The United States Congress is the bicameral In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a legislature A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to create and change laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings of the federal government The Federal Government of the United States is the central United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. Through a system of separation of powers and the system of "checks and balances," each of these branches has some of the United States of America The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, consisting of two houses, the Senate The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. This ensures equal and the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "The House," is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. Each state receives representation in the House in proportion to its population but is entitled to at least one Representative. The most populous state, California, currently. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are.

Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives represents a district A congressional district is an electoral constituency that elects a single member of a congress. Countries with congressional districts include the United States, the Philippines, and Japan. A congressional district is based on population, which, in the United States, is taken using a census every ten years and serves a two-year term. House seats are apportioned United States congressional apportionment is the redistribution of the seats in the United States House of Representatives among the 50 states in respect of the constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its share of the aggregate population of the 50 states. However, among the states A U.S. state is any one of 50 subnational entities of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. However, state citizenship is very flexible, and no government approval is required to by population In politics, representation describes how political power is alienated from most of the members of a group and vested, for a certain time period, in the hands of a small subset of the members. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature. Generally,. The 100 Senators serve staggered six-year terms. Each state has two senators, regardless of population. Every two years, approximately one-third of the Senate is elected at a time.

Article I Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the federal government - the Congress of the Constitution vests all legislative power in the Congress A congress is a formal meeting of representatives from different countries , or independent organizations (such as different trade unions). The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process (legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers); however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate is uniquely empowered to ratify treaties and to approve top presidential appointments. Revenue-raising bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which also has the sole power of impeachment Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges, is separate from the act of impeachment itself, while the Senate has the sole power to try impeachment cases.

The Congress meets in the U.S. Capitol The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin by which the in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the

The term Congress is also used to refer to a particular meeting of the national legislature, reckoned according to the terms of representatives. Therefore, a "Congress" covers two years. The current 111th Congress The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of the Barack Obama convened on January 6 January 6 is the sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 359 days remaining until the end of the year, 2009 2009 is the current year of the Anno Domini/Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It is a common year starting on Thursday and the last year of the 2000s decade.

History

The Congress of the United States has its roots in the First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen British North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament, the Congress was attended by 56, a meeting of representatives from twelve of the thirteen British Colonies in North America British colonization of the Americas began in the late 16th century and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas and a protectorate had been established over the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The British were one of the most important colonizers of the Americas, and their American empire came to rival which two years later declared independence.^[1] On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after shooting in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed adopted the Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal, referring to the new nation as the "United States of America".

Under the Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly referred to as the Articles of Confederation, was the first constitution of the thirteen United States of America. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the 'Articles' in June 1776 and proposed the draft to the States for ratification in November 1777. The, which came into effect in 1781, the Congress of the Confederation The Congress of the Confederation opened in the last stages of the American Revolution. Combat ended in October with the surrender of the British at the Battle of Yorktown. However, the British continued to occupy New York City as the American delegates in Paris, named by the Congress, negotiated a peace treaty. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was was a unicameral Unicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary body with equal representation among the states in which each state had a veto over most decisions. With no executive or judicial branch, and minimal authority given to the Congress, this government was weak compared to the states Many sovereign independent states are made up of a number of subnational entities also called states . In some cases, such as the United States, the national government arose from a union of sovereign entities, which transferred some of their powers to the national government, while retaining the remainder of their sovereignty. These are sometimes. The Congress of the Confederation had authority over foreign affairs and military matters, but not to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that Congress has the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the states, and with the Native American tribes. Courts and commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of commerce as a separate power granted to the, or enforce laws.^[2] States remained sovereign, and were thus free to ignore any legislation passed by Congress.^[3] This system of government led to economic troubles in the states and disputes among the states.^[2]

The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation led the Congress to summon the Convention of 1787 The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. Although the Convention was purportedly intended only to revise the Articles. Originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, it instead wrote a completely new constitution. Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia is an American state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography of the state is shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, delegate James Madison James Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817), and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Considered to be the "Father of the Constitution", he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist called for a bicameral In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a Congress in his Virginia Plan The Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates, drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The Virginia Plan was notable for its role in setting the overall agenda for debate in the convention and, in particular, for setting forth the idea of population-weighted representation: the lower house elected directly by the people, and the upper house elected by the lower house. The smaller states, however, favored a unicameral Congress with equal representation for all states; William Paterson William Paterson was a New Jersey statesman, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who served as the 2nd governor of New Jersey, from 1790 to 1793 countered Madison's proposals with the New Jersey Plan The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government proposed by William Paterson at the Philadelphia Convention on June 15, 1787. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan's call for two houses of Congress, both elected with proportional representation. The less populous states were adamantly opposed to. Eventually, a compromise The Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise, was an agreement between large and small states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It proposed a bicameral legislature, resulting in the was reached: the House of Representatives was to provide representation proportional by population In politics, representation describes how political power is alienated from most of the members of a group and vested, for a certain time period, in the hands of a small subset of the members. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature. Generally,, whereas the Senate would provide equal representation by states In politics, representation describes how political power is alienated from most of the members of a group and vested, for a certain time period, in the hands of a small subset of the members. Representation usually refers to representative democracies, where elected officials nominally speak for their constituents in the legislature. Generally,. In order to preserve further the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators.

The Constitution gave more powers to the federal government, such as regulating interstate commerce, managing foreign affairs and the military, and establishing a national currency. These were seen as essential for the success of the new nation and resolve the disputes that had arisen under the Articles of Confederation, but the states retained sovereignty Sovereignty is the right to exercise, within a specific territory of a kingdom or a nation-state, the highest authority by the law. It is an important part of the three main political perspectives of realism, rationalism, and internationalism, as these three theories differ most in their views on sovereignty. Sovereignty has existed throughout over other affairs.^[4] To protect against abuse of power at the federal level, the Constitution mandated separation of powers The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches or estates, each with, with responsibilities divided among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Furthermore, the legislative body would be bicameral In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a, so there would be checks and balances The separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic. Under this model, the state is divided into branches or estates, each with.^[5] The Constitution was ratified by the end of 1788, and its full implementation was set for March 4, 1789.

The post-Civil War The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal government (the Gilded Age In American history, the Gilded Age refers to substantial growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era, in the late 19th century . The wealth polarization derived primarily from industrial and population expansion. The was marked by Republican The United States Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States dominance of the Congress. The Progressive Era Responding to the changes brought about by industrialization, the Progressives advocated a wide range of economic, political, social, and moral reforms. Initially the movement was successful at local level, and then it progressed to state and gradually national. Both the reformers and their opponents were predominantly members of the middle class saw the Seventeenth Amendment The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed by the Senate on June 12, 1911, the House of Representatives on May 13, 1912, and ratified by the states on April 8, 1913. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, transferring Senator selection from each state's legislature to popular, ratified in 1913, which provided for the direct election of senators. The early 20th century witnessed the rise of strong party leadership in both houses of Congress. In the House of Representatives, the office of speaker The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The current Speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat representing California's 8th congressional district became extremely powerful. Leaders in the Senate were somewhat less powerful; individual senators still retained much of their influence. After the revolt against Speaker Joe Cannon Joseph Gurney Cannon was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such control over the House that he could often control in 1910, the seniority system emerged. Members became powerful committeechairmen A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty . Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction. As "little legislatures," committees monitor on-going governmental operations, identify issues suitable for through years of seniority, regardless of the leadership. Committee chairmen remained particularly strong in both houses until the reforms of the 1970s and 1990s.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election as president in 1932 marked a shift in power towards the presidency. Numerous New Deal initiatives were proposed from the White House and sent to Congress for approval, rather than legislation originating in Congress.^[6] After the Watergate scandal and other abuses of power by the Nixon administration, Congress began to reassert its power to oversee the executive branch and develop legislation.^[6]

During Roosevelt's administration, from 1933 until 1945, the Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. Republicans won control of both houses in the 1946 elections, only to lose them in 1948; with Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower's election to the presidency in 1952, Republicans again won both houses. However, after the Democratic Party again won back control in the elections of 1954, it was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next 40 years; Republicans were only able to win control of the Senate for a six-year period from 1981 until 1987. Republicans won a majority in each house of Congress in the elections of 1994 and controlled both houses until 2006, except for the Senate for most of 2001 and 2002, when the Democrats had the majority after Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent and caucus with the Democrats. In 2006, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, and the Senate elections yielded a makeup of 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and two independents. In the 110th Congress (2007–08), the Democratic voting bloc had a 51-49 majority in the Senate because the two independents, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, aligned themselves with the Democratic caucus. In the 111th Congress, which convened in 2009, the Democratic Party holds a majority in each house of Congress.

Powers

Article I of the Constitution sets forth most of the powers of Congress, which include numerous explicit powers enumerated in Section 8. Constitutional amendments have granted Congress additional powers. Congress also has implied powers derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution.

Congress has authority over financial and budgetary matters, through the enumerated power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. The Sixteenth Amendment extended power of taxation to include income taxes.^[7] The Constitution also grants Congress exclusively the power to appropriate funds. This power of the purse is one of Congress' primary checks on the executive branch.^[7] Other powers granted to Congress include the authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, and coin money.

The Constitution also gives Congress an important role in national defense, including the exclusive power to declare war, to raise and maintain the armed forces, and to make rules for the military. Congress also has the power to establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights, fix standards of weights and measures, establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, and "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, or in any department or officer thereof." Congress also has the power to admit new states to the Union (Article Four).

One of the foremost non-legislative functions of the Congress is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch. Congressional oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated by Congress' subpoena power. Congress also has the exclusive power of removal, allowing impeachment and removal of the President, federal judges and other federal officers.

Enumerated powers

Among the enumerated powers given Congress in Article I Section 8, are:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

• To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
• To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
• To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
• To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
• To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
• To establish post offices and post roads;
• To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
• To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
• To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
• To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
• To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
• To provide and maintain a navy;
• To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
• To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
• To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
• To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles (16 km) square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.

Other congressional powers have been granted, or confirmed, by constitutional amendments. The Thirteenth (1865), Fourteenth (1868), and Fifteenth Amendments (1870) gave Congress authority to enact legislation in order to enforce rights of African Americans, including voting rights, due process, and equal protection under the law.^[8]

Implied powers and the commerce clause

Congress also has implied powers, which are derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution and permit Congress "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, or in any department or officer thereof." Broad interpretations of this clause and of the Commerce Clause, the enumerated power to regulate commerce, have effectively widened the scope of Congress' legislative authority far beyond that prescribed in Section 8.

Checks and balances

The Constitution provides checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government. The authors of the Constitution expected the greater power to lie with Congress and it has been theorized that that is one reason they are described in Article One.^[9]

The influence of Congress on the presidency has varied from one period to another; the degree of power depending largely on the leadership of the Congress, political influence by the president, or other members of congress and the boldness of the president's initiatives. Under the first half-dozen presidents, power seems to have been evenly divided between the president and Congress, in part because early presidents largely restricted their vetoes to bills that were unconstitutional.

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson made the presidency much less powerful than Congress. During the late nineteenth century, President Grover Cleveland aggressively attempted to restore the executive branch's power, vetoing over 400 bills during his first term. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have seen the rise of the power of the Presidency under Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09), Woodrow Wilson (1913–21), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), Richard Nixon (1969–74), Ronald Reagan (1981–89), and George W. Bush (2001–09) (see Imperial Presidency).^[10] In recent years, Congress has restricted the powers of the President with laws such as the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the War Powers Resolution; nevertheless, the Presidency remains considerably more powerful than during the nineteenth century.^[10]

The Constitution concentrates removal powers in the Congress by empowering and obligating the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials (both executive and judicial) for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Senate is constitutionally empowered and obligated to try all impeachments. A simple majority in the House is required to impeach an official; however, a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for conviction. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future.

Impeachment proceedings may not inflict more than this; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (Another resigned before the Senate could complete the trial). Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. In 1974, Richard Nixon resigned from office after impeachment proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee indicated he would eventually be removed from office.

The Constitution entrusts certain powers to the Senate alone. The President may only nominate for appointment Cabinet officials, judges, and other high officers with the "by and with the advice and consent" of the Senate. The Senate confirms most presidential nominees, but rejections are not uncommon. Furthermore, treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to take effect. The House of Representatives has no formal role in either the ratification of treaties or the appointment of federal officials, other than filling vacancies in the office of Vice-President.

In 1803, the Supreme Court established judicial review of federal legislation in Marbury v. Madison, holding, however, that Congress could not grant unconstitutional power to the Court itself. The Constitution does not explicitly state that the courts may exercise judicial review; however, the notion that courts could declare laws unconstitutional was envisioned by the founding fathers. Alexander Hamilton, for example, mentioned and expounded upon the doctrine in Federalist No. 78. Originalists on the Supreme Court have argued that if the constitution doesn't say something explicitly it is unconstitutional to infer what it should, might or could have said.^[11]

Investigations are conducted to gather information on the need for future legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed, and to inquire into the qualifications and performance of members and officials of the other branches. Committees may hold hearings, and, if necessary, compel individuals to testify by issuing subpoenas. Witnesses who refuse to testify may be cited for contempt of Congress, and those who testify falsely may be charged with perjury. Most committee hearings are open to the public (the House and Senate intelligence committees are the exception); important hearings are widely reported in the mass media.

Legislative procedure

Term

The House of Representatives elects a Speaker to preside over debates. The President pro tempore of the Senate, by contrast, holds office continuously; normally, a new President pro tempore is only elected if the previous one retires, or if there is a change in the majority party.

A term of Congress is divided into two "sessions," one for each year; Congress has occasionally also been called into an extra, (or special) session (the Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once each year). A new session commences on January 3 (or another date, if Congress so chooses) each year. Before the Twentieth Amendment, Congress met from the first Monday in December to April or May in the first session of their term (the "long session"); and from December to March 4 in the second "short session". (The new Congress would then meet for some days, for the inauguration, swearing in new members, and organization.)

The Constitution forbids either house from meeting any place outside the Capitol, or from adjourning for more than three days, without the consent of the other house. The provision was intended to prevent one house from thwarting legislative business simply by refusing to meet. To avoid obtaining consent during long recesses, the House or Senate may sometimes hold pro forma meetings, sometimes only minutes long, every three days. The consent of both bodies is required for Congress's final adjournment, or adjournment sine die, at the end of each congressional session. If the two houses cannot agree on a date, the Constitution permits the President to settle the dispute.

Joint sessions

Joint Sessions of the United States Congress occur on special occasions that require a concurrent resolution from both House and Senate. These sessions include the counting of electoral votes following a Presidential election and the President's State of the Union address. Other meetings of both House and Senate are called Joint Meetings of Congress, held after unanimous consent agreements to recess and meet. Meetings of Congress for Presidential Inaugurations may also be Joint Sessions, if both House and Senate are in session at the time, otherwise they are formal joint gatherings.

At some time during the first two months of each session, the President customarily delivers the State of the Union Address, a speech in which he assesses the situation of the country and outlines his legislative proposals for the congressional session. The speech is modeled on the Speech from the Throne given by the British monarch, and is mandated by the Constitution of the United States—though it is not necessarily required to be delivered each year or in the customary manner. Thomas Jefferson discontinued the original practice of delivering the speech in person before both houses of Congress, deeming it too monarchical. Instead, Jefferson and his successors sent a written message to Congress each year. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson reestablished the practice of personally attending to deliver the speech; few Presidents have deviated from this custom since.

Joint Sessions and Joint Meetings are traditionally presided over by the Speaker of the House except for the joint session to count electoral votes for President, when the Constitution requires the President of the Senate (the Vice President of the United States) to preside.

Bills and resolutions

A proposal may be introduced in Congress as a bill, a joint resolution, a concurrent resolution, or a simple resolution. Most legislative proposals are introduced as bills, but some are introduced as joint resolutions. There is little practical difference between the two, except that joint resolutions may include preambles but bills may not. Joint resolutions are the normal method used to propose a constitutional amendment or to declare war. On the other hand, concurrent resolutions (passed by both houses) and simple resolutions (passed by only one house) do not have the force of law. Instead, they serve to express the opinion of Congress, or to regulate procedure.

Members of Congress often introduce legislation at the behest of lobbyists. Lobbyists advocate the passage (or rejection) of bills affecting the interest of a particular group (such as a corporation or a labor union). In many cases, the lobbyists write legislation and submit it to a member for introduction. Congressional lobbyists are legally required to be registered in a central database, and are employed by political organizations, corporations, state governments, foreign governments, and numerous other groups. In 2005, there are almost 35,000 registered Congressional lobbyists, representing a doubling since 2000.^[12] Some of the most prominent lobbyists are ex-members of Congress, others are family members of sitting members. As an example, Harry Reid, Dennis Hastert, former Representative Tom DeLay, and Roy Blunt all have immediate family members who are (or were) lobbyists.^[13]

Bills (and other proposals) may be introduced by any member of either house. However, the Constitution provides that: "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, whenever the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. Nevertheless, while the Senate cannot originate revenue and appropriation bills, it does retain the power to amend or reject them.

Each bill goes through several stages in each house. The first stage involves consideration by a committee. Most legislation is considered by standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a particular subject matter, such as Agriculture or Appropriations. The House has twenty standing committees; the Senate has sixteen. In some cases, bills may be sent to select committees, which tend to have more narrow jurisdictions than standing committees. Each standing and select committee is led by a chair (who belongs to the majority party) and a ranking member (who belongs to the minority party). Committees are permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence when considering bills. They may also amend the bill, but the full house holds the power to accept or reject committee amendments. After considering and debating a measure, the committee votes on whether it wishes to report the measure to the full house.

A decision not to report a bill amounts to a rejection of the proposal. Both houses provide for procedures under which the committee can be bypassed or overruled, but they are rarely used. If reported by the committee, the bill reaches the floor of the full house. The house may debate and amend the bill; the precise procedures used by the House of Representatives and the Senate differ. A final vote on the bill follows.

Once a bill is approved by one house, it is sent to the other, which may pass, reject, or amend it. In order for the bill to become law, both houses must agree to identical versions of the bill. If the second house amends the bill, then the differences between the two versions must be reconciled in a conference committee, an ad hoc committee that includes both senators and representatives. In many cases, conference committees have introduced substantial changes to bills and added unrequested spending, significantly departing from both the House and Senate versions. President Ronald Reagan once quipped, "If an orange and an apple went into conference consultations, it might come out a pear."^[14] If both houses agree to the version reported by the conference committee, the bill passes; otherwise, it fails.

After passage by both houses, a bill is submitted to the President. The President may choose to sign the bill, thereby making it law. The President may also choose to veto the bill, returning it to Congress with his objections. In such a case, the bill only becomes law if each house of Congress votes to override the veto with a two-thirds majority. Finally, the President may choose to take no action, neither signing nor vetoing the bill. In such a case, the Constitution states that the bill automatically becomes law after ten days, excluding Sundays. However, if Congress adjourns (ends a legislative session) during the ten day period, then the bill does not become law. Thus, the President may veto legislation passed at the end of a congressional session simply by ignoring it; the maneuver is known as a pocket veto, and cannot be overridden by the adjourned Congress.

Every Act of Congress or joint resolution begins with an enacting formula or resolving formula stipulated by law. These are:

• Act of Congress: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."
• Joint resolution: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."

Quorum and vote

The Constitution specifies that a majority of members constitutes a quorum to do business in each house. The rules of each house provide that a quorum is assumed to be present unless a quorum call demonstrates the contrary. Representatives and senators rarely force the presence of a quorum by demanding quorum calls; thus, in most cases, debates continue even if a majority is not present.

Both houses use voice voting to decide most matters; members shout out "aye" or "no," and the presiding officer announces the result. The Constitution, however, requires a recorded vote on the demand of one-fifth of the members present. If the result of the voice vote is unclear, or if the matter is controversial, a recorded vote usually ensues. The Senate uses roll call votes; a clerk calls out the names of all the senators, each senator stating "aye" or "no" when his or her name is announced. The House reserves roll call votes for the most formal matters, as a roll-call of all 435 representatives takes quite some time; normally, members vote by electronic device. In the case of a tie, the motion in question fails. In the Senate, the Vice President may (if present) cast the tiebreaking vote.

Committees

It is neither expected nor possible that a member of Congress be an expert on all matters and subject areas that come before Congress.^[15] Congressional committees provide invaluable informational services to Congress by investigating and reporting back in regard to specialized subject matter.

While this investigatory function is indispensable to Congress, procedures such as the House discharge petition process (the process of bringing a bill onto the floor without a committee report or mandatory consent from its leadership) are so difficult to implement that committee jurisdiction over particular subject matter of bills has expanded into semi-autonomous power. Of the 73 discharge petitions submitted to the full House from 1995 through 2007, only one was successful in securing an definitive yea-or-nay vote for a bill on the floor of the House of Representatives.^[16] Not without reason have congressional committees been called independent fiefdoms.

In 1931 a reform movement did temporarily reduce the number of signatures required on discharge petitions in the U.S. House of Representatives from a constitutional majority of 218 down to 145, i.e. from one-half to one-third of the House membership. This reform was abolished in a 1935 counterattack led by the intra-House oligarchy.^[17] Thus the era of the Great Depression marks the last across-the-board change, albeit a short-lived one, in the autonomy of House standing committees.^[18] On strategy for an enduring reform in the system of semi-autonomous committees see the citation.^[19]

In the course of committee work, members will often develop personal expertise on the matters under the jurisdiction of their respective committee(s). Such expertise, or claims thereof, are invariably cited during disputes over whether the parent body should bow to obdurate committee negatives.

Congress divides its legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among approximately 200 committees and subcommittees. Within assigned areas, these functional sub-units gather information, compare and evaluate legislative alternatives, identify policy problems and propose solutions, select, determine, and report measures for full chamber consideration, monitor executive branch performance (oversight), and investigate allegations of wrongdoing.^[20]

Decision on which areas individual members choose to specialize may be influenced by their constituency and regional issues of importance to them, as well as prior background and experience of the member.^[21] Senators will also try to differentiate themselves from the other senator from the same state, so that areas of specialization do not overlap.^[22]

Constituent services

A major aspect of the job for a Senator and a Congressman consists of services to his or her constituency. Members receive thousands of letters, phone calls, and e-mails, with some expressing opinion on an issue, or displeasure with a member's position or vote. Other constituents request help with problems, or ask questions. Members of Congress want to leave a positive impression on the constituent, rather than leave them disgruntled. Thus, their offices will be responsive, and go out of their way to help steer the citizen through the intricacies of the bureaucracy. Here the Congressman and his staffers perform the function of an Ombudsman, at the Federal level. This unofficial job has become increasingly time consuming, and has significantly reduced the time that Congressmen have for the preparation or inspection of bills.^[23]

It is noteworthy that an incumbent member of Congress has considerably more clout than most official ombudsmen at the state level, and in other countries, given the appointive and relatively diminutive character of such offices. As Morris Fiorina notes, the involvement of the legislative branch in the ombudsman process carries one major advantage: members of Congress exercise "control over what bureaucrats value most – higher budgets and new program authorizations."^[24] This kind of leverage over the bureaucracy is a potent tool that appointed ombudsmen lack.

Accordingly, to improve on today's 435 de facto ombudsmen—constituent services by overworked Congressmen—congressional reforms have been proposed that would approximate the legislative leverage now exercised by Congressmen, but in an office where the intra-bureaucratic troubleshooting duties are full time.^[25] Along these lines, some Congressmen themselves have suggested that each congressional district should elect a second U.S. Representative to handle constituent services.^[26]

Privileges

Under the Constitution, members of both houses enjoy the privilege of being free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace. This immunity applies to members during sessions and when traveling to and from sessions.^[27] The term "arrest" has been interpreted broadly, and includes any detention or delay in the course of law enforcement, including court summons and subpoenas. The rules of the House strictly guard this privilege; a member may not waive the privilege on his or her own, but must seek the permission of the whole house to do so. Senate rules, on the other hand, are less strict, and permit individual senators to waive the privilege as they see fit.

The Constitution also guarantees absolute freedom of debate in both houses, providing, "for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place." Hence, a member of Congress may not be sued for slander because of remarks made in either house. However, each house has its own rules restricting offensive speeches, and may punish members who transgress them.

Obstructing the work of Congress is a crime under federal law, and is known as contempt of Congress. Each house of Congress has the power to cite individuals for contempt, but may not impose any punishment. Instead, after a house issues a contempt citation, the judicial system pursues the matter like a normal criminal case. If convicted in court, an individual found guilty of contempt of Congress may be imprisoned for up to one year.

From 1789 to 1815, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6 while in session. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1815, when they were paid $1,500 per year.^[28][29]

As of 2006, rank-and-file members of Congress received a yearly salary of $165,200.^[29] Congressional leaders are paid $183,500 per year. The Speaker of the House of Representatives earns $212,100 per annum. The salary of the President pro tempore for 2006 is $183,500, equal to that of the majority and minority leader of the House and Senate.^[30]

Members elected since 1984 are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Those elected prior to 1984 were covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In 1984 all members were given the option of remaining with CSRS or switching for FERS. As it is for all other federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Members of Congress under FERS contribute 1.3% of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2% of their salary in Social Security taxes.

The amount of a Congressperson's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary. In 2006, the average annual pension for retired senators and representatives under CSRS was $60,972, while those who retired under FERS, or in combination with CSRS, was $35,952.^[31]

Another privilege is the use of the Library of Congress. One of the Library's missions is to serve the Congress and its staff. To do this, the Congressional Research Service provides detailed, up-to-date and non-partisan research for senators, representatives, and their staff to help them carry out their official duties. The franking privilege allows members of Congress to send official mail to constituents at government expense. Though they are not permitted to send election materials, borderline material is often sent, especially in the run-up to an election by those in close races.^[32][33]

A legislator in either house is a "member of Congress," though usually only representatives are referred to in speech as a congressman, congresswoman, or congressperson, because senators are almost universally referred to as senator.

Comparison with parliamentary systems

Many of the world's democracies and republics operate not within a congressional model of government, but rather a parliamentary system. The most significant difference between a parliamentary government and the U.S. Congress is that a parliament typically encompasses the entire governmental regime, containing legislative, executive, and judicial branches within its structure (the executive organs are often referred to as "The Government"), as well as the monarch, if one exists. The U.S. Congress exercises only legislative powers, and is but one of three co-equal and independent branches of the larger federal government.

In a parliament, the executive branch of the government is chosen from or by the representative branch. This generally comprises the prime minister and the governing cabinet. Congressional leaders merely administer the daily business of Congress itself, while it is in session, and not the functioning of the national government as a whole. So, while in structure the Speaker of the House of Representatives resembles a prime minister, in substance and practice he or she only moderates the functioning of the U.S. Congress, while the wholly separate executive branch of government administrates the daily functioning of the federal government. In the U.S. Congress, legislation originates within the legislative branch, whereas in a parliamentary system, legislation is drafted by the government in power and then sent to parliament for debate and ratification.^[34]

Members of the U.S. Congress are generally elected from one of two parties, but its members are free to vote their own conscience or that of their constituents. Many members can and do cross party lines frequently. Retribution from party leadership for doing so is nonexistent in the Senate and exceedingly rare in the House. In a parliamentary system, members may be compelled to vote with their party's bloc, and those who vote against are often cast out of their respective parliamentary parties and become less influential independents. Theoretically, the lack of superpowerful political parties allows U.S. members to more faithfully represent their constituents than members of parliament can—a member is ultimately responsible to their constituents alone, not to their party.^[35] Additionally, as Congress does not wield executive power, dissenting votes from the majority party cannot result in the collapse of the ruling Government and new elections, as occasionally happens in parliamentary systems. Conversely, the congressional system also allows for a larger role for extra-governmental actors such as lobbyists, as the lack of strong party whips present in parliamentary systems exposes members of Congress to greater outside influence.

The offices of Speaker of the House of Representatives and Speaker of the House of Commons, while holding very similar titles and presiding over their respective bodies, differ greatly. In the British House of Commons, the speaker is officially and actively non-partisan, and must resign from his or her party upon accepting the office. His or her role duties in-camera include ensuring active and fair debate, and recognising members of all parties, including back-benchers. Ex-camera, the Speaker of the House of Commons supervises the support offices of Parliament. By contrast, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the leader of his or her party's members in the House (senior even to the Majority Leader) and has considerable authority to appoint members to committees and otherwise reward or punish members. When the President of the United States is not of the same party as the majority in House of Representatives, the Speaker is the de facto "leader of the opposition."

