The Legislative Branch
The Legislative branch of the United States government creates laws at a national level. Congress is made up of two parts - the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate and the House have different powers that allow them to create laws for the United States.
Congress
The Legislative branch is composed of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, known better as Congress. Some powers of Congress are explicitly stated in the Constitution, while others are not mentioned. The powers stated in the Constitution are called expressed powers, while those powers not listed are called implied powers. Implied powers were established under the Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause), which grants Congress powers not explicitly stated in the constitution but which are assumed to belong to Congress because they are necessary to implement the expressed powers which are named.
The implied powers of Congress are abilities such as the creation of banks for the collection of taxes and other similar abilities, but the wording of the last clause of Article I, Section 8 is vague and many wonder how much power the government was meant to assume, as it can be interpreted many different ways.
The expressed powers of Congress are things like the power to punish those who produce counterfeit currency, the power to allow immigrants from foreign countries become citizens of the United States, or establish rules and regulations surrounding bankruptcy.
Congress also holds the ability to impeach a government official. Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment. Those who can be impeached are the President, Vice President and those appointed by the President (Cabinet members and judges). When an official is impeached, they can either be removed from office or removed from office and disqualified from holding future office. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach an official while the Senate is the sole court for impeachment trials.
The implied powers of Congress are abilities such as the creation of banks for the collection of taxes and other similar abilities, but the wording of the last clause of Article I, Section 8 is vague and many wonder how much power the government was meant to assume, as it can be interpreted many different ways.
The expressed powers of Congress are things like the power to punish those who produce counterfeit currency, the power to allow immigrants from foreign countries become citizens of the United States, or establish rules and regulations surrounding bankruptcy.
Congress also holds the ability to impeach a government official. Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil punishment. Those who can be impeached are the President, Vice President and those appointed by the President (Cabinet members and judges). When an official is impeached, they can either be removed from office or removed from office and disqualified from holding future office. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach an official while the Senate is the sole court for impeachment trials.
The Impeachment Process
There are seven steps of the impeachment process.
- The Justice Department investigates charges and presents them to the House Judiciary Committee
- The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) reviews the evidence presented by the Justice Department
- The Committee drafts Articles of Impeachment
- The Committee debates Articles of Impeachment
- The House of Representatives debates Articles of Impeachment and votes on them. If the majority of the members of the House vote for impeachment, the President is impeached.
- Senate then holds the trial which determines whether or not the official will be removed from office.
- The HJC presents the evidence against the official.
- The accused official chooses his or her own lawyers to defend them.
- The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court acts as the judge
- The Senate acts the Jury
The SenateIn the Senate, there are a total of 100 members - two representatives for each state. Members of the Senate are elected for 6-year terms.
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The House of RepresentativesIn the House of Representatives, there are 435 members. They number of representatives is based on the population of the state. House members are elected for 2-year terms.
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Power Structure of the House of Representatives
Power Structure of the Senate
Requirements For Office
The requirements for office are different in the House of Representatives than they are in the Senate. The requirements to become a member of both sections are similar, but becoming a U.S. Senator is slightly more challenging.
To become a member of the United States Senate you must be a minimum of 30 years old, a United States citizen for a minimum of 9 years, and live in the state in which you were elected.
To become a member of the House of Representatives it is required that you are a minimum of 25 years old, a citizen for a minimum 7 years, and live in the state in which you are elected.
To become a member of the United States Senate you must be a minimum of 30 years old, a United States citizen for a minimum of 9 years, and live in the state in which you were elected.
To become a member of the House of Representatives it is required that you are a minimum of 25 years old, a citizen for a minimum 7 years, and live in the state in which you are elected.