The United States congress forms an important arm of the federal government. Elected representatives of the people exercise the powers given to them by the constitution to legislate and play an oversight role over other arms of the government namely the presidency and the judiciary. Over the years, the United States congress has played a key role in shaping the history of the country through a series of landmark legislation such as women enfranchisement and the abolition of slavery.

The United States congress is bicameral. It is made up of two chambers; the House of Representatives which has 441 members and the senate with 100 members. Members of the House of Representatives face elections every two years, while for senate members, each term lasts six years.

Of the two, it is fair to say that the senate is more powerful. This is because the senate is strategically placed in the constitution to play an oversight role over the house, and therefore can overrule some decisions made by the house, or at least seeks a middle ground in case of disagreement. For example, public servants, including the president, who have been impeached by the House of Representatives, will have to again be investigated by the senate before a final decision is made.

Elections

Due to ease of travel between Washington and the constituencies, many members are always moving between the two points. As a result, they have to squeeze their schedules, leaving them with less time to size each other up. Pressure of reelection does not make matters any lighter, and most of them are always in campaign mood. Some estimates show that members are spending as much time fundraising, as what they spend on the floor of the house and in committee meetings.

Elections to both chambers are also important to the parties, because the party with the majority seats gets to choose the speaker of the chamber. Among the coveted role of the speaker includes choosing members to various committees. This is normally a high stakes ventures and fierce competition for the posts is common. The speaker also assigns legislation to committees, and work with both majority leaders and minority leaders to schedule the bills to the floor. Moreover, the speaker also works with the whip of his or her party, though secretly, to ensure that their members come out and vote for their side during debates. Covertly, in a way, the speaker is in a powerful position to assist his or her party deal with their political opponents in the house.

Members of both chambers can either play a trustee role or a delegate role with regard to house business. Playing a trustee role means that the member exercises his or her independence while indulging in house business, and does what he or she thinks is right for the constituents. However, to avoid a backlash, and assure themselves of the much coveted reelection, most choose to be delegates. This means that they go with popular view at their constituency, and would rather do nothing if that is the safest option. Therefore, most come to Washington with preconceived attitudes with regard to certain issues.

Congressional Committees

One important ingredient of the congress is the congressional committees. These committees help the congress deal with numerous issues ranging from scrutinizing bills to carrying out investigations over matters that concerns the public. It therefore enables the congress deal with thousands of issues requiring its attention per year. Committees operate in small groups which are able to call in even expert advice from outside congress to shed light on a number of issues, making it more effective in its work.

On the other hand, committees are not a panacea. Sometimes, these committees are led at the whims of the committee chair, and may end up pursuing narrow political interests. Besides, they may lead to duplication of work, especially when their jurisdictions are widened at the behest of committee chair, leading to overlapping of roles. It is not uncommon therefore, to find an issue being dealt with by more than three committees. In the end, harmonizing their work into one document becomes an uphill task, kicking off a series of amendments to accommodate each other, thus watering down bills and reports that finally make it to the floor of the house or the senate.

Legislation

Once a bill is introduced to either the senate or the house, it will be sent to the various relevant committees for further scrutiny. This involves having to listen to opinions from various players including interest groups and experts, and harmonizing all that into a comprehensive bill. This is no mean task and may take several months or even years. Besides, in situations whereby the bill is sent to more than one committee, battles for influence may erupt, and in the end, different versions of the bill may be produced. Harmonizing this takes time, further delaying legislation.

Then the bill has to be introduced to the chambers after being booked on the calendar. Introduction may not happen at the same time in both chambers because the speaker of each chamber may be waiting for an opportune moment, when they are assured of majority support, to do so.

Given that the senate has the ultimate authority, there are situations that the house may pass a bill, and the senate fails to act on it, making the bill to disappear. Therefore, the timing of the bill is crucial. The matter gets even more complicated in the senate whereby an individual senator can halt the bill’s proceedings through a legislative hold or a filibuster.

Another difficult scenario occurs when both the senate and the house have ended up with different versions of the same bill due to numerous amendments. In this state, the bill cannot be assented to by the president. Harmonizing the two bills again kicks off another round of negotiations, lobbying and debating, between the two chambers, through the conference committee.

This long and torturous journey can be circumvented by the president through issuing executive orders, or by interest groups going to court to get a ruling. But still passage of bills by congress gives bills and their sponsors some prestige.

Conclusion

This painfully slow process of legislation may be the reason why congress is the least popular arm of government, at least looking at the results of several surveys over the years. As a result, some people would like the congress to be reformed so that it can execute its mandate more responsibly. The reforms are not meant to replace the congress with another body, but to make it more accountable, and therefore more responsive to the people.

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