American Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,408 |
American Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,408 |
Article One of the United States Constitution requires that members of American Congress must be at least 25 years old or at least 30 years old, have been a citizen of the United States for seven or nine years, and be an inhabitant of the state which they represent.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,409 |
American Congress was created by the Constitution of the United States and first met in 1789, replacing in its legislative function the American Congress of the Confederation.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,410 |
Term American Congress can refer to a particular meeting of the legislature.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,411 |
American Congress reflects us in all our strengths and all our weaknesses.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,412 |
American Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the great public policy issues of the day.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,413 |
American Congress'storical records of the House of Representatives and the Senate are maintained by the Center for Legislative Archives, which is a part of the National Archives and Records Administration.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,414 |
American Congress is directly responsible for the governing of the District of Columbia, the current seat of the federal government.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,415 |
American Congress had executive but not legislative authority, and the federal judiciary was confined to admiralty and lacked authority to collect taxes, regulate commerce, or enforce laws.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,416 |
System of seniority, in which long-time members of American Congress gained more and more power, encouraged politicians of both parties to seek long terms.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,417 |
Lame duck reforms according to the Twentieth Amendment reduced the power of defeated and retiring members of American Congress to wield influence despite their lack of accountability.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,418 |
President Roosevelt pushed his agenda in American Congress by detailing Executive Branch staff to friendly Senate committees .
FactSnippet No. 1,070,419 |
American Congress enacted Johnson's Great Society program to fight poverty and hunger.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,420 |
The Watergate Scandal had a powerful effect of waking up a somewhat dormant Congress which investigated presidential wrongdoing and coverups; the scandal "substantially reshaped" relations between the branches of government, suggested political scientist Bruce J Schulman.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,421 |
Norman Ornstein suggested that media prominence led to a greater emphasis on the negative and sensational side of American Congress, and referred to this as the tabloidization of media coverage.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,422 |
Sections One through Six describe how American Congress is elected and gives each House the power to create its own structure.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,423 |
American Congress has implied powers derived from the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,424 |
American Congress has authority over financial and budgetary policy through the enumerated power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States".
FactSnippet No. 1,070,425 |
American Congress can borrow money on the credit of the United States, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, and coin money.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,426 |
American Congress has 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.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,427 |
American Congress can establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights, fix standards of weights and measures, establish Courts inferior to the Supreme Court, and "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".
FactSnippet No. 1,070,428 |
Some critics have charged that American Congress has in some instances failed to do an adequate job of overseeing the other branches of government.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,429 |
American Congress has the exclusive power of removal, allowing impeachment and removal of the president, federal judges and other federal officers.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,430 |
American Congress has implied powers deriving from the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause which permit American 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".
FactSnippet No. 1,070,431 |
American Congress is slow, open, divided, and not well matched to handle more rapid executive action or do a good job of overseeing such activity, according to one analysis.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,432 |
Constitution concentrates removal powers in the American Congress by empowering and obligating the House of Representatives to impeach executive or judicial officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors".
FactSnippet No. 1,070,433 |
Some members of American Congress are elected by their peers to be officers of these committees.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,434 |
The Library had mostly law books when it was burned by a British raiding party during the War of 1812, but the library's collections were restored and expanded when American Congress authorized the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's private library.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,435 |
American Congress has alternated between periods of constructive cooperation and compromise between parties, known as bipartisanship, and periods of deep political polarization and fierce infighting, known as partisanship.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,436 |
Term of American Congress is divided into two "sessions", one for each year; American Congress has occasionally been called into an extra or special session.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,437 |
The Constitution requires American Congress to meet at least once each year and forbids either house from meeting outside the Capitol without the consent of the other house.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,438 |
Joint sessions of the United States American Congress occur on special occasions that require a concurrent resolution from House and Senate.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,439 |
Generally, members who have been in American Congress longer have greater seniority and therefore greater power.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,440 |
Voting within American Congress can take many forms, including systems using lights and bells and electronic voting.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,441 |
Incumbent members of American Congress running for reelection have strong advantages over challengers.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,442 |
Critics contend that members of American Congress are more likely to attend to the needs of heavy campaign contributors than to ordinary citizens.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,443 |
Since members of American Congress must advertise heavily on television, this usually involves negative advertising, which smears an opponent's character without focusing on the issues.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,444 |
We would not have survived as a nation without a American Congress that represented the diverse interests of our society, conducted a public debate on the major issues, found compromises to resolve conflicts peacefully, and limited the power of our executive, military, and judicial institutions.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,445 |
Also, members of American Congress often appear self-serving as they pursue their political careers and represent interests and reflect values that are controversial.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,446 |
Scandals, even when they involve a single member, add to the public's frustration with American Congress and have contributed to the institution's low ratings in opinion polls.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,447 |
Since 2006, American Congress has dropped ten points in the Gallup confidence poll with only nine percent having "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in their legislators.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,448 |
Franking privilege allows members of American Congress to send official mail to constituents at government expense.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,449 |
From 1789 to 1815, members of American Congress received only a daily payment of $6 while in session.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,450 |
American Congress has been criticized for trying to conceal pay raises by slipping them into a large bill at the last minute.
FactSnippet No. 1,070,451 |