1. Article 1: The Legislative Branch

3. Two Great Tastes The Legislature is responsible for making laws
Longest text in the Constitution
Has the most responsibilities of any branch of government
The “Great Compromise” set up a bicameral legislature
Bicameral means “two houses”
House of Representatives—based on population
Senate—2 per state
House and Senate work together and separately
Some shared responsibilities
Some separate responsibilities

4. The House of Representatives
Representation based on population
Originally number of free individuals + 3/5 of all others (slaves)
Called the 3/5 compromise
Elections every 2 years
Must be 25, a citizen for 7 years, and live in the state that elects them
No more than 435 total representatives in the House
Census every 10 years to determine how many reps. a state gets
House is led by the Speaker of the House
Nowadays chosen by the majority party (most representatives)
Currently John Boehner from Ohio—but he’s resigning at the end of the month!
Other leadership include party leaders and Whips
Whips help count votes on bills and “whip up” support

5. House Responsibilities
Solely responsible for creating all budget bills
Bills that define how much money the government can spend
Still have to have House and Senate approval to become law
Responsible for investigating wrongdoings in impeachment hearings
Impeachment—a motion to investigate and possible remove a politician from office for illegal, immoral, or otherwise bad actions
Only serve as investigators in such cases

6. The Senate Two Senators from each state
Currently 100 total (50 x 2)
Elections every 6 years, in cycles
Roughly 1/3 of Senators up for election in each election
Example: Michigan elected Debbie Stabenow in 2012 and Gary Peters in No Senate election will happen in Stabenow’s seat will be up for election again in 2018.
Must be 30, a citizen for 9 years, and live in the state they represent
Originally chosen by state gov’t, now directly elected (17th Amendment, 1913)
The Vice-President serves as “President of the Senate”
Has no real power, except to cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie
Majority party leader dictates the schedule
Longest-serving Senator from the majority party is chosen as president pro- tempore, third in line for the Presidency if the others are unable to serve
Currently Orrin Hatch, from Utah

7. Senate Responsibilities
Serve as the “jury” in an impeachment case
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court oversees the proceedings
2/3 of Senators required to find someone unfit in impeachment hearings
Can only find someone unfit to hold office, not a criminal court
Confirm candidates for federal positions
President’s cabinet heads
Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, etc.
Federal judges
Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Federal District and Circuit Courts
Responsible for approving all treaties with foreign nations

9. Making a Law A bill is introduced into the House or the Senate
Bill has sponsors and co-sponsors who support and help write it
Bill goes into Committee
Based on the type of bill it is
Committee then discusses whether it is worth putting to a vote
If it comes out of Committee, the chamber discusses it
Can add amendments to change the bill
Vote!
If it passes the vote, the bill goes to the other chamber
Starts the process over there
Eventually, if both the House and Senate agree on the same wording, it gets sent to the President
President can sign—IT BECOMES A LAW!
President can veto—Not a law
Veto can be overridden by 2/3 vote of both chambers

10. Other Joint Responsibilities
Congress (House + Senate) can gather information on issues
Called “Hearings”
Hearings can be on almost any subject
Experts come to the House/Senate/Both (Joint) and testify on the issue at hand
Can regulate most aspects of running a nation
Some big ones are:
Printing money
Taxing and spending tax money
Running a post office
Maintaining a military
Regulate trade between states (this is a big deal!)

11. What can’t they do? Anything that the other branches do
Executive (President) carries out the laws
Judicial (Courts) interpret the laws
Can’t pass laws that affect only one specific person/group of people
Called “bills of attainder”
Can’t pass laws that punish people for prior actions
Called ex post facto (after the fact) laws
Can’t spend money that isn’t budgeted
Can’t give titles of nobility
No kings, queens, dukes, counts, barons, marquises, etc.