Legislative Branch (Congress) Concepts

What is Congress?

Congress is one of three equal branches of governmentLegislative branch makes laws, executive...

Bicameral Structure of Congress

Congress has two chambers: Senate and House of RepresentativesSenate is smaller; each state has...

House of Representatives

House consists of 435 members, all serving two-year termsFounding Fathers intended House of...

Senate

Senate is smaller and more prestigious than the House, with 100 members serving six-year...

Powers of Congress

Congress is an immensely powerful organization. It has so many powers, in fact, that those powers...

Expressed Powers of Congress

Article I, Section 8 of Constitution lists 27 expressed powers of CongressInclude power to...

Implied Powers of Congress

The "Elastic Clause" of the Constitution grants Congress power to pass unspecified laws...

Strict Constructionism vs. Broad Constructionism

Strict constructionists: Congress should be allowed to exercise very few implied powers so that...

Inherent Powers of Congress

Powers said to be inherent to the idea of governmentInclude power to control national borders,...

Non-Legislative Functions

Non-legislative functions are powers and responsibilities not related to passing lawsInclude...