The Congress of the United States

The two Houses of the Congress

The Congress of the United States is comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate is composed of two Senators from each state, who are elected to serve a term of six years and the members of the House or Representatives are elected for two years terms. The number of representatives from each state is determined by population. Today the Congress has 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 Senators.
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is John Boehner, who presides over the chamber, is elected by the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference, whichever party has more voting members. The Speaker usually does not personally preside over debates, instead delegating the duty to members of the House from the majority party. Aside from duties relating to heading the House and the majority political party, the Speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, and represents his or her Congressional district.

The President or leadership of the Senate is the Vice President of the United States, with the power to cast tie-breaking votes. However, while the Vice President has the right to act as presiding officer over the Senate, the rules of the Senate give the President of the Senate very little power in contrast to the powerful office of Speaker of the House.

The power of the Houses:
-The House of Representatives: The major power of this house is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country, although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the United States President before becoming law also the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials and to elect the United States President in case there is no majority in the Electoral College.
- The Senate: The Senate has the power to including consenting to treaties as a precondition...