house of reprensentative is known as the
lower chamber.
• The total voting membership within the congress is 535 members(100 out of 535 is devoted to
senate, 2 per each state, and the remaining 435 members are reprensentatives serving the
country.)
• There are also 6 non voting members of the house of representatives representing Washignton
DC and calonies of US such as: Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana
Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The HOuse
The house of representatives
• Shall be composed of members chosen every second year directly by people.
• Each state is given a number of representative based on its population.
• Calfornia with 53 representatives, Texas with 34 and New York with 27
representatives have large members in the house. While the states with
smallest populations like: Alaska, Delware and more have small number of
members in the house.
Criteria for being a representative
• Must be a minimum of 25 yrs of age.
• Must be a citizen for 7 yrs.
• Be the resident of the state representing.
Speaker of the house
• The speaker is selected by the majority party in the house since Democrates took control of the house in
Jan 2019.
• Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat and has served as the speaker of the house representing the state of
Calfornia.
Senate
The Senate
• The senate of U.S. shall be composed of 2 senators from each state, elected by the people for 6 yrs.
• In the senate all states are representing equally, regardless of the size of states.
• Exclusive authorities: approve or reject presedential nomination to executive and judicial offices.
• Criteria for being a representative:
• A minimum of 30 yrs of age
• A citizen for 7 yrs
• A resident of the state presenting
The power of congress
• Congress can do:
• Collect Taxes
• Borrow money
• Regulate commerce( bussiness and trade)
• Coin money( Make money)
• Punish counterfeiters
• Declare War
• Promotes the art and science
• Govern Washington DC
How a Bill becomes law
• A bill is written by a senator and presents to the senate.
• The bill goes to a committee.
• The committee sends the bill to the house of representatives.
• The bill goes under votes in to houses.
• If both houses agreed upon, the bill is presented to the president for signature.
Thank you