The legislative power in the US lies in the Congress. Congress has the greatest ability to limit the president’s power. Congress can check presidential power by refusing to appropriate funds for a presidential initiative, whether domestic or international. It can also refuse to confirm presidential appointees, such as ambassadors or Supreme Court justices. And ultimately only Congress can write and pass the laws that the executive branch is constitutionally obligated to implement. The Congress consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Founders expected Congress to be the dominant branch of the national government. They felt that it was important to maintain some control over the powers of Congress. Among other prohibitions, Congress cannot imprison people without due process of law, except in emergencies; Congress cannot pass laws that retroactively make a crime of what was legal when committed; and Congress cannot tax interstate commerce. In addition, the Bill of Rights forbids Congress from reducing rights held by individuals. The House of Representatives is made up of 435 representatives, the number per state varies by population, elected every two years. The internal organization of the House is based on a system of committees and subcommittees. All representatives serve on several committees and these committees consider all legislation before it is presented to the House as a whole. The committees work to transform ideas into detailed, complex bills. The most powerful individual in the House is the Speaker of the House, who presides over the chamber, refers bills to committees, appoints representatives to special committees, and grants representatives the right to speak during chamber debates. The Speaker of the House is elected by the entire body and is always a member of the party with a majority of seats in the House. The floor leaders and whips are influential members whose function is to try to have representatives vote the way their political party suggests on key issues. The Senate is composed of 100 members, two each from the 50 states, who serve six-year terms. The procedures and workings of the Senate are similar to those of the House; though because of its smaller membership there are fewer committees and subcommittees. The Founders designed the Senate to be a deliberative national body, more stable and insulated from popular sentiment than the House. They also designed the Senate to protect the interests of the states, especially states with small populations, by giving each state the same number of representatives in the Senate. The vice president of the United States serves as the president of the Senate. One of the few designated duties of the vice president is to break tie votes in the Senate.

Congress has many powers and responsibilities. The most important of these is lawmaking. Only a small percentage of the bills introduced to Congress actually become law. In addition to its sole power over lawmaking, Congress has the authority to initiate bills to fund federal programs, to set tariffs and taxes, to provide for the national defense, to control immigration, to establish post offices, to raise and support a military force, and to declare war. Congress can also impeach and remove federal officials, including the president, from office. Although the president shares power with Congress and the judiciary, he or she is the most powerful and important officeholder in the country. The president has no vote in Congress but is the single largest source of legislative proposals that become law. The president proposes much of the legislation that Congress approves. The president’s power to veto legislation also serves as a strong influence on the legislative process. Because it takes a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate to override a presidential veto, Congress often changes pending legislation to suit the president’s preferences. The president also exercises

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