See also

• Caucuses of the United States Congress
• Congressional hearing
• Demographics of the United States Congress
• Elections in the United States (Congressional Elections)
• List of current members of the United States House of Representatives
• List of current United States Senators
• List of United States Congresses
• Oath of office (United States)
• Party divisions of United States Congresses
• Rotation in office
• Term limits in the United States
• United States Congressional Baseball Game

Notes

1. ^ Kramnick, Isaac (ed); Thomas Paine (1982). Common Sense. Penguin Classics. pp. 21.
2. ^ ^{a b} English (2003), pp. 5–6
3. ^ Collier (1986), p. 5
4. ^ English (2003), p. 7
5. ^ English (2003), p. 8
6. ^ ^{a b} English (2003), p. 14
7. ^ ^{a b} Davidson (2006), p. 18
8. ^ Davidson (2006), p. 19
9. ^ "The very structure of the Constitution gives us profound insights about what the founders thought was important... the Founders thought that the Legislative Branch was going to be the great branch of government." —Hon. John Charles Thomas [1]
10. ^ ^{a b} Greene, Richard (2005-01-19). "Kings in the White House". BBC News (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4181799.stm. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
11. ^ "Constitutional Interpretation the Old Fashioned Way". Center For Individual Freedom. http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/legal_issues/legal_updates/us_supreme_court/scalia-constitutional-speech.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
12. ^ Kammer, Jerry. Close ties make Rep. Lewis, lobbyist Lowery a potent pair. San Diego Union Tribune, December 23, 2005. Retrieved on August 26, 2007
13. ^ Lobbyists:
    • Washington Wrap, CBS News, June 23, 2003. Retrieved on August 26, 2007.
    • Josh Hastert. Podesta.com. Archived on December 9, 2006
    • Perl, Peter (May 13, 2001). "Absolute Truth". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A6825-2001May9&no.
    • "Family Affair" (PDF), Citizens for Ethics, June 19, 2007
14. ^ "The 7-step towards formalisation of Indo-US nuke Bill". Yahoo! News India (ANI). 2006-11-17. http://in.news.yahoo.com/061117/139/69gxz.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. "If an orange and an apple went into conference consultations, it might come out a pear"
15. ^ English (2003), pp. 46–47
16. ^ The one successful discharge petition from the 104th Congress, session 1 through the 110th Congress, session 1 – 1995 through 2007 – was in behalf of HR 2356 (campaign finance reform) which secured 218 signatures on 1/24/2002. Source on discharge petitions since 1997: Beginning with the 105th Congress, the House Clerk lists discharge petitions per Congress at its website,
17. ^ Cannon's Precedents, vol. 7, sect. 1007, gives a short history of the discharge rules from early times to 1935. In 1910 the House established the first known discharge rule since the Civil War. In 1924 the House passed the rule requiring Congressmen’s signatures on discharge petitions, and the required number of signatories was 150. [Congressional Record, 68 Congress 1, pp. 944-1143]. In 1925 the House increased the signature requirement to 218. [CR, 69 Congress 1, pp. 383-91]. But in 1931 the House reduced the signature requirement to 145 and rewrote the rule. [CR, 72 Congress 1, pp. 10-83]. Finally in 1935 the Democrats reversed their 1931 policy — they had been disconcerted by the discharge of several bills that the House leadership and FDR opposed — and by a vote of 245 to 166 they raised the signature requirement to 218. [CR, 74 Congress 1, pp. 13-20]. Today's rule is identical to that of 1935.
18. ^ The "21-day rule" applied to the Rules Committee alone; this rule was in force during 1949-1951, and 1965-1967, and it allowed the chairman of the legislative committee involved to bypass the Rules Committee and report a bill directly to the House floor, provided that three weeks had passed without a rule being reported for floor debate on the bill. [See James A. Robinson, The House Rules Committee (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1963), pp. 70, 87; Congressional Record, 81 Congress 1, p. 10; CR, 89 Congress 1, p. 21; CR, 92 Congress 1, p. H69; Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1967, pp. 180-81; CQ Weekly Report 29 (January 29, 1971): 257-58].
19. ^ Robert Struble, Jr., Treatise on Twelve Lights, chapter seven, subsection on "Committee Autonomy"
20. ^ Committee Types and Roles, Congressional Research Service, April 1, 2003
21. ^ English, p. 46
22. ^ Schiller, Wendy J. (2000). Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations. Princeton University Press.
23. ^ Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 35 (September 3, 1977): 1855. English, op. cit., pp. 48-49, notes that members will also regularly appear at local events in their home district, and will maintain offices in the home congressional district or state. Davidson (2006) reports that, on average, each Senator spends 80 days each year in their home state, while Congressmen spend 120 days in their home district.
24. ^ Morris P. Fiorina, "The Case of the Vanishing Marginals: The Bureaucracy Did It," American Political Science Review 71 (March 1977): 179-80.
25. ^ Struble, supra, chapter seven, subsection on "Ombudsman Functions"
26. ^ Charles L. Clapp, The Congressman, His Work as He Sees It (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1963), p. 55; cf. pp. 50-55, 64-66, 75-84.
27. ^ Davidson (2006), p. 17
28. ^ Senate Salaries since 1789. United States Senate. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
29. ^ ^{a b} Salaries of Members of Congress (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
30. ^ Salaries of Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Officials (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
31. ^ Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress (PDF). Congressional Research Service, February 9, 2007.
32. ^ English (2003), pp. 24–25
33. ^ Simpson, G. R. (October 22, 1992). "Surprise! Top Frankers Also Have the Stiffest Challenges". Roll Call.
34. ^ Davidson (2006), p. 6
35. ^ English (2003), p. 19

References

• Bacon, Donald C.; Davidson, Roger H.; Keller, Morton, editors (1995). Encyclopedia of the United States Congress. Simon & Schuster.
• Collier, Christopher and Collier, James Lincoln (1986). Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787. Ballantine Books.
• Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek (2006). Congress and Its Members (10th edition ed.). Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Press. (Legislative procedure, informal practices, and other information)
• English, Ross M. (2003). The United States Congress. Manchester University Press.
• Herrnson, Paul S. (2004). Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington. CQ Press.
• Oleszek, Walter J. (2004). Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process. CQ Press.
• Polsby, Nelson W. (2004). How Congress Evolves: Social Bases of Institutional Change. Oxford University Press.
• Price, David E. (2000). The Congressional Experience. Westview Press.
• Struble, Robert, Jr. (2007). chapter seven, Treatise on Twelve Lights. TeLL.
• Zelizer, Julian E. (2004). The American Congress: The Building of Democracy. Houghton Mifflin.

Other references and further reading

• Baker, Ross K. (2000). House and Senate, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton. (Procedural, historical, and other information about both houses)
• Barone, Michael and Richard E. Cohen. The Almanac of American Politics, 2006 (2005), elaborate detail on every district and member; 1920 pages
• Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (2001). Explanation of the types of Sessions of Congress (Term of Congress)
• Berman, Daniel M. (1964). In Congress Assembled: The Legislative Process in the National Government. London: The Macmillan Company. (Legislative procedure)
• Bianco, William T. (2000) Congress on Display, Congress at Work, University of Michigan Press.
• Hamilton, Lee H. (2004) How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, Indiana University Press.
• Herrick, Rebekah. (2001). "Gender effects on job satisfaction in the House of Representatives." Women and Politics, 23 (4), 85–98.
• Hunt, Richard. (1998). "Using the Records of Congress in the Classroom," OAH Magazine of History, 12 (Summer): 34–37.
• Imbornoni, Ann-Marie, David Johnson, and Elissa Haney. (2005). "Famous Firsts by American Women." Infoplease.
• Lee, Frances and Bruce Oppenheimer. (1999). Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. (Equal representation in the Senate)
• Rimmerman, Craig A. (1990). "Teaching Legislative Politics and Policy Making." Political Science Teacher, 3 (Winter): 16–18.
• Ritchie, Donald A. (1997). "What Makes a Successful Congressional Investigation." OAH Magazine of History, 11 (Spring): 6–8. (Congressional investigations and committee hearings)
• Smith, Steven S., Jason M. Roberts, and Ryan Vander Wielen (2007). The American Congress (5th edition ed.). Cambridge University Press. (Legislative procedure, informal practices, and other information)
• Story, Joseph. (1891). Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. (2 vols). Boston: Brown & Little. (History, constitution, and general legislative procedure)
• Tarr, David R. and Ann O'Connor. Congress A to Z (CQ Congressional Quarterly) (4th 2003) 605pp
• Wilson, Woodrow. (1885). Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• Some information in this article has been provided by the Senate Historical Office.

External links

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• Women in Congress, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
• Black Americans in Congress, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
• Congress and Legislation from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Congressional Glossary, via C-SPAN
• How Laws Are Made, via U.S. Government Printing Office
• Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures, via Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
• Sessions of Congress with Corresponding Debate Record Volume Numbers, via Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
• Thomas Legislative Information via Library of Congress
• Teaching about the U.S. Congress via U.S. Department of Education
• Open Congress—open-source database of congressional legislation, voting records, and news coverage.

Categories: 1789 establishments | Legislative branch of the United States government | National legislatures

See Also:

• United States Congress
• 40th United States Congress
• 110th United States Congress
• 111th United States Congress
• U.S. State

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