Legislative Branch Flashcards
What is the Legislative Branch?
The Legislative Branch is one of three branches of the government.
What is the purpose of the Legislative Branch?
The purpose of the Legislative Branch is to create and debate laws.
What makes up the Legislative Branch?
The Legislative Branch is broken down into two houses. The Senate and the House of Representatives.
Who and what makes up the Senate? (Complicated answer)
The Senate consists of two Senators from each state. There are a total of 100 Senators. Senators are broken divided into the majority and minority parties. Each party has an elected leader with assistances called whips that are responsible for encouraging members to vote along party lines. The longest-serving Senator in the majority party is made Pro tempore and is responsible for taking the place of the president of the Senate when they are not available. That leaves us with the president of the Senate also known as the vice president. The vice president has the job of voting in the occurrence of a tie.
Who and what makes up Senate? (Simple answer)
The Senate consists of…
100 Senators
1 majority leader with assistants called whips
1 minority leader with assistants called whips
1 majority and minority floor leader
1 pro tempore
1 president of the Senate (Vice president)
What are standing committees?
Standing committees are permanent committees established by either the Senate or the House. Each committee has its own particular subject area in which they work.
What are standing committees?
Standing committees are permanent committees established by either the Senate or the House. Each committee has its own particular subject area in which they work. Every standing committee can draft new bills or review bills submitted to them.
What are subcommittees?
Subcommittees are committees that go into more depth inside of their parent committee. Subcommittees are usually formed to hold hearings and mark up legislation. Each subcommittee can also draft and review bills.
What are investigative committees?
Investigative committees are temporary committees set up by the Senate. These committees hold hearing to get people to testify against scandals and other problems. They can not consider legislation. Their only purpose is to gather information.
How many committees are in the Senate?
16 standing committees and 68 subcommittees.
What are some special powers of the Senate?
Ratify treaties, Approve appointments for elected officials made by the president, and conduct impeachment trials following the vote in the House.
Constitutional requirements to be a Senator?
30 years of age, states citizen for 9 years, and resident of the state you wish to represent.
How long are terms and time debates among Senators?
The framers of the constitution wanted the Senators to do their work without the worries of being reelected. In the view of James Madison, the Senate was to be a cool-headed body of able people. Thus, Senators were given a term of 6 years and unlimited time to debate over bills.
What is the House of Representatives?
The House of Representatives is the lower house of Congress.
Who and what makes up the House of Representatives?
The House of Representatives consists of 435 representatives from across the states. Each state is allotted a number of representatives based on the population of said state. Among the representatives is the speaker of the House, who is elected by the majority party at the time. The House of Representatives is split into two parties: the minority and majority parties. Because of this, the House has two leaders of the parties with whips are assist in encouraging party members to vote along party lines. There is also a sergeant-at-arms whose job is to maintain order. More commonly, they will be sent to round up representatives when it’s time for a floor to vote. Every representative is allowed up to 18 members of staff.
