Introduction
Article I of the United States Constitution provides for the establishment of a legally mandated law-making organ in the country. It is referred to as the Legislative Branch. This Legislative Branch consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These two houses together constitute the U.S federal Congress. The Legislative Branch has the constitutional authority to exercise certain legal obligations on behalf of the state.
The House of Representatives
The fifty states of the United States of America share a total of 435 membership bench derived from the House of Representatives (Danker, p. 21). This is done on a pro-rata basis. There is an additional six-member team that is not elected by the popular vote.
There are exclusive powers which the House of Representatives is accorded by law. For instance, bills that are introduced into the House that deal with manners of revenue are supposed to be initiated and moved by members of the House of Representatives. Such bills are discussed, debated upon through a motion, and then finally passed or dropped. Hence, the House of Representatives acts as a check and balance to income and expenditure trends and expectations with the state.
Additionally, there are instances when federal officials who are holding significant offices may breach their terms of service through malpractices like corrupt deals and gross mismanagement. It is the legal duty of the House of Representatives to impeach such officials. This is an oversight authority it is accorded by the constitution.
Members of the House of Representatives can also participate in the election of the president whenever there is a rift in an electoral college.
The Senate
Each state has two elected senators. They have a six-year period to be in office after being elected. The chief authority of the Senate is the Vice President. The latter may vote to decide the winner in Senate elections.
One of the legislative powers of the Senate is to give a nod to those federal officials who have been appointed by the president especially if there is a need to do so. The ratification of both domestic and international agreements is also done by the Senate (Danker, p. 48).
All bills debated and approved by the Legislative Branch must be unanimous, that is equal participation through the voting process.
The Role of the Legislative Branch in Law Making
Once the bill has been introduced into the federal Congress; some committees are specifically mandated to review the bill. One of these committees is a 17 member team derived from the Senate. Moreover, there are 23 members from the House of Representatives forming a review committee. Besides, other sub-committees are constituted to work jointly with the Legislative Branch. Each of the committees has a specific area assigned. For example, there is a Legislative Branch House Committee that reviews all bills related to Trade and Security.
The full committee team plays a referral role on all review submissions from the sub-committees. Both committees have the role of amending the proposed bills where deemed necessary. In some instances, the entire proposal may be adopted fully or rejected altogether (Quirk & Binder, p. 3). During the review process by the full and sub-committees, the merits of the proposed law are discussed at length together with the non-committee members. This is done in form of periodic formal hearings. Usually, such hearings are made public and those opposed to the bill as well as law experts are given the due chance to air their views. Once the bill is unanimously passed by the select committee derived from the Legislative Branch, it can either be formally presented to the House of Representatives or the Senate. A schedule is then drawn by the headship of the party with a leading vote status. For the bill to move to the next step, it must be put on the calendar of events (Quirk & Binder, p. 38).
Once the bill is presented in the House of Representatives, a debating session follows whereby each House representative is awarded a specific limited time to air submissions. Usually, there are minimal amendments if any, on the bill. However, the Legislative Branch of the Senate can have a more extensive debate on the proposed law. Further issues surrounding the bill can be deliberated upon. The Senate can debate for the bill as many times as possible. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives must unanimously give a nod to the bill before it is advanced to the president. The requirement by law that the two proposals debated at both the Senate and House level be the same in terms of words used is usually not pragmatic at all (Little & Ogle, p. 231). As a result, another special Conference Committee performs the task of harmonizing the bills. Members of the Conference Committee are drawn from the Legislative Branch of Congress. The final report produced by this committee is then brought back to both chambers for final deliberations and debate. From this stage onwards, and depending on whether the bill has been accepted or rejected, it is upon the Secretary of either chamber to advance the bill to the next stage.
The proposed law is then presented to the President so that he or she can put it for consideration. If the President accepts the bill as a good piece of legislation, he is then entitled to sign it into law. However, if the bill is rejected, he or she may return it to Congress for further debate and ratifications. Nevertheless, this veto authority of the President can be overruled by a two-thirds majority vote on the bill from both the Senate and the House of Representatives which form the Legislative Branch (Little & Ogle, p. 191). Hence, the Legislative Branch still has voting power in the law-making process despite the Presidential authority to veto proposed bills. It should be noted that each chamber of Congress has its powers. For example, Article I of the U.S constitution allows each chamber to take a corrective measure against its member and it is also [possible to expel a member by a two-thirds majority vote.
Conclusion
In summing up the powers of the Legislative Branch and its role in the law-making process, it is imperative to note that both the Senate ad the House of Representatives have specific authorities and legislative powers as guaranteed in the constitution. Nevertheless, both chambers remain to be key law-making arms in the federal Congress. Moreover, the Legislative Branch has the authority to impeach a federal officer who might be guilty of abuse of office while the Senate ratifies treaties that are significant both on domestic and international affairs.
Works Cited
- Danker C. Anita. The essentials of political science. New Jersey: Research and Education Association, 2003.Print.
- Little H. Thomas and Ogle B. David. The legislative branch of state government: people, process, and politics. California: ABC-CLIO Inc., 2006. Print.
- Quirk J. Paul and Binder A. Sarah. The legislative branch. New York: Oxford University Press 2005. Print.