The structure of the Federal Government. The system of checks and balances.

The amer.system of gov:

The Constitution -> The Federal gov.:

- legislative branch

- executive

- judicial

The US is a democratic republic. The nat.gov.is a gov.of all people and their represent. It’s called “the federal gov” because the nation is a federation of states. The US const.gave the fed.gov.only limited powers, stated in the constitute. All other powers belong to the individual states.

MAIN PRINCIPLES of the gov-l sys:

1. Separation of powers (violations: vice pres. – executive legisl – head of the senate)

2. the systems of checks and balances

3. federalism

1) 3 branches:

Legislative, executive, judicial

Each of them had dif.functions and powers. This principle implies that no member of one branch can have a seat in the other 2.

Checks & Balances

 

Congress can pass

laws over the president’s the president

veto by a 2/3 majority appoints fed.judges

 

 

Executive: President Cabinet

 

 

 

The pres.can veto The court can declare

laws passed by presid-l acts un-

Congress constitutional

 

The senate must

Co nf i rm the pres’s

Judicial appointments

 

 

2) implies that each branch is checked and controlled by the other 2 branches. This is done to keep any branch from gaining too much power or from misusing its powers. Thus these branches of gov.have balanced powers.

3) Federalism – the division of power b/w the nat-l gov, state gov.and local gov.

It’s more efficient for large land.masses, because the local gov.is much closer to the people than the federal.

Separation of powers federalism	Legislative	Executive	Judicial
National or Federal	Gongress	Presid-l administration	US Supreme Court, Fed. Courts
State power	State Legislative	Governor	State Courts
City	City Council	Major	Municipal courts

 

The Congress of the US as its supreme legislative body. The Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Leg.Branch is called Congress (Capitol building in Wash DC) It consists of 2 chambers:

- the Senate

- the House of Repr.

The composition of congress reflects the historical backgr.of the US Const. All states are repres.equally in the Senate. 2 senators from each state – independent of their ter/pop/, thus 100 members. Each is elected for a turn of 6 years. The elections are held every 2 years and 1/3 of the senate is elected. A senator must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the USA for at least 3 years.

The senate is presided over by vice pres.of the USA. He doesn’t vote but he does cast a deciding vote in the case of a tie. The senate is the only body with power to try all emplacements (accusation of a public officer for treason or misconduct during his turn of office)

The House of repres.has 435 members+3 Wash DC who are elected every 2 years. They must be at least 25 years old citizens of the US for at least 7 years.

Representation is based on pop.The country is divided into congressional districts with equal pop.in each. A state with a bigger pop.has more repress.but each state no matter how small its pop.is has at least one repress. In the USA there are on the whole 538 Congressmen (100+438)

The presiding person in the H of Repr. The main function of the committee is to inquire into each bill and to recommend whether the bill should be accepted or not or to recommend changes to it. Legislation can originate in either the senate or the H.of Repr., but before any bill is sent to the pres.for signature it must be passed by both houses. Besides the main power of congress passing state laws, there are some more powers such as:

- approve state budget

- set fed. feaxes

- approve presid-l appointments

- overrule presid-l vetoes

- declare war impeachment the pres.

How Congress makes laws:

A senator or representative writes a bill-> goes to the committee of the senate or House:

- the comm..call public hearings

- it can table postpone the bill

- it can send the bill back to the full house without a recommendation

- it can change the bill

-> the full senate or house debate:

- the senate or house defeats the bill

- it can pass the bill

-> the bill goes to the other comm. -> the 2^nd house debate the bill: defeat/pass -> it goes to the president: if the pres.vetoes the bill, it doesn’t become the law

-> congress passesthe bill. -> the bill becomes law