The Legislative Branch

Analysis of the Legislative Branch of the Federal Government

Roger Davidson in his article entitled “Government of the United States,” Robert Maddex in his article “Legislative Branch,” and the government website called www.whitehouse.gov help me analyze the legislative branch of the federal government, which is intended to be the most important branch. Furthermore, they discuss in their peer-edited articles its organization and functions.

According to Davidson, the legislative branch of the federal government consists primarily of the Senate and the House of Representatives, or usually simply called the House. Both of these chambers or houses have members whom the voters in each state elect. First, the Senate; it has a total of 100 members, called senators who serve six-year terms. And, two senators come from each state, but there are six non-voting members. Secondly, the House of Representatives, which has 435 members who serve two-year terms. In addition, the number of representatives is based on each state’s population, and each state has at least one representative. These two houses meet in separate wings of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Senate and the House of Representatives are known collectively as the United States Congress.

The Congress was established by Article I of the Constitution, and it was granted by the Constitution the exclusive authority to pass legislation or make laws, declare war, confirm or reject many presidential appointments and substantial investigative powers, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, and control taxing and spending policies. Some of these duties are divided to both the Senate and the House independently.The Senate has the exclusive power to confirm the president's appointments that require consent, and to ratify treaties, while the House has numerous powers assigned solely to it like the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal...