Essay on "American Government Congress Is Structured"

Essay 3 pages (1046 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

American Government

Congress is structured on the basis of three overlapping principles. It is organized based first of all on our political parties. It is also organized based on the types of legislation that is enacted. Congress has its own leadership organization and both this leadership organization and the committee organization of Congress are linked to the party organization (Congress, n.d.).

Members of Congress are elected based upon which political party they are affiliated with. They run either on the Republican or Democrat ticket. Third party candidates, who run as Independents, are rarely elected. Once a person is elected, they affiliate either with the Republican Conference or the Democratic Caucus. Both political parties have Policy Committees in order to help them make strategic and tactical decisions. Both parties maintain Campaign Committees to help its members gain re-election and to defeat Members of Congress from the other party. House and Senate maintain distinct committees (Congress, n.d.).

Each political party within the House and Senate elects its own leaders. These people become the leaders of the Congress. The party with the majority in the House or Senate has the Majority Leadership positions and the party with the minority in the House and Senate has the minority positions. The Majority Party leadership consists of the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader, and Majority Whip. The Minority Party leadership consists of: the Minority Leader, Assistant Minority Leader and Minority Whip. The Senate leadership consists of: the President of the Senate which is the Vice President of U.S., President Pro-Tempore who is the Senator of the Majority Party with Seniority, Senate Majority Leader, Assistant Senate Majority Leader, Senate Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Assistant Senate Minority Leader and the Senate Minority Whip (Congress, n.d.).

The actual work that is done in Congress, both in the House and Senate, is done through committees. There are four different types of committees: standing committees, select committees, joint committees, and conference committees. Standing Committees are where the real work gets done in Congress. They are organized in ways similar to the organization of the Executive Departments. All bills that are introducing are submitted to standing committees and must go through these committees before being approved by the full House or Senate. Select Committees are formed for special reasons to investigate some current issue or problem, which is not being handled by the regular standing committees. Joint Committees contain members from both the House and Senate. Conference Committees are created every time a bill is passed in a different version by the House and Senate. Conference Committees are intended to iron out the differences. Conference Committees also have members from both House and Senate. They are a kind of joint committee, but they function only until a given bill is reconciled (Congress, n.d.).

Some of the most important work that is done in Congress takes place in small groups of six to seventy-one senators or representatives, in committees. When lawmakers want to make a new law, they write a bill then that bill goes to a committee that then debates the contents of the proposed law and writes the final bill… READ MORE

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