1 / 14

The Legislative Branch: Congress

The Legislative Branch: Congress. Congress. There are two chambers of Congress: The House of Representatives The Senate. Powers. Congress has a number of powers. They include: Collecting taxes and borrowing money Regulating commerce Setting immigration law Coining money

don
Télécharger la présentation

The Legislative Branch: Congress

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Legislative Branch: Congress

  2. Congress There are two chambers of Congress: • The House of Representatives • The Senate

  3. Powers Congress has a number of powers. They include: • Collecting taxes and borrowing money • Regulating commerce • Setting immigration law • Coining money • Establishing courts • Declaring war Not that many powers, actually…

  4. Powers • “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States.” • In other words, Congress can define its powers broadly. • The states get all other powers. What might these be?

  5. House of representatives • The House of Representatives represents the people. • Each member represents 600,000 citizens. • There are currently 435 members. They must be 25-years-old and serve 2-year terms. • Special powers: • Writes all laws related to money. • Impeaches (charges) the President.

  6. Senate • The Senate represents the states. • Each member represents 1 state. • Each state has 2 senators (100 total). They must be 30-years-old and serve 6-year terms. • Special powers: • Approves the President’s choices for ambassadors, judges, and other federal officials. • Approves treaties. • Convicts the President after impeachment.

  7. House vs. Senate • The House is supposed to represent the will of the people. The Senate is supposed to represent the will of the states – and to prevent the people from acting rashly. That’s why the Senate has more power. • What do you think about this? Would you have designed Congress differently? • Break into groups to discuss!!!

  8. Leaders of congress • The leader of the House is the Speaker. • The official leader of the Senate is the Vice President. • But the actual leader of the Senate is the Majority Leader, the leader of the party with the most members. • (The other side has the Minority Leader.)

  9. Committees • The House and the Senate each has committees focused on different issues. For example: • Foreign relations • Budget • Energy & environment • These committees debate proposed laws (“bills”) related to their issue. They often do this by holding investigations, or hearings. • If the committee approves a bill, the whole House or Senate debates and votes…

  10. How a bill becomes a law • The House or Senate votes for the bill, then the other chamber votes for the bill. • If the chambers disagree on the wording, a conference committee meets until they agree. • Both chambers vote for the edited bill. • The President signs the bill. • Something called a “veto” is also possible. (We’ll talk about that next week.)

  11. Should morocco have the death penalty?

  12. Who thinks yes?

  13. Who thinks no?

  14. You’re now senators and representatives. Make a law!

More Related