Administration in USA. The Legislative Branch of the Government

INTRODUCTION

The government of any nation performs several functions. It has the
responsibility to ensure the management of the security sector , create the conditions
for economic growth and material prosperity, transfer income (from taxes) and
services to certain categories of individuals, provide public goods and infrastructure,
achieve full employment, provide social security.
The federal power in the United States of America is split into three different
branches of government – the executive (the president and their cabinet), the
judiciary (the Supreme Court) and the legislative. The government makes laws that
are legal and makes sure everyone obeys them. This is implemented into practice
through the system of checks and balances. The «Checks and Balances» was
developed to create a balance within the three branches.
The Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government is represented by Congress.
Congress has two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress
meets in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.
The aim of the paper is to provide an analysis of the Legislative Branch of the
Government of the United States of America.
The objectives are:
1) to define the notion of the Legislative Branch and describe the legislative
process in the U. S. Congress;
2) to examine and explain the peculiarities and specific features of the activities
of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

PART 1. THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

The legislative branch drafts proposed laws, confirms or rejects presidential
nominations for heads of federal agencies, federal judges, and the Supreme Court,
impeaches president or judges, levies taxes and has the authority to declare war. This
branch includes «Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives) and special
agencies and offices that provide support services to Congress. American citizens
have the right to vote for Senators and Representatives through free, confidential
ballots» [3, p. 326].
It is important to introduce the main steps through which a bill (or other item of
business) may travel in the legislative process—from introduction to committee and
floor consideration to possible presidential consideration. However, the process by
which a bill can become law is rarely predictable and can vary significantly from bill
to bill. In fact, for many bills, the process will not follow the sequence of
congressional stages that are often understood to make up the legislative process.
This chapter presents a look at each of the common stages through which a bill may
move, but complications and variations abound in practice.
These stages are as follows:
(1) Introduction and Referral of Legislation. Once a Member of the House or
Senate introduces a bill, it is typically referred to the committee (or committees) in
that chamber with jurisdiction over its elements.
(2) Committee Consideration. After being introduced, a bill is referred to the
appropriate committee for review. A committee may conduct hearings on a bill to
provide committee members and the public an opportunity to hear from selected
parties (e.g., a federal agency or organized interest) about the bill’s strengths and
weaknesses. The committees invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear
before the committee and provide testimony.