Hi Condor - you already got some good answers but I will weigh in anyway.
I just started reading Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis, which has now achieved permanent rotation on my bedside stack, along with John Adams by David McCulloch, The Cousin's War by Kevin Phillips, and the Federalist Papers, as I chew my way slowly through the Foundation.
People in other countries sometimes are puzzled, or amused, at how much we Americans still care about the Founding Fathers, but we live in a democratic republic which has lasted longer than any other in history, and the ideals under which this country was founded matter a great deal to us, still.
As you've been told, Congress consists of two bodies ("bicameral" aka two chambers) the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Historically, this was the Great Compromise reached when the Constitutional Convention met in Philadephia in 1790, 212 years ago.
The House of Representatives is based on the population of each state. It is the house of the people. A large state, like New York, Virginia, or California, has more votes in the House of Representatives than a small state, and thus more power.
There are two Senators for each state. It is the house of what passes for the aristocracy. A tiny state, like Rhode Island, has as many Senatorial votes as a large state, and thus has equal power.
Either chamber, House or Senate, can originate bills, but the Constitution provides that bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House.
As a practical matter, both chambers work together on bills. Identical language can be used for a House bill and a Senate bill, or they may be different. When the House and the Senate pass bills with different language, they go to a committee called a "conference committee" to work out the language.
Everybody involved in the passage of a law keeps track of what everybody else is doing. They are constantly involved in the process of what I call "yadda-yadda." The yadda-yadda process involves arm-twisting, horse-trading, and putting one's finger in the air to determine the direction the wind is blowing.
At the end of the day, after the Senate and the House come up with a version of a bill that they both like, the proof of the pudding is the President. He can sign the bill, he can veto the bill, or he can put it in his pocket and not act on it ("pocket veto").
If the President signs it, it's law. If the President vetoes it, the day is not over.
It takes a simple majority of both houses to enact a bill. But if the President vetoes it, then it takes a super majority (two thirds) to enact it over his veto.
If the Congress (both houses) passes the law again with a super majority, then it overrides the veto, and the bill is law.
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Another reason the makeup of Congress matters - a lot - is the makeup of committees.
Whichever party controls a chamber of Congress gets to appoint the chairman of the committees, and the chairman of the committees decides whether the entire chamber will get to vote on a bill within the purview of that committee.
Even if the chamber of Congress would vote yes, it doesn't matter if the issue won't come out of committee because the chairman of the committee won't allow it.
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So -- which party controls both chambers of Congress matters an awful lot.
If the Republicans were to control the House of Representatives, and the Senate, while a Republican was President, this would be unprecedented in my lifetime.
There have been numerous occasions when the Democrats had control of Congress and the Presidency, e.g., under Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton, but not Republicans. |